


High School DxD: The Tale of the Gutsy Sekiryuutei!

by Retribrutus



Category: Highschool DxD (Anime)
Genre: Action, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Harems, Humor, Multi, Mythology - Freeform, Rivalry, Shounen Fights
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-04-29 13:09:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 65
Words: 730,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14473428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Retribrutus/pseuds/Retribrutus
Summary: Not all grand heroes started off great and Michael Hanamura is an example, he is a regular student with no redeeming qualities nor features which would gain him attention and he was an orphan to some no name people who don't even matter. Basically his life and existence in a nutshell was destined to be boring which leads him to death but also led him to another chapter of his life!





	1. Welcome to my (not so great) life!

**Welcome to my (not so great) life!**

* * *

(In the morning)

***Beep!***

***Beep!***

***Beep!***

***Be-!***

In an apartment, a yawning 17 year old with black trident like hair, dark skin and brown eyes woke up from bed after slapping the top of his alarm clock. Sitting up, he looks out his bedroom window and sees the sunlight entering inside.

"I guess this is a good time to start the day!" The teen hopped out of bed and got ready for school, showering, picking out his clothing which was his Kuoh Academy Uniform with a red shirt, his jacket with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, black jeans, blue shoes with white accents and a pair of goggles with a white scarf.

"Alright! Time for breakfast!" The teen roared with a grin as he rushed out of his room and through his dusty hallway to enter his messy kitchen which barely had any food to begin with, "Let's see what we have today."

The teen rummaged through his fridge to bring out a piece of bread, "Toast it is!"

The teen popped the toast in the toaster and waited for it to get ready as he puts on his shoes and school bag.

***Ding!***

As the toast popped in the air the boy grabbed it and headed for the door before turning back and bowing to no one inside the empty home before saying, "I'm leaving now."

Upon rushing out, the teen sees that the pathway to school was clear as ever with no one blocking his path. This young man's name is Michael Hanamura, a resident of Kuoh Town and a 2nd year student of the town's very own academy, which used to be an all girl's school which is now co-ed.

"Alright, now that's what I'm talking about!" The teen grinned to himself then said, "Hehe! Those suckers must still be sleeping in! What dumbasses!"

Feeling a buzzing in his pocket, Michael pulls out his phone and sees a Phone call under one of the few contacts he has, Genshirou Saji.

"Yo! Saji, my man, what's up?" Michael chuckled.

[Michael, where the hell are you!?]

"Heh! Sorry, pal, but I don't think I have the time to answer that because I'm on my way to school, and I think I'm doing a pretty good job at it, too." Michael smirked, "So if you wanna ask me any more questions you'll have to catch up pal!"

[Mike...]

"And just yesterday, I set my alarm clock for two hours late, so I could be one of the first to get into class." Michael rubbed his chin while gloating.

[Mike...]

"But guess what. My ingenious plan worked, so I guess I deserve a word of praise, my friend." Michael chuckled.

[Mike...just listen...]

"Oh, just you wait and see. The people at school will be in awe to see me as the kid whose hunger for knowledge drove him to be he earliest student to be present in class!" Michael laughed to himself.

[Mike, you do realize that school started 2 hours ago, right?]

"Guh!" Michael froze in place like a statue as he kept his smile.

[Mike?]

"I'll talk to you later." Michael hung up his phone then cried, "DAMMIT!"

(Later in school)

"Ngh!" Michael struggled to hold his desk over his head as punishment for being late as class went on inside as he was in the hallway.

"This is just cruel and unusual punishment!" Michael growled as his arms began to tremble with fatigue, "Stupid teacher, he can't take pity on someone like me! I'll pay him back with a pin to his seat next time." Michael grinned as he sets the prank up in his mind along with the ol' bucket trick with some chicken guts some cooking oil and other unmentionables which will be explained later.

"Hey, look at that." A few senior female students walked by while giggling at Michael.

"Its that kid in the 2nd years class from yesterday it seems he was late for school again!" The girls giggled as Michael looked up with a red face filled with embarrassment.

"Man, this is so not cool..." Michael grunts.

"You brought this upon yourself, you know." A familiar voice sighed.

"You know, I would shoot you a downright dirty glare right now, but as you can see; I'm pretty much about to collapse." Michael grunts as a teen with short blonde hair and grey eyes walked up to Michael's range of view as he wore the Kuoh Academy boys' school uniform, albeit without the blazer and his sleeves are rolled up.

"Thank you, and now...GRRR!" Michael growled at the fellow student.

"Idiot, you brought this on yourself, and now you have to pay for it." Saji shrugged.

"Hey, my plan was full-proof, okay!" Michael cried.

"Yeah, because setting your alarm clock just 2 hours ahead instead of 2 hours back is really full-proof." Saji said with half-lidded eyes.

"Look, just what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be nerding it up in class?" Michael sets down his desk to sit on top of it.

"Well, if you must know, I am currently doing my first duties as a member of the student council." Saji crossed his arms and grinned.

"Lame..." Michael booed, but composed himself as Saji glared at him, "I mean go on with your riveting story, my dear friend."

Michael said elegantly then rolled his eyes as he grew a bored expression.

"As you can see I've been nominated to be apart of their rankings and I want to prove that I can be one of them." Saji explained.

"Well, that sounds interesting. Maybe I should look into it." Michael stood up and grinned, "I have been polishing my super awesome charismatic skills if you hadn't have noticed."

At that moment, Michael looks at a nearby male student walking towards the bathroom and grins, "Hello and salutations, dude!"

The student simply shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, okay then! You're not going to say hi back? I get it! Well, then you better hope you don't see me on the streets after school, man!" Michael raised his arms up in anger.

"Mike, stop that!" Saji slapped the back of Michael's head.

"Okay, okay, that one doesn't count, but hey, I guess practice will make up for it am I, right?" Michael chuckled.

"Yeah...no you can't join." Saji shook his head while showing a look of regret.

"What, why!?" Michael asked.

"Look, Mike, don't take this the wrong way and all, but I think we should focus on doing more separate activities this year." Saji rubbed the back of his head, "Instead of being Saji and Michael. How about we become Saji...then Michael."

"But dude this year was supposed to be our time to shine as the unbreakable duo." Michael jumped out his seat then approached Saji with a sad expression.

"Look just because we're best friends doesn't mean we have to do everything together and another thing we're pretty much breakable I was hoping what happened 3 years ago would slip into your mind after we attempted to Parkour from the top of my house to the trampoline."

_(Flashback)_

_A young Michael and Saji were on the roof of a house with a trampoline at the bottom of it, which was the cause of a young Saji holding a small video camera._

_"Okay, world! Prepare to be amazed." Michael grinned._

_"Come on, dude. You can do it!" Saji cheered, "I believe in you!"_

_"Okay, first, I'll jump off the roof, then spin and land on my feet on the trampoline, before I bounce off it and dismount!" Michael explained to the camera, then clapped his hands, "Let's do this!"_ _Michael jumped off the roof only to fall straight through the trampoline in the process and smack straight into the concrete bellow. Suddenly the cries of the kid were heard out loud._

_"Michael!" Saji called out._

_"Call your mom!" Michael cried as gripped onto his bleeding arm._

_"Mom! Mom! Mom!" Saji ran through the window leading into the house._

_"You didn't believe hard enough!" Michael cried out, "Waaaaah!"_

_(Present)_

"Yeah, I'm still trying to pay off that trampoline to this day." Michael looked down and scratched his head, "Hey, I still have the scar, you wanna see?" Michael tried to roll up his sleeves.

"No, I don't actually, but you see? This is what I'm talking about." Saji said.

"But then who'll hang out with me!?" Michael questioned.

"I don't know, why not Aika Kiryuu-san?" Saji suggested.

"No way, I can't." Michael looked away uncomfortably.

"Why?" Saji asked.

"Because...she took advantage of me." Michael held in a breaking voice.

"Really?" Saji's eyes widened.

"Yeah, one time, I asked her out and she said yes, but during the whole date she was observing my crotch area." Michael looked away.

"So she-?" Saji asked.

"Yes." Michael nodded.

"And she analyzed-?" Saji asked.

"The entire length, dude!" Michael covered his face.

"Wow, I feel bad for you..." Saji closed his eyes, then walked away, "Well, see you later."

"Wait, where are you-?" Michael tripped over his foot and crashed into his desk.

"Sorry, but I'm still checking the whole school out! Just try and figure out who to hang with." Saji said.

"But I can't think of anyone." Michael sighed as the class bell rang.

Walking out the doors were the students about to leave for their second class of the day and in those students, Michael saw a pair with lecherous grins on their faces.

"Damn you, Saji..." Michael clenched his fist as he picked himself up.

(During lunch)

"So you want to peek in on the girls with us now do ya?" Matsuda puts his hands to his hips while shaking his head.

"Well, no, I actually wanted to hang out with you guys." Michael quirked an eyebrow as he sat on the grass field.

"Actually being our third wing man means you have to be careful and alert at all times." Motohama nodded.

"Okay, I guess I can do that." Michael shrugged pretty much kosher with anything so far.

"Seriously?" The pair asked surprised that someone was cooperating.

"Yeah, because no matter what the others may have said, you guys seem cool and I think this will turn into a beautiful friendsh-!" Michael began.

(Later)

"Get them!" the girls from the kendo club chased down the 3 idiots with their shinai.

"Michael, you idiot!" Motohama and Matsuda ran by both sides of Michael and slapped the back of his head.

"Sorry, I guess it was my fault for sneezing on the job." Michael smiled and sweatdropped.

"You did more than that! You got greedy when peeking and actually shoved us out the way when curious." Motohama growled.

"Allegedly." Michael rolled his eyes.

"Then you got too excited and screamed!" Matsuda spat.

"Alle...gedly." Michael didn't sound sure.

"Then you screamed 'So they definitely can't notice us' as they finished changing!" Motohama growled.

"Okay, I'm not gonna lie. It was partially my fault." Michael sighed.

"PARTIALLY!?" The pair shouted, missing their chance to spy on the girls.

From afar the three, well, more specifically Michael was being watched by the Two Great Ladies of the Academy, Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima.

"Interesting." Rias views the boy intently.

"Ara Ara, it seems you've gotten your eyes on something haven't you?" Akeno gave her usual smile.

"Maybe..." Rias said as Michael suddenly grabbed Motohama and Matsuda by the collar of their jackets and dashed with all his might leaving the girls in the dust.

"Kiss my ass!" Michael laughed.

"Hmm? Akeno, do you know his name?" Rias asked.

"Yes, he is Michael Hanamura, our second year kouhai, and a bit of a reckless one." Akeno explained.

"Hanamura, Michael...hm, a name I surely will look into." Rias said to herself.

_'Something about him seems strange.' Rias thought to herself as she and Akeno continued their stroll across the campus._

(After school)

"Man, I can't believe I got caught on my first peeping attempt." Michael sighed to himself as the sunset filled the outside view, "But those guys were nice even if I did get caught with them in the process."

_"Hey, don't worry about it. We get caught all the time." Matsuda grinned._

_"Yeah, and even if we did. Your speed was incredible with that we could get away whenever we're noticed." Motohama chuckled._

"They may just think about getting off, but they're okay." Michael smiled then looked down, "But since Saj isn't here I still feel a little sad since we'll hang out less now."

Continuing his walk to school, Michael could hear the footsteps of a rushing person coming towards him.

"E-Excuse me." A girl's voice called out.

"Huh?" Michael stopped and turned back to be face to face with a beautiful young schoolgirl with long black hair down to her hips with violet eyes as she wore a dark red jacket with green skirt with a white strip on the lower end, a red bow and a white undershirt.

"Um...hello..." The girl blushed while fidgeting.

"Hi." Michael greeted back unaware on how to approach.

...

_'Great, now this chick's gone and made the atmosphere awkward. I wonder what she wants.' Michael sighed._

"Err...Are you Michael Hanamura?" The girl asked.

"Haha! So you've heard of me, huh!?" Michael grinned, "I guess I am pretty famous if you know, and heck you're in another school, so am I the talk of everyone? Are they regaling of my awesome tales of action!?"

"Well, no, actually." The girl shook her head, "I barely believe anyone knows your name where I'm from, let alone know you even exist."

Michael froze in place, then turned on his heel hoping to put this embarrassment behind him and just walk away.

"Wait, please don't go!" The girl cried out.

"Yeah..." Michael groaned but didn't stop taking his first step.

"Well, Hanamura-kun, I've been watching you from afar, and have sort of liked you..." The girl blushed as Michael stopped taking his first step.

"What?" Michael stopped turning his head back.

"I'm Yuuma Amano a-and could you please go out with me!?" Yuuma proclaimed.

_And from that day onward, everything began to change..._

* * *

**Next Chapter- My first Date!**

* * *

**Thanks for reading guys, and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter!**

* * *

**Well, until next time, I hope to see you all later!**


	2. My first Date!

**My first Date!**

* * *

_(2 days later...)_

"Okay, I've got everything ready." Michael fixes his watch as he wore a black jacket with red accents, a white and blue stripped shirt underneath, a pair of black jeans and red shoes with white streaks, around his neck was a dog tag necklace as he donned a pair of googles on his forehead, "Today, I have to make sure to give it my all. Bet on it!"

Michael exits his room while counting his wallet for the money he'll use for today, seeing as to how he was suffering with making rent he had to improvise with the money he lived off of from his part time jobs. Putting that aside for now, Michael remembered something important as he looks around the messy living room for something important.

"Aha, there it is!" Michael rushed to the kitchen while noticing a shiny black box which contained something within it, "Can't lose you, because your special and I want to give you to someone who made me feel happy." Michael gave a huge grin as he could still remember the events which took place the past two days.

_(Flashback)_

_"Huh?" Michael asked while blinking way too many times._

_"L-Like I said. I want Michael-kun to go out with me." Yuuma repeated while looking away with a red face._

_"I know, I heard you, but..." Michael trailed off while scratching his cheek, "Why are you asking me all of a sudden? Didn't you just say that no one at your school knew nothing about me, meaning, I'm just some guy nobody ever notices?" It dealt a heavy blow to his pride to have said that, but he still couldn't keep that reasoning out of his head._

_"Yes, that may be true, but I like Michael-kun either way." Yuuma giggled._

_"You do?" Michael asked._

_"Of course, everyone may be oblivious about you, but I personally think your amazing." Yuuma smiled, "Because whether if your popular, or not I still like Michael-kun exactly the way he is."_

_"...!" Michael's widened then lowered upon realization then he grinned greatly as he proclaimed, "Fine after that awe inspiring point you just gave me, the one and only Michael Hanamura I have no other choice than to accept!"_

_"Really!?" Yuuma gasped._

_"Yeah, Yuuma." Michael smiled._

_"That's so wonderful. Thank you!" Yuuma was about to hug Michael until the boy stopped her with a hand._

_"Before we continue could I snap a photo of you real quick?" Michael gave a huge grin._

_"Okay, sure." Yuuma nodded happily._

_(With The Perverted Duo)_

_"Huh, did you get a text from Michael?" Matsuda and Motohama were just leaving the school after another attempt to peek in at the female's tennis team changing but by the many bruises and a racket shaped bumps on their foreheads and cheeks it was a complete failure._

_"Yeah, I wonder what he sent us?" Motohama nodded as he looked at the phone more closely and opened it to see the unthinkable and dropped his phone along with Matsuda who viewed the same image._

_"Don't tell me that he..." Matsuda gasped._

_"Yeah, he did..." Motohama bit his lip in sadness then cried, "That bastard!"_

_"I know! How could he just befriend us and suddenly get a girlfriend and rub it in our faces!?" Matsuda cried then clenched his fist, "He's gonna pay for this!"_

_"The traitor must die!" Motohama growled as they were engulfed in the flames of envy._

_"You do realize what this means, right?" Motohama asked as he looked at Matsuda with dark eyes._

_"Yeah, you're right. We have to inform the rest of the group." Matsuda nodded as both he and Motohama placed Executioner hoods on with the words VVV on the top._

_"The heretic must die!" Matsuda and Motohama bellowed._

_(With Saji)_

_"Now that's interesting." Saji looked at his phone to view upon the sight of Yuuma then smiled, "I know that I said get someone to hang out with you, but I didn't expect this."_

_Suddenly, something came to Saji's mind which made him drop to his knees._

_"Wait, if you just got a girlfriend after we decided to do different activities, then does this mean that I'm a-!?" Saji then gasped then bellowed, "CHICK REPELLER!"_

_Saji then went to fall on all fours and slammed his fist onto the ground in self pity as many other passerby's looked at him strangely._

_"WHY!?"_

_(Present)_

And since then Michael was assaulted by many other male students of Kuoh, who were unable to at least get a girlfriend as they symbolized a group similar to America's old KKK which is the VVV which stands for Virgin 3 times, this group targeted males who were able to even get into contact with a female and used many torturous ways which seemed illegal but were mysteriously able to be overlooked by teachers.

After the day of the confession, Michael was chased all over the campus through passing period and lunch. He was almost burned at the stake (in this case hanging on the flag pole as a member would light his pants on fire), Be locked in the girl's locker room which failed as they failed to realize there was a window there and luckily Michael crawled out which gave him the knowledge that he could pop his shoulder out of the socket if he kept squirming.

But being able to survive that day was just the half of it. Now he was being constantly threatened by them with knive's being thrown to his door almost every 5 hours.

***KNOCK!***

***KNOCK!***

"Hmm, could she have gotten to me before we went into town?" Michael walks to his door and opens it to reveal a smiling Saji.

"Yo." Saji smiles and raises his hand. He wore a black shirt with a white skull in the middle with blue jeans and blue shoes.

"Oh, its you." Michael said with half closed eyes.

"You're still mad, I see." Saji said.

"Why are you here? Don't you have a student council duty to attend to?" Michael sighed, then stifled a laugh and coughed to show how serious he was, "Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not laughing cause your here. I'm doing it since I said duty."

"Look, I get why your still mad, but come on, you just got yourself a girlfriend, so shouldn't you be happy?" Saji shrugged.

"That's not the point, man." Michael went through his new knife collection while sorting them out in the kitchen.

"Then what is how can I say I'm sorry." Saji asked.

"Well, you want to know? Okay, then I'll tell you. First, you left me in the dust to hang out with the perverted duo!" Michael started off calmly then shouted, "Next, was when the day I announced I had a girlfriend you were apart of the VVV that attacked me!"

"Okay, to be honest I really thought you were Kyle, who was being targeted." Saji sighed while looking away.

"That I could understand since Kyle is a total kiss ass." Michael nodded in agreement then growled, "I even lost my own membership too, but that's not the point since when we became 2nd years, we haven't been able to hang out like we used to."

"Hang out? You mean jumping off of buildings, attempting schemes to get popular which end with us being in our underwear for the whole school to see, and basically attempt stupid things on a daily basis? Yeah, that's why I stopped 'hanging out' because it has no importance whatsoever!" Saji crossed his arms with an angry expression.

"I know they were stupid, but that's why I liked doing them with you!" Michael shouted.

"What?" Saji asked in surprise.

"Man, look, whenever we did half of those things I always had you there to encourage me or steer me away from it. You're like a guardian and once you left me alone I kind of felt like we weren't friends anymore." Michael rubbed his arm.

"I didn't know that." Saji rubbed the back of his head, "Now I feel like a turd."

"Now you know how I feel almost everyday." Michael said.

"Hahahahaha!" Saji busted out laughing.

"Why are you laughing? I'm serious." Michael groaned with half lidded eyes.

"Look, I'm serious, too. It was wrong to have just left you in the blue like that, so accept my apology." Saji smiled.

"Awkward Man Hug?" Michael extends his hand.

"Awkward Man Hug." Saji shook Michael's hand then pulled him into a one armed hug where they both said in monotone,

"Pat, Pat."

Laughter then arose among the two friends.

After that, a few minutes have passed and things finally have calmed down, Michael had realized something very important!

"I'm late for my date!" Michael roared as he dashed out the apartment leaving Saji all by himself.

"Wait, what about your home?" Saji called out.

"Could you watch the place? Thanks, man!" Michael yelled.

"So I guess we're back to the old grim, huh?" Saji then noticed something as Michael disappeared from sight a whole legion of VVV members rode to the apartment in pairs on bikes while pedaling towards Michael's apartment.

"Hey, guys, what are you doing here? Sorry to tell you, but Michael just left for his date and if you want to get to him, you'll have to get through me first." Saji smirked.

"We are not here for him!" One of the VVV yelled.

"Excuse me?" Saji gasped.

"Saji Genshirou, you have been sighted with the beautiful girls of the student council, so your membership has been revoked and now you must die!" The Leader of the VVV pulled out a weird scroll and read it.

"Die! Die! Die!" The VVV members chanted as they pulled out daggers.

"Holy crap!" Saji's eyes widened as he grew pale.

"No! No! No! No! No! No!" Saji rushed back inside the apartment and slammed the door shut as many daggers were thrown and stabbed against it.

(With Michael)

Running with his two legs giving it their all, Michael was finally able to reach the shopping district of town to which the date will take place. But sadly, he's too much that he couldn't stop his ability to stop as he crashed into an attractive woman with a bat like designed dress with brown hair.

"Ouch, my ass!" Michael grunts in pain then realized he dropped his surprise and quickly picked it up.

"My, it seems like you're in a rush." The woman smiled down at the boy.

"Huh, oh, I'm sorry miss and, uh..." Michael looks to see that the fliers she had flew everywhere on the ground, "I'll get these for you." With quick haste, Michael picked up every single one he could grab as the others flew in the wind.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, the other ones flew off somewhere, but I hope your satisfied with this amount." Michael looked apologetic as he handed The woman the fliers while scratching the back of his head.

"No worries, young man, and may I say your effort to gather all of them was incredible." The woman praised.

"Huh?" Michael questioned.

"I mean an ordinary person would've tired out at only 10 fliers while picking them up, but you got me the rest of the 30 fliers that I need as the other 5 flew away." The woman smiled.

"Hehe! Well, I am the Great Michael Hanamura after all, so its no wonder your so bewildered." Michael grinned and jabbed his thumb to his chest.

_'I'm so glad that I got that word a day calendar.' Michael thought to himself as he spoke the word 'bewildered.'_

"As a reward, I would like to give you something which could make all your wishes come true." The woman said.

"Oh really, I wonder what it could be it must be something very specia..." Michael stopped when he saw the flier she was giving to him, "Oh, one of the fliers, I got for you how nice." Michael said in a dull tone.

"It may not seem much, but it will grant you a wish you may need for the future so just hold onto it." The woman gave Michael the flier.

"Okay, miss, thanks." Michael pocketed it then bowed to the woman but as he looked back up he saw that she was gone, "Huh, where did she go?"

"Michael-kun!" A cute voice called out for Michael.

"Yuuma-chan?" Michael looks over his shoulder to see his date for the day. She was still attractive as ever as the only difference was her clothing which was a short black dress with a small, light purple jacket on top.

"Michael-kun, sorry that I was late." Yuuma panted upon stopping.

"Don't worry about it. I'm late all the time with everything so any tardy with me won't count, so don't be so uptight and relax." Michael grinned while patting Yuuma's head which gained a blush from the girl who seemed to enjoy a little too much than she actually should.

"M-Michael-kun?" Yuuma called his name while her hair covered her eyes.

"What is it?" Michael smiled.

"What do you think of my dress today? Do you like it?" Yuuma suddenly gasped after hearing what she said and pondered to herself why she would even ask that.

"Well, you look really nice, Yuuma-chan, is that okay?" Michael scratched his cheek.

"Hmph!" Yuuma turned away while pouting,  _'Just nice?'_

"What?" Michael questioned.

"Nothing, its nothing." Yuuma sighed then returned to her usual smile and asked, "So what shall we do today, Michael-kun?"

"Okay, that's right. First off, we're heading towards the arcade, then the..." Michael went on as Yuuma simply smiled and nodded to the thorough destinations while internally going over her plans of action.

_'This day will go longer than I'd expected, but I just have to wait until its over, so I could gut him and be done with this mission once and for all.' Yuuma sighed then looked at Michael while blushing, 'But did he really think that my dress was just nice or was trying to say it was nicer than my school uniform which would be a fine contrast due to him seeing me in that only which is actually a nice-!' Yuuma stopped herself with a growl then thought, 'Why am I thinking this? I'm supposed to kill this bastard after this stupid date just go along with it.'_

"Oi." Michael balled a fist and lightly taps it onto Yuuma's head, "What was that?"

"Eh?" Yuuma looked at the half lidded eyed Michael who was dumbfounded by Yuuma's complex expression.

"You look like you're troubled or whatever, so I just wanted to know if you were okay." Michael explained.

"Oh, I'm fine, Michael-kun. Don't worry!" Yuuma waved her hands in front of herself rather timidly.

"Okay, just tell me if anything's wrong like if your sick or hurt and I'll carry you throughout the date." Michael grinned and points to himself.

"What!?" Yuuma blushed and shuddered at the teen's kindness.

"Oh, don't worry, I have been working on upper body muscles to the extent that I can do 50 push ups without catching a sweat." Michael chuckled while leaving out the part that he passes out after doing said 50 push ups with no breaks.

"No, that's not why I'm stunned. It's just...thank you for the offer, Michael-kun." Yuuma blushed while looking away.

"No problem." Michael gave her a thumbs up.

_'Why is he so god damn kind!?' Yuuma screamed in her head._

And then from there their date commenced as they went to the arcade and played a variety of games, Michael was a pro in but lost to Yuuma in every last one thus losing his pride as a game geek and a man to the girl. Next they went out to a café where the pair shared a single piece of cake due to Michael having enough money for only one to which Yuuma didn't mind at all. And lastly a walk through the park as the setting sun ended the day.

"So how did you enjoy the date?" Michael smiled as he clasped his hands together.

"Today was really fun, Michael-kun!" Yuuma giggled.

"Really?" Michael smiled brightly.

"Yeah." Yuuma nodded happily as she thought,  _'Today was actually so boring that I almost want to shoot myself from the sheer boredom, but I'm just glad the date is almost over and done with.'_

Approaching the fountain which was in the park's middle, Michael and Yuuma indulge in the sunset which glows across the sky above.

"I'm actually happy right now." Michael smiled.

_'Of course you're happy, stupid human you're have the gall to think that since your with someone beautiful with you means you can use them to your own desires.' Yuuma thought as she remembered the past humans she had met before either them wanting to take advantage of her for her body or downright resented her for being different from them, 'You humans are really all the same after all which will make this the more enjoyable.'_

"Michael-kun?" Yuuma walked to Michael's side while smirking, "You would do anything for me, correct?"

"Yeah." Michael answered while rubbing his chin in thought.

_'I hope you rot in hell, bastard.' Yuuma cackled in thought._

"Would you mind dy-?" Yuuma would have finished until Michael screamed.

"OH, RIGHT! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I ALMOST FORGOT!" Michael screamed while scratching at his head roughly with both hands.

"Come again?" Yuuma blinked as her tone was somewhat mature than her old one.

"I forgot to give this to you." Michael reached into his pocket to pull out a black box.

"What do you intend to give me?" Yuuma asked suspiciously.

"Its a gift that I got for you with all the money I could scrounge up from my savings." Michael chuckled as he opens the box to reveal a pure silver bracelet with a red and orange sunset encrusted emblem in the middle. Yuuma gasped as she couldn't tear her eyes away from the bracelet still in shock that such a thing was being handed to her.

"Are you just going to stare at it because I did get it for you in hopes that you'll actually wear it." Michael said while quirking his eyebrow.

"S-Sure." Yuuma nodded quite embarrassedly that she fumbled to get the bracelet and put it on her wrist with almost dropping it 5 times.

"Michael, did you really get this for me?" Yuuma asked with her voice breaking.

"Of course, since you did put up with me for the whole day because of some bet your friends might have made you do." Michael scratched the back of his head.

"Wait, a bet? What do you mean?" Yuuma questioned now concerned about the boy's meaning of words.

"But never mind that. I also got the emblem to represent your name as it does mean "Evening Daze" and also we also met on a sunset so its pretty clever for someone like me if I do say so myself." Michael went on about the details of the bracelet as Yuuma was still hung up on the words Michael used before he even went off topic.

"Michael-kun, what do you mean a bet?" Yuuma asked as Michael's smile turned a little sad.

"...Well, I mean not that many people who go up to me and ask me out and thinking on how your so nice and a good listener you might have been pushed to do something you didn't want to do so I tried to make it the best day ever for you so it wouldn't be lame." Michael explained.

"You thought that I was playing a trick on you for fun?" Yuuma covered her mouth.

"Yep." Michael nodded.

"And you still tried your best to make it a great date just for me?" Yuuma trembled.

"Of course, I might not be great yet, but I do know how to be kind to others who need it since I don't want others to ever feel let down like I have." Michael walked to the fountain and looked at the flowing water, "You see, I'm not well known at even my own school let alone a handful of people since there's nothing really interesting about me."

"But even if many people don't know me. I'm still happy because I got to know only a few who were willing to be my friend." Michael turned around to see Yuuma who was close to tears, "And it may have been a fake date, but I'm still happy I met you so Yuuma Amano, I'm glad that I could meet you and hope we can be friends."

A nice breeze passed through the park as Michael smiled down at the crying girl, who was still staring at him with admiration.

"Uh...isn't this the part where you say thank you, and leave?" Michael chuckled nervously since its the first time he's been in this situation.

_'He's a human and he didn't think about himself through the entire day only about me?' Yuuma slowly walked towards Michael with her hair covering his eyes, 'A human like this really exists, a human who didn't resent me even being half right that this date was a fake, a human who didn't see me at all for my appearance, a human who even tried to make me have the best day ever without considering his own self in the process.'_

_'Uh-Oh, she's getting pretty close what should I do?' Michael stepped back until a pair of arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him into a hug._

"Huh?" Michael blinked completely dumbfounded.

"Thank you." Yuuma smiled with streams of tears falling down her face,  _'There's no way that I could ever kill a boy such as him so heartlessly.'_

"Um, no problem." Michael hugged Yuuma back almost hesitantly as the moment went by a little fast until...

The sky suddenly turned a dark shade of purple as something felt wrong within the area.

"Huh, what just happened?" Michael asked as he looks at the sky.

"A barrier?" Yuuma gasped, "And this color must mean that *Gasp!*" Yuuma then detected something aimed at Michael and pushed him down, "Michael-kun, get down!"

"Whoa!" Before falling Michael catches sight of a weird looking blue light weapon gliding past them and exploding upon impact against a tree, "Was that a spear?"

"Damn! I missed." A male's voice from within the now dark woods resounded as a figure begins walking towards the pair.

"Dohnaseek, what are you doing here!?" Yuuma screamed as she laid atop of Michael who winced from crashing into the ground.

_'What in the hell is going on? She knows this guy and what was he trying to do?' Michael grunts in pain as he sees a middle aged man with_   _short black hair and dark blue eyes while wearing a pale violet trenchcoat over a white dress shirt with a matching ascot, black pants and shoes, and a black fedora._

"You were taking too long to finish off the kid so I decided to do it for you but by the looks of it, you seem to be hesitating." Dohnaseek smirked.

"Quiet, who even said you could even come here at all?" Yuuma stood up taking a defensive stance against the man.

"Know your place, child. Compared to me your still inexperienced in combat and below me in seniority." Dohnaseek spat furious with the angry tone Yuuma is giving him.

"I don't care about what you think of me I won't allow you to harm Michael-kun!" Yuuma clenched her fist.

"Are you serious? What happened to the plan? Weren't you the one, who said that humans were inferior beings compared to us Fallen Angels?" Dohnaseek grew a demented smirk as he looks at Michael's shocked face.

"Fallen Angels?" Michael repeated as he picks himself up.

"The human doesn't know and you were here getting close up and personal with him. How sad but quite hilarious!" Dohnaseek cackled to himself, then turned his attention to Michael and said, "Hey, kid, listen the two of us aren't exactly like you pathetic humans."

"What do you mean?" Michael growled as he didn't like the man's tone.

"You see, we're something of a higher existence than humans such as you, I'm or should I say we're-!" Dohnaseek looks over to Yuuma who was frightened as he brought her into his explanation.

"No, Michael-kun don't listen to this cover your ears!" Yuuma reached out for Michael's ears but was only able to get to his shoulders as Dohnaseek made a huge reveal.

"Fallen Angels." To prove his point, Dohnaseek unfurled a pair of black angel wings from behind his back which shocked Michael.

"Whoa, then that must mean?" Michael looks to Yuuma who lowers her head in shame and also unfurls her Jet Black Wings, "Fallen Angels are actually real and your one, too?"

"I couldn't tell you this because-!" Yuuma stopped herself before she could finish.

"What?" Michael tilts his head at that as Dohnaseek just laughed some more earning a glare from Michael.

"Isn't it obvious, kid? She was going to kill you!" Dohnaseek cackled as Michael froze and stared at the man.

"K-Kill me?" Michael looks back to Yuuma who starting to cry.

"And also the name she picked out for herself is fake. What you actually thought was a coincidental meeting was just a death flag in front of your face the whole time. That name was supposed to be a reference to your death this evening." Dohnaseek explained further, "Her real name is Raynare, and after hearing all of the things that she kept from you and were about to do to you, don't you think she's a total bitch?"

"N-No, please don't listen any of please!" Raynare fell to her knees and began to sob loudly, "Please don't hate me, Michael-kun I-!"

"You didn't mean it? Is that what you want to say, but you said this mission was just to observe him, but as time passed on, you wanted to know how much his face would contort in either sadness or pain as his blood paints the ground beneath him. Your just a sick whore is what you are!" Dohnaseek broke the slowly crumbling will of Raynare as her sobs grew more louder until...

"So your name is Raynare, huh?" Michael stood up as he stared upon the girl with neutral eyes.

_'I deserve to be hated, I deserve it! I deserve it! I deserve i-!' Raynare cried._

"Well, if your name is Raynare, then allow me to introduce myself. My name is Michael Hanamura." Michael grinned, "I hope that we can be friends, so I can take care of you."

"Michael, what are you doing?" Raynare questioned but Michael just winked at her then stepped forward to Dohnaseek.

"You may have tried to kill me but, you didn't that I can understand. So I really can't hate you for something you didn't do." Michael pulled his goggles down to hang onto his neck.

"M-Michael." Raynare sniffled.

"And besides its this bastard, who I'm pissed at." Michael glares at Dohnaseek, "Making my friend cry is something you'll regret."

"Oh, and what are you going to do about it, brat?" Dohnaseek asked as Michael grinned.

"If you really must know, then I'll declare it to you the only way I know how." Michael chuckled then puts his hands on his hips and shouted, "I, the Great and Awesome Michael Hanamura declares this to you, Yu- no, Raynare. I will not forget the time that we shared even if you intended to kill me because our meeting is something I'll hold dear for my life so stop crying and continue to smile while I kick the ass of this bastard who insulted you!"

"Don't pull me down to the same level as you, kid. I'll do the finishing job as soon as you blink." Dohnaseek cracked his knuckles.

"Try me, bitch!" Michael charged in headfirst to punch the man while cocking back his fist to which Dohnaseek simply flies over his head and dodges the blow.

"Is that really all you got, kid? How pathetic." Dohnaseek glides down and put his foot out which shot Michael back into a tree.

"Guh!" Michael grunts in pain as he stands up once more.

"Still standing? Just keel over already kid!" Dohnaseek charged at Michael while cocking back his fist.

"All I wanna do is punch you one time for insulting Raynare!" Michael roared as he shot his fist forward also, but missed as Dohnaseek landed a strong blow against Michael's face which sent him flying back but the boy kept on standing and charging at the man.

"I just want to hit you once!" Michael roared as he went for another punch only to be missed as Dohnaseek steps to the right to dodge then knees the kid's gut then kicks him to the side.

"Not yet." Michael gags bloody vomit from the blow, but kept getting up.

"Stupid brat know your place and just stay down!" Dohnaseek laughed as he and Michael continued their one sided brawl, Michael was the one getting beaten up as Dohnaseek was able to successfully land many blows upon his face chest and stomach.

***THUD!***

***WHOOSH!***  Sounds of Michael missing his hits!

***THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!***

***WHOOSH!***

***THUD!***

By the time the brawl reached over 15 minutes, Michael was already a bleeding mess from his nose to his mouth as he kept going on despite the pain he was given.

"Stay down already, dammit!" Dohnaseek growled as he knocked Michael down momentarily happy to see the boy stay down for a few seconds until he gets up once more, "Your starting to get on my nerves, kid!"

"I won't s-stop u-until I land on-e hit o-on you." Michael spat out more blood as he staggered in each step he made.

"Michael-kun, please just stay down!" Raynare screamed.

"N-No, he made fun of you, a-and what kind of friend would I be if I didn't punch him at least once?" Michael grunts as he takes one more punch to the face which forces him back, but he stays in place.

"Even knowing what I tried to do, you'll still try to protect me?" Raynare was still on the verge of tears at the sight.

"What?" Dohnaseek gasped.

"Until I get one hit...I-I won't stop until he feels pain from the furious fist of Michael Hanamura!" Michael growls as he fights against the pressure of the fist and pushes Dohnaseek back with all his might which was able to cause the man to stagger back.

"A human taking one of my punches and still standing? Impossible!" Dohnaseek gasped as he had trouble with staggering back.

Gaining some ground, Michael kept moving forward and was way past his limit but kept moving wanting to at least punch the man who insulted his friend and made her cry while laughing.

_'I may not be strong or smart or even special, but all I want is to just punch this guy in the face for making fun of my friend, Ray-chan!' Suddenly a green jewel appeared on Michael's right hand as a green aura from it envelops his right arm in the shape of a red dragon clawed gauntlet, 'Just one punch! I just want to punch this bastard just-!'_

"A sacred gear!?" Raynare gasped at the sight.

"ONCE!" Michael roared as he charges forward at Dohnaseek.

**[BOOST!]** Michael's body became enveloped in a large red aura as his power grew.

"You shitty brat!" Dohnaseek was able to create a blue light spear to block the punch and burn the teen's hand.

**[BOOST!]** More power surged through Michael's body as he grew more stronger than before.

"This is for making her cry!" Michael roared loudly as he leaned into Dohnaseek more faster and fired his fist forward and collided the gauntlet with the spear.

_'His movements have gotten faster, but what is this power? Mo human should have this much!' Dohnaseek gritted his teeth as he continued to struggle with the pressure of the punch which kept going._

"Rrrrrrraaaaaaahh!" Michael growled with his mouth closed.

_'I just want one punch! Its all I want!' Michael shouted in his mind but heard a loud voice roar this through his mind:_

**[Then go DO IT!]**

"GOOOOOOOO!" Michael roared as the jewel of the gauntlet glows brighter once more as a red aura covered Michael's entire body.

**[Magnum!]**

The Gauntlet charges up all the power it stored and blasted it all at Dohnaseek in a single instant as the man received a penetrating huge red magic bullet to the chest.

"Guuuuaaggh!" Dohnaseek coughs out tons of blood as he crashes into many trees that soon topple over him.

Watching the scene unfold, Raynare could barely believe her eyes.

"He was able to drive back Dohnaseek all by himself." Raynare gasped then looked over at Michael who looked at his new gauntlet closely.

"A voice is telling me that this is called... **Boosted Gear**." The gauntlet disappeared upon its name was discovered.

"Ray-chan, guess what?" Michael gave the fallen angel a thumbs up, "I punched him, so smile oka-?" Michael's eyes grew wearily as he falls back onto the ground with a loud *THUD!*.

"Michael-kun!" Raynare rushed over to the male and helps him up, "You idiot, you didn't have to do all of this for me!" Raynare's tears drop onto Michael's smiling face.

Then out of the blue a red light glows from within Michael's pocket as Raynare pulls it out her eyes widened as she screams, "A devil's seal."

She drops it as the seal radiates brightly on the ground and summons a beautiful woman with crimson hair into the area as she looks down upon the fallen Michael with a smile while muttering the words, "Oh dear, it seems that this child is such a reckless one also."

"Err..." Michael opened his eyes to catch sight of the woman to only the color of, "...Crimson?"

* * *

**Next Chapter- Human Life over a Devil's Life, Why do I have to choose!?**


	3. Human Life over a Devil's Life, Why do I have to choose!?

**Human Life over a Devil's Life, Why do I have to choose!?**

* * *

 

**Disclaimer- I do not own Highschool DxD except my own created OC's!**

* * *

_(In Michael's consciousness)_

_In a windy wasteland was a passed out, Michael, who stirs himself awake as the bright sun above disturbed his rest._

_"Man, that's bright." Michael sits up to see the vast empty lot of the wasteland before him, "Where am I?"_

_Picking himself up, he looks at the many rock formations around him and sees nothing ahead or anything such as clouds in the sky except the blazing sun above._

_"How did I end up here?" Michael said to himself as he could only recount so much of what happened._

_Suddenly a large shadow began to cast over Michael entirely._

_"What's tha-?" Michael turned around and grew pale as he sees the sight of a large red dragon looking down upon him with a prideful glare._

_"Um, excuse me, but what the heck are you!" Michael screamed as points at the being._

_..._

_Receiving no answer, the winds of the wasteland filled the background of the area as Michael continued to stare at the giant creature with fear._

_"So, uh..." Michael trailed off while staring off then stared at the dragon, "Are we just gonna stand here, or should I run for my life because I'm gonna be honest this is sort of uncomfortable."_

**_[Child, are you capable of baring the responsibility of holding my power!?]_ **

_"What?" Michael stepped back as the dragon's voice echoed throughout the wasteland._

_Then from out of nowhere the huge dragon bellowed out a huge..._

**_*ROOOOOOOOOAR!*_ **

_The force of the roar threw a huge gust of wind Michael's way which sent him rolling onto the floor._

_"Okay, I'll take that as run! Aaaaaaaaaah!" Michael picked himself up and ran as fast as his legs could carry him as the dragon launched itself with a beat of its wings and soared through the air._

_"Is this for real!?" Michael screamed as the dragon caught air in the sky and flew right on top of him, "Whoa, cool..." Michael was awed as he looked up but ten realized that the shadow it created grew bigger on top of him. He screamed as the view of the dragon landing atop of him grew bigger, "Not cool! Definitely not cool!"_

_"Gah!" Michael tripped over a rock and fell right on his face, "O-Ouch..." Picking himself up and rubbing his nose, Michael became unaware of his impending doom as he looks up and screams as the falling dragon smothers him with its giant size._

_(In Reality)_

Waking up abruptly, Michael could see nothing but darkness and could hardly breathe at that, he flung his arms back and forth as he tried to break loose from whatever it was suffocating him. After a few moments of pointless struggle something released the back of his neck which made him free but sadly he was on the edge of the bed and falls back onto his head.

"Yeowch!" Michael cried in pain as he rolled on the floor gripping his head. He was currently wearing a black shirt and white boxers.

_'What was that!?' Michael fixed himself and sat up while rubbing his head, 'A dragon? But why that all of a sudden?'_

Then something hit Michael in thought.

"Wait, is this my apartment?" Michael looked around to see the old setting of his usual bland room as usual, "I thought that I was on my date with Yuu-...*Gasp!*" The images of Michael going out with Yuuma, him giving her the bracelet, and finally a dark image of Dohnaseek cackling while Raynare cried.

"That's right. Raynare was crying!" Michael shouted upon realization, "I have to make sure that she's fine quick!"

As soon as Michael took his first steps, he tripped over a pile of folded clothing.

"Damn me, and my inability to put clothes in the dresser." Michael grunts then remembered something, "Wait, all of my laundry was being washed before my date, so they should still be in the washer, so what did I trip over?" Sitting up, Michael found a few articles of clothing on the floor which was a female Kuoh Academy uniform.

"What's this doing here?" Michael picked up the clothing and examined it only to come across a pair of black lacy underwear, "Huh, who left this stuff here? I sure hope it wasn't Saji or else we're gonna have a lot to talk about..." Michael shook his head as he picked them up and stretched them, "Weird, is this what one of these look like? It looks uncomfortable to wear."

"It seems like your enjoying yourself there." A female's voice giggled from behind Michael.

"Well, I'm just curious. Nothing much and besides my friend must have left this here and took a picture of it in my room to either pull a prank or something." Michael answered without turning back.

"Oh my, then it seems like your friend really went all out to prank you with my clothes." The voice said.

"Yeah, wait..." Michael stopped examining the panties then looked ahead with a dull expression, "Who am I talking to?"

"Why don't you turn around and find out?" The voice suggested.

Slowly looking back, Michael catches sight of the attractive girl's body sitting on his bed his eyes widened because the body which was displayed was completely naked. Looking up to see the face Michael's mouth dropped to see it was the beautiful, Rias Gremory one of two of the Academy's Great Ladies and she is currently in his room completely naked.

"Hello and good morning, Michael-kun." Rias smiled at the frozen Michael.

_'What the-!'_

"Hell!?" Michael jumped back to the side of his room's wall with an astonished look, "What's going on here? How did you get in here and why!?"

"I could ask you the same thing. You're going through my clothing and messing with my underwear, then you yell at me for answers? I would find that quite hypocritical don't you think?" Rias teased.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't-... wait a minute, your trying to change the subject by making me feel guilty aren't you?" Michael started off apologetically then grew quietly angry.

"No, actually I have no problems with you touching some of my stuff since we did lay together." Rias shrugged.

"What does that mean?" Michael looked puzzled then looked at Rias' chest with no shame then remembered his loss of air while sleeping. Linking those two together Michael was able to get the answer which bugged him from the start, "Wait, so you mean my face were between your breasts?"

"That's a rather less tact way to say it, but yes." Rias nodded.

"..." Michael had a disappointed expression then sighed, "Okay, that aside for now since I'm still curious. I wanna know what's going on and why your on my bed naked?"

"All of those are good questions, but I'll answer them after we get to school." Rias picks herself up and walks over to Michael still naked.

"Hey don't dodge the question why are you here?" Michael asked suspiciously until Rias sticks out her hand, "What?"

"I'd rather much appreciate my underwear back please." Rias smiled.

Michael perked up in realization and saw the laced garment in his hand then stuttered as he quickly puts it in Rias' hand.

"R-Right, my bad." Michael stammered.

Rias smiled at the boy's embarrassment then proceeded to changing right in front of him.

"Wait, what are you doing now?" Michael said while looking away.

"I'm just changing nothing you should worry about." Rias said with no hint of alarm.

"Of course, I should worry!" Michael screamed.

"How so?" Rias asked.

"Because you're a girl, and I'm a boy! Which means we totally can't change in the same room!" Michael said with a red face.

"But you've already seen me naked, so I see no trouble with just putting on my clothes in the same room as you." Rias retorted as Michael froze at that.

She was right there was nothing strange about the act as it was actually vice versa.

"You know what? Fine, have it your way." Michael groaned as he got his own clothes and rushed out the room, "You'll change here while I change in the bathroom."

***SLAM!***

"Interesting, I guess I won that one." Rias laughed to herself then said, "But seeing the way he acted made the reward of doing it so much fun."

In the bathroom, Michael had already finished changing as he fixed his scarf with the mirror.

"Man, what is her problem? I know she's the school's Great Lady and all, but I'm so confused! I don't even know how to react." Michael said to himself, "She does look beautiful and stuff, but I still don't see why she's so popular that everyone praises her and Akeno-senpai? Maybe because they are third years." Michael crossed his arms in thought then groaned, "Man thinking this much hurts I better just get ready for school."

Walking out the bathroom, Michael sees an unthinkable sight it was his living room it had been completely cleaned along with the kitchen.

"Am I dreaming? What is this?" Michael was in awe, "I haven't seen this place so clean ever since I moved in."

"That's because I took care of it." Rias exited out from within the kitchen while wearing an apron.

"You?" Michael's eyes widened.

"Of course, the place was too stuffy and looked kind of sad so I dealt with why do you dislike it." Rias questioned.

"No, its just uh...thank you, Rias-senpai." Michael smiled nervously.

"No worries now lets have breakfast." Rias walked to the table.

"Breakfast?" Michael said disappointed as he remembered he literally had no food left in his fridge after blowing it all on his date.

"Come on now. Don't be shy I made enough for you to be full and with the ingredients you had in your fridge I was able to make something nice to eat." Rias reveals a plate of rice with an omelet on top of it.

"Wait, you made that?" Michael gasped.

"Yes, but I'm sorry it couldn't make more for later, but because your food stock was very limited I did all I could." Rias apologized then looked up to see a salivating Michael looking at the breakfast.

"N-No problem." Michael tried to play it off normally but the amazement in his eyes got the best of him.

 _'All I've been eating these past years have been nothing, but junk food, fast food and cup of noodles, but seeing something home made seems almost unreal to me.' Michael thought as he enjoyed his home cooked breakfast to the fullest and began his descent to school_   _by the side of his senpai._

Upon walking through the academy's front gate many eyes fell upon Rias and Michael walking together like it was some kind of paranormal occurrence. Many of the female students whispered among each other why the Great Lady was walking with a nobody such as him. As for the males had no words to summarize how envious they were of Michael as they shot him anger filled glares that Michael tried to ignore but couldn't as he felt somewhat happy about it.

"I'm leaving for class now, but thanks for walking me here, Michael-kun." Rias bowed graciously.

"Um...no problem." Michael said with a neutral tone, "But I thought you would tell me?"

"I know, I haven't forgotten that's why I'll send someone to pick you up, so we can discuss your meeting with that Fallen Angel." Rias explained.

"Fallen Angel?" Michael then remembered Raynare, "Wait, you mean, Raynare-chan?"

"Teehee, I'll see you later than Hanamura, Michael." Rias giggled while walking away.

"Wait!" Michael called out, "Why won't you just answer me, being mysterious isn't attractive, you know!?" Michael looked up then cursed, "Crap! Can't even say that with a straight face!"

"Did you hear that, he's casually talking to Rias-senpai as if they were friends!" A girl screamed in shock for all to hear.

"And they also walked to school together, so could they be in a secret relationship?" Another girl said aloud.

"Dammit, Hanamura! No wonder why your so unnoticeable!" A buff male student shouted.

_'But I've been trying to get noticed! Why is it now when I'm noticed that I'm being prosecuted?' Michael comically cried to himself._

"Quick! Get everyone together!" A male student pulled on his executioner hood from the VVV along with a few others behind him, "The pagan must die."

"Well, f*** me then." Michael gasped in surprise then ran away.

"Don't let him get away!" The gathered VVV members chased after Michael with many whips or blunt weapons.

And that resumed from 1st period until lunch where Michael narrowly avoided their assault, now he is eating lunch with his two friend Matsuda and Motohama who were interrogating him.

"Okay cough it up, Michael, why were you with the buxom babe Rias-senpai this morning?" Motohama asked.

"Well, no reason actually. I was just able to meet up with her during my walk to school." Michael pulled out the leftovers from the breakfast head for lunch.

"Are you sure that's what happened? Nothing involving you guys hooking up?" Matsuda quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Michael nodded.

"Are you really sure?" Motohama asked.

"Yes." Michael grinned.

"Well, good because if you did hook up with her, then we'd have to call other VVV members from the other schools to hunt you down." Matsuda shrugged.

"Yeah, that would be ba-! Wait, there are more of you guys?" Michael asked.

"Of course, and what do you mean 'you' guys you're a member, too." Motohama reminded.

"But I thought that you got mad over the photo I sent you of my girlfriend." Michael sighed as he could still remember Raynare.

"Girlfriend?" The both looked at each other then laughed loudly, "Seriously? You have a girlfriend get real!"

"Yeah, it'd be the apocalypse if that happened to you and not us!"

"But you saw her picture, didn't you?" Michael asked.

"No, we haven't and if we did then we'd be totally bitter about it." The pair nodded.

_'You already were.' Michael sweatdropped._

"Shut up, I did have one and here's the proof!" Michael pulled out his phone and looked for Raynare's picture which was nowhere to be seen.

_'What's this?' Michael's eyes grew wide._

"So are you gonna show us or what?" Matsuda questioned.

_'What happened to her photo its always been in here!?' Michael panicked as he glossed over his gallery for more than 4 times._

"Stop bluffing man and just face the facts, you don't have a girl, okay?" Motohama shrugged.

"But seriously, you don't even remember her?" Michael questioned.

"Nope." They shook their heads.

_'This doesn't make any sense. What could this even mean?' Michael clenched his fist in anger._

"Kyaaaaaaah~!" The girls in class rushed over to the classroom's door, "It's Yuuto-kun!"

"Yuuto?" Michael repeated that name familiar with it somehow.

"It's that stupid Pretty boy, Yuuto Kiba!" Motohama grinded his teeth.

"Always getting the girls while we have to suffer on the sidelines with nothing at all!" Matsuda clenched his fist while visualizing just that.

"Oh well, he may be handsome, but I still got my amazing charm." Michael crossed his arms and nodded.

"Yeah, and there it is. There goes the bullshit meter going way up." Motohama shook his head, "Get real, dude."

"Motohama that was seriously harsh, man." Michael sighed.

The sounds of footsteps approached Michael and his group and as the boy looked over to his right he saw the handsome young man with short blonde hair, grey eyes with a mole under it while in his Kuoh Academy school uniform.

"Michael Hanamura, I take it?" Kiba asked.

"Um, yes." Michael nodded.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Yuuto Kiba." Kiba introduced himself, "Now would you mind coming with me?"

"Okay, I guess..." Michael then stood up, but then gasped, "Wait a minute!" Michael pointed at Kiba.

"Huh?" Kiba asked in confusion.

"I remember you now! You're that jerk, who upstaged me last year during the school festival!" Michael screamed while grinding his teeth, "And that time I trained my hardest to be fast, but then when I was so close to get 1st place you suddenly appeared out of nowhere to take the spotlight!"

"I was? I don't remember that. It seems like its been a while ago that I actually forgot." Kiba smiled.

"F-Forgot..." Michael sucked in his lips and looked down in embarrassment,  _'I-I didn't forget it...'_

"Forgive me for my lack of memory." Kiba bowed, apologetically.

"You know what fine take me to wherever your going. I don't care anymore." Michael groaned in disappointment.

"Sorry." Kiba chuckled nervously.

"Just walk god dammit!" Michael yelled in a hissed tone.

Exiting the classroom together led many of the female students to cry over why Yuuto chose Michael to walk with him, while assuming many ships between the pair as most of them cried in sadness while others were strangely overjoyed by the idea.

Upon walking through campus the pair were able to an old creepy looking building which seemed to have a strange pressure exuding from within. He knew there was the old school building before entering the academy but he had mostly avoided it because it gave that old haunted house feeling.

_'Something doesn't feel right.' Michael thought as he stared at the old school building, 'Never thought I'd end up in this place, I sure hope this upstaging bastard could tell me why he getting me for something.'_

"Are you coming?" Yuuto asked as he opened the door.

"Oh, yeah." Michael nodded and proceeded to follow the young man into the building where they entered a room filled with some strange furniture which seemed sort of fancy looking to Michael.

"Wow, talk about classy." Michael smiled nervously then thought,  _'I have felt this classy since I attended Saji's mother's book club.'_

_(Flashback)_

_5 months ago, Michael and Saji were helping his mother with her group of friends set up a book club at her house, but everything fell to ruin upon her bringing out a deli platter. And thus this happened..._

_"Do not do this!" Saji held out a fork as he stood in front of the frightened woman including his own mom._

_"Are you kidding me?" Michael screamed, then hugged the deli platter tightly, "Look at the variety!"_

_"Okay, dude, you need to stop!" Saji shouted._

_"You know how I live! I can only afford and live off of basic ramen cups for 3 months, and you know how I get when I'm around assorted cheeses!" Michael cried comically as he started to drool over the platter._

_"Michael, seriously, that's for everyone put it down!" Saji inched closer to Michael._

_"I can't! My hunger for fresher foods is corrupting me help!" Michael cried._

_"Fine..." Saji sighed._

_"But Genshirou that was supposed to be-" Saji raised his hand to stop his mother from continuing._

_"This is the only way." Saji sighed then turned to Michael, "I'll help, but the only way to do that is by eating all of the cheeses before you do."_

_"I know! Lets make this a freaking competition!" Michael roared excitedly, "But knowing me, I know I'll win when it comes to eating food!"_

_"But first you have to control yourself." Saji implied._

_"Screw you, I'm always in control!" Michael threw the platter down in anger then realized what he did as everyone looked also in an astonished/surprised fashion. Looking up almost simultaneously all eyes were directed at Michael who continued looking at it._

_"Yeah...I'm still going to eat that." Michael said with half lidded eyes._

_(Present)_

Surveying the room more closely, Michael sees a small petite little girl eating a parfait without noticing or even acknowledging his presence in the room at all. Her specific appearance was a young girl with white hair and hazel eyes as the front hair has two long bangs going past her shoulders and several loose bangs hanging over her forehead, while the back has a short bob cut. She also wears a black cat-shaped hair clip on both sides of her hair. She's currently wearing the Kuoh Academy girls' school uniform, without the shoulder cape.

"Michael-kun, this is Koneko Toujo, she's a member of the Occult Research Club, and Koneko-chan this is Michael Hanamura." Yuuto introduced the two.

"Hello, there nice to meet you." Michael waved.

"..." Koneko just continued to eat her parfait in silence.

"Oi, I said hello." Michael gave a fake smile while clenching his fist in anger.

"..." Koneko simply glanced up and nodded at him before she simply went back to eating.

"Okay, what's her deal?" Michael whispered to Yuuto.

"Oh, nothing. That's just the way, Koneko-chan is. She doesn't talk much." Yuuto chuckled, "But I'm sure you'll both get along."

"Get along for what, and what is the occult research club you just said for?" Michael asked with confusion written on his face,  _'And besides she's too focused on what she's eating to even say a simple hello to me I don't think we'll barely be friends at that rate.'_

Suddenly noises from besides the room began to grow louder as if a shower was running!

"A shower here?" Michael sweatdropped,  _'How can a club just own a shower that easily?'_

"Buchou, I'm leaving your clothes right here, okay?" A female's voice was heard inside of the other room.

"Thank you, Akeno." Another female's voice resounded through the shower as Michael felt familiar with it.

"Wait is that Rias-senpai?" Michael gasped.

"That's right, she's the club's president if you hadn't have noticed." Exiting from the steaming shower was a fully dressed young woman with a buxom figure, with very long black hair and violet eyes. Her hair is tied in a long ponytail, reaching all the way down to her legs with two strands sticking out from the top and sloping backwards, with an orange ribbon keeping it in place. She also wears the customary Kuoh Academy girls' school uniform but with black knee-high socks.

Stunned as the girl approaches him more closely, Michael didn't know what to say or do.

_'Damn! What do you say to a girl, who just leaves a shower as if nothing happened?' Michael thought._

"Ara Ara, no need to be so shy I don't bite so please relax." The female gave Michael a smile only a Big Sister could which relaxed him.

"O-Okay." Michael calmed down then smiled, "Wait, now I remember! Your Akeno-senpai, one of two of the Great Ladies of the school."

"Already informed on me I see, but yes. My name is Akeno Himejima, Vice President of the ORC club pleasure to make your acquaintance, Michael Hanamura." Akeno bowed graciously.

"Yeah..." Michael nodded then thought,  _'Just like Rias-senpai, she seems to give off a mature feeling, something to which I do not have.'_

Now exiting from the shower was drying Rias who wore nothing but a towel.

"It seems you made it, Michael-kun." Rias smiled showing no shame of her appearance in front of the teen.

"Y-Yeah." Michael tried to keep his calm in the absurdity of this place as he looked to Yuuto who just kept a nice guy smile on.

_'Am I the only one who even acknowledges her current appearance because I know any other guy would, but me I can't enjoy it because I don't want to look like a bigger idiot reacting shocked and embarrassed.' Michael sweatdropped then suddenly turned around once Rias began changing to which brought upon laughter from Akeno who enjoyed the boy's hidden embarrassment._

"All done?" Michael asked, "So I can look you in the face?"

"Yes, you may turn around now." Rias approved.

Turning around Michael looks Rias in the face and sighed, "Okay I've been in the dark ever since you appeared in my room out of nowhere so could I please get an explanation?"

"Isn't it supposed to be an introduction before heading towards the point?' Rias smiled teasingly towards the teen.

"Grr..." Michael growled nervously,  _'Dammit, she got me there!'_

"Right, sorry, my name is Michael Hanamura. I'm a 2nd year, but you may call me The Great Hanamura if you want." Michael coughed which earned some laughter among the club as Koneko simply stared at the teen, stoically.

_'I don't know why, but it feels as though she's staring holes into my brain.' Michael gulped._

"Now that your finished, we're back to the main topic which is the explanation you wanted, correct?" Rias asked while quirking an eyebrow, "Are you sure?"

"Yes! I can't deal with the stress of not knowing!" Michael shouted in frustration.

Walking over to Rias' side of the room where her desk resides, Akeno, Yuuto and Koneko stand beside Rias while looking at the confused teen with serious stares.

"Okay, then I'll tell you by first introducing ourselves as devils." Rias calmly stated.

"Huh?" Michael's body paled upon hearing the word 'devil', "Could you please repeat that?"

"Like I said we are devils?" Rias asked somewhat curiously.

"EHHHH!?" Michael screamed in surprise.

Calmly explaining the situation to the boy, Rias then explained that Devils are beings which existed along with the Fallen Angels a race of angels which Michael have encountered so far. And that Devils heavily opposed them since ancient times and that many wars broke out between the two factions in the Underworld as Angels are sent down from Heaven to eliminate the two races under God's orders which basically comes down to the basic opposing sides of each race.

After digesting all of this, Michael was finally able to process a little of what he heard.

"So you're all devils?" Michael asked.

"Correct." Rias nodded.

"And you're here to..." Michael trailed off.

"Well, the ORC club is basically a camouflage, so we can perform our regular devil activities while avoiding the public eye, like making pacts with humans to increase our strength." Rias explained.

"Okay, that sums up who you guys are, but what I want to know is where is Yuuma-chan?" Michael tilts his head.

"You mean the fallen angel that was about to assassinate you?" Rias questioned with some confusion in her eyes.

"Urp...yes that one." Michael sighed and nodded, he couldn't really forget that part but he overlooked it, seeing as to how he's still alive it didn't really affect him that much anymore.

"I have no further intelligence on her whereabouts except for the fact that she was taken away by the another fallen angel in the area." Rias propped her head up while explaining, "But she did make a request out of the seal you were given."

"Seal?" Michael repeated, then remembered that nice brown haired lady who gave the flier.

"But what was the wish used for?" Michael asked.

"She begged and pleaded for your safety under my wing as she dealt with her fellow rampaging fallen angel herself." Rias stated rather coldly still having mixed feelings about that wish.

"She asked for that?" Michael smiled to himself then sighed in relief, "If she did that then that means I should go find and thank her."

"What?" Rias gasped.

"I mean she did request for my safety me, so its only fair." Michael grinned then bowed to the ORC club, "Thank you for telling me everything." He began to leave for the door until Rias stops him.

"But you still don't know why you were targeted by the Fallen Angels still." Rias' words stopped Michael in his tracks.

"They targeted me for something?" Michael asked.

"Yes, within you holds a sacred hear a power which could only be found in humans." Rias said.

"Sacred Gear." Michael said while looking at his hand.

"Allow me to explain it easily for you." Yuuto stepped forward.

"Its okay, I'm fine without knowing." Michael raised his hand while shaking his head.

"You see, sacred gears are irregular powers bestowed upon a few amongst humans who were either known throughout history as possessors of a sacred gear." Kiba explained.

"And yet, you still explain it but keep going this is interesting." Michael shrugged.

"Basically, any person you know in the world who plays an important part probably has one already." Akeno finished Kiba's explanation.

"So what your saying is. I have a Sacred Gear in me and it could make me important?" Michael gasped in amazement.

"Yes that's also the reason why I called you here today because your going to unlock it." Rias stood up then smiles, "To do it raise your hand and think of the strongest person you can think of."

"Alright, lets do it!" Michael grinned in excitement and raised his right arm as he closed his eyes while thinking of someone he thinks is really strong,  _'That dragon in my dream looked badass so maybe him no wait what am I thinking I already know whose the strongest!'_

Raising his arm in the air Michael roars, "I, The Great Michael Hanamura will stand over all!"

***FWOOSH!***

Suddenly an intense green/red aura envelops his arm and slowly forms a red gauntlet with dragon tipped claws and a green jewel on the hand with a gold inscribed mark of a dragon.

**[Dragon Booster!]**

"Now that's what I'm talking about." Michael said in astonishment, "What is it?"

"Ara Ara, Buchou you were right he is a special one." Akeno laughed into her hand.

"Michael Hanamura, you are currently holding the power known as  **Boosted Gear: The Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet**  a weapon which holds the power of the Welsh Dragon within it. It's ability is to allow the owner of whoever wields it boost every 10 seconds."

"Wow, that sounds awesome." Michael whispered to himself.

"Now for my other reason of calling you here." Rias walked over to the teen who gulped nervously.

"Yeah." Michael asked.

"Would you like to become my servant?" Rias extends her hand to Michael.

"Servant?" Michael sweatdropped.

"Being a High-class devil means I've been given special pieces to reincarnate humans to become devils themselves as servants." Rias smiles full of affection, "With my care you'll be able to control your power and find a life you'll enjoy so would you become my adorable servant Michael-kun?"

Michael rubbed his chin in thought as all eyes focused on him intently finally breathing out heavily Michael looks up at Rias and tilts his head to the side with a smile while saying,

"No."

* * *

**Next Chapter- I make friends with a Nun! But enemies with a Fallen Angel and Psychotic Priest!**


	4. I make friends with a Nun! But enemies with a Fallen Angel and Psychotic Priest!

**I make friends with a Nun! But enemies with a Fallen Angel and Psychotic Priest!**

* * *

While walking back home from school, Michael was busy focused looking at his right hand intently, he felt something strange within himself after summoning his sacred gear by himself; he tried to guess what it was. But right now, he needed to focus on something important, rescuing Raynare and thanking her for saving his life after that he didn't know what to do...

But one thing is for certain if he's going to do it, then he's doing it himself with no one's help not even from those devils...

_(Flashback)_

_"No." Michael shook his head everyone in the room wasn't surprised by the answer but wondered why he chose it._

_"I'm sorry for wasting your time." Michael bowed then headed for the door._

_"Could you please at least explain why you refused the offer?" Rias crossed her arms._

_"Why?" Michael stopped himself from reaching for the doorknob then turned back, "Because I don't feel like being tied down as a servant without a reason except just for power, sure it sounds awesome but that's not worth giving away my human life." Michael shook his head, "But I do want strength I can achieve on my own and I don't want someone else to do that for me."_

_"I see." Rias sighed._

_"But don't get the wrong idea, I won't tell anyone about this stuff so relax." Michael scratched the back of his head then grinned, "Because something as huge as this deserves to be kept a secret so rely on me, Bet on it!"_

_Everyone in the room smiled at that resounding promise except Koneko who continued to stare stoically at the boy who grew even uncomfortable._

_'Come on, not even a little smile? This brat and I weren't going to get along at all.' Michael sweatdropped._

_"And besides, you guys said your race has been at war with the fallen angels, so I'll handle it myself and save Raynare. While proving that even I can beat powers higher than that of any human!" Michael roared excitedly._

_'Then maybe I can get known for something, hehehehe!' Michael gave a dirty laugh in his head._

_"Michael-kun." Akeno called the boy, "But are you sure that you want to save someone as lowly as her? She did try to kill you." Akeno made a serious expression._

_"Meh!" Michael shrugged, "I don't care about that since I'm still alive and breathing, and besides, she's my friend so I won't just leave her hanging."_

_Akeno was visibly surprised by that statement as Michael opened the door behind him while looking back._

_"Be honored that you met me, all of you because the next time that we meet, I'm gonna be someone that you'll want to be jealous of! Hahahaha!" Michael laughed heartily and walked out the room, but was stopped suddenly by Rias._

_"Michael-kun, wait." Rias grabbed the teen's shoulder._

_"Huh?" Michael looked back._

_'Gah! You ruined the moment! Why must everyone do that!' Michael screamed in his head._

_(Present)_

"So, she stopped me just to give me these, huh?" Michael lazily looked at a pair of seals in his hand while walking back home after school, but took his sweet time which made the time pass by quickly as the moon slowly rose into the night sky when he crosses over the road that he was on.

"Man, and I was trying to act all cool and stuff. What a drag..." Michael rubbed the back of his neck tiredly.

_'But wait a second...' Michael thought in realization._

"I just totally rejected an offer with the ORC the most well-known club on campus. Thus, making me one of the first to be able to do that!" Michael then fell to his knees while cheering, "I'm gonna be a legend after all!"

Michael giddily laughed to himself as he would tell some of the people who knew and answer their overly excited questions about them. Oh, the envy and praises he'll receive!

Then the atmosphere around the empty road grew cold, but not the night cold this one felt similar as before.

"How sad, a human being so happy that he'll be excluded from an activity with other humans..." A mature female's voice said with the pattering of slow footsteps.

"Who said that?" Michael turned around to see a pair of black wings over the horizon of the road, "Black wings again? Could it be..." Michael remembered the face of the bastard Dohnaseek, "Him?"

But to his surprise it was just an approaching woman who seemed rather tall for a woman but she had a tall and buxom figure with long, navy blue hair that obscured her right eye and brown eyes. Her attire consisted of a violet, trenchcoat-like top with a wide collar, a matching miniskirt, and black heeled shoes. The trench coat top was open at her chest, giving view to her breasts and cleavage. She also wore a gold necklace around her neck.

"It seems you were the human that Dohnaseek had trouble dealing with, but I still don't detect any sort of threat from you at all." The woman examined Michael closely while exuding a large killing intent.

"Who are you?" Michael asked.

"Seeing as how you're the one who's about to die, then I wouldn't worry about names." The woman summoned a yellow spear of light.

"Well, then I'll tell you mine. I am Michael Hanamura, a guy you'll soon regret messing with!" Michael proclaimed.

"Like I said names are the least of your problem, and even if I did hear of you, then I wouldn't have given a second thought of forgetting you even exist as we speak." The woman lunged at Michael with incredible speed and thrusts her spear at the boy

"Whoa, that's fast!" Michael rolled away from the attack as the spear crashes into the ground with a loud...

***DON!***

Michael looks up to see a small sized crater to where he was standing.

"Okay, note to self: Don't get hit by that." Michael gulped.

"Hold still!" The woman thrusts her light spear at Michael once again.

"Whoa!" Michael jumps to the side dodging the attack.

"Hah!" The woman then twists on her heel and kicks Michael on the side of his hip.

***BAM!***

"Urgh!" Michael grunts as he crashes into the wall.

"Die!" The woman lunged in for the final kill.

_'Alright this is it I can't hesitate now if I can somehow knock her out maybe she can tell me where Raynare is!' Michael composed himself and charges at the woman._

"Now you're going to grow a pair and fight?" The woman smirked.

"Just watch! I'll blow you away!" Michael shoots his fist forward at the woman's face pushing her back with the blow.

"Ngh!" The woman stuttered back.

_'Oh, crap! I just punched a girl. Now I feel like a jackass.' Michael looked at his fist with half lidded eyes._

But this was stopped once he heard the laughter of the woman as she stood up.

"Is that really the best you can do?" She looked at Michael with an overconfident smile and fixed her hair.

It looks like she did not receive any damage at all.

"What? I just punched you." Michael gasped in shock.

"So?" The woman questioned.

"So, shouldn't girls being crying in pain after getting hit?" Michael questioned.

"Why would you think that?" The woman narrowed her eyes.

"Because girls are weaker in strength compared to us guys!" Michael crossed his arms.

...An awkward silence overtook the atmosphere as a growing killing intent caught Michael off guard.

"You humans really are the worst." The woman grew a yellow fierce aura around herself as she formed a longer more menacing light spear, "Especially the male majority!"

"Hey, I'm not trying to be sexist! Just saying the truth, lady!" Michael raised his hands up defensively and leaned back from an incoming light spear thrust to the head.

With a single swipe of the spear the weapon was able to graze Michael's right cheek and cause a moderate amount of it to spill out.

"Calm down!" Michael panicked as the attack didn't end just there now the spear was pulled back and cut against Michael's left thigh.

"Agh!" Michael fell back gripping his bleeding leg as the fallen angel stood over him.

"Pathetic, and you say men are the strongest, but maybe in the end, you're just not one at all." The woman laughed arrogantly.

_'Come on! How do I summon my sacred gear again? Seriously, how because right now I definitely need it!' Michael looked at his hand and thought these words, 'Awaken! No? I summon Thee! No? Persona! Whoops, wrong series! Uh...Excelsior! Aw, come onnnn!' Michael failed many times just to summon the thing but it just wouldn't work._

***ZING!***

Though his attention was grabbed as the woman points her light spear towards Michael's throat.

"I still don't see why she couldn't kill you?" The woman said with boredom in her eyes.

"She? Wait, you mean Raynare-chan, don't you?" Michael asked still a little strained at his current position.

The woman responded with a simple nod and continued, "That's her but seriously she needs to pick better taste in men especially if she chooses a weakling like you, jeez that girl just doesn't know how to get her act straight that it really sickens me."

Michael gritted his teeth at the comment.

"But I was still curious as to why a fallen angel, who deeply lusted over our leader succumbed to the idea of forsaking such feelings, so she can now adore a bland human." The woman shrugged, "Many thoughts came into my head, so I decided to secretly watch you for the day and nothing came to mind about you at all. In fact, just to end this boredom, I wanted to do the world a favor and wipe you off the earth just for the hell of it."

"Shut up..." Michael growled under his breath.

"Hm?" The woman looked down upon the trembling Michael.

"Like I care about what you have to say about me or how I live my life. If it's something you don't like, then don't get involved." Michael clenched his fist, "Now tell me where Raynare-chan is. I have to thank her."

"You sure do talk big for someone in a pitiful position!" The woman intended to finish the boy off with a stab through his head but to her surprise Michael caught the blade just inches to his head.

"Tell me. Where is she...?" Michael growled lowly.

"Are you an idiot? Like I would ever tell a human information like that, and besides why would you even look for the person who tried to kill you?" The woman struggled trying to push the spear further but it wouldn't budge.

Although it may seem impressive, Michael's hand was burning as hell it felt as if he was being burned by a lick of flames but he still held on.

"Because she's my friend and I wouldn't leave her in the dark especially if that bastard who mocked her is with her!" Michael was able to stand as a bright red aura surrounds his leg's wounds giving him the strength to stand through the pain.

_'What?' The fallen angel was aghast at the sight, but lost sight of her target._

"Friends are Friends, no matter who or what they are, and what friend would I be if I can't even help her!?" Michael's right hand then became enveloped in a green glow as he summoned his red gauntlet by force.

**[Dragon Booster!]**

"Impossible!" The woman gasped.

_'He holds one of the mid-tier Longinus Sacred Gears this isn't good at all!' The woman thought._

With the boosted Gear out, Michael was able to protect his hands from the searing heat of the light spear as he pushes it back even.

"You, a child holds such power!?" The woman's eyes grew wider in surprise.

"I don't care about whatever you're concerned about. Now, just tell me where she is." Michael looked at the woman as a great fire grew ablaze in them, "Or else!"

**[BOOST!]**

The extra boost of power allowed Michael to crush the spear in his hand like nothing as sent the Fallen Angel a fierce glare.

"You, stupid human! A fallen angel shouldn't even interact with the likes of you inferior beings at all!" The woman charged at Michael again.

**[BOOST!]**

***WHOOSH!***

Michael steps to the side as the light spear completely misses him.

The fallen angel gasps as she looks to her right to see Michael looking down upon her with anger in his eyes, he proceeds to grab her by the wrist and raise her spear gripping hand into the air as he clenched his red gauntlet clad fist tightly.

"I don't care about what you think I can and can't do!" Michael's tone became calm, "I'm doing it anyways!"

***THUD!***

Michael drove his fist into the woman's gut and sent her into the street's curved wall with a loud...

***CRASH!***

"How was that?" Michael stood ready for more as the Fallen Angel was struggling to pick herself from the strong blow but could only cough up some blood while trembling after receiving the hit.

_'This power it's too great, but what makes it worse is that it's in the hands of this human...' The woman leans against the unbroken part of the wall then thought, 'He actually believes he could make friends with a Fallen Angel, interesting but I still don't see why she sees so much appeal in him?'_

"You want more because I'll do my best to get the information out of you even if I have to kick your ass!" Michael growled.

"You seem really serious..." The woman smirked.

"Of course, I am! All of this is for my friend, no one else!" Michael shouted.

"Hmph! Interesting." Regaining her composure, the woman stands up and stares Michael down, "You said your name was Michael Hanamura correct?"

"Yeah." Michael nodded.

"Well, since my name hasn't been introduced yet, I am Kalawarner a Fallen Angel." Kalawarner stated then smirked, "Listen well Hanamura, Michael because I'll only say this once. I will not allow you to see Raynare as far as you'll live if you continue to pursue her then I guarantee you won't live a normal life and will eventually die in the process."

Michael gulped.

"So, are you willing to give up your life for such a thing?" Kalawarner asked seriously,  _'Now let's see your true colors.'_

Seeing signs of fear in Michael, Kalawarner simply shook her head and was about to raise her hand to summon another spear to resume their fight, but something unexpected happened he was...laughing?

"Hahahahaha." Michael chuckled to himself.

"What's so funny?" Kalawarner questioned.

"I never expected anything to go back to being normal, so I wouldn't mind having a hectic life, and either way, I won't die because I'll save her. That's that." Michael grinned but then realized there was a small chuckle echoing through his head strangely, but ignored it.

He slowly clenches his gear clad fist and shouts, "So come at me with everything you've got, I'll prove to you that I can blow them away!"

Kalawarner was shocked by the comment as she felt conflicted about the boy's answer then bit her lip in a somewhat irritated way, "I see that you won't just keel over and forget any of this."

"Of course, I won't and even if I did, then you guys would try to pull something else on me." Michael punched his right fist into his left palm while grinning, "That's why I'll take you all out before saving Ray-chan.

Kalawarner stared at the boy for a while then giggled to herself.

"Why are you laughing now!" Michael growled annoyed she just ruined his cool moment.

"Take us all out? How rich, you must have some pretty big balls if you can say that to a higher being!" Kalawarner mocked.

"Oi, I will do it! You'll see and I'll make you beg for mercy under my feet." Michael growled.

"Whatever, I guess that will do for now. Until next time, Hanamura, Michael." Kalawarner turned around furled her wings then launched herself into the night sky as many black feathers were left behind.

_'An interesting human with strong words but those words alone will change nothing!' Kalawarner thought seriously but felt sort of envious for some reason._

Looking at the sky, Michael sighed and said, "Phew! I somehow made it."

* * *

Picking up his things, Michael then realized his sacred gear was still on and tried to put it away at will, but the damn thing wouldn't do as he pleased so he rushed home quickly and tried to resolve the issue there.

"Okay." Michael dropped his schoolbag on his bed and looked intently at the Boosted Gear, "How do I take you off?"

Michael tried pulling it off, but it wouldn't let go of his hand and thinking of no more options he slumped onto the floor in frustration.

"Why won't you come off? I can't wear this to school tomorrow, I'll look like a freak!" Michael panicked then realized, "Oh yeah, no one knows that I even exist there, but wait this isn't the time to mope around, I still have to deal with this problem, first!" Michael sighed.

**[Are you really this worried over such a thing as reputation?]**

A voice popped up through, Michael's head as the Boosted Gear's Jewel began to glow bright as each word was said.

"Of course, its Highschool! Mankind's horrible educational system!" Michael cried.

**[That's not a reason at all.]**

The voice said.

"Hey, who asked you!?" Michael shouted at the jewel then blinked, "Eh?" He examined the Jewel more closely and blinked, "Did I just hear?"

**[Nice to meet you, Partner.]**

It literally took Michael five seconds to digest the talking jewel as he screamed his ass off, "AAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

**[I expected a reaction like that from you, so-]**

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Michael continued to scream.

**[Listen. For me to get through this, I won't allow this to go on so relent on the screaming!]**

With a will of its own, Michael's right hand slapped his face twice shutting him up.

"Okay, I'm cool, I'm cool..." Michael said calmly then shouted, "Who the hell are you!?"

**[I won't answer questions that are shouted towards me I expect a respectful one.]**

"What, but you're just a talking jewel in my sacred gear, so you should be answering to me with no attitude, pal!" Michael said with a rude tone.

**[...]**

"Oi, don't just ignore me!" Michael shouted.

**[If you believe more shouting is a way for me to respond to you, then let me give you a hint of its affect: It won't.]**

"Grr!" Michael growled,  _'Man, first he pops out of nowhere and now he's acting like he's suddenly the mature one here. What a douche this guy or thing is!'_

**[I'm not trying to act mature, you're just acting childish.]**

"What the-! Did you just read my mind!?" Michael gasped.

**[...]**

_'Okay, this is just getting freaky and things won't progress at this rate.' Michael sighed to relax himself and sat up._

"Hello, my name is Michael Hanamura, and you are?" Michael calmly asked.

**[Now was that so hard?]**

_'Just shut up and tell me, who you are goddamit!?' Michael clenched his fist in anger._

**[I am the Spirit currently being held within the Boosted Gear, the sacred gear that you currently possess.]**

"Yeah, that's right. Rias-senpai did say that it was powered by a Belch Dragon or something." Michael scratched his head in confusion.

**[*Sigh!* It's Welsh Dragon, kid.]**

"Yada! Yada! Who cares, so your name is?" Michael quirked an eyebrow.

**[Ddraig...]**

"Pfft!" Michael held back his laughter.

**[It's rude to make fun of the names of others you know.]**

"I know, but you don't count. You're a soul in my boosted gear, meaning that I can do what I want." Michael smirked and points to himself.

**[Okay, kid, we're going to lay down some ground rules before we continue this partnership.]**

"Huh, who said you can run the shots? You're just a-Chk!" Michael boosted gear clad hand began to strangle him.

**[First, you will address me by name and be respectful. Second, you will not try to degrade my current state any more than necessary. Lastly, you will not try to push your boundaries. Do I make myself clear?]**

Ddraig's control over Michael's hand loosened as the choking teen quickly nods and gasps for air upon being released.

**[Good.]**

Mumbling to himself in anger, Michael wasn't so cheery about his new "Partner".

* * *

The next day, Michael was running to school apparently late again with no difference whatsoever.

"Damn! Damn! Damn! I can't believe that I'm late again!" Michael screamed as he just rushed forward while cursing himself he remembered to set his alarm clock this time around but he forgot to actually turn the alarm on instead.

_'Stupid Dragon being an ass! Stupid Alarm Clock! Stupid me because I forgot to take lunch with me!' Michael cursed himself._

**[I can still read your thoughts.]**

Ddraig said out of nowhere.

_'Hey, shut up!' Michael growled as he looked up then widened his eyes as he was about to crash into someone in his way...again._

"Look out! I can't stop!" Michael wailed as he took big unbalanced steps.

"Eh?" A girl around the age 15 with long blonde hair and green eyes. Her hair flows all the way down to her back, with split bangs over her forehead and a single strand sticking out from the top, sloping backwards as she wore a dark teal nun outfit with light blue accents, a white veil over her head with light blue accents, a brown satchel slung on her right hip, and brown boots with black straps in an X-shaped pattern. She also wears a silver cross necklace around her neck.

"Watch out, I'm going to fall!" Michael cried as the girl simply drops her things and runs to Michael to his dismay.

"Don't worry, I'll catch you!" The girl reassured the boy who quickly shook his head at the action rapidly.

"No! What are you doing? If you do that, then both of us will-!"

***BAM!* *THUD!***

Michael and the girl crashed into each other foreheads banging against another as the both fell on the floor gripping their throbbing heads in pain.

"Auuuuu, that hurt." The girl sniffled.

"Ouch!" Michael rolled around on the floor holding while crying, but by the time he stood up he sets his sights to the girl behind him and shouted, "Hey, what's your deal!?"

"Huh?" The girl disregarded the pain and looks to the furious boy.

"Don't 'huh' me! You know exactly what you did!" Michael growled.

"I'm sorry, I was just trying to help." The girl looked away as her eyes grew more watery.

"First off if you wanted to help, then you should have just stood there and let me fall! Second, to make sure no more others like yourself just now get hurt, never get involved, you either back away, okay!?" Michael shouted as the girl began to grow more sadder.

"I-I'm sorry, p-please forgive me." The girl was about to cry.

"What the hell? Are you crying?" Michael looked at the girl more closely then looked around to see many people looking at him with judging stares and with his performance he did terribly bad.

"Look at that student, he's harassing a girl for no reason." A few gossiping mothers passed by.

"I heard from my grocer that he's that orphaned kid, who would usually buys nothing but junk foods or pre-made foods every day." The other mom said.

"That bastard should just die for shouting at a defenseless girl like that." A male student from Kuoh said to his group of friends.

"Hey, as soon as that girl leaves lets kick his ass."

Michael immediately gulped at the hearing of this, then grabbed the girl by her hands and said,

"It's okay~! I forgive you, so don't cry! See? See!? I'm all better, so don't worry, alright~!" Michael chuckled nervously.

**_[You could have apologized after you scolded her.]_ **

_'Okay, dude, I can't control my mouth and this is basically the story of my life so get used to it.' Michael sighed._

"Really, you forgive me?" The girl asks with those pair of puppy dog eyes.

"Of course, I do. Now let's walk far away...from here," Michael looks behind his shoulders to see the approaching male students, "Because I don't think the park is a good place to indulge in bonding over a new-found friend yay~!"

Michael grabbed the girl's hand and race walked away from the park as the male students simply looked at each other and pulled on their VVV executioner hoods except one.

"Dammit, Kyle-kun, why don't you have yours on!?" One of the students shouted.

"Because I'm dating someone now." Kyle one of the generic students shrugged.

"WHAT!?" The VVV members screamed at the top of their lungs.

"Why are you so surprised?" Kyle questioned.

"It's nothing, man. Just go to school, okay?" The VVV looked depressed.

"You're not even going to attack me?" Kyle shouted.

"Your just not worth the effort, dude. Just leave." The VVV then stalked away while following Michael.

"Douchebags." Kyle spat then walked away, "I'm sure that Genshirou-kun will want hang out with me." Kyle smiled as Saji walked past him with half lidded eyes.

"Not a chance, pal." Saji groaned.

"Crap!" Kyle ran away crying.

With Michael, the teen and the young girl were conversing about what happened which was mainly him forgiving the many 'I'm sorry' pleas that were thrown his way. As that was moved out of the way Michael realized the girl's appearance was not common in the area and asked,

"Hey, are you from another country or something?"

"Why yes, I am. I'm currently here to work at the church in the area." The girl explained.

"Really well you do look like a nun but shouldn't your hair be covered or something to conceal yourself from someone else other than god?" Michael asked.

"..." Asia looked at Michael with a smile then continued, "Would you happen to know where the church is?"

**[Dodging the question with silence first then continues with another topic what a smart girl.]**

"Yeah, I do, but I don't know if it's the one you want to look at though." Michael said.

"Don't worry if it's not, then I'll look for it myself." The girl cutely smiled which brought a grin to Michael's face.

"You know, you are just adorable." Michael chuckled.

"I am?" The girl grew a pink hue on her cheeks then looked away, "Thank you, that's very nice of you."

"No problem." Michael nodded then inhaled sharply as he took a bad step forward.

_'Darn, my legs still hurt.' Michael winced in pain._

"Excuse me are you, okay?" The nun asked with a tinge of worry in her tone.

"No, it's nothing. I'm fine." Michael shook his head but then stopped to feel his scarred legs in pain, "Nothing to worry about."

"No, your injured. Let me see your legs really quick." The nun grew serious as she forced Michael to sit on a nearby bench and rolled up his pants to see two freshly slash marks on his legs still fresh with blood slowly drying up.

"Oh no, you seem to be hurt quite badly!" The nun gasped.

"Oh, these? Don't worry, I was just juggling a set of knives at home and accidentally dropped them on my legs is all." Michael lied.

"No, I can't let this go unhealed if it does stay like this, then it may get infected. So, let me handle it." The nun placed her hands onto Michael's leg and closed her eyes.

"Um...is something going to happen or?" Michael questioned, but shut his mouth as soon as a pair of rings appeared on the nun's hands and started to glow bright green as it steadily healed.

_'Whoa, this is cool.' Michael thought in his head._

"Wow, I'm actually starting to feel better." Michael smiled.

"Yes, it's quite amazing, isn't it?" The nun smiled, "Some say that it was a blessing that I received this power to heal other as a blessing."

"Really? That may be true." Michael was happy that good things happen to good people as always.

"But others say that it's just a curse." The nun said to herself.

"What did you say?" Michael asked.

"Oh, nothing to worry about. Now let's see your cheek, too." The nun smiled.

As soon as the treatment to his legs and soon his cheek was done, the pair approached the church that Michael doubted would be the nun's destination.

_'This is an abandoned Church that me and my old pal used to race to whenever we got bored in town. I wonder if she really wants to go here.' Michael thought as he looked over to the nun who looked greatly happy for just being in its presence._

**[By her sparkling eyes, I could've figured that out.]**

_'Quiet you.' Michael's eyebrow twitched in annoyance._

"So, this must, be it?" Michael questioned.

"Yes, it is! Thank you for leading me here." The nun bowed.

"No, problem anything for a newbie to the country, just make sure to call on I, Michael Hanamura, if your ever in need of anything alright!" Michael grinned.

"Teehee! Don't worry, I will and I'm Asia Argento by the way." Asia bowed.

"Okay, that was nice, but you know what could be better though?" Michael crossed his arms.

"Um, what was nice?" Asia tilted her head.

"Your introduction, but you should really go all out and exclaim it for all to hear." Michael chuckled.

"B-But wouldn't that be rude?" Asia asked.

"No, we're near an old church with no one inside. I'm sure that we'll fine." Michael grinned then punched the air over him and shouted, "Now proclaim your name with pride!"

"Uh...okay." Asia copied Michael and said, "M-My name is A-Asia Argento?"

"Come on, you gotta put feeling into it. Say it like this!" Michael then roared, "Hello it is I, the Great Michael Hanamura!"

"Right, I understand." Asia nodded then tried again, "Greetings, I am Asia Argento."

"Louder." Michael crossed his arms

"Greetings, I am Asia Argento!"

"I still can't hear you." Michael shook his head.

Taking a deep breath, Asia then exclaimed, "GREETINGS IT IS I, ASIA ARGENTO!"

Asia looks over to Michael who nods with both eyes closed.

"That is all I have to teach you, young grasshopper." Michael bowed like a wise Chinese master.

This caused the two to laugh.

"Well, I'm late for school, so see ya." Michael waved farewell while leaving.

"Wait, Michael-kun, um... are we f-friends?" Asia called out.

"Of course, we are. Once we first saw each other, eye to eye, we were already destined to be friends." Michael still continued to walk, "I'll make sure to visit you, anytime I get the chance, alright?"

"Really?" Asia gasped.

"Bet on it!" Michael thrusts his fist in the as he makes it to the street.

"There's the heretic get him!" 5 VVV members darted towards Michael.

"Don't you people have lives, too!?" Michael cried as he ran away from the dangerous group.

"Friends? Yes, that sounds very nice indeed." Asia placed her hand on her silver cross then proceeded to carry her suitcase inside the church as within two masculine figures watched from within through the murky glass.

"That man you just saw with the nun was a stray devil disguising himself to match the appearance of a human show no mercy towards him understood." The figure handed a picture to the white-haired figure who simply gave a sick grin.

"Oooooohohoo! A shitty devil trying to live like a normal guy, huh? How interesting, I wonder… What color his blood will be!?" The figure laughed dementedly.

(After School)

"Man, what an unfair day." Michael sighed as he went through a day of nothing but torture from the VVV members the envious complaints of the Perverted Duo, who were able to hear of his encounter with the academies two great ladies. And basically having no one to hang out with so pretty much the day was just another waste as usual.

**[There will be ups and downs to life don't think it'll always be excited.]**

"Who asked you, stupid dragon?" Michael spat and folded his arms behind his head, "That's right I didn't."

**[Look, I can see why you may dislike me, but you have to realize that everything shouldn't revolve around you, so grow up.]**

"Yeah, yeah because if you do good things for others good things will happen to you, too. Blah blah blah, and phht!" Michael said with a mocking tone then blew a raspberry.

**[Yes, that may be true, but that's not what I'm saying because you should consider listening to the advice of someone, besides yourself for once and try to think things through or you'll never egress.]**

Michael stopped as he reached his apartment's stairs and glared at the green mark on his hand, "Can't advance on my own? Is that it? Are you saying that I'm not good enough to gain anything even if I bust my ass off?"

It seems that he misunderstood what Ddraig was trying to tell him.

**[No, don't twist my words into something else. Just think about it for once.]**

"You know what? Maybe I don't wanna think things through all the time!" Michael growled, "Also, you know, maybe I just wanna be alone and solve everything myself without your help 'partner' because since I'm the wielder of the Boosted Gear, I could do what I want! Whenever I want! Without your help, so why don't you just shut up, stop being meddlesome in my life, and continue to be just a hollow shell of a soul!"

**[...]**

"Hello?" Michael called for Ddraig.

**[...]**

_'I hate people like him, he thinks he's so high and mighty because he's older than me and stronger than me.' Michael ranted in his brain._

"Hmph! That's what I thought." Michael growled, "The nerve of that dragon trying to act so superior to me just because your stronger, well, I'll show you as I get stronger by myself without your stinking help." Michael mumbled to himself as he climbs up the stairs to his home which had an unusual setting about it that was hard to miss.

"Why is my front door kicked down?" Michael walked through it to hear the sounds of giddy humming in the small living room. Dropping his bag onto the floor Michael was about to consider using the Boosted Gear but then hesitated.

_'Why should I rely on that Stupid Dragon for help that I don't even need?' Michael looked around and saw a nearby umbrella and picks it up._

Approaching the couch, Michael sees a bouncing white-haired head, humming quickly as each step, he takes gets him closer and closer to see...

"Ahhh, what a delight! First, I ransacked this shitty apartment, then dumped it everywhere and finally broke the crappy devil's Television! This is what life is all abooooouut~!" A voice creepily sighed in relaxation then sang, "Daisy~ Daisy~ that's what I'd call my son, Murder~ Murder~ that's what I do for fun~! Oh, how I'd train Daisy to grow up nice and strong~ but then I'd  **kill** Daisy just for a bit of  **FUN!~"**

"*Gulp!* Who are you?" Michael prepares to whack the man on the couch but he froze as soon as the man looks back upon him to reveal his red eyes and insane grin.

"Aww, welcome home you, crappy brat. I hope that you had a nice day because...it'll be the  **last**  one that you'll ever have~!" The man stuck out his tongue while cackling loudly as cocks a strange gun then points it to Michael, "Kahahahahahaha!"

***BANG!***

* * *

**Next Chapter- I'm too weak?**


	5. I'm too weak?

**I'm too weak?**

* * *

"Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!" Cried Michael as he held his head down while crouching behind his wooden table. Shooting through it was a round of light-infused bullets that left many holes and openings in the process.

***BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!***

"Ahahahahaha! Yes, tremble, you shitty devil!" The cackling priest continued his rapid gun shots towards him.

_'Damn! Why is this happening to me!?' Michael thought as he looks back and shouted._

"Hey, who the hell are you!?"

As soon as the gun fire settled down, Michael was able to breathe a little easily until...

***Voom!***

Out of nowhere a blade of light stabs through the table and almost impales him.

"Jesus!" Michael gasps and rolls away as the table gets smashed under the foot of the priest who resides behind it.

"Oh my, it seems that the little devil-kun got scared and yelped in fright~! Oh, how exciting! Now this is usually the time where you cry out about why this of all things is happening to you, right!?" The priest continued to stalk towards Michael with an intense murderous pressure he exudes off his body, he then aims his gun at Michael and laughs, "Since you're about to die, I guess allowing you to know my name won't matter. I am the Freed Zelzan, but you don't have to worry about yourself because your going to die! Yes, die in a beautiful shade of dark red you shitty devil~!"

_'Is this guy for real? What the hell is he even doing here, and why is he trying to kill me!?' Michael trembles then remembers that he can't falter now, 'Wait...who cares about that now I can't let this scare me I have to at least show I have a pair or that stupid dragon will laugh at me!'_

Getting up on his two feet, Michael surprises the priest, who only grows more of a demented smirk on his face.

"Ooooh~! Is the little devil-kun finally going to stand up and fight!"

"L-Look, whoever you are! Tell me your business here and I might just let you go!" Michael bluffed with a forced smirk.

"Let me go? From what exactly devil-kun? What do you honestly expect to do to me?" Freed began enclosing on Michael stops and looks at him amused.

"I'll uh..." Michael trails off then grinned, "Kick you in nuts!"

"Really? You think you can do such a thing?" The priest smiled.

"I can, believe me, I've done it more than once." Michael crossed his arms.

"Oh, and how many people have you done it to exactly?" The priest gave a dirty chuckle.

 _'One person.' Michael thought but instead said,_ "Fifteen!"

"Oh really, and you believe that you can kick **me** in the crotch?" The priest points his gun at Michael.

"Of course I can. You'd best not to tempt me." Michael grinned as he grew ready.

"Then lets see how you dance, shitty devil!" The priest lunged at Michael.

"Wait, were you just calling me a dev-whoa!" Michael ducked from a sudden light blade to the neck as it cut a lamp behind him.

"Ahahahaha! Come on, where is all that talk you brought up earlier? Aren't you going to be a man and fight me, you little shit!? If you hold still, I promise to end this quickly! Come on, fight me, you shitty devil, I wanna see you squirm and struggle~!" The priest went on into a crazy maniacal spiel while Michael continued to dodge the danger sword of light swung his way, but this became difficult in time due to the priest's reckless but somehow coordinated attacks.

***Vam!* *Voom!* *Vam!***

The noises of the light sword seemed reminiscent of that of a light saber.

"Come on, you devil bitch, tell me whose your father now!?"

_'Was that a star wars refere-there!'_

The priest joked as he prepares to use his gun instead, but...

"You're open!" Michael was already quite a distance closer to the man and readies his right leg up, "And here's the kiiiiiiick!"

"Hah, you shitty brat! Something like that will never work!" The priest covered his manhood with a big smirk until his neck gets rammed by the side of Michael's arm in a lariat.

"Gotcha!" Michael roared as the blow from the attack sent the man tumbling back to the wall, "How's that, you white haired bastard!?"

_'Heh, it seems that I was able to look cool while standing my ground, See, you stupid dragon? I don't need your stupid help, I'm invicibl-!' Michael's thought was interrupted with a loud sound resounding through his ears._

***BANG!***

Looking to his right leg, Michael saw a gout of blood spurting through it.

"Augh! Son of a bitch!" Michael fell to one knee and cried out in pain.

"You shitty devil!" An aggravated voice was heard behind Michael.

Looking over his shoulder, Michael sees the furious yet creepily smiling man approaches him with his gun out and his light blade turned on.

"That actually hurt, and just to let you know I hate pain being given to me most of all! I mean, I find it rude that others want me to finish off their lives just because they inflicted so much damage onto me. But what you just did was just a horrible excuse of an attack because when you hit someone you do it like this!"

The priest smacks the broad side of his gun against Michael's head with tons of strength which caused the boy to grunt in pain as he looked up at the man with a look of rage as blood started to drip down from his head.

"Oh my what a beautiful shade of red your bleeding out, I wonder if you can show me some more!" The priest kicks Michael in the head forcing the teen to crash into the wall.

"Gurgh!" Michael grunted in pain as even more blood painted the rest of his forehead.

"Oh come on, you're not even trying to show me your blood, you stingy bastard!" The Priest kicked Michael once again earning another pained grunt from the boy.

This process repeated over time to the point where Michael was naturally coughing blood each time he tried to take a breath, and it certainly didn't help that with each attempt to pick himself up, the man would just kick him down even more.

But this game only increased Freed's enjoyment due to seeing the suffering that Michael was going through with each struggle to stand.

"Come on, you can do better than that. Try to stand, you crappy devil!" The priest stomped on Michael's head with lots of pressure causing the boy to growl back in a mixture of pain and anger.

"So you think I'm a devil?" Michael grunts.

"Of course I do! Why else am I beating the ever living crap out of you!? Well, I would have done it anyways but as a priest of a devil extermination organization, I prefer to slit the life out of you filthy creatures!" The priest continued.

"Y-Your insane..." Michael got up to his knees, "If you were a priest, you wouldn't do this stuff at all. You're just a no good murderer, who spouts on about doing a 'good' cause as an excuse for killing people."

"Oi!" The priest puts pressure on his foot pushing Michael down onto the ground, "I didn't ask you for your damn opinion you brat!"

Looking up, Michael could see he had ignited true anger from the man as his eyes were now filled with devoid saucers with the only image of him being pathetically left at the man's mercy.

"Oh well, no time to get pissed because now's the time I get to choose how you're gonna die! Now don't be shy because since you actually put up a half-decent fight, I'll give you a choice on how you want it. Quick or sloooow~?" The Priest gave off a slow motion tone at the last word as he points his gun at Michael.

"Ngh!" Michael was still being pinned down by the man's foot while trying to think of a plan to escape from it.

"Time to say bye-bye and go back to hell, you shitty devil~! I wonder, if you were to see the Maou as a dead spirit would you please tell him hello for me and to make more room for the dead there because I intend to send even more of your kind following after you, Ahahahahahahaha!" The priest cackled as he raised his light blade over his head.

_'No! I can't die yet!' Michael closed his eyes awaiting his end._

"P-Please, Father Freed stop!" A female's voice screamed from the front door.

Taking looks back both Michael and the insane priest looked to the door to see a distressed Asia looking right back at them.

"A-Asia?" Michael gasped in shock.

The stunned nun covered her mouth at the sight before her and said, "M-Michael-san?"

"Oh, if it isn't the newbie, you're late to party! But don't worry, you came just in time for the best part. Now I can show you how to strewn the guts of a devil on the wall and let me tell you... My favorite design choice is..." The priest stuck out his tongue and said, "In the shape of the crucifix while the intestines hang the devil from the ceiling, isn't that a nice thought? I still haven't thought of a name for it, but I'm still working out the details~!"

"!" Asia was even more surprised by the father's language towards her then asked, "Father Freed, why are you attacking Michael-san?"

"Huh, Michael-san? You mean to tell me that you know this piece of shit devil!?" Freed stomped his foot on Michael's head.

"Argh!" Michael grunted.

"H-He's a devil?" Asia gasped.

"No I'm a hum-Gah! Would you stop freaking doing that!?" Michael yelled as Freed stomped on him again.

"Oh dear, you've spent time with him and you didn't even know or were you just delusional and thought he was someone good and perhaps that all devils aren't so horrible hmmmm~! This is a huge surprise to me, the sight of a forbidden love between a Nun and a Devil unfolding in front of my eyes~!" Freed looks at the both of them then sickeningly smiled, "Too bad he has to die though!"

_'This guy is bad news Asia can't stay with him!' Michael thought._

"D-Damn, Asia run away!" Michael growled as he tried to stand.

"Quiet you!" Freed kicked Michael down again, "Are you trying to be the hero even though you're a bratty devil, hah! How gross~! It almost makes my skin crawl, but let me tell you this just to stick it in your tiny brain, Asia-tan and I are humans, who are supported by our glorious Fallen Angel-samas!"

"Fallen Angels?" Michael grunts as he heard the familiar word once again, "So your working for that ascot wearing bastard, Dohnaseek?"

"Ping-Pong~! That's right you got it correct brat and guess what you win?" Freed points his gun at Michael once more, "You get a one time offer to die and a one way ticket vacation to hell!"

Freed was then forced back as Asia grabbed him by the arm thus separating him from the downed teen who picks himself up and coughs in relief.

"N-No stop this! P-Please!" Asia cried.

"Asia-tan, what the hell are you doing? Let me kill this shitty devil, so the job can be done!" Freed was clearly angered by the lack of killing.

"I beg of you, please don't hurt him! Allow him to live! Release him!" Asia was holding back the struggling Freed.

_'She's helping me?' Michael's eyes widened ._

"You stupid bitch, I said to let go of me!" Freed knocked over the girl and turned to stare her down, "You idiot, don't you understand? You've been taught by the church that devils are scum and they deserve to just rot away or be killed, which is our job to do!"

"But that doesn't justify that killing people or devils is the divine way of the Lord, and not all devils are bad if one gets to know them!" Asia shook her head and defended Michael.

"You stupid bitch! Don't you understand? They all are evil, and that's why they must all  **die!"** Freed yelled as he pulled Asia up by the neck of her dress.

"That's not entirely true, Michael-san was nice when we first met and he hasn't shown any signs of evil within his heart even knowing that he's a devil still doesn't change the fact that killing others is a great sin that God will never permit!" Asia argued back.

***SMACK!***

"Kyaa!" Asia was swept to the side after feeling a smack from the side of Freed's gun.

"You bastard, what are you doing?" Michael growled as Freed ignored him and approached Asia.

"My Fallen Angel Boss told me that I had to keep you alive since he had something in store for you, but I can't help but feel sick whenever the way you speak of 'God' this and the 'Lord' that, so I hope you don't mind if I decide rape you for some enjoyment later..." Freed said, coldly.

"!" Michael's eyes widened after hearing that and clenched his fist as he stood up despite his injured leg.

"But first let me get rid of this brat." Freed turned back and went wide eyed as he saw a struggling Michael trying to stand.

"You sick, disgusting, sadistic, demented..." Michael's body began to spike up a red aura around him in the form of a dragon as he raises his head to scream, "MOTHER FUCKER!"

"Wha-?" Freed could only say that as Michael suddenly lunged at Freed and released his rage.

***BAM!***

***THWACK!***

***CRASH!***

Freed was assaulted with a straight punch to the chin, and uppercut, and an elbow to the face which sent him crashing to the other side of the room limply standing.

"The Great Michael beats the Pseudo Priest! The Great Michael's the strongest there is! Hah!" Michael gathered a large amount of the aura around his hand then shot it in the shape of a spiraling magical bullet which exploded upon contact with Freed.

***BOOOM!***

As the dust settles all that was left was a large hole in the wall and a bleeding Freed who was still standing and slightly laughing.

"Is that really the best you got!" Freed wiped his mouth of and blood as he came out of the attacked a bit unscathed.

"Ngh!" Michael grips his right hand in pain after from the force of the attack and gasped as he saw the visible outline of the green jewel glowing from his hand as he thought,  _'Damn...you helped?'_

"This is really getting interesting first you act like a pansy and almost die but when a girl is involved you get serious and fight back how exciting~! I think I'm in love Devil-kun fight me more and lets have a bloody battle of romance till death!" Freed looked even more ready to continue the fight as Michael looked to Asia worried.

"Asia, are you alright?" Michael asked but the girl was still unconscious from the hit, "Did he really hit you that hard?"

"Of course I did, or else the bitch wouldn't have shut up about the God that abandoned her!" Freed cackled as he jumps at Michael and kicks him in the chest.

"Argh!" Michael rolls away then picks himself up.

"Now come on, Devil-kun! Fight me with all you got, so this can actually be entertaining!" Freed readies his light blade.

"Like I said before, you moron! I'm not a dev-!"

***Riiiiiing~!***

"One second..."

Suddenly the sound of phone was heard as Freed rudely picks it up in front of Michael and yells, "What? Can't you see that I'm busy killing the shitty devil like you guys asked!?"

Michael looked dumbfounded as the conversation seemed to have made Freed more agitated then surprisingly calm.

"Alright, alright I get it already, I'll come back then..." Freed hung up then spat, "Fucking, shitty Fallen Angel-sama!"

"Huh?" Michael blinked.

"It seems that you're not actually a devil, but a human. How disappointing, but that trick you did earlier was very interesting, but it doesn't matter right." Freed walks to Asia forces her up by putting his arm to her neck, "I would kill you either way, but I have orders to leave for now!"

"Hold on, where are you going!?" Michael gasped.

"No time for kisses and goodbyes brat! Make sure to stay healthy, and wait for when I'm free from work, so we can continue! Bye-Bye~!" Freed pulled out a small ball which looked strange.

"Wait, stop!" Michael reached for the girl and screamed, "Asia!"

"M-Michael-san..." Asia breathed heavily from the pressure to her neck, "I hope we'll meet again." Asia gave Michael the sweetest of smiles.

"Stop it!" Michael ran towards Freed who simply throws down the ball which releases a sharp flash of light allowing for his escape to be successful.

After recovering Michael found that he was left alone in his broken home and simply fell over on all fours while crying, "W-Why?"

Michael banged his head against the floor and cried, "I couldn't do anything on my own at all!?"

**[...]**

* * *

 

The next day, Michael was stuck at home alone as usual as he wore nothing but his night wear as he sulked in his room. The mess that was made he was able to clean almost half of it up but couldn't deal with the rest right now as he wondered what could have happened with Asia. The remnants that were left of the mess were the light gun the priest dropped and Asia's cross which he kept to himself.

"I wasn't strong enough to stop that freak..." Michael clenched his fist then punched the wall near him, "Dammit, I wasn't able to help her just like Raynare!"

Deciding that he would skip school for the day, he went out to town and left his cellphone alone, he had received many calls and texts from Saji, and surprisingly, the Perverted Duo who were worried about his absence.

Wandering through town with a sullen expression Michael entered the park and pitifully sighed, "...Asia..."

_'I can't concentrate at all, I can't eat, sleep or even do anything without worrying for her, Why am I so weak?' Michael looked at his right hand and growled, 'This dragon may be powerful but I don't want to use his help for everything.'_

Taking a breather, Michael sat on a nearby bench near the playground and sighed in relaxation, "I hope that she's alright wherever she is." Michael then gasped then smacked himself out of his funk, "Wait, why am I all depressed for? After all that crazy crap that insane priest spouted, I was finally able to get a clue as to where Asia might be and possibly Raynare-san too."

"Yosh! I have a plan, no way am I going to falter now!" Michael roared as many children with their parents stared at him.

"Mommy, why is that boy yelling?" A little girl asked.

"Don't look at him too much dear or you'll go crazy just like him." The mom scolded as they walked away leaving a embarrassed Michael alone.

About to leave Michael caught sight of blonde hair going past him he stopped and said, "A-Asia?"

"M-Michael-san?" Asia gasped.

After reuniting with the girl, Michael cried happily and hugged her while swinging her around. This then led to them going out and eating a meal at a restaurant where Asia could barely read the menu and Michael had to explain the whole thing in detail to her which was kinda cute/boring. Next they went to an arcade where Michael was able to destroy half the games and come out the champion with each bold:  **[WIN!]** at the end.

As they were about to leave, Asia caught sight of a claw machine which held many Pikachu dolls within them and seemed excited by the sheer amount of the cute Pokemon.

Laughing Michael was able to deal with her curiosity and attempted ten times to get it for her. Until, finally, he got it just by the tip of its tail and handed it to the girl, who hugged it happily to her chest before rushing to hug Michael.

"Thank you, Michael-san, I'll cherish this forever." Asia hugged the doll.

"No problem." Michael smiled and shrugged.

"I promise to never let it get hurt. I promise you and the lord that." Asia sounded determined.

"Uh...thanks but don't worry." Michael shook his head.

"This doll will forever have a place in my heart for it, and I pray that it will keep us bonded together alwa-!" Asia snuggled the doll as Michael said with half lidded eyes,

"Okay, seriously, Asia, calm down. Its just a freaking Pikachu doll, they literally sell these almost everywhere in Japan."

After the fun day with the sister, Michael and her return to the park and relaxed, but his discomfort was shown once more as he fell to one knee as Asia yelped and quickly attended to the wounds he had received from Freed the other day which were poorly attended to by Michael himself. Sitting near the water fountain, Asia was able to heal the bullet wounds and cuts with ease with the green light that enveloped her hands.

"Whoa, that's some awesome power you have there, Asia! Is it a Sacred Gear?" Michael asked.

"Why yes do you possess one Michael-san?" Asia asked curiously.

"Of course but I'm not using it, its becoming a bother to me ya know?" Michael grinned but stopped as Asia's face grew a little sad.

"B-But you know yours is cooler than mine since it can heal anyone right, hahahaha?" Michael chuckled while nervously scratching his head.

But those words were only able to initiate Asia to cry even which shocked the teen who was able to comfort her until she breathed in and out to calm down and told him a story of a "Holy Maiden".

A tale of a discarded orphaned Girl who was raised in a church in some area of Europe, she was a strong follower of the lord and receiver of a special power at the age of 8 where she miraculously healed a wounded puppy in front of her Catholic Church caretakers. As that occurred time went on and she was taken to the main Church as she symbolized the title "Holy Maiden" as many believers would come to her to be healed which then spread rumors around. Even through her many acts of kindness others wouldn't want to befriend her because of her strange power and only saw her as a thing that could heal humans but she didn't care the slightest because she was happy that she was of some use to others and the Lord she loves so much.

But on one ruinous day she healed a nearby devil which was blasphemy against the church who only believed in the power to heal its fellow believers. She was cursed her whole life by the people who were so kind to her and excommunicated from the very church who brought her in and gave her a home. But her story does not end there as the final act led to her joining an organization of stray exorcists and Fallen Angels.

This was the story of a girl who was never saved from her god who she loved and praised with all her heart.

"I'm so useless that I wasn't able to read a menu without the help of others." Asia sniffled and rubbed her teary eyes, "This trial the lord blessed upon me seems to be a tough one for a clumsy nun such as I, but I can endure it as long as he gives me his undying love." Asia clasped her hands together while looking at the sky, "I'll try my best to make tons of friends also, friends to have memories with, to play games with, buy books with and...talk with." Asia grew more tears as Michael smiled at her determination.

"Oi." Michael patted Asia on the head and smiled.

"Eh?" Asia looks up at Michael with her watery eyes.

"Why are you crying? You're not useless, it just means that you have a lot to learn." Michael chuckled then sighed,  _'And so do I.'_

"And like I said before, we're friends already, so stop crying and be happy." Michael felt a little bad for the girl but he needed to steer her on a positive path or she'll just fall into depression, "Be tough and stand tall is what I always say when I'm alone."

"Alone? Michael-san are you friendless too?" Asia asked.

"Well just like you I'm also an orphan," Michael sighed and brought up his story, "I was always alone with no one to watch me, I thought I'd go insane by the sheer emptiness of my home but that was when I didn't realize I had friends who would come to me after staying sad all the time, I don't have any memories of who my parents were or what they looked like but I don't care because even if others don't accept me I'm still me and your still you either way so I never really cared about that except my friends who decided to put up with me or just try to barely get to know me and Asia..."

"I hope I can get to know you more as we continue to be friends." Michael grinned and closed his eyes as Asia blushed while gazing at the teen.

"But I don't know how to properly speak Japanese to a full extent yet and I barely know anything of your culture and-and." Asia trembled but Michael continued to pet her which calmed her down.

"Then I'll teach you that's the fun part of being a friend especially a friend whose learning to be one." Michael chuckled, "Now stop being a sour puss already sour puss."

"Okay, Michael-san, my friend thank you." Asia then grasped Michael's hand and smiled at him brightly as Michael grinned back at her.

_'Nothing could possibly ruin this!' Michael chuckled._

"Eeew~! Gross this scene is so cheesy don't you think!?" A small girl's voice echoed throughout the park.

"Crap, I freaking jinxed it!" Michael growled while quickly spinning on his heel to see a fast approaching light spear zoomed by and heavily slashed the side of his torso.

"Guaah!" Michael coughed up a mouthful blood as blood gushed out before he fell on his bottom.

"Michael-san!" Asia rushed over to his side as they looked to the water fountain to see a levitating young girl with blonde hair styled in twin short side ponytails and blue eyes as she wore a Gothic Lolita attire, which consisted of a black Lolita dress with white frills, a large black bow on the front, and a green jewel embedded on the collar, white thigh-high socks, and black shoes. She also wore a large black bow on top of her hair.

"Aw, did I mess up our nun's heartfelt moment? How rude of me! Well, I'll just have to save her the trouble of seeing him squirm in pain as I deal the final blow!" The girl creates another pink light spear and aims to throw it at Michael.

"Mittelt-sama, please, no!" Asia stood in front of the downed Michael.

"Tch! Get out of the way, Nun, or else I'll bring you back with me half-dead!" Mittelt warned completely furious.

"But I can't allow you to hurt, Michael-san!" Asia shook her head.

"You're our personal property, and that guy right there is the reason why Raynare-oneesan isn't listening to reason and is being punished by Dohnaseek!" Mittelt screamed as a single tear drops down from her cheek, "So come with me and let me kill this idiot already!"

"Raynare?" Michael gasped.

"No, I won't let you kill him." Asia shook her head then grew teary eyes, "But let him go if I return with you."

"Huh? You're making deals even when your in no position to bargain?" Mittelt grinded her teeth.

"I know that I have no right to do this, but if you were to kill Michael-san, then you might as well kill me too..." Asia cried.

"Asia, don't say that." Michael stood up as he looked pale from bleeding out, "I'll get us out of here, so don't worry."

"..." Mittelt looked at the pair then sighed as she disperses her spear and folded her arms behind her head, "Man, this isn't fair at all. Dohnaseek would throw a fit if he found out that I killed this defective nun, but if I killed the bastard with her, then Raynare-oneesan would probably go back to her old self." After a minutes of pondering, Mittelt turned back to face the pair with a cat like smile and said, "Alright, fine then miss nun, you can come back with me as a price to free your little friend there."

"R-Really." Asia gasped.

"But." Mittelt smirked, "You must listen to our every command without hesitation, or we will come back and finish him off altogether, got it?"

"H-Hai." Asia sadly nodded then turned back to Michael to heal his wound as Michael was still fatigued from the blood loss.

"Asia wait you don't have to go." Michael grabbed the girl by her shoulders but Asia shook her head then brushed off Michael's hands and walked towards the fallen angel while steadily crying,

"Thank you for the fun today Michael-san I really enjoyed spending time with you."

"That's a good sacrifice." Mittelt smirked as she furled her black angel wings.

_'Sacrifice!?' Michael's eyes widened._

"Once this day is over you will be freed from your suffering and be put to a blissful rest." Mittelt hugged Asia then covered her and herself with her wings.

"Asia wait I thought we were friends don't go!" Michael cried out and reached for the girl.

"We are Michael-san and thank you for being friends with a person such as I." Asia smiled then whispered, "Goodbye."

Mittelt then looked at Michael with a dark smile and stuck her tongue at him.

_'That little brat she lied!' Michael growled then ran towards the pair._

"Bye-Bye~!" Mittelt shot up into the sky and disappeared from sight.

"N-No..." Michael fell to his knees and looked at the sky before falling on all fours, "Nooooooo!"

_'I was too weak to prevent the same thing from happening again!' Michael cried and bangs his head on the ground repeatedly, 'Why couldn't I do anything for Raynare!? Why couldn't I save Asia!? Why did I just let them disappear before my eyes why!?'_

_Michael kept repeating many questions in his head before he realized the big picture and those words the Stupid Dragon said to him._

**_-[You should consider listening to the advice of someone besides yourself for once and try to think things through or you'll never advance.]-_ **

_'Dammit I hate it when others prove me wrong!" Michael smashed his fist to the ground then relaxed it._

"But if it means I could be stronger and save them then I don't really care." Michael exhaled and inhaled as he stood up, "Because I might not be so great after all but that won't stop me from helping people who now matter to me." Michael stopped and looked at the Old Abandoned Church with a great fire in his eyes and growled, "No matter what I will save you two, Bet on it!"

' _Ddraig, I know your there and you can hear me.' Michael said to the dragon._

**[...]**

_'I know what I said and I apologize for my actions, you were right... I didn't think things through hard enough to see the big picture in front of me, I-I'm not strong, I can't do everything alone!'_

**[...]**

_'I might not be strongest, or the smartest, or even close to the word "great", but I can at least try to get there with any help I'm given so that's why I need your help.' Michael said determinedly._

**[...]**

_'Come on, don't give me the silent treatment, I really am begging you here, so come on. Let's do this, **Partner**.' Michael smiled._

**[... ... ...Let's Begin.]**

* * *

 

Walking through the woods at night, Michael was wearing his school uniform while equipped with the Boosted Gear.

**[Your opponents are strong, they may not be High leveled Fallen Angels, but they are still superior than you in every margin.]**

"I know. so I'll just blow them away either way." Michael fixed his goggles.

**[But you do have an advantage over them.]**

"I do?" Michael said as he still prepares himself.

**[Yes, you yourself must have felt it by now, but your compatibility with the Sacred Gear and myself is unbelievably strong, which means your power is much more destructive than their's.]**

"Whoa! That sounds awesome." Michael gasped.

**[But don't get carried away, your body still can't handle all the power in one go, so if you were to be careless and use more than you should, then your body will quit on you and blow up into pieces.]**

"Right, I'll watch out for how much I use." Michael nodded and gulped slightly.

**[The last disadvantage you have is in your numbers how will you make up for this?]**

"Simple, I already have that planned out." Michael then stopped to look to his right then left, "Good, you two're here now we can do this." Michael looked at the church ahead and nodded, "I'm here to save two friends of mine, an excommunicated Sister and a Fallen Angel. I know this may be hard to do and asking too much of the both of you, but I can't do this alone, so will you help me?" After a moment, Michael smiled at the response of the two that he was talking to.

"Thank you, I appreciate the help, I really do!" Michael trembled in excitement the roared, "YOSH!" He puts on his goggles then grins as he walks ahead of the pair, "Let's do this!"

"Right." Kiba smiled and followed after his fellow excited 2nd year classmate with a single sword sheathed and strapped to his hip.

"...Roger." Koneko cracked her knuckles while wearing black fighter gloves with pink cat paw prints on the upper palm.

_'You better watch out Dohnaseek, we're coming for you!' Michael's had that great fire in his eyes again while looking up at the moonlight glistening on the Old Church._

* * *

**Next Chapter- I'm gonna aim for a K.O.!**


	6. I'm gonna aim for a K.O.!

**I'm gonna aim for a K.O.!**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own High School DxD it solely belongs to _Ichiei Ishibumi!_ My own property are the OC's themselves.**

* * *

Inside the Abandoned Church resides an empty backroom with a chained Raynare sitting on a single wooden chair covered in bruises. She had been inside this room for the past 2 days without any food nor water to consume.

"If only you had done your job this would have been avoided." Dohnaseek tsked as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

"..." Raynare remained silent.

"What no more quips like before?" Dohnaseek smirked, but the woman still remained quiet, "Heh, such a shame that an angel like you had to fall so low as this, and you had the most potential out of the others too, you pitiful bitch."

Then the door opened to revealed Kalawarner and a smiling Mittlet walking in as Mittlet skipped towards Raynare happily.

"Hey, Raynare-oneesan we're back~!" Mittlet giggled at the solemn older fallen angel.

"..." Raynare remained quiet.

"Kalawarner is the ritual prepared?" Dohnaseek asked.

"Yes the young Sister is ready for use just as you requested." Kalawarner nodded then looked over to Raynare, "So any responses yet?"

"No she's still sulking over that brat, I honestly can't see why she won't just forget him and attempt to end his life once again." Dohnaseek sighed then smirked, "But I suppose I'll do it since it would finish the job easily."

"I guess your right but..." Kalawarner looked down in thought of that boy's very words:

_-"I never expected anything to go normal so I wouldn't mind a hectic life and I won't die because I'll save her since we're nakama!"_

_'Such words were said with conviction behind them. Will he really just keel over like that?' Kalawarner thought._

"But what?" Dohnaseek questioned.

"N-Nothing just a slip of the tongue." Kalawarner shook her head.

Still trying to spur Raynare to acknowledge her Mittlet smiled, "Raynare-oneesan come on you can't mope around over that stupid human remember we have the Sister and her sacred gear ready to be extracted so you could gain the love of Azazel-sama!"

"..." Raynare still remained motionless.

"Raynare-oneesan come on get up we're just about to begin!" Mittlet shook the girl but no response came out of her except...

"M-Michael-kun..." Raynare barely muttered.

Mittlet's face darkened as she spouted that guy's name. She bit her lower lip in frustration as Dohnaseek and Kalawarner took notice and simply watched.

"W-Why? Why do you keep on saying his name, but you won't even look at me or notice me?" Mittlet growled while shaking Raynare, "Can't you see I'm right here, right in front of you instead of that stupid human so why don't you call me by my name anymore!?"

"Mittelt, you shouldn't worry about her she's broken as it is and nothing will change that now." Dohnaseek chuckled.

"No..." Mittlet shook her head then said, "The only way for Raynare-oneesan to acknowledge me again is by offing that bastard."

"..." Kalawarner looked upon the seethed with rage girl then gasped, "Do you sense that?"

"Hmph! It seems we have uninvited guests." Dohnaseek looks to the west to sense high powers of aura slowly approaching, "You two take care of it, I'll stay here to make sure the ritual goes underway."

"Right let's go Mittlet." Kalawarner headed towards the exit as the girl jumped up excitedly and screams,

"Right! I'm gonna release my pent up anger on these foolish intruders!" The girl rushes out the room as Dohnaseek was the last to leave.

"This is your last chance you can either go along with the plan you made or just stay here and miss out on getting the glory." Dohnaseek looked back.

"G-Go to hell." Raynare muttered.

"Your loss." Dohnaseek walked out.

"M-Michael-kun..." Raynare muttered once more then closed her eyes.

Outside of the Church, Michael, Kiba and Koneko were hiding behind the trees surrounding the church surveying for any signs of enemies.

"Okay now what do we do?" Michael asked.

"Well your assumption that the Fallen Angels have taken this place as their base was correct." Kiba then pulls out a map and shows it to Michael and Koneko.

"So...you had the map to the place?" Michael asked looking over Kiba's shoulder.

"Of course its basic know how if you enter enemy territory." Kiba smiled.

"W-well I knew that I was just hoping you'd bring one yourself so I can know just who I'm working with ya know." Michael sweatdropped while grinning.

"...Liar." Koneko continued her focus on the map.

"Why you..." Michael growled while raising his fist.

"Now lets focus on the plan before we start." Kiba points to a certain spot, "Right here is the sanctuary and a few dormitories, our main goal is to get under the sanctuary as most dormitories are left empty as the Stray Exorcists heavily cause alterations to them for rituals."

"Hey can I ask a question?" Michael said.

"Of course your the client after all." Kiba nodded.

"Well I wanna know why exorcists are ruining a place like a church for some weird rituals, I mean aren't they holy or something?" Michael scratched his head.

"My friend we are dealing with Stray Priests who were casted out of the church for doing unmentionable crimes not worthy of a true exorcist, so they commit horrid rituals here to insult the god they once loved to show the true nature of their bitterness towards him."

"Geez that sounds tense." Michael sighed then grinned, "I'm not sure I got it but I got it now lets do this you two!"

Michael rushed over to the front doors as Kiba gave a bitter smile,

"So does he really understand or is he still confused?"

"Idiot..." Koneko closed her eyes.

Meanwhile in the forest, Mittlet looked for the intruders approaching by herself as in another area Kalawarner did the same.

"Come out you intruders~." Mittlet sang.

She was completely bored and wanted to deal with this as quickly as possible ever since the presences, making her job harder to find them. But then a pair of footsteps were approaching her rather slowly that she took the chance and called for Kalawarner before identifying the pair.

_'That's right you two idiots keep walking...' Mittlet giggled as she prepared her light spear but gasped as both figures walked out into the light._

"Mittelt what have you found?" Kalawarner flew to the area then stopped herself mid-air to see the pair herself.

"!" Mittelt growled as she knew just what they got themselves into.

"You two just made a terrible move." One of the pair giggled.

As with Michael and his group they were still in front of the Church doors as Michael continuously tried to ram the door open but...

"Urgh!" Michael grunts slams his shoulder into the door.

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

"You know we could always open them, Hanamura-kun?" Kiba gave a bitter smile.

"No way!" Michael grunts then tried again, "I got thi-Argh!"

"Hanamura-senpai..." Koneko walked towards the boy then lightly pushes him away.

"What?" Michael rubbed his shoulder as Koneko raised her fist and shot it against the door.

***BAAAAM!* *THUD!***

Michael stood with his jaw touching the floor as the door tumbled forward.

Michael looked over to Kiba who was giving his usual pretty boy smile as Michael growled and rolled his eyes, "Shut up."

Entering the sanctuary Michael was able to see the distinct damage dealt upon it such as the messy décor, ruined statues, broken windows and the crucified man on the cross with no head gave all the hints he needed to know on how much a stray exorcist must hate God.

"Wow! This is really weird." Michael wasn't sure how to react to such a sight.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

Claps were heard from a nearby pillar as a familiar face steps out from behind it.

"It's you!" Michael growled and pointed at the priest.

"Oh! How joyous a beautiful reunion don't you agree." The Stray Exorcist, Freed Sellzen clapped as he examines the pair of devils behind him,

"So it seems that the brat was able to make a contract with a few other crappy devils! How wonderful~! Now I actually have a reason to kill you! You don't mind, right? If I kill you, right? You made a contract with a devil that means you lost your soul already so why not let me cut up that empty husk you call your body!"

***VOOOM!***

Freed releases his blade of light and charges at Michael only in a mix of rage and joy.

"Whoa!" Michael gasped and blinked as soon as Freed was able to get a few feet in front of him.

***GIIN!***

"Are you okay?" Kiba smiled as he blocks Freed's blade with his own sword.

Michael was in awe at his fellow 2nd year's movement.

_'How did he get in front of me I was barely able to catch him move in front of me at all.' Michael gulped then clenched his fist._

"Aw, forgive me trashy devil I was being selfish and focused only on the brat let me take care of you before anything else alright~!" Freed put more violent strength in his attacks as both swords clashed a few times as most of it was Kiba dodging Freed's attacks with incredible speed.

After gaining distance from each other a stare down ensued.

"Amazing your surprisingly strong." Kiba said.

"Ahahaha! You too and your speed is hard to catch, are you a [Knight] that would explain all the openings you've been taking along with you keeping no blind spots for me to take! Mannnn~! This is the best! An awesome fight like this deserves a wonderful climax now hold still so I can make your head roll!" Freed and Kiba continued their sword to sword battle as Michael watched more closely.

_'Hey, Ddraig how can I do that bullet thing I did with Dohnaseek before?' Michael asked._

**[You mean Magnum? I don't know.]**

_'What do you mean you don't know?'_

**[That feature was made once you activated the Boosted Gear during a critical moment meaning the way you can use it depends on you entirely.]**

_'Me, huh?' Michael thought._

"So boost first." Michael scratched his cheek as Kiba was able to devour the light from Freed's blade with his own sword [Holy Eraser].

"Excuse me for this but I can't allow you to keep using this." Kiba smiled.

"Tch! You damn devil!" Freed roared as he points his gun at Kiba and shot it about 5 times only for it to miss.

Jumping back, Kiba looked over to his side and said,

"Koneko-chan."

"Roger."

Koneko was shown lifting a one of the long pews then tossing them at the Exorcist.

"Crap! Shit! Damn!" Freed cried as dodged about 2 before being knocked away by the third, "Damn a [Rook] also!"

**[BOOST!]**

"Okay I think I got it now." Michael nodded to himself unaware of Freed escaping his imprisonment under the pew.

***VAM!***

"Damn them!" Freed growled then glanced over at Michael and smirked, "Opportunity!"

"Huh?" Michael gasped then jumped back narrowly dodging the light blade before Freed continued his attack once more.

"You really came here to save Asia-tan that bitch how nice of you shitty brat but since your in cahoots with devils and how she's your friend she deserves to die a horrible death don't you think, and besides the only way to get to the place of ritual is down the stairs under the altar but don't think I'll let you live!" Freed laughed as each word he said only made Michael the more angry.

"You bastard!" Michael roared as he leans in and punches the priest only to receive little reaction from him.

***Bam!***

"Is that the best you can do, hah even the midget over there could hit better than you!" Freed laughed.

*Chills~!*

Suddenly both Michael and Freed stopped in their tracks to see a quiet Koneko glaring at Freed.

"What now?" Michael gulped.

"It seems he activated Koneko-chan's trap card." Kiba chuckled.

"Trap card?" Michael asked.

Then out of nowhere Koneko picks up on of the huge statues which was still in tact and said,

"Die..."

Flinging it at the two Michael gasped,

"Wait I'm still here!" Michael cried as Freed jumped out the way in time as the statue crashed into the boy and sent him flying towards the back of the church where the empty dormitories resided.

"Aw no fair shorty you killed the brat before I had the chance~!" Freed whined, "I hope you won't mind if I take both your heads as compensation!"

*Chiillllsss~!*

"Oh my it seems you really are asking for death now aren't you?" Kiba shook his head.

With Michael he was covered in a pile of rubble in one of the empty rooms.

"Damn it as soon as I get out I'm gonna kick that Priest's ass." Michael grunts as he sits up.

**[But it was the short devi-]**

"Dude I know that but I can't say that in front of her due to the fact she has superhuman strength." Michael gulped standing up Michael looks around and saw nothing in front of him, "Man this place really is empty."

**[Shouldn't you be rushing to help those devils?]**

"I know that already I was just curious to see how the entire place looks is all." Michael shrugged then began to run out the door before

"M-Michael-kun?" A feminine voice said.

Stopping Michael's eyes widened as he cranes his neck to the left to see...

"Raynare-chan!?" Michael gasped.

Back to the fight with the devils and Freed.

"Why won't you two just die!" Freed discarded his blade of light and pulls out two light guns and started firing at both the devils who ran in different directions so his aim wouldn't as effective.

"Koneko-chan I'll be the distractor you attack once he shows an openings!" Kiba unsheathes his sword.

"Right Kiba-senpai..." Koneko nodded.

"You shitty devils are trying to pull something!?" Freed growled.

"No I am!"

"What the hell?" Freed turned back to see a spinning Michael.

"Oh fu-" Freed went wide eyed as Michael spin kicked the stray priest into the altar smashing it during the process.

**[Did you just Spin Kick him?]**

_'I know right I've always wanted to do that!' Michael thought._

**[Please don't do it again.]**

_'My body my rules!'_

Michael raised the boosted Gear in the air and shouted, "Now Give me more power!"

**[BOOST!]**

"Damn you all I'm so pissed why won't you devils just keel over and just die~!"Freed spat at Koneko and Kiba before smirking at Michael, "And you brat that surprise attack was very interesting~! Maybe we're not so different after all, hell we may even share a same intellect."

"You take that back right the fuck now!" Michael was insulted by the compliment.

"Tch! Whatever it doesn't matter if you accept it or not because your going to die either wa- what the hell?" Freed gasped upon the sight of an array of several pink light spears being thrown at him. Jumping back he dodges each light spear with ease while he lands a few feet from one which was glowing brightly, "Son of a bit-!"

***BOOM!***

The explosion sent Freed crashing into the nearby wall.

"The hell? Was that a light spear then that means-!" Freed grunts.

"Michael-kun are you okay?" Raynare walks out from behind Michael's shadow holding a light spear.

"I'm fine thanks though!" Michael grinned.

"You got that trashy Fallen Angel-sama to support your side how did you do that brat!?" Freed screamed.

"Oh nothing I just happen to have a knack for picking cool friends!" Michael chuckled then roared, "More!"

**[BOOST!]**

"Now lets do this the real fight begins!"

Being surrounded by the four, Freed was literally backed into a corner.

"Like hell will I be overtaken by you lot!" Freed pulls out a small ball then throws it down to release a bright flash of light blinding everyone to make a hasty retreat.

"Ow my eyes!" Michael cried and rubbed his eyes, "You darn priest, you turkey!"

"Michael-kun are you alright?" Raynare rushed over to the teen.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Michael opened his teary eyes and smiled.

"Thank goodness." Raynare sighed in relief.

"But I should be asking you that though so are you alright?" Michael smiled.

"Y-Yes I am thank you." Raynare blushed.

"That's awesome and-!" Michael puts his hand on Raynare's shoulder while grinning, "Thank you for caring about me before yourself that day I appreciate it!"

"I-Idiot you don't have to thank me for that it was only natural I did that for you a-alright." Raynare was flustered.

"Hey why are you so stuttery?" Michael folded his arms behind his head.

"N-No reason so shut up!" Raynare spun around and pouted.

"*Sigh!* Fine I guess I'll go save Asia now." Michael shrugged.

"Save Asia you mean the young Sister?" Raynare asked.

"Yeah she must be in some evil ritual right now so we have to save her, and also she's my friend like you so I can't leave her hanging like this." Michael scratched his head as Raynare's face grew pale.

"Care to shed some light on what ritual they are doing?" Kiba said with a little hostility, its easily shown that being devil he'll truly dislike Fallen Angels also.

"I-Its a ritual to extract the sacred gear off of its." Raynare informed with a gulp.

*GASP!* Everyone but Michael gasped as Koneko's eyes simply widened.

"What's so bad about a sacred gear being taken out of its owner, wouldn't it be good so people around them don't see them as a freak?" Michael questioned.

"No you don't understand once a Sacred Gear leaves the body of its owner they-" Kiba then paused then bit his lip.

"They what?" Michael questioned.

"They die." Koneko said sternly.

Michael then froze and looked shocked by the revelation.

"Die?" Michael gasped.

"Hanamura-kun?" Kiba was worried for the teen.

"Don't screw with me!" Michael roared shaking the whole room with just his voice.

"Kill her why!?" Michael cried, "Asia didn't do anything wrong and she doesn't deserve any of this!"

"..." Both devils remained quiet.

"Who would think of such a horrible thing I will never forgive them!" Michael clenched his fist in anger as the jewel on the boosted gear began to glow brightly.

"Never forgive?" Raynare trembled.

"Hmmm?" Michael looked over to the fallen angel with some rage in his tone.

"It was actually my plan to extract the sacred gear from Asia-san." Raynare confessed as Michael still kept his neutral face towards her as she continued,

"I really wanted to be loved by Azazel-sama so much that I had never thought of how I would get it, I really am just a tainted Angel right Michael-kun?" Raynare looked up at Michael who raised his hand causing the girl to flinch,

"I-I know you might hate me for doing something like this but I'm still happy that you still cared for my well being even if it was for a while."

*Ping!*

Raynare simply blinked as Michael flicked the girl's forehead.

"Come on why are you starting to get all sad all of a sudden?" Michael crossed his arms, "Like I care if you planned it either way your not the one doing it now."

"But?" Raynare piped up.

"But nothing your here helping me while whoever it is hurting Asia is doing the ritual it doesn't mean I'll hate you..." Michael sighed, "But it doesn't mean I won't expect you not to do anything to make up for planning this so as soon as this is over I expect you to listen and take responsibility okay?"

Raynare blushed and nodded taking what he said the wrong way.

"Good now let's hurry to Asia!" Michael received nods from all 3 of his comrades.

Walking down the staircase the group was able to find a series of passages under the altar but were able to locate the specific room with Koneko's special nose senses to which confused Michael who paid no mind to it.

"Well this is it I guess." Michael gulped.

"Wait if we were to take a quieter approach then we could gain the element of surpr-" Kiba rubbed his chin but...

***SLAM!***

"Michael Hanamura's here to save the day!" Michael ran through the doors.

"Never mind." Kiba sighed.

"...Moron." Koneko closer her eyes in irritation.

Stopping Michael looks to find out the entire ritual room was filled with stray exorcists guarding a high altar where Asia was hanging onto a cross looking terrible in her current state. As the man responsible was standing right in front of her with his arms crossed and a huge smirk looking down upon him in amusement.

"It seems your finally here, kid and with a little help from some devils I see."

*Inhales deeply!*

"ASIA!" Michael screamed.

"M-Michael-san?" Asia weakly looks up at Michael.

"Asia don't worry I'm coming!" Michael screamed unaware of an incoming attack.

"Look out!"

Kiba tried to push Michael back but it was too late as a blue light spear crashed in front of them and sent them crashing to the walls with such force.

"Michael-kun!" Raynare ran to Michael's aid.

"Ah! Raynare your free, here to finally take your place as the owner of the sacred gear it was your plan after all?" Dohnaseek grinned.

"Are you serious?" Raynare glared at the man, "That is an act I wouldn't do of course I wanted Azazel-sama's love but now that I see how wrong it is it's just plain dirty and sickening!"

"Hmph your loss and besides your too late the ritual was already finished before you arrived." Dohnaseek chuckled as he raised his hand towards Asia to which a glowing green.

"What?" Michael's eyes widened.

"Aaaah! Iyaaaaaaaaa!" Asia was now screaming painfully as the light grew brighter.

"No stop that!" Michael ran head first towards the surrounding priests.

"We won't let you interfere!" The priests roared while bringing out their light swords.

"For conversing with devils you will perish!"

"Get out of my way!" Michael raised his arm and elbows a stray priest in the way who was able to knock into 3 to the side.

**[What are you doing recklessly moving this many enemies could get you killed before you even reach the Sister!]**

_'I don't care I just can't stand and watch her scream in pain!' Michael growls as another group of priests charged at him._

"Move out of the way!" Michael clenched his fist.

*Zing!*

"You should focus more on the other enemies your facing." Kiba appears out of nowhere with his dark sword covered in the blood of the slayed priests who have fallen to their deaths, "If we're dealing with you lot then I'll have to be serious."

"Whoa." Michael noticed the dark killing intention Kiba was leaking out.

"... ..Your too close don't touch me." Koneko sends a Priest flying with a single punch.

***BAM!* *CRASH!***

The priest landed on a pile of his other comrades who were also flattened by Koneko's strength.

_'For her size she is terrifyingly strong!' Michael gulped._

"Where do you think you going!?" 5 priests readied their guns and aimed them at Michael.

"Crap!" Michael crossed his arms over his chest to try and block the attacks but the light of five light spears zoomed past him and impaled the priests with little to no effort.

Michael smiled and looked back to Raynare, "Raynare that was freaking awesome!"

Raynare then cupped her cheeks to hide her blush and said, "N-No problem Michael-kun."

Finally able to reach Asia, Michael was on the stairs reaching for the girl with each step he took, "Asia I'm coming!"

But it was too late...

"Iyaaaa..." Asia's eyes suddenly grew dark as if her life was sucked out.

"Yes!" Dohnaseek grinned as a green light escaped Asia's body and slowly fell into his hands, "Finally with this power I can achieve a higher rank almost of cadre level Ahahahahaha!"

_'Asia...' Michael looked sad then glared at Dohnaseek._

"You bastard!" Michael charged at Dohnaseek and cocked his fist back.

"Oh you wanna go round two kid then bring it!" Dohnaseek cracked his knuckles.

"Give Asia back her sacred gear!" Michael shot his fist forward at the man's stomach.

"Your still too slow!" Dohnaseek caught Michael's wrist.

"Damn you!" Michael fired another fist but it too was caught also.

"Your combat skills are nothing to mine kid give up!" Dohnaseek cackled.

"Ngh!" Michael grunted then kicked the ground under him to pick himself up in the air and kick upwards against Dohnaseek's jaw with a loud...

***BAM!***

"Guargh!" Dohnaseek released Michael and grabbed his chin in pain.

**[BOOST!]**

"Take this!" Michael punched Dohnaseek across the jaw and sent him flying off the ritual altar while releasing his grip on the Twilight Healing sacred gear.

"Got it!" Michael grabbed the rings before the fell after the fallen angel.

"M..Michael-san." Asia called out.

Undoing the bindings Michael was able to smash them open and catch the limp girl.

"Don't worry Asia I'll get you out of here." Michael then carried the girl and jumped down the stairs as he ran up the stairs.

"Quick get the-Aaaugh!" One of the leading Exorcists were cut down by Kiba while the others were being impaled or beaten to a pulp by Raynare and Koneko.

"Hanamura-kun hurry we'll take care of them." Kiba turned back to smile as Michael ran past them.

"...We'll create an escape route for you senpai..." Koneko cracked his fists.

"Michael-kun don't worry I'll handle these damned stray priests!" Raynare roared as she conjured another light spear and impaled it through 2 incoming enemies at once.

"Everyone thank you!" Michael grinned, "And just call me Michael-kun you two we're friends now right!?"

Kiba and Koneko smiled at this and nodded as he exited the room and entered the passage at once.

Climbing up the stairs, Michael was encouraging Asia to hold on as the girl was about to doze off into her final rest.

"We're here Asia so just hang in there!" Michael panted as he made it out from the passage and into the sanctuary.

"Michael-san you c-came." Asia said weakly as Michael approaches a pew.

"Of course now lets give you back your sacred ge-...!" Michael gasped and widened his eyes as he felt a searing pain from his back, it was so intense that Michael fell forward and dropped the limp Asia onto the ground.

Standing over him was a furious Dohnaseek holding his light spear covered in Michael's blood.

"You little shit!" Dohnaseek growled as he stamps his foot onto Michael's back.

"Gurgh! A-Asia don't worry I'm coming." Michael coughed in pain but crawled towards Asia.

"Are you trying to ignore me!" Dohnaseek put more pressure into his foot.

"Aaaaaaah!" Michael screamed in pain.

"Get up!" Dohnaseek picked Michael up by his hair and made the teen stand as he struggled to break free.

"Asia hold on I'm coming..." Michael grunts in pain.

"Don't ignore me!" Dohnaseek stabs his light spear into Michael's right torso.

"Guagh!" Michael coughed up a moderate amount of blood and felt like collapsing but still stood on his own.

"A-Asia please don't die I have your sacred gear right." Michael clenched his fist then charged at Dohnaseek, "Get out of my way!"

"Finally fighting back? Lets see how much you've improved!" Dohnaseek charges at Michael with his light spear ready.

**[BOOST!]**

"Dohnaseek!" Michael roared as he punched forward.

As both passed each other Michael's punch had completely missed as Dohnaseek's Light spear caused many slash marks to appear on Michael's arms and legs.

"Ugh!" Michael fell on all fours.

"Hmph pathetic and your the one who possesses the Boosted Gear, maybe I should do it a favor and extract out of you next!" Dohnaseek turns around to see Michael crawling to Asia.

"Sorry asshole but first you'll have to try that once Asia is back!" Michael pulled out of the Twilight healing rings and put it on Asia's finger.

"Right now all I need is the other." Michael dug in his pocket and gasped, "Where is it?"

"You mean this?" Dohnaseek smirked and pulled out one of the rings.

"You bastard give me that!" Michael grinded his teeth, he was so close to saving another friend.

"You want it so badly then come and get it..." Dohnaseek points his light spear at Michael.

"Grr!" Michael would stand but a hand to his wrist caught his attention, "Huh Asia?"

"Michael-san it's fine...don't worry about me..." Asia shook her head.

"What do you mean of course I have to worry about you, if I don't then what friend would I be?" Michael exclaimed with worry.

But those words only brought Asia to tears.

_'Damn it don't cry your n-not going to die! Not when you haven't experienced the true joy of life yet!'_

"Oi why are you crying its okay as soon as I beat this douche we'll be happy together!" Michael bit his lips holding back his tears, "I still haven't shown you around the whole town like the karaoke bars or the bowling alleys!"

"I was...happy that I was able to be your friend Michael-san...even if it wasn't for long." Asia's voice was filled with happiness even through her dying moments.

"Idiot don't say that we'll still be friends and besides you'll get more friends if you stay alive okay? I promise I-I swear the Great Michael swears to you that you'll have good friends no amazing friends like my best friend Saji Genshirou he's the coolest bro a friend could ask for and-and Motohama and Matsuda they may be perverted but they also are awesome guys to hang out with and even some of my old friends I haven't seen in a while one of them may happily accept you as her friend while the other one may take some time to get him to warm up to you. So please don't die Asia don't leave me all alone." Michael cried losing his usual tone and replacing it with a sad desperate one, "I don't want you to die, I want you to live!"

"Maybe...if I were born...in the same country you were...Michael-san then maybe...we could have had been friends for a longer time." Asia smiled.

"No don't start talking like your about to die you'll live I promised you that remember!?" Michael cried but then gasped as Asia's hand touched his cheek.

"For crying...for a person like me...makes me really happy." Asia weakly smiled as her eyes slowly closed, "Thank you...for being friends with such a pathetic Sister as me." Asia kept her smile once she finished her last words as her hand fell lifelessly.

"Asia?" Michael gripped her hand tightly, "Come on stop joking, this isn't funny!" Michael then hugged the girl while finally letting tears stream down his face, "Asia no...I promised you why did you...?" Michael's wide eyes suddenly grew dark with sadness.

"*YAWN!* What a boring sight, you were barely able to protect a girl you just met is it me or do you just have bad luck with protecting people you care about?" Dohnaseek mocked.

"!" Michael hugged Asia tightly.

"Ah well since the pitiful inferior being is dead hand me back her sacred gear. She won't be needing it for where she's going." Dohnaseek sighed then laughed.

"Hahahaha! What am I kidding, she worked with Fallen Angels and a murderous stray priest, she's probably going straight to hell since her vain death only brought about more good for me than God himself!"

*Snap!*

Suddenly a huge force of power bursts out of Michael knocking Dohnaseek back a few steps.

"Asia's death was in vain?" Michael who was covered in an overflowing amount of red aura looked at Dohnaseek with glowing red eyes through the aura.

"This power what's going on!?" Dohnaseek conjures another light spear.

**[BOOST!]**

"You laughed once Asia died?" Michael puts Asia down on the pew.

**[BOOST!]**

"You made fun of Raynare!" Michael stood up and looked over at Dohnaseek as a fierce killing intent covered his body.

**[BOOST!]**

"You even killed Asia without feeling remorse!" Michael turned over to the man and slowly walked towards him.

**[BOOST!]**

"You don't deserve to live anymore!" Michael growled, "Yeah, you need to die! I can't let you live anymore! I'll never ever forgive you!"

**[BOOST!]**

**[EXPLOSION!]**

A shockwave shot out of the boosted gear.

**[Partner your power has grown to the level of a High-Class Devil, for a human that's extraordinary especially when your a novice at using the Boosted Gear!]**

_'I don't care about levels all I want to do is kill this bastard.' Michael said coldly._

"Impossible this strong aura isn't that of a regular human its-its more than that!" Dohnaseek started to sweat.

"Your going down!" Michael lunged at Dohnaseek.

"You damn brat!" Dohnaseek furls his wings and flies into the air, "Don't think you've won because you got a power up!" As soon as Dohnaseek looks down he sees Michael who had instantly jumped after the man just inches away from his face.

"This one's for Raynare!" Michael punches Dohnaseek across he face sending him crashing into a couple pews in the ground.

"Damn you!" Dohnaseek roared out of the pews toppled over him but soon he realized Michael falling towards him with both his hands locked over his head.

"Raaaaaaaargh!" Michael gave a murderous roar as he brings them down with a large...

***DOOOOON!***

The impact ravaged the sanctuary.

But Dohnaseek was able to roll away and pick himself up on time.

"Where did he go?" Dohnaseek looked around frantically searching for Michael.

"Hm!" Michael dashed out of the rubble of pews and towards Dohnaseek in a flash but disappeared with his enhanced speed.

"He disappeared?" Dohnaseek gasped.

"No, I'm behind you." Michael stood over Dohnaseek while giving the man a deadly glare.

"!" Dohnaseek twists back and forms a light spear to thrust at the boy.

"Is that all?" Michael grabs Dohnaseek's wrists before he could even point the weapon at him.

"What?" Dohnaseek gasped.

"Pathetic it seems like your the weakest one here." Michael raised his foot and slams it upon Dohnaseek's chest sending him flying towards the stone wall under the decapitated crucifix.

"Guargh!" Dohnaseek was coughing out a terrifying amount of blood. Looking up Dohnaseek sees Michael figure walking towards him along with a huge amount of aura in the shape of a dragon as Michael's eyes gleamed red. This sight was able to break Dohnaseek's spirit to fight.

"Enough of this!" Michael exclaimed, "I'll end you with this last punch." Michael clenched his fist as his gauntlet glew bright red.

**[MAGNUM!]**

"N-No stop I'm down I give!" Dohnaseek shook his head.

***STOMP!***

Already a few feet away Michael stomps his feet down and clenches his red gauntlet with his left hand.

"This is for all the pain you caused them!"

"No, quit it you monster stop it don't do it!" Dohnaseek screamed in fear.

**"Dragon Buster!"** Michael cocks his fist back then lands it upon Dohnaseek's gut as the power around Michael's arm spiraled and dug into Dohnaseek until the pressure was hard enough to destroy the stone wall structure behind him.

"Guagh!" Dohnaseek vomited more blood then he should with just a single punch before he falls down limply.

**[Reset!]**

Looking upon Dohnaseek's battered body, Michael knew he didn't end the man but simply knocked him out.

"Your lucky Asia was a forgiving person or I would have personally killed you myself." Michael turns around and walks over to Asia and kneels to her side, "A-Asia..."

**[Congratulations Partner you won your first actual fight by yourself.]**

"Yeah, but at what cost Asia's dead and I wasn't able to protect her." Michael sighed.

Suddenly a pat to the back frightens Michael out of his funk as he jumped in fear.

"So it seems you were able to handle things up here?" Kiba patted Michael's back.

"Oh its you Pretty Boy." Michael sighed then looked down towards Asia, "Yeah, but what happened with you guys?"

"We were able to take care of the exorcists with ease thanks to your fallen angel friend." Kiba smiled.

"I'm glad but wait if you were done then why didn't you come help me?" Michael asked.

"Because I told them you can handle it." A voice from behind both of them said.

Looking back Michael sees Rias Gremory walking towards with her arms crossed.

"Rias-senpai you did and wait why are you here?" Michael questioned.

"I came in from the front door after finishing with some business." Rias smiled while crossing her arms under her chest.

"What business?" Michael asked but stopped when he saw Koneko walking past them.

_'Nice seeing you alive too.' Michael was annoyed by the girl ignoring him even after him almost dying._

"Michael-kun you seem to be injured." Kiba pointed out now using Michael's first name casually.

"Nah, it doesn't hurt anymore for some reason." Michael chuckled as he touched his bloody scarred torso, "See it doesn't hurt so I shouldn't worry."

Rias examines the wound from where she stood and thought,  _'Could the Welsh Dragon be numbing the pain as it heals him.'_

"U-Um.." Michael shivered.

"Eh?" Rias looks up to see a shivering Michael with watery eyes.

"Its not something to worry about right because you've been staring at it for a while?" Michael's cute reaction caused Rias to giggle.

"No nothing you should concern yourself with." Rias smiled.

"Michael-kun." Raynare walks towards Michael from out of the staircase.

"Oh Raynare-chan are you okay?" Michael rushes to the girl and sits her down.

"Yes I'm fine did you?" Raynare asked as Michael points to the down Dohnaseek, "Ah I see you did."

"Yeah but I was too late to save Asia..." Michael looked to the side sadly.

"I-I'm sorry." Raynare gave him a sad expression.

"Sorry won't bring her back but thanks." Michael gave a bitter smile.

"Ara Ara. Buchou this place is a mess are you sure something like this will be okay?" Akeno who now entered the church asked with a troubled face.

"Akeno-senpai?" Michael gasped.

"Hello, Michael-kun its nice seeing you again and it looks like you had a little more fun in here than outside with us." Akeno gave a lady like smile.

"Since this church was originally abandoned there would be no danger coming towards since Fallen Angels just took refuge here for their own selfish desires." Rias explained, "And unexpectedly we were able to stumble upon them and fight here."

"I have no idea what you two are saying." Michael shook his head.

"Just think of it as we're home free from anymore trouble." Kiba smiled.

"There that's more simple." Michael snapped his fingers.

Coming through the doors was Koneko who seemed to be dragging to bodies with her.

"Buchou. I brought them." Koneko said while tossing the two bodies forward.

"Wait you guys are?" Michael looks down to see Mittlet and Kalawarner covered in bruises.

"So when you meant business you were actually taking care of these two?" Michael asked.

"Our President is known as the "Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess" her power is the very definition of destruction itself, getting hit by it leaves no remains left leading to an instant loss." Kiba explained.

"Whoa that sounds awesome." Michael was in awe.

_'Hey why can't you do that?'_

**[Why I! If you must know my power was very destructive during my prime!]**

_'Alright I get it Old man you don't have to continue.' Michael sighed._

**[Old!]**

Shutting off communication with the furious dragon Michael continued his talk with the Gremory Group.

"I-Impossible how could we lose!" Mittlet pounded the floor numerous times.

"It seems Dohnaseek lost also." Kalawarner groaned in defeat, "You may do what you want with us."

"B-But!" Mittlet grew teary eyes.

"Mittlet please just accept your loss." Raynare pleaded.

"Raynare-oneesan!" Mittlet gasped.

"I was blinded by wanting love so I wasn't able to think properly on my actions, so please give up and surrender to these devils don't do anything irrational which could lead you to die. Please don't die because of my foolishness!" Raynare cried.

"Ngh!" Mittlet bit her lip then lowered her head in defeat also.

"Actually it isn't our choice to make whether to finish you off." Rias smiles then turns to Michael.

"M-Me?" Michael points to himself.

"Yes you are the client and you specifically wanted us to help you subdue these Fallen Angels so whether to finish them or not is completely up to you." Rias explained.

"Hmm?" Michael rubbed his chin and was in thought.

*Ding!*

"I have an idea." Michael walked between the angels and devils to cough, "I don't want you guys to finish them."

"Are you sure?" Rias asked, "Because of them they caused you pain, attempted to murder you, damage to your home and even ended the life of your friend." Rias stopped herself when she saw Michael's face, "Forgive me for that last comment."

"No its fine and besides if they were to die then it wouldn't bring Asia back." Michael sighed, "So you two can go with that bastard over there."

"Are you serious?" Mittlet asked.

"Well seeing as to how I'm the guy who always laughs whenever someone says the word duty then yes I am serious." Michael nodded while smiling at Mittlet.

"Hmph you really are a weird human, kind but weird." Kalawarner sighed.

"Well thank you." Michael scratched his head while smiling.

"I still think she was calling you weird Michael-kun." Kiba sweatdropped.

"Don't ruin this for me I barely get any compliments from the teachers at school!" Michael hissed.

"Whatever we can leave right now Raynare-oneesan can come with us." Mittlet hopped up.

"Yeah...about that we need to talk." Raynare walked Mittlet outside while Kalawarner went to assist Dohnaseek up on her shoulder and dragged him out.

"Hey kid." Kalawarner looked back at Michael.

"Huh?"

She threw a ring at Michael who was slow to catch it and let it hit his nose.

"Ouch!" Michael cried and rubbed his nose as he looks down at the ring to see it was a piece of the twilight healing.

"Asia..." Michael picked up the ring.

"I hope we can meet again kid, but maybe when you grow to become more of a man." Kalawarner winked.

"?" Michael shrugged unaware of what she meant then simply grinned, "Yeah me too I hope to see you again, you freaking psychopaths." Michael scratched his cheek as he whispered the last parts.

As all the Fallen Angels leave the church, Michael was now back to observing the deceased Asia laying upon the pew still smiling.

"Here." Michael slips Asia's sacred gear on her other finger, "I guess I was too late after all I'm sorry Asia."

Everyone looked upon Michael sadly.

"Hey guys don't be sad I should be the one who should be, you guys did a great job of helping me with your contracts so smile." Michael rubbed his teary eyes.

"She really was someone important to you was she not?" Rias asked approaching Michael.

"Yeah even though it was for a little while I'm glad I got to know her." Michael sniffled.

"Well then what would you say if I were able to resurrect her?" Rias smile curled into a smirk.

Michael then stood up and back away about to make a point.

"First I'd back away pull out my phone and send you to a mental institute." Michael's eye lids sunk to being half closed.

"Then lets make a wager okay?" Rias pulls out a Red, Bishop Chess piece, "If I am able to restore Asia Argento's life then you must become my servant and if I can't-."

"I don't want anything all I would want to do is laugh and say 'I told you so'." Michael grinned.

"Boy my friend you are going to regret you made this bet." Kiba shook his head.

"Hey Pretty Boy what do you mean?" Michael asked.

"...Michael-senpai is a moron." Koneko shook her head.

"What?" Michael looked down to see Koneko.

"Ara Ara you must really be excited to be one of us Michael-kun." Akeno laughed at the boy's misfortune.

"I order, in my name Rias Gremory. You, Asia Argento. I, resurrect you back to this soil as my servant, and have you reborn as a Devil. You, my [Bishop], be delighted with your new life!"

"Huh, but its impossible right you can't resurrect someone from the de-" Michael stopped when he saw the red bishop chess piece float over Asia and create a red magic circle under her. Slowly the piece phase through Asia's body through the use of demonic power. As the circle fades away Asia's eyes were slowly opening.

"Huh?" Asia sits up and looks over to Michael, "M-Michael-san?"

"The fuck?" Michael looked over to Rias with a pale face.

"Using Evil Pieces we are able to reincarnate the lives of beings such as humans, dragons, or others who aren't at all god class into devils." Rias explained.

"Y-You tricked me!" Michael pointed at Rias.

"I didn't do anything you didn't expect you accepted a bet with a devil it takes bravery to do such a thing." Rias giggled.

"Well at least Asia's alive now." Michael walks over to the girl and pats her head.

"Michael-san?" Asia blinks in confusion.

"Lets go home." Michael smiled but felt a tap to his shoulder, "Huh?" He looks back to see Rias giving Michael a forced smile.

"I hope your not thinking about skipping out on your part of the bet." Rias was forming a block of destruction power in her hand.

"Eh?" Michael froze.

"Remember your contract far exceeded that of a regular human's limit meaning what you owe us is your death." Rias giggled.

"What?" Michael broke from her grasp as he backed up into Koneko.

"...Senpai..." Koneko cracks her knuckles causing Michael to back away into Kiba.

"Sorry man no hard feelings." Kiba draws his sword.

"Ufufufu! I wonder how cute Michael-kun would look like with a pained face?" Akeno licks her lips as she forms a block of thunder magic in her hand.

_'Ddraig tag in!' Michael whimpered._

In the middle of these dangerous devils Michael looked to see his Boosted Gear disappeared.

**[Your on your own, Partner.]**

"Wait, why me?" Michael trembled.

"Now my adorable servant I hope you don't mind being a [Pawn]?" Rias gave Michael a cute smile.

"Don't say that with a cute face!" Michael fell to his knees and cried, "Wait a pawn!?"

"Now your duties as my servant begins Michael-kun." Rias pulls out 8 pawn pieces and directed them at Michael.

"No I don't want this!" Michael cried.

"Huh?" Asia tilts her head confused on what exactly is going on.

As far away a floating orb of magic is viewing the group from afar.

In a dark classroom two girls who were the most popular of the school were watching the entire scene unfold, Souna Shitori the School's Student Council President was a young bespectacled woman in her late teens with a slim figure, black hair styled in a short bob cut and violet eyes as she is dressed in a Kuoh Academy girls' school uniform.

"So it seems Rias was able to retrieve the Red Dragon Emperor as a servant after all." Souna smiled.

"Kaichou, were you not interested on attaining him as a servant also?" questioned a young bespectacled woman with long straight black hair that extends all the way down to her knees with split bangs and heterochromic eyes, with a violet left eye and a light brown right eye in addition to wearing the Kuoh Academy girls' school uniform, she also wears blue, semi-rimmed glasses with square lenses.

"Well yes but seeing as to how she used 8 and I only have 3 I guess I didn't have a chance of succeeding." Souna shrugged.

"Now we have another interesting [Pawn] joining the ranks this should be interesting." Tsubaki said.

"Indeed but they won't be such a handful as long as 'he' doesn't know that sacred gear dragons are here at the school." Souna fixed her glasses, "Then everything will turn out fine just fine."

"..." Tsubaki began to sweat a little by the comment.

"Tsubaki why have you gone silent is there something you wish to share." Souna focused her sights of Tsubaki who remained quiet.

*Tap!* *Tap!*

Looking over her shoulder Souna sees a floating Purple cloud slowly float down with a man sitting atop of it.

"Tsubaki who is that?" Souna's eyebrow twitched.

"Forgive me, Kaichou he forced me to take a vow of silence." Tsubaki bowed to Souna who simply sighs and walks over to the window and open it while giving a nervous smile.

"Sona-chan how have you been its been a while since I've seen you!" the man sitting upon the cloud grinned as he raised his hands in the air, one holding a red staff.

"What a wonderful surprise, Nii-sama why are you here?" Souna began to sweat.

"Oh no reason I just came around to say hi and couldn't help but realize something's going on around town and couldn't resist coming." The man chuckled, "Shishishishishi!"

"Well it was nice seeing you again but I suppose you must be busy so farewell, Nii-sama." Souna smiled in relief as she was about to take a step back until the red staff stopped the window from closing.

"Ah! When have you known me to ever be busy, Sona-chan." The man forced the window open and jumped inside the room, "Its been a while since I've been at the school how long has it been since I've ever been on the inside?"

"Y-You were always so busy doing your own thing to even notice." Souna looked away while trying to hide her flustered face.

"Ah, I guess your right. Hey look its Tsubaki how have you been I hope you haven't had any trouble taking care of So-chan because she could be a handful if she's not given what she wants." The man chuckled as he scratched his head.

"Nii-sama, you shouldn't spout such lies especially towards my own servant." Souna was looking even more flustered but also annoyed.

"It's an honor meeting you again, Kai-sama." Tsubaki bowed to the man.

"Now come on we're both fellow queens here, so cut the formalities, Shishishishi!" Kai grinned as he walks over to the magic screen portraying the Gremory group, "And oh my what is this? What a surprise its Rias-chan and her servants with a boy who happens to hold something interesting."

"Nii-sama, please tell me why your actually here." Sona crossed her arms under her chest.

"*Gasp!* What's so wrong with me visiting my favorite little sister in the world and proclaiming my undying love to her!" The man exaggerated, "I am deeply offended you would even deny your own brother-in-law. Offended indeed!"

"Because you usually try to force yourself into an act you can't keep a straight face through." Sona sighed slightly disappointed that she was able to see through the act which didn't have a single truth.

"Man, your no fun." Kai broke the act and shook his head, "You should lighten up once in a while, So-chan or you may be stuck having that serious face, you know?"

"So what truly brings you here because you did not contact me of such an arrival." Sona sighed.

"I did contact you its just that someone was able to pick it up before you and decided to keep it between the two of us." Kai gave a mischievous smirked as he looks to Tsubaki, "Since she did have a reason after all."

"Please forgive me, Kaichou, he threatened me into silence if I were to tell you." Tsubaki bowed in shame, "If he would have found out then he would have persuaded your sister to drop all her duties to come by and visit also."

"See a very good reason indeed!" Kai laughed.

"Nii-sama, you really are a devil." Souna narrowed her eyes.

"No, I'm just like this by nature." Kai chuckled then grew a serious smile, "Now back to the reason why I'm here, I've been surveying this territory for a while now and have been interested in the recent activity going on. You can almost say that 'greater forces' are attracting me here."

Souna's eyes widened upon his wording.

"No, is that really why you're here?" Souna gasped.

"Of course, but if your jealous, I can always give you a kiss on the forehead if you want?" Kai grinned.

"O-Of course not such a thing is unneeded." Souna was even more flustered and had a small blush.

"But being serious again, I'm more interested in the new Red Dragon Emperor, I just want to observe him a bit before I decide to do something." Kai chuckled, "I just want to see the potential of the Dragon before I take action if he doesn't have anything to fix my boredom then I'll leave."

"And if he were to show any potential will you leave too?" Souna raised her eyebrow.

"Shishishishishishishsi!" Kai gave a hearty laugh.

"What pray tell may be so funny?" Souna groaned.

"Oh nothing just laughing at how very little you know about me." Kai smiled as he looks towards the magic screen with excitement as he laughed,

"Shishishi! Now lets see what you can do, Mr. Red Dragon Emperor." Kai sat down and continued observing the Gremory group in entertainment.

* * *

**Next Chapter- My new life as a Devil Begins!**


	7. My new life as a Devil Begins!

**My new life as a Devil Begins!**

* * *

Around 3 days later, Michael was running in an unused building from a large centaur like body.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" Michael cried as he saw the creature was now shooting acidic milk at him.

"Bad day! Bad day! Bad day!" Michael was hoping each time a shot of the acid was close to touching him.

"Yes! Run little boy, run!" Appearing from the shadows was the stray devil, Viser a being with the upper half of a voluptuous woman with short white hair as the lower half consisted of four legs, each having sharp claws, and a snake as a tail as she stood about 5 meters tall in height. As her weapons were spears being held in her hands

"Dammit!" Michael stopped himself as he sees a wall ahead.

"Ketaketaketake! Now your trapped so any last words before I devour you boy!" Viser cackled as one of her huge legs were raised in the air to crush the boy.

"Yeah, just one..." Michael grinned then raised his head and shouted,

"Pretty Boy your up!"

"Huh?" Viser barely formed before in a flash zoomed past her.

*Zing!*

Kiba who with his unsheathed sword appeared the devil had successfully cut off her arms and spears.

"I'm sorry but your too slow." Kiba gave a pretty boy smile as usual.

"Gyuuuuuuagh!" Viser screamed in pain as blood gushes out where here arms used to be.

_'The power of a [Knight] a devil who has been blessed with the power of unbelievable speed.' Michael clenched his fist and glared at Kiba, 'Maaan! This guy is a pretty boy and a badass with this power no fair!'_

"You little!" Viser was about to turn back until a small shadow from under it appears.

*Bam!*

"...Your open." Koneko suddenly jumps from the shadow gives the stray a strong uppercut to the chin knocking her into the ceiling and back to the ground.

"S-Scary." Michael watched the girl with fearful eyes as he gulped.

_'The power of a [Rook] is a devil with Super Human strength and durability.' Michael sighed, 'Somehow that totally fits her loli appearance and quiet personality I guess.'_

"You damn brat!" Viser roared as she picked herself up and raised one of her massive legs to crush the girl.

"..." Koneko grew ready to catch the foot.

But the sound of rapid footsteps approaching would soon intervene.

"Boosted Gear!" Michael conjured the red dragon gauntlet.

**[Dragon Booster!]**

**[Boost!]**

"I don't think so!" Michael jumped in the air and punched Viser's leg with all his might.

*Snap!*

"Graaaagh!" Viser cried as the blow was able to break her leg.

*Thud!*

Now down for the count Viser was going nowhere.

Standing in front of Koneko, Michael grinned.

"Koneko-chan, are you okay?" Michael tried to pull off a pretty boy face.

_'Heh! I probably looked cool when saying that now time to see the admiration my underclassmen will give me now!' Michael turned back only to see Koneko in the arms of Yuuto Kiba quite a distance away from Michael._

"Koneko-chan you should be careful if the blow were strong enough then the enemy would have collapsed on you." Kiba warned.

"...Yes thank you Kiba-senpai." Koneko nodded while being put down.

_'Damn you Pretty Boy why do you have to steal my thunder?' Michael growled and grinded his teeth._

Gaining his attention Michael looks to his right to see Rias-senp- he meant Buchou and Akeno-senpai entering the scene with smiles on both their faces.

"Good job you three nice way to stick to the strategy." Rias praised the three servants.

She then turns to Akeno and said,

"Akeno its now your turn to act."

"Of course, Buchou Ara Ara now what should I do with you?" Akeno laughed while approaching the downed Viser.

But then suddenly movements from near Buchou could be heard, looking beyond her shoulders Michael could see a quickly approaching crawling hand aiming for her.

_'Oh no you don't!' Michael rushes over to Rias and gently pushes her away as the hand raised itself and dug its spear across Michael's back._

"Gugh!" Michael coughs up a small amount of blood but still kept standing.

"Michael!" Rias' eyes widened in worry.

_'Compare to light spears this thing is just a little tooth pick pricking me!'_

**[Boost!]**

"Get lost!" Michael slams his fist into the hand and sent it flying for good.

"Michael, thank you." Rias walks over to the panting boy and checks his back, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, nothing that simple can take down the Great Hanamura!" Michael panted.

Akeno, who was able to get a glance at the scene turns back to Viser with her same smile with a little hint of anger in it due to her kouhai being injured by the latter's surprise attack.

"Ara Ara it seems you still had a little energy left and you seemed to have hurt my cute kouhai in the process too. Let's fix that now shall we?" Akeno raises her hand in the air then...

*Flash!*

Raining down upon Viser was a bolt of lightning.

"Gagagagagaagagagaaaa!"

Viser screamed in pain as many volts of lightning entered her body violently.

As soon as the bolt ends Viser was now a sizzling body covered in smoke and covered in black.

"Ara Ara your not done yet? It seems you still have enough energy to spare so lets continue shall we?"

*FLASH!*

An even more violent lightning bolt from before rains down upon Viser with no restraint.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

_'Oi isn't this enough this is just plain torture.' Michael gulped then remembered, 'The [Queen] the strongest after the King in battle who holds all the attributes of each piece a [Pawn], [Knight], [Rook] and [Bishop].'_

_Michael could still see the face Akeno makes as she continues to dazzle the stray with harsh lightning from up above. She was smiling even through her cold, scary posterior._

_Remembering the words that Rias told him, he could do nothing but gulp at the frightening sight._

_-Akeno specializes in Magic due to her being able to use her demonic powers to use the elements of lightning, ice and fire. And also before I forget she is known as the Ultimate Sadist, a person who is usually calm outside of battle but hard to stop during battle._

_She then explained how she is kind to her own comrades and that he should let her spoil him from time to time._

_'I'm just glad that she's on our side.' Michael gulped._

"Ufufufufufufu! Can you still take more Monster-san? Yes, I believe you can, so stay alive a little more so the finishing blow could be for my master, Ufufufufufufufu!" Akeno laughed.

_'I'm starting to feel bad for the stray and it's supposed to be the bad guy in all of this.' Michael trembled._

As soon as Akeno calmed down,  Rias stepped up to the Stray and gave it a smile.

"Stray Devil, Viser, leaving your master's side to rampage as you please definitely deserves death. Do you have any last words?"

Rias conjures a block of black demonic power in her hands.

"Just kill me already." Viser weakly says.

"Then turn into nothingness." Rias shoots the mass of power at Viser who was consumed by the power and disappeared like she was never there to begin with.

"It's finished. Good work everyone." Rias sighs.

"Yeah!" Michael cheered and shot his arms in the air, "Another victory for Michael Hanamura!"

"But I thought we all worked together for the win, Michael-kun?" Kiba smiled which earned a growl from Michael.

"Shut up, Pretty Boy, I wasn't talking to you!" Michael shouted.

"...Senpai's big mouth is too loud." Koneko covered her ears in irritation.

"Ah...sorry for having a big mouth." Michael frowned at the comment.

Walking over to Michael, Akeno looks somewhat worried and said, "Michael-kun your injuries are they okay?"

"You mean this? Nah! Its nothing that I can't handle, so don't worry about it." Michael laughed and scratched the back of his head.

_'Actually it stings badly and I might bleed out.' Michael sighed in thought._

"I don't know, Michael. Maybe you should let her heal it just in case something goes awry." Rias crossed her arms.

"Look, I'm fine. I, the Great Michael Hanamura don't need no healing from nobody now if you'll excuse me... I-I'm going to take a little nap because my head feels really woozy." Michael slurred as he falls onto his back.

As he closed his eyes, Michael could see the surprised worried faces of everyone around him (except for Koneko who kind of stood there and stoically watched).

_(In Michael's consciousness)_

_Sitting on one of the massive rock formations, Michael looks out to see nothing but wasteland._

_"Man, what a drag." Michael propped his head up with both arms._

_**[Well, it seems that your back here again, and I assume like the last 3 times it wasn't on purpose.]** _

_Looking behind him was the large towering red dragon that resided in the boosted gear and himself._

_"Shut up, Ddraig, I could have made it in here myself!"_

_**[Kukukukuku!]** _

_"What's so funny?" Michael growled._

**_[We both know that your inability to use your head would not give you the slightest chance of entering your own mindscape at will.]_ **

_"Grr! Fine, you got me! I passed out, okay?" Michael stood up and shouted._

_**[And how pray tell did you pass out this time?]** _

_Ddraig laid down on the ground and looked up at the small boy on the tall rock formation._

_"I bl... o..t" Michael mutered._

**_[Just speak up, I won't laugh.]_ **

_"Really?" Michael crossed his arms as Ddraig nodded,_

_"Fine, I got attacked by a Stray Devil and received a spear to the back and bled out." Michael groaned then expected a laugh to come out of the dragon._

**_[Why are you so paranoid about such a thing? Its natural to sustain damage and gain some effects from it, time to time, so don't sulk.]_ **

_"No, but you don't get it. I've been getting blown up, or getting my ass kicked by people I know and others who want me dead." Michael crossed his arms and pouted, "Man, ever since I joined the ORC its been cool, but this supernatural thing as Reincarnated Devil really sucks!"_

**_[You shouldn't be so concerned by the negatives just think positive. For example, when you first passed out you were being taught how to use your demonic powers to concentrate your magic to a finer point.]_ **

_"Yeah, I was able to form a regular sphere of it, but then it went haywire when I actually tried to focus on an element. I tried to use fire, but it suddenly exploded and caught me on fire, in the process." Michael complained._

**_[Well, you should think positively your able to use fire, but must learn to control it. Now the second time that you passed out was when you were done passing out your leaflets to humans and how you were able to gain your first contract on your first go.]_ **

_"I know that, but I don't exactly know what happened as soon as I entered the magic teleportation circle it went haywire and knocked me out while I was teleported to my client's home to which I don't know where it is and I don't even know the clients face." Michael rubbed his jaw, "And after that, my jaw felt sore and my mouth tasted like raw meat."_

**_[But you soon realized that the magic circle was highly unstable for you because of your lack of control with your power which means you have to learn how to contr-]_ **

_"I know... Control my demonic power blah!" Michael mocked before he blew a raspberry, "Look, I get it. I just started out as a devil, a stupid [Pawn], but I just can't think of anything greater to achieve than the Ultimate Pawn. I mean what's that an ultimate foot soldier is that it? I want something big to be my goal not just that!" Michael looked down at the ground depressingly._

_Ddraig was lost in thought about the boy's dream then opened his eyes in realization._

**_[Wait, I have an idea, why not aim for the title of Ma-]_ **

_Suddenly the whole mindscape turned pitch black, as Michael was left alone floating inside the void._

_"What the hell!" Michael shouted then gasped when he soon realized that he couldn't breathe, "What's going on!"_

_(In Reality)_

Waking up to see nothing but darkness again, Michael forced himself to sit up only to see that he was back in his apartment's bedroom, and it would appear that his wounds were gone, along with his uniform which was replaced with a black shirt and blue sweatpants.

"Man, what happened? I was just about to get an idea from, Ddraig, too?" Michael whined then realized that his bed felt somewhat smaller than usual, feeling movement besides his own on the bed, Michael looks to his right to see Asia sleeping on one side of his bed dressed in her green night gown while a sleeping Raynare wearing a purple night gown slept on the other side.

"Oh right, I forgot about this." Michael sighed.

Ever since the squabble with that bastard Dohnaseek and those stray exorcists, Michael was reincarnated as the [Pawn] of Rias Gremory as a debt to pay for losing a bet to her with the addition of avoiding death due to his contract. Since then, he has take it upon himself to care for the now reincarnated devil Asia Argento as a member of his home. At first the girl was rather uncomfortable with the idea of being a devil but soon grew to deal with it since she could now stay with Michael for a longer time. Upon living with him, she also attends class with him as well, so she could learn the Japanese lifestyle as well.

"Mmmm..." Asia stirred herself awake.

"Hmm?" Raynare's eyes tiredly open.

"Um...good morning." Michael greeted as both girls sat up and yawned.

"Good Morning, Michael-san." Asia smiled.

"Yes, Good Morning Michael-sama~." Raynare giggled then latched onto Michael's arm, closely.

_'I also forgot about this too.' Michael sighed in exhaustion._

Also his new household member, Raynare has decided to live with him after the squabble due to reasons unknown to him, but seemingly, she did share that she did abandon her status in the Grigori due to her actions of attempting to murder him and being the original mastermind to retrieve Asia's sacred gear, she didn't really care that much because either way she would have been kicked out but she did care for her friends to the extent that she was glad they were able to return safely thanks to her taking the blame for the entire thing even the bastard, Dohnaseek. Now that she's not affiliated with the Grigori she's taken it upon herself to live for Michael and help him in anyway she can, this devotion has grown to the point to where she calls him Michael-sama even when they go to school.

"Uh...yeah, what happened to me last night." Michael tilts his head.

"Michael-san, you were injured badly, so I healed you as soon as Buchou sent you back home." Asia explained while grabbing onto Michael as she traced little circles on his palm, "I'm sorry that I wasn't there to help immediately I guess I'm not useful."

"Huh? No, its not your fault that I got hurt, Asia. Besides, you're still adapting to the country, so of course you couldn't have made it." Michael patted the girl's head, "Your plenty of helpful, so don't doubt that, okay?"

"O-Okay." Asia was blushing under his praise.

Suddenly a pinch to his arm got Michael's attention.

"Ouch!" Michael screamed then looked over to Raynare who was jealously looking away, "What?"

"Nothing..." Raynare shook her head then grew back her smile, "Now Michael-sama, what do you want me to make you for breakfast?"

"Well, I don't have any preferences so..." Michael shrugged.

"Then I'll make it a surprise for you then." Raynare seductively whispered into Michael's ear.

"Auuu..." Asia then grabbed Michael's other arm and said, "Michael-san, I-I'll cook something for you."

"Really?" Michael asked.

Ever since Asia moved in with him, she had been steadily growing to learn how to make Japanese cuisine with little difficulty showing how quickly she may adapt to the country. But she was still far from perfect compared to other cooking he tried before. As Raynare somehow knew how to cook before she moved in, probably because she needed to know about the land's information before she does a mission for the Fallen Angels.

Suddenly Asia and Raynare intently stared at each other in a challenging sort of way.

"Asia-san, don't worry about that. It would only be a hassle for you, so allow me to cook for Michael-sama." Raynare implied.

"No, I want to cook for Michael-san too, Raynare-san!" Asia shook her head in defiance.

_'I have no idea what's happening.' Michael watched with a blank look._

Soon this argument took a wrong turn as both girls began to argue over, who would cook then decided to make a contest out of it whether or not to see whose cooking would Michael love the most resulting in them rushing out of the room ignoring the confused Michael sitting in bed.

"What just happened?" Michael scratched his head.

After changing into his uniform, Michael was then hassled with taste testing the foods of both girls without a say in the matter but without knowledge he said that both tasted okay without taking favorites which disappointed them greatly as they really wanted to know whose was best in actuality than just impress him.

Now after resolving the issue the three made their way to school where many male students gave Michael the stank eye as he was seen walking to school with two beautiful girls even though he was technically a nobody on campus.

In class, Michael was face down on his desk exhausted with the following morning.

"Man, can I ever get some rest around here?" Michael yawned then picked his head up to see the rage filled faces of Motohama and Matsuda, "Oh hey, guys, what's up?"

"'What's up?' What's up!?" Motohama growled.

"The ceiling." Michael sat up and pointed to the ceiling, jokingly.

"You bastard, stop screwing around! You know what we mean!" Matsuda grabbed Michael by the collar of his shirt, "We want to know how and what you did to get both those new girls to walk with you to school!"

"You mean Asia and Raynare they're just friends." Michael explained.

"Don't give us that!" Motohama spat, "Intel from the VVV tells us that you three left this morning at the same apartment!"

"Well, your Intel is wrong, and... Wait, you guys have VVV members, who stalk me and observe my movements almost all the time?"

"Not almost all the time just 12 hours a day." Matsuda smirked.

Michael gave them a judging look.

"Really?"

"What? We get tired too, you asshole!" Matsuda growled.

"Geez, I wonder why you dudes don't commit any of this energy to getting girlfriends for yourselves." Michael sighed while looking away with half lidded eyes.

"It's not our fault that we're like this!" Motohama cried.

"Yeah, we were forced into this state because of the school's girls labeling us as perverts." Matsuda cried.

Now with two crying boys on his desk, Michael felt awkward about the whole situation as he looked around the room for help, but the only people who he thought of were Raynare and Asia, who were being crowded by the other female students interested in their personality and appearances. Since Asia was a foreigner it was only natural they would be attracted to her due to her uncommon blonde hair in the country as Raynare was just gaining attention because of her beautiful appearance which made everyone envy her.

"Man, now I'm stuck fixing these two the whole break." Michael sighed as he consoled both the perverted duo the whole time.

As from outside the classroom a person with ebony skin, brown spiky hair, brown eyes, a black blazer with an orange dress shirt, black dress pants, and a pair of brown sandals. He watched in complete boredom as he yawned loudly.

* * *

 

Later after school, Michael was being summoned by one of his clients to complete a request only to find out he was summoned into a manga filled bookshelves Apartment.

"Cool, it seems I really did need to concentrate on the magic circle to teleport thank you the red dragon that lives inside my arm." Michael smiled and looked around, "Whoa I wonder how long this took to pile up?"

"About 12 years." A skinny, unhealthy looking man said as he walked up to Michael.

"Twelve? Damn you must have had no li-!" Michael stopped himself when the man's face remained a little mad.

"Look, who are you and where is Koneko-chan?" The man asked.

"Well if you must know I am the Great Michael Hanamura and the loli your speaking of is not going to be with you today so I guess your stuck with me!" Michael grinned.

"Urh..." The man sighed in disappointment, "So its just you?"

"Hey what the hell do you mean 'just me' if you must know I'm someone very important!" Michael crossed his arms and grinned.

"Oh yeah then what makes you important?" The man asked with half lidded eyes.

"... ... ..." Michael was lost in thought then smiled then stopped himself and shook his head, "No that's not it wait! No not it either huh." Michael was lost in thought.

"It seems this was a waste of time leave." The man groaned and sat down next to his computer desk.

"Wait, what about my contract?" Michael gasped.

"Are you kidding the only thing you can do for me is fill a hot air balloon with hot air." The man gestures his hand to shoo Michael away.

Michael growled and grinded his teeth because of the comment.

"Look here pal, I don't know who you think you are, or why you're being a jerk, but let me tell you something... Once I've decided to do something I'm doing it and there is nothing you can say to make me leave, Bet on it!"

Suddenly the man gasped upon Michael's final words.

"Wait, the way you said those last three words, do it again." The man requested excitedly.

"Err... Bet on it." Michael said.

"Incredible, you sound almost the same like, Naruto Uzumaki from the manga, Naruto!" The man gasped.

"What?" Michael tilts his head in confusion.

Aghast by Michael's lack of knowledge on the anime/manga. The man known as Morisawa explained how the boy was an orphan and held within him a fox beast known as the kyuubi to which holds terrifying power that the whole village feared. He even said to Michael's face that the two are similar in personality and a little in appearance. Morisawa then pulled out a Naruto Shippuden costume along with the headband so Michael could wear it, as a favor to him but Michael however was insulted by the idea.

"Hey look I love anime as much as you do. I even watched the Frieza Saga twice due to it being the first best saga where power levels actually made sense before the massive insane super saiyan boosts were given to every character after it." Michael sighed then growled, "But I will not wear a stupid costume based on a boy who is nothing like me besides he's shorter than me. I'm taller and I rock the goggles, he doesn't simple as that and I swear to God-Ow, above that I will not wear this stupid-!"

"If you wear it, I'll make a contract with you." Morisawa blinked to see that the costume was gone along with Michael.

*Gacha!*

Coming from the bathroom was Michael dressed in the Naruto Uzumaki get-up with a grin on his face.

"Let's get this started with-ttebayo!" Michael cheered.

After many minutes of humiliating dialogue Morisawa made him do, Michael was finally able to make his 2nd contract with ease.

* * *

 

Returning to the club room via magic circle Michael saw that he was the only one there.

"Thank goodness. Now I can finally relax without anyone seeing me in this stupid costume." Michael sighed in relief.

"Michael?" Rias enters the club room out of nowhere.

"Oh come on!" Michael cried.

"Your finally back from making your contract already that was rather quick." Rias smiled.

"Hey, who said I was making a contract? Maybe I came in here to admire the cool architecture of the place?" Michael crossed his arms and smiled.

"Oh really? Then why are you wearing that get up then?" Rias retorted.

"Huh?" Michael looks down to see he was still in his Naruto Uzumaki costume.

"And by guessing why your wearing that it means you've been with Koneko's old client am I right?" Rias giggled.

"*Sigh!* Yes..." Michael groaned in defeat.

_'Why can't I win against this woman!?' Michael cried._

"So why are you here?" Michael groaned and sat on the couch.

"Well, actually, I came to wait and see you." Rias walked behind the couch Michael sat on.

"Me, why?" Michael asked.

"Because there is something I've been noticing about you." Rias wraps her arms around Michael, much to his surprise.

"Like what?" Michael questioned.

"Your lack of resolve." Rias said.

"My resolve is strong. There's nothing wrong with that maybe your just seeing things, Buchou." Michael looked away from the girl whose head is over his shoulder.

"Yes, that may be true you are strong willed and simple minded to lack any spirit." Rias nodded.

"Okay, I can't tell whether you are complimenting me or insulting me?" Michael said with half lidded eyes.

"But you don't seem happy with it, why?" Rias showed a worried expression over her servant.

"...Look, its not that I'm not happy about being your servant, its fun to be with you all  _to a lesser extent Kiba,_ but I'm still happy I got to meet you all. Its just that I don't know why I'm doing this. Am I supposed to be a servant who eventually becomes a High-Class Devil like everyone else? And be the same or will I matter and become something better than that?" Michael explained in detail.

"Wow, for you to use so many words meant you were really thinking that through." Rias walks over to the couch and rubbed her chin.

"Of course, if I want to make something of myself, then I have to start thinking on the important things." Michael sighed.

"Hmmm? So you want to be someone who matters?" Rias said to herself then smiled, "Michael have you heard of the, Maou?"

"Well, yeah, isn't he Lucifer?" Michael asked.

"Well, yes and no, you see in the world of devils there are the 4 Great Satans who rule over the devils they were the original Lucifer, Beelzebub, Leviathan and Asmodeus. These four led the Devils in the Great War where they perished from the violent bloodshed." Rias explained, "But their bloodlines wanted to continue their fight which would have brought an end to the devil race if continued."

"Whoa, really what happened after that?" Michael asked.

"However they were not given easy access as they went to war with a certain group of devils, who wanted to preserve the lives they had left before they went to extinction. And with every opposition a race has against itself also comes a civil war between the True Maou Faction against the Anti-Maou Faction." Rias explained, "Though even after many years of opposition the True Maou Faction was defeated with the 4 Brilliant Minds who aided the Anti Maou side to victory and eventually became the new 4 Great Maou's themselves. And with that those 4 were able to make a new age of devils such as the [Evil Pieces] and the Rating Games"

"So cool!" Michael gasped in excitement, "Who were they?"

"Ufufu! Your really into the story aren't you but I can't tell you their names that's something you'll have to find out yourself." Rias smiled.

"Man that's a dud." Michael crossed his arms and pouted to which Rias laughed at.

"But they sounded so awesome..."

Rias looks to Michael whose eyes were filled with excitement.

"You think so?"

"Yeah of course they were devils, but were held high as heroes who prevented the extinction of their entire race." Michael said, "I wish I could be like them."

...

Michael then stood up and grinned, "Wait... Of course I can!"

"Hm?" Rias was confused by that statement.

"If those 4 guys were able to defeat the original Maou's bloodlines with their talents and hard work, then maybe I can become one through mine too." Michael chuckled.

"So what you're saying is..." Rias questioned.

"That's right, I finally have my goal as a devil now! I'm going to rise up the ranks to soon become a Maou myself and be someone important!" Michael declared, "And I'll even bet my own life to achieve this dream!"

Rias gasped at the proclamation then picked herself up,

"Interesting, so you're really aiming to be a Maou?"

"Of course I am." Michael nodded.

"You realize a goal like that for a servant like you is almost impossible, right?" Rias crossed her arms.

"I don't care its only impossible if I don't do anything to try." Michael clenched his fist.

"Well then if you truly believe that then." Rias then walks up to Michael and gives him a hug.

"I believe you'll be able to do it?" Rias said sweetly.

"Really?" Michael went wide eyed at that.

"Of course, your my cute new servant and I have faith you'll be able to achieve your dream." Rias petted Michael's head.

"U-Um...thank you," Michael blushed a bit, "Buchou."

*Open!*

Looking over his shoulders Michael sees Kiba along with a teary eyed Asia looking upon him hugging Rias along with Raynare who was giving Michael a dark smile.

"Uh..." Michael was frozen once Rias broke the hug and smiled,

"Yuuto, what's the matter?"

"Sorry, Buchou I was just helping Asia-chan and Raynare-san look for Michael since, Asia-chan was able to finish her contract before him." Kiba explained.

"M-Michael-san..." Asia sniffled.

"Huh?" Michael gave a frozen guilty smile.

But he unfroze when Asia walks up to him and pinches him by the skin of his arm very tightly as she gave him a cute pout.

"Hmph!"

"Ouch! Ouch! What did I do!?" Michael cried a little shocked by the nice girl's action then remember Raynare who popped up out of nowhere and pulled roughly him by the ear.

"Ara, Ara! Michael-sama care to explain what was going on hmm?" Raynare giggled as she pulled Michael out of the club room.

"Wait what do you mean? I don't understand!?" Michael cried out as he struggled against the girl's rough pulling.

"Good Evening, Buchou and Kiba-kun." Asia bowed to the both as Michael was finally pulled out the room.

"It seems I might have made a bad move." Kiba sweatdropped, but kept his pretty boy smile and waved goodbye to the boy, "Well, see you tomorrow, Michael-kun."

"Screw you, Pretty Boy! You probably wanted this to happen, didn't you!" Michael cried out.

"Now Michael-sama we're going to continue this talk at home and if you try to lie then you'll just have to go without dinner or breakfast alright~!" Raynare sang with a threatening tone.

"W-What? N-No food, but I didn't do anything!?" Michael cried.

"Auuuu...I'm starting to feel bad about hurting, Michael-san now." Asia whimpered at Michael suffering.

"I guess he decided to keep the Fallen Angel around after all." Rias smiled.

"Yes, it may be a little unsettling, but I think it may be easier to get used to it. Besides, this sight makes me think of them as a married couple." Kiba chuckled.

"Yes... a married couple, right." Rias gave a bitter smile then looked outside the window that showed the sun setting over the horizon. As something from behind her mind got her attention and honestly, she really didn't want to dredge up something like that to leave a bad taste in her school life.

* * *

**Next Chapter- Gremory vs. Sitri: Dodge Ball Royale! I won't lose!**


	8. Gremory vs. Sitri: Dodge Ball Royale! I won't lose!

**Gremory vs. Sitri: Dodge Ball Royale! I won't lose!**

* * *

The next day the Occult Research Club was all present inside the clubroom with an exception of Raynare who just happened to join along since Michael was also present. There were no objections with her being there due to Michael's constant pleadings to them that she wouldn't cause any harm as everyone accepted this and became neutral towards the girl's presence. But that aside the club was about to prepare something for their two new members. The meeting had to be postponed for a couple of minutes as Akeno had to feed the starving to death [Pawn] Michael herself. This led to Raynare and Asia staring angrily at Michael for being fed by their upperclassmen but some regret was posed as it was their own decisions to do such a thing.

"Ara, Ara you must have been really hungry Michael-kun." Akeno smiled as she finished wiping Michael's mouth.

"Y-Yeah thank you Akeno-senpai I was um...under punishment for something I didn't know I did." Michael scratched the back of his head.

"Aw, you poor thing." Akeno patted Michael's head affectionately.

"Mmmrph..." Michael was flustered at the treatment he received and looked down in embarrassment.

But this did not go ignored as the sad/furious stares of Raynare and Asia looking upon him and Akeno with regretful and jealous stares.

"Alright it seems we're all here, present and accounted fo- wait where's Yuuto?" Rias crossed her arms and looked for the Blonde Knight.

*Knock!* *Knock!*

Everyone but an angry faced Michael turned back to the door to see it open to reveal a smiling Yuuto.

"I'm sorry Buchou, I'm here, but I'll just be behind the door." Kiba waved.

"Eh? For what reason?" Rias questioned.

"Because Michael-kun still seems to be a little mad at me still, so I'll just follow his wishes until he calms down." Kiba chuckled with a bitter smile.

"Quiet you who said you can come back in!" Michael growled.

"My apologies." Kiba back out the clubroom leaving everyone looking at him.

"Pretty Boy deserves it!" Michael sat down and crossed his arms.

After the tension calmed down Rias resumed the club meeting with a cough...

"Now you two since you were able to finish handing out your leaflets and have gotten used to your duties as devils with Michael who has 2 contracts while Asia has a total of 4." Rias sat behind her desk with her arms crossed.

"Familiar? What is that Buchou?" Asia asked.

"Well familiars are existences that wait hand and foot on us devils. They are usually the ones who hand out the leaflets for us but the duty is also for newcomers like you and Michael." Rias smiled as a small red magic circle appeared by her to summon a...

*BON!*

A Red Bat revealed itself flapping by Rias' side.

"Whoa cool!" Michael gasped in excitement.

"This is my familiar." Rias introduced, "This one has already encountered you before Michael."

"Really?" Michael questioned and crossed his arms, "I don't remember meeting it."

"Oh you have its just that you haven't met her in this form though." Suddenly the Red Bat poofs into the form of the same lady Michael met before his date with Raynare that one time.

"Wait now I remember her and her name was!" Michael pointed at the Bat then kept that pose in thought.

"You don't really know who she is do you?" Raynare sighed.

"N-No..." Michael shook his head.

"...Moron." Koneko insulted.

_'Quiet you brat!' Michael slumped down and stared at Koneko with annoyance._

"Are you alright Michael-sama?" Asia stood up and gave him a supporting hand to the shoulder with a worried expression.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks for the concern." Michael chuckled.

"This one is mine you two." Akeno summoned her familiar next which was a palm sized Ko-oni.

"Wow that thing is so cool!" Michael gasped.

"It's really cute for its size." Asia leaned in to view the small creature.

"Ara Ara, thank you." Akeno smiled happily.

Grasping her attention Koneko tugged on Asia's skirt a little to show her her's.

"... ...This is Shiro." Koneko revealed herself holding a small white kitten closely to herself.

"Aw, its so cute~!" Asia and Raynare cooed over the cat.

"Yeah, I guess it is cute." Michael walked up to Koneko and picked up the cat, Koneko simply shrugged the rude grab for her familiar and simply watched closely.

"Oh dear." Rias's eyes widened.

"But wouldn't it be easier to buy a cat like this at a pet store?" Michael then noticed Shiro's face turning mad, "Whoa there little fella what's the matter?"

Then suddenly Shiro jumped from out of Michael's hands and landed onto his face with his claws out.

"Ouch! Ouch! It's digging into my skin! It's digging into my skin!" Michael wailed in pain as he jumped around in excruciating pain.

"Michael-sama please calm down!" Raynare went to aid the boy.

"Michael-san if you become to reckless you may hurt Shiro and yourself in the process." Asia warned with teary eyes.

"It seems we forgot to tell you but Shiro is a familiar who doesn't warm up to others they may have just met." Rias gave an 'I'm sorry' smile.

"Ufufufu! I find it adorable how they're interacting." Akeno giggled.

"Please someone just get him off of me!" Michael cried.

Shiro then proceeded to use Fury Swipes!

"Ack! Why did he suddenly scratch harder!?" Michael cried in pain as the scratching resumed for about 5 minutes until Shiro just grew bored and hopped back to Koneko's arm and relaxed.

"... ...No reason, he just dislikes idiots is all." Koneko said coldly still with that stoic face.

_'What's her deal with me!?' Michael growled._

"Michael-sama, are you alright?" Raynare grabbed Michael by both of his cheeks and examined his cut covered face.

"Yeah, I just have to leave them alone and they'll be fine." Michael said grabbing Raynare's hands and putting them down, "But thanks for worrying even though your mad about whatever I did."

"N-No worries Michael-sama its my new job to care for you now." Raynare looked down at Michael holding her hands and blushed.

_'Our hands are touching!' Raynare smiled to herself._

As soon as the moment began to get good, Asia cut in between the two and had a green glow in her hands.

"Michael-san, you have scratches on your face let me tend to them." Asia used her sacred gear to heal the red colored marks.

"Asia-san how could you do that I was in the middle of doing that myself!" Raynare was flustered by the interference and grabbed Asia by the shoulder's in an attempt to move her, "Now move and let me handle it!"

"But my powers can heal him faster, Raynare-san so let me aid him." Asia pouted and looked at Raynare with teary eyes, it seems she was a little jealous of how Raynare was getting closer to Michael.

The two stared at each other challengingly while Michael watched them in the middle.

"Oi, you two why are you looking at each other like that?" Michael sweatdropped.

"I also have a familiar too, Michael-kun would you like to-?" Kiba opens the door to reveal a bird-type familiar atop of his shoulder.

"No! You go back outside!" Michael growled.

*Close*

Kiba exited the room without a say at all.

"Michael don't you think that was a tad extreme?" Rias sighed.

"No burning him alive would be taking it extreme." Michael said with a grim look which caught the attention of everyone who stared at him surprised.

Catching this Michael chuckles then rubs the back of his head.

"Heh, I guess I went a little overboard huh?" Michael sighed.

"Well yes you may have just a bit." Rias closed her eyes at the boy's sudden outburst with a difficult expression on her face as Akeno simply laughed a little.

"As I was saying before Familiars are basic for devils, who require information gathering and pestering, both you and Asia need one so you can get through and adapt to some situations which may befall upon you both." Rias approached the pair.

"Basic? I wonder if I could be able to get one?" Asia wondered out loud.

"Don't worry Asia you'll have me there to help you find one!" Michael grinned and pointed at himself with his thumb.

"Really you will?" Asia smiled brightly.

"Of course we're friends after all!" Michael chuckled and patted the girl's head then turns back to Rias and wondered, "But how do we get these guys, do we go on a hunt during the night or something because I can order some night vision goggles from my main seller in America online?"

Rias giggled at Michael's suggestion.

"No, my cute servant we won't be searching for familiars here, but in the forest of familiars instead." Rias smiled, "And that's where the fun will truly begin so let's go."

But soon a knock to the door interrupts the conversation.

"Kiba I swear to God-ow! If you enter I'll shove my foot up your-!" Michael was quieted by Rias' hand before the older girl puts on a mature smile and says,

"You may let them in Yuuto."

"Yes, Buchou." Kiba then opens the two doors and moves to the side as a strange sight behind him caused Michael to gasp.

"The Student Council?" Michael's eyes widened.

Walking inside the club room first was Souna Shitori the School's Student Body President.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something important?" Souna also gave off a mature atmosphere around herself being at a similar level as Rias and Akeno.

"Um...Michael-san who are these people?" Asia said staying behind Michael.

"Yeah." Raynare nodded.

"Huh, you mean you don't know?" Michael said in confusion until he felt a pinch to his arm to which he yelped and drew back as he saw Raynare with both her eyes closed in annoyance.

"Of course we don't we just entered this school just a few days ago." Raynare crossed her arms.

"Oh yeah I forgot." Michael looked up then back to the girls, "Okay so the one in the middle with the glasses and all is Souna Shitori a hardass Student Body President, who doesn't allow any damage done to the school to go unpaid for. And the one close to her left is Tsubaki Shinra, Vice President of the Student Council." Michael glanced at all the student council members in confusion, "Wonder why they're here?"

Both of the school's Onee-sans stepped up and began their conversation.

"Why hello there Sona what brings you?" Rias said.

"Nothing I just wanted to congratulate you on increasing the number of your servants is all." Souna fixed her glasses.

"Wait how does she know that?" Michael asked.

Akeno looked over to Michael and said, "Because she's Sona Sitri the next head of the House of Sitri a big Devil Family, she only uses Souna Shitori as her alias while acting as the school's student council president."

"Whoa, talk about undercover. James Bond be damned." Michael then looked to see the confused looks on everyone's faces, "Seriously am I the only one who knows that?"

_'So if the student council president is a devil that must mean her entire student council are devils too. Meaning there's still one thing I must know...where's Saji?' Michael looked through the student council members who seemed either annoyed or uncomfortable with the boy's stare._

Then suddenly catching the sight of a tiptoeing Saji about to leave the clubroom made Michael grin.

"Hey, Saji my main man! Where are you going? Your a devil now, sweet me too!" Michael raised his hand and chuckled as Saji stopped dead in his tracks.

"Michael-sama are you acquainted with that boy?" Raynare asked.

"Of course we're best friends." Michael nodded then turned back to see Saji still frozen in place and looking quite pale even from the back of his head.

"Hey Saj! Saji! Bro! Homie! Amigo! Compadre! Saji! Hey Saji can you hear m-! I don't think he can here me, Asia." Michael looked back to the blonde, as Saji shook in anger and turned back to scream.

"Are you serious the whole god damn school can hear you!" Saji growled and stomped over to Michael.

"Hey see now your not ignoring me, Saj!" Michael grinned and put both his fists to his hips.

"Oh my." Rias giggled.

"It seems that our servants have already been acquainted with each other." Sona smiled.

"So Saji when did you become a Devil? I just recently became one just a couple days ago." Michael chuckled.

"Well me too." Saji said while crossing his arms and groaning.

"Cool now we're twinsies!" Michael chuckled.

"Mike, I said we were to never use that word again after the incident." Saji sighed.

"You mean that time during our middle school days when we were getting dressed for the pool, but we wore the exact same trunks. Which made everyone believe we were queers for matching pink hearted trunks?" Michael said in monotone.

Hearing the some stifled laughs from his fellow student council members Saji goes red and shushes, "Yes!"

"Well good because I didn't want to say something else which may have been embarrassing." Michael grinned.

"You already did." Saji growled and clenched his fist.

"No, no that doesn't sound like me." Michael shook his head.

"It is you, you just did it! You always do this!" Saji grabbed Michael by the shoulders and shook him.

"Saji." Tsubaki said with a stern voice.

"Hai!" Saji released Michael and stood up straight struck with intimidation.

"Remember your manners you are a servant of Sona-sama so please act more respectful." Tsubaki ordered.

"Y-Yes ma'am." Saji sighed in defeat as Michael laughed at the teen's misfortune.

"Hahahaha! Your so unlucky man I'm the Great Michael Hanamura and I never get punished by a girl for doing anyth-!" Michael's cheek was then pulled by Raynare, "I mean I am sorry for laughing at your misfortune excuse me for my rude actions."

"That's better." Raynare groaned as Asia tried to calm down the angered Fallen Angel.

"Raynare-san please relax."

"I wish we were contacted about him before arriving because I would definitely not be here that's for sure." Saji said to himself.

"Its only natural Saji since we can't contact each other during times of normality and besides it isn't our duty to get involved with the business of other households." Sona explained in detail, "Excuse my servant the boy's still a newborn devil and is still starting to adjust to this new lifestyle."

"No, I should apologize for my new [Pawn], Michael Hanamura you see he's an over exaggerating hot head who can learn to control his manners." Rias sighed in disappointment.

"Hot Head!" Michael screamed in offense.

Walking towards to Asia, Rias places a hand onto the girl's shoulder and smiles.

"While this polite one here is Asia Argento my new [Bishop]." Rias introduced.

"Um... nice to meet you I hope we can all get along." Asia bowed to the student council members timidly and gave them her best smile.

Seeing this Saji blushed at how cute the girl was.

"R-Right, Argento-san I sure will!" Saji smiled and continued to gaze at the girl but then all of a sudden he groaned in pain and winced.

"Saji-senpai should watch how he looks at others." Beside Saji was a short, petite girl with brown hair in twin ponytails and green eyes. Her hair features a pair of green clips as she wore the common Kuoh Academy's female uniform she seemed to be a first year like Koneko-san. She seemed to digging the heel of her foot onto Saji's own foot.

"Ruruko-san, why?" Saji cried and picked up his foot in pain.

"Hmph! Saji-senpai shouldn't be staring at other girls so carelessly." Ruruko looks off to the side while pouting.

"Eh?" Saji gave Ruruko a confused/teary stare.

_'That scene looks almost familiar.' Michael thought as he stared at the pouting girl then felt his arm get pinched also, 'Ngh! Right now I know how this is so familiar.' Michael looks to see a pouting and teary eyed Asia pinching him probably a little jealous of how Michael was looking upon Ruruko for a long amount of time._

"Seems you have it rough too." Rias gave a bitter smile.

"Yes, you can say that." Sona closed her eyes and smiled also.

"Say Saji since you were made a pawn how many pieces did you take in?" Michael asked as he was spared the pinching pain from Asia.

"Huh? Well about 4 pieces I think that's great considering average pawn pieces are one." Saji then rubbed his chin in thought, "But some [Pawns] would average about 5 or 6 pieces so I think I could've been something better if I was able to take at least one more."

"Really then I must really be something because I took in about 8 pieces." Michael gloated with sly eyes.

"Wait really? No, how could you be able to even do that?" Saji showed a face of disbelief and shook his head.

"Hey are you dare neglecting the full potential of the Great Michael Hanamura!" Michael growled.

"No, all I was saying is that amount must mean you have something which must be too powerful for you to use." Saji analyzed, "Since [Pawns] are foot soldiers the amount of pieces determine the amount of power you have so I guess you must have a sacred gear right?"

"Tch! No I was able to get 8 pieces because  _I_ am not just some ordinary person, no its because I'm the great Hanamur-!" Michael points his thumb at himself.

"...Michael-senpai has the power of the Boosted Gear." Koneko said without hesitation.

"Why Koneko-chan why!?" Michael cried.

"...Because the sound of you gloating hurts my ears." Koneko looked upon Michael with annoyed half lidded eyes.

"Incredible you have that sacred gear!?" Saji gasped.

It wasn't just him almost everyone in the student council aside from Sona and Tsubaki were a little aghast.

"Well putting this aside for now let's continue with the preparations for the Forest of Familiars." Rias crossed her arms.

"Oh you mean your servants were able to finish handing out their flyers too, I was just going to enter the forest also and get some familiars for my servants as well." Sona asked surprised.

"I see but this proves to be troubling since 'he' will only be available once a month." Rias said a little troubled then a thought came to mind.

"So how about we decide this with a fair game?" Rias smiled.

"A game?" Sona repeated.

"Yes, the winner gains the right to commission him." Rias explained.

"Are you implying we engage in a rating game?" Sona said a little seriously.

"Oh, no. Something like that will never be permitted for us who aren't the appropriate age yet." Rias giggled and brushed that aside.

"Right." Sona nodded.

"Say what's a rating game?" Michael whispered to Saji.

"Dude are you serious, you don't know?" Saji shook his head, "Well I guess I expected too much from you after all."

"Oi! Stop stalling and get on with it." Michael looked at Saji with a peeved off expression.

"Okay look a rating game is a special challenge between two high classed devils and their peerages, its based off chess. Usually the results of a rating game gets you rated like the name implies, and also determines your worth in devil society like if you were a high class devil but you want to be an ultimate class, you would have to show skills such as power or knowledge to grasp the interest of those watching. Then you get a promotion." Saji explains in detail.

"Wow, how do you know all this?" Michael was in awe.

"Ever since I changed into a devil I studied to understand some of their culture right now I'm halfway into a book about demonic power control." Saji explained.

"Nerd." Michael chuckled since he always knew that his friend Saji was a little more of a thinking type of person who would mostly due studying on some of his days off if it weren't for him making him do stuff outside of his comfort zone. Saji is even an Honors Student in the academy after he decided to buckle up after his first year of High school and gain the grades he deserved.

"At least its better than being someone clueless about everything." Saji crossed his arms.

"Hey I know stuff." Michael growled.

"You do then tell me what are the base elemental spells of magic." Saji smirked.

"Well first there's fire then uh..." Michael scratched his head.

"Ice, Earth, Lightning and many more to say." Saji explained.

"Hmph, I knew that." Michael looked away while sweating.

"Sure you did." Saji sighed.

"Well I believe your quite right Rias, it wouldn't do any good if any attention were brought to you at the moment." Sona said with a smile.

"!" Rias then turned serious and said, "That is irrelevant."

Akeno who noticed looked at Rias in surprise of her sudden remark.

"I have an idea, Let's settle this with through sports like the high school students we are." Rias smiled.

"Sports?" Michael and Saji blinked.

"Well this won't end well." Raynare sighed and shook her head.

The next day the tennis courts were surrounded by many Kuoh Students of equal gender who gazed upon the School's Popular Girls with eyes of admiration. Both sides wore the appropriate tennis uniforms for the match.

"Come on! you two can do it Buchou and Akeno-senpai!" Michael roared.

"Show them that messing with the Student Council will be their biggest mistake, Kaichou!" Saji roared.

"Akeno, we are in it to win it agreed?" Rias smiled as she readies her serve.

"Yes, Buchou." Akeno nodded.

"I hope your prepared Sona." Rias stared Sona down.

"You should worry about yourself, Rias because I have no intention on losing this match." Sona stared back with the same intensity as Rias.

As the match begins, Rias begins her serve and was able to execute a perfect serve to the other side.

As Sona was able to hit it back over but Akeno then got the rebound and sent it back to the Sitri side.

Then Tsubaki with her longer tennis racket was able to whack the tennis ball back to the side, these many hits were still continuing due to a possibility if one of the sides were to slip up then they'd allow the other to get a point and exploit their mistake.

Watching from the sidelines were Motohama and Matsuda who viewed the women with their binoculars while grinning lecherously.

"Wow! Amazing such an amazing sight to behold!" Motohama gave a dirty laugh.

"I know! The school's top beauties having a match without our knowing would have been awful that's why I'm so glad the guys at the VVV were able to install cameras to capture each panty flash they made." Motohama smirked.

"And all we had to do was stop harassing both Michael and that 2-C Student Council Secretary traitor alone for the rest of the day." Matsuda and Motohama gave each other a fist bump and began to grow nosebleeds as more panty shots were shown to them and the other staring male students behind them.

Watching from another side Kiba and Koneko surveyed the many excited students watching the match.

"Interesting there are quite a few spectators than I thought." Kiba said as he watched both the different factions of the Popular ladies call out their names as their turn to retaliate a hit was made.

With Sona her faction mainly consists of girls due to her strict and mature behavior which most girls love.

"Sona-sama!" A fence covered with many female students cried out.

As Akeno's popularity was with the male ratio of the school.

"Akeno-oneesama!"

"...They can't use their demonic powers." Koneko was focusing on the match itself while ignoring the many cries of the excited students.

"Take this! Sitri-style spin serve!" Sona serves her tennis ball while embedding it with a blue demonic power.

"Naïve, my Gremory-style Counter can handle anything you got!" Rias readied to send the ball back but as soon as it touches the ground the ball bounces away from its intended point, "What?"

"15-30 Luv!"

"It seems they were able to make another point." Kiba gave a bitter smile.

"...Wonderful now Michael-senpai won't calm down." Koneko sighed as she views upon Michael sitting on the fence while holding two large flags with the symbol of the ORC.

"Damn it, come on Buchou! Akeno-senpai show them whose boss!" Michael roared.

"Michael-san please be careful!" Asia cried out as she stood beneath the fence in worry.

"Michael-sama please calm down or you'll fall!" Raynare cried out also.

"Yeah, eat on that Michael the Kaichou's skills are far superior than your side's, so just give up!" Saji laughed while on the opposite side of the fences as he held up a single flag of the student council.

"No way! They'll definitely win and when they do I'll be the one to say 'I told you so!'" Michael growled.

"Hah, you'll never get the chance!" Saji growled.

"You wanna bet!" Michael glared at Saji, challengingly.

"For me to be disappointed about this, first I'd have to be surprised." Kiba sweatdropped then focused on the match, "And those two are definitely using their demonic powers even though we agreed not to."

"... ...Everyone is getting a little bit too fired up." Koneko said with her neutral expression as the cheers only grew louder.

"Amazing a magic ball!"

Now many oblivious comments about Sona's technique were resounding through the court.

"And now the crowd thinks its a magic ball." Kiba said.

"It's their fault for being ignorant." Koneko closed her eyes.

"I expected no less from, my rival." Rias smiled and pointed at Sona, "But don't think this is the end because I still have 108 levels of madoukyuu!"

"Good, Rias then it seems I'll have no choice but to accept your and go all out!" Sona declared.

And thus the match kept going on to the point that their rackets were worn out and their strings were destroyed. After the match was cancelled the Perverted Duo were sent off to the hospital for a blood transfusion for the immense loss of blood and finally Michael and Saji were beaten by the VVV who lied upon their agreement as Koneko had to drag him back to the clubroom for further details about the familiar issue.

"Michael-san, does this feel better?" Asia continued healing Michael's bruised face.

"Uh, yeah it does thanks." Michael nodded.

"That's what you get for getting too excited, Michael-sama." Raynare sighed then blushed, "But you still looked cool though."

"You mean getting beat up?" Michael sweatdropped.

"...The match just wouldn't end, so we'll now take part in the challenge." Koneko explained while holding the beaten rackets.

"A team match, are you serious?" Michael asked.

"As serious as a heart attack, my friend their even discussing the matter as we speak." Kiba stated.

Upon the sound of the door opening they all looked to see a smiling Rias and Akeno.

"We were able to agree on dodge ball." Rias explained as she and Akeno approached the group, "It will take place at the gym tomorrow night so lets do our best for Michael and Asia!"

"Yes!" Akeno, Kiba and Koneko nodded.

"Wow, you guys are really doing so much for us." Michael patted Asia's head then grinned, "I appreciate it."

"Thank you very much!" Asia smiled.

"I-I'll do my best to support you all." Raynare said determinedly.

"Thanks I appreciate that we'll need moral support while we're up against Sona." Rias gave a slight smile, it seems she is starting to warm up to the fallen angel.

Michael smiled at all his friends in the room and shouted, "Right then its decided, I won't lose!"

Everyone in the clubroom laughed at the declaration everyone except for Koneko who sighed.

On top of the clubroom's roof was the same man before with the blazer who simply yawned and looked up at the moon with a slight smile, "Everything to this point has been boring, but it seems things will pick up tomorrow and I'll get a front row seat to witness it." Now standing up the man whistled and called out, "Stratus!"

Zooming from the air was a purple cloud which levitated closer to its master.

"Yosh!" The man sat on the cloud, "Let's leave this place for now and find something else to do."

With that he took off into the night sky which was brightened by his white grin.

Late that night Michael was in his apartment on the kitchen table designing some headbands for the club, he wanted to make it as thanks for their support and their efforts to help him and Asia.

"I hope they'll like it." Michael smiled as he was finished with his first headband which was completely red due to all his sewing mistakes pricking his fingers completely red to where had to actually paint the club's name in white over the red band.

"Michael-san/sama?" Both Asia and Raynare walked out of his bedroom while rubbing their eyes.

"Oh you two are awake? Sorry if I disturbed you." Michael gave a sad smile.

"No, it's nothing you should worry about Michael-san we were just curious about what you were doing." Asia walked towards Michael with a smile.

"Oh, I was just in the middle of creating some headbands with your sowing kit. I hope you don't mind." Michael said.

"No, not at all. I don't mind if we share some of our things Michael-san and besides as long as I can stay with you, you can borrow anything from me even myself." Asia blushed.

"Well thanks and I promise this will be the last time I use something that's yours without asking." Michael said seriously oblivious to what Asia's last words meant.

Then all of a sudden Michael felt something soft envelop his arm he looks to his right to see Raynare breast sandwiching it.

"Michael-sama for tomorrow night what do you suppose I wear?" Raynare smiled seductively and placed a finger on her chin.

"I don't care about that all I do care about is that you'll be there to cheer us on." Michael smiled.

"Thanks, but seriously what should I wear because I heard a man gets stronger when he sees a woman dressed in something encouraging." Raynare leaned in closer and whispered into Michael's ear.

"Really I didn't know about that, but I still don't know how to answer you?" Michael said bluntly.

"Meaning I'll get the choice to pick something that will pump you up for tomorrow how thrilling, I hope you'll enjoy." Raynare hugged Michael tightly as Asia who was watching this jumped in and hugged Michael tight causing the boy to twitch in pain.

"If Michael-san needs encouragement then I'll change into something he likes also!" Asia cried.

"Ouch." Michael grunts in pain.

"Asia-san, you shouldn't be worried about something as trivial as this you should be focusing more on the match than impressing Michael-sama." Raynare gave a challenging smile.

"Either way I don't want to be left out from helping Michael-san with tomorrow too!" Asia said with teary eyes.

_'Its great that I have two people living with me now but now its getting out of hand.' Michael twitched noticeably which caught Asia's attention._

"Michael-san is something wrong?" Asia questioned.

"Oh no its nothing." Michael smiled as his face grew pale.

"Michael-sama?" Raynare rushed to Michael and felt his forehead, "Your growing cold."

"No I'm fine. I'm fi-" Michael then fell back in his seat as his eyes swirled around due to blood loss.

"Aaah! Michael-san are you okay?" Asia gasped and rushed to the fallen Michael.

"Michael-sama, you idiot, you were bleeding out this entire time weren't you!?" Raynare cried out.

"Must finish headbands..." Michael groaned in pain and reached for the lights above him then dropped his hand and passed out.

"No Michael hang in there!" both girls cried.

_(In Michael's mindscape)_

**_[Again?]_ **

Ddraig looked down upon a crying Michael who sat up against a rock formation with both his legs curled up.

_'Yeah.' Michael sniffled._

**_[Do you want to talk about it?]_ **

_"No." Michael shook his head in depression, "I don't think getting consoled by you can lift up my mood right now."_

Later the next day, was the day of reckoning an all out dodge ball brawl between the Gremorys and Sirtis. Stretching in the gym at night was the Gremory group readying themselves for the incoming game. Everyone wore their individual Physical Education uniforms as Michael wore his P.E. jacket around his hips with his short sleeved red shirt on, his gray P.E. pants on along with his red tennis shoes with green accents and his usual goggles around his neck.

"So dodge ball, huh? Its been a while since I played." Michael asked, "So what are the rules?"

Rias and Kiba were practicing their throws to each other as Rias replied, "There's not that much to know all you have to do is just throw the ball at the other side's faces!" Rias throws the ball at Kiba who managed to catch it.

"Wait I thought that wasn't allowed?" Michael questioned.

"It is now. As your master I'm allowing you to take any chance you have to win." Rias explained.

"...I love being a devil!" Michael grinned.

"Asia-san, was able to learn it in no time." Kiba smiled.

Moaning in pain Asia was stretching with the help of Akeno as Michael was given Koneko to help him.

"C'mon Koneko-chan you can do better than that I hardly feel stretched yet." Michael sighed, "If your not going to help then let me do it myself."

Koneko then gave Michael a mad stare and pushed him down lower.

"There we go and-*Snap* wait your doing it too hard!" Michael cried in pain as Koneko kept pushing him down with all of her strength.

*Snap!*

"Have mercy I'm sorry!" Michael yelped in fear of his bone snapping in half.

...

"Okay, guys look what I've got." Michael sang as everyone finished their stretching they huddled together to receive gifts of encouragement from Michael.

"Headbands?" Rias said while looking upon the white headband. with the words Occult Research Club in red.

"Ara Ara, they look wonderful." Akeno smiled.

"Well you know I was just thinking of a way to thank you guys for helping Asia and me. Not that many people bother to put up with me, but you guys did and this was the only way I knew how and it took me two hours to make this one before Asia and Raynare decided to help." Michael shrugged, "And besides I didn't want to be outdone by the pretty boy so I thought this could get me a head start before he starts showing off." Michael said in a bitter tone.

Rias looks upon the headbands with a faraway look.

"What is it, you don't like them?" Michael said with a sad smile.

"No, that's not it I do and they are also well made thank you Michael." Rias smiled.

"Yes, Michael-san good job." Asia nodded.

"But you were able to help finish them all after I passed out, so I should be thanking you Asia." Michael scratched the back of his head.

"...You may be an idiot, but you have your moments." Koneko was able to show Michael the smallest of smiles.

_'It might have been an insult, but I'm too dumb too care. I'll just take the compliment!' Michael laughed with a small hint of anger._

"By the way where is Raynare?" Rias asked.

"Oh she said she was going to change into something to motivate me." Michael shrugged as Asia looked slightly angry and looked away, because of the girl's naturally nice face it was almost cute seeing her this way.

"Well as a team lets put these on and work hard!" Rias declared.

"Yes!" Michael and the rest of the club agreed.

"Oh Michael-sama~!" Raynare called out.

"Oh your here about ti-!" Michael stopped as he saw a blushing Raynare approach him while wearing a purple and red cheerleader outfit, white knee high socks and red shoes which were worn to match Michael's. The skirt's length was a little too short that you could almost see what was underneath it but it wasn't a big concern well not to Michael at least.

"S-So how do I look?" Raynare fidgeted with her pom-poms.

"Eh?" Michael questioned then rubbed his chin, "Well you look really nice and as a cheerleader its really encouraging so its very fitting and looks good on you."

"Really!" Raynare gasped happily then muttered to herself, "Michael-sama praised me, Michael-sama praised me, Michael-sama praised me."

It felt as though she was chanting the same words over and over again.

"Ergh!" Michael winced in pain as he felt Asia pinch his left arm out of jealousy.

"Auuuu..." Asia looked away pouting.

_'Why me?' Michael thought._

*Open!*

"Thank you for waiting."

In front of the ORC was the Student Council ready for battle.

"Ngh!" Michael stared at Saji seriously.

"Grr!" Saji stared back as well.

_'I will not lose to you!'_

_Both boys thought as their teams grew ready within the court._

"Alright bring it." Michael grew ready in his stance as he stood in front of Tsubasa Yura, Sona's Rook who now holds the ball.

"Heh!" Tsubasa exhaled then readied herself to throw the ball, "Hah!" Then with great strength threw the ball directly at Michael who was able to jump out of the way and dodge the throw.

"Hah! You missed!" Michael laughed.

"Go! Michael-sama! Go!" Raynare cheered.

*Rip!*

"Out!" Momo Hanakai a bishop to Sona Sitri called out and raised her red flag.

Looking back to the sound of ripping Michael sees Koneko was hit by the ball as soon as he dodged it.

"Oh crap." Michael looks at Koneko with an apologetic look, "I'm sorry."

"It's no problem." Koneko looks down to see her ripped shirt.

"Grief of Memories!" Tsubaki imbues demonic power into the dodge ball and throws it at Rias.

"Hmph!" Rias catches the ball with ease as parts of her gym suit were torn by the blow of the attack.

"Out!" Tsubaki was taken off the court.

"Impressive. You caught Tsubaki's full-power ball." Sona said with a calm smile.

"Do you think something like this could stop me, Sona?" Rias retorted as she runs forward and throws the ball forward, as she creates a magic circle and imbues the ball with a destructive red demonic aura which hits Tomoe Megura, Sona Sitri's Knight.

"Kyaaaaaaa!" Tomoe cries after the blow was able to knock her out the court and burn most of her clothes off.

"Whoa, that's hardcore!" Michael gulped, "Is this even dodge ball anymore!?"

Unaware of Reya Kusaka, Sona's other Bishop he was left open to an attack to the back.

"Michael-san!" Asia cried out.

"Huh?" Michael turned around to see the ball.

"Michael-kun!" Jumping above Michael was Akeno who was able to catch the ball before it hit him.

"Whoa!" Michael gasped.

"Ara Ara, Remember to keep your guard up, okay?" Akeno lands in front of the boy.

"R-Right." Michael nodded in embarrassment.

_'Aw man! I can't believe I let myself be an easy target! Dammit I have to try harder!' Michael clenched his fist and looked determined._

As the match continued the balls thrown were either imbued with magic power or thrown with herculean superhuman strength.

"Dodge ball is a very scary sport!" Asia cried.

"Seriously is this even a game anymore!" Michael cried out as he dodges a single ball thrown by Sitri-senpai.

"Yay~! Michael-sama! You can do it!" Raynare cheered.

"Tch! It seems your pawn is more limber than he looks, Rias." Sona said calmly as she analyzed the playing field, it was just her and Saji left on the field as the other side held Michael and Rias.

"It appears we're at a stalemate once more." Rias smiled.

"It seems so."

"!" Michael and Saji glared at each other.

"But tell me, Rias can your servant really handle us, I mean you I can see you standing up to 2 enemies, but he looks like he can barely handle one." Sona said.

"Sona?" Rias raised an eyebrow at that comment unsure why her friend would even say that but...

"Grrr!" Michael growled and grinded his teeth in anger.

From outside the strange man from before was watching with a bored expression.

"Geez, when is something fun going to happen." The man yawned and rubbed his eyes, "If nothing is going to happen then I'll just leave no use staying here anymore." The man turned his back to the door and took his first step which stopped.

"That's it!" Michael roared.

"Hm?" The man turned back to look inside the gym to see Michael take a step forward.

"You may be my senpai, but I won't allow myself to be laughed at by you! I said I wasn't going to lose and I meant it so I'm going all out!" Michael thrusts his fist forward, "Boosted Gear!"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

The red clawed gauntlet appeared itself on its owners right hand.

"So it seems you were right, Saji he let his anger get the best of him if we were to insult him." Sona smiled.

"Yes, Kaichou now he'll be too angry to throw the ball correctly even if he was to boost his power." Saji explained.

Rias' eyes widened and turned back to Michael who has already started to increase his power.

**[Boost!]**

"Michael, calm down if you let your anger get the best of you, you'll fall right into their trap." Rias warned as their teammates on the sidelines watched in worry.

"What?" Michael growled.

"They want to make you angry so they could get you out!" Rias warned.

"Really, but why did they?" Michael looked at Saji waving at him, "You!"

Suddenly aura started to escape Michael's body.

"Right I understand." Michael picks up the ball and hands it to Rias, "Buchou, please hold this."

"What is it your intending to do?" Rias asked.

"They said they wanted me mad well I'm about to show them, never to mess with me again." Michael cracked his knuckles as he steps back a few feet.

"What are they planning now?" Sona blinked.

Holding up the ball now Rias looks towards Michael who readies himself in a stance.

"One more." Michael whispered to himself.

**[Boost!]**

"There!" Michael's aura thickens even more, "Concentrate!" Michael concentrates the aura into his right fist and targets the ball ahead of him, "If I want to win then I want to win the way I want to meaning we have to crush them!"

"Saji." Sona closed her eyes.

"Yes Kaichou." Saji grew ready and smiled.

"Buchou, I'm ready!" Michael roared as the red glow from his fist glows brighter.

"Alright do it my adorable servant." Rias nodded.

*Stomp!*

"Goooooo!" Michael rushes for the ball and punches it, the blow from the punch was able to rocket the ball straight for Sona who stood there and watched.

"Line go!" Saji extends his hand and from underneath his jacket a visible line attached itself to Michael's sacred gear.

"What is this?" Michael then felt his energy get sapped.

"Another Sacred Gear user?" Akeno questioned as Saji took the taken power and ran in front of Sona to rebound the ball back to the Gremory side.

"Go!" Saji roared.

"Damn." Michael fell to one knee and stared up to see the incoming ball.

_'I can't move!' Michael groaned._

"Michael-sama!" Raynare cried out.

"Hmmm?" The man from outside thought,  _'With that much power taken and imbued with the ball it might bash his skull in._

_'Come on body move! Move!' Michael yelled in his head._

But then a shadow before him blocked the ball.

"I'm not hit?" Michael gasped then looks up and widens his eyes, "B-Buchou?"

Rias standing in front of Michael was able to catch the ball in time but not without receiving some damage it gave, the bottom half of her gym top was burned off as some tears were seen on her gym pants.

"Out!"

"What, but how my plan was full proof!" Saji cried.

"Like I said before your plan was fine but it wasn't perfect you forgot to account Rias' care for her servants and didn't account for her to step in the way and catch it, Saji you still have a long way to go." Sona closed her eyes in disappointment.

"H-Hai Kaichou, forgive me." Saji walked off the court in shame.

"Michael, are you alright?" Rias looks back at Michael with a smile.

"Um, yes thank you." Michael nodded as he still stared upon Rias in amazement.

"Good." Rias nodded then turned back to the other side, "So now its just you left Sona what is it you intend to do now?"

"Oh you think that I would give in now, I may be alone but the odds of it being 1 on 1 are extremely high since your servant is too drained to stand up right now." Sona explained.

"Ngh!" Michael grunts and tried to stand but couldn't.

"This game has only just begun." Sona smiled confidently until.

*WHISTLE!*

"Time's up!"

"Huh?" Sona gasps.

"Michael-san!"

"Michael-sama!"

Raynare and Asia run over to lift Michael up by his shoulders.

"We won..." Michael smiled tiredly.

"Way to go, Michael-kun." Kiba gave his fellow 2nd year a thumbs up.

"Ara Ara, Michael-kun you looked quite manly when you were getting angry." Akeno giggled as there seemed to be a faint hint of a pink hue on her cheeks.

"...That was dope." Koneko said with her neutral expression.

Walking out the gym was the entire Student Council as Rias chatted with Sona and Saji who decided to stay back for a while.

"Then we'll be taking priority on the familiars as agreed." Rias smiled and crossed her arms.

"Of course. I do hate to lose but this was fun no matter how you look at it." Sona nodded, "But if this were a Rating Game instead there would be no chance of a loss for me."

"I won't lose to my childhood friend, either." Rias smiled, "But it's still too early for us to even talk this since its not time to have one yet between the two of us."

"Indeed, See you later." Sona walks ahead of Saji.

"Michael you may have won this time but next time I'll think of something to take you down you just watch!" Saji chuckled and ran after Sona, "So until then see ya buddy!"

"Right you too, Saj." Michael nodded and smiled,  _'It seems I made a rival out of my best friend.'_

Inside the clubroom the ORC team celebrated and tipped their drinks together.

*Chink!*

"Cheers!"

"Congratulations everyone the Occult Research Club has marvelously defeated the student council!" Rias smiled happily with the fact she was able to defeat her childhood friend, "Each and everyone of you did their part perfectly thank you."

"Man I'm so exhausted." Michael sighed then grinned, "But who cares I was able to be badass and make headbands so that has to count for something right!"

"Of course man you certainly were able to raise everyone's spirit." Kiba smiled and showed Michael the headbands.

"Indeed." Akeno happily smiled.

"You truly did Michael-san." Asia nodded.

"Your amazing Michael-sama." Raynare giggled.

"..." Koneko also nodded.

"Hehe! Well I am the Great Hanamura!" Michael grinned and nodded his head.

"Don't push it." Koneko said with a slight smile.

"Okay I understand and you know what Pretty Boy for a Casanova your alright." Michael patted Kiba on the shoulder.

"So will that mean you'll start saying my name?" Kiba asked curiously.

"Hehe! Well crazier things have happened." Michael shrugged.

"Now everyone there isn't time to waste anymore, its time." Rias smiled, "Let's go get you two your familiars."

"Um... right now?" Asia asked.

"We can only meet the familiar master during a full moon so its either now or never." Rias explained.

As Akeno created a magic teleportation seal Michael looked around to see all of his friends and smiled.

_'That's right I was able to get this far with them, my friends and with this I can go farther and become a Devil King. I just have to always remember that I'll have people watching my back as I am with theirs.' Michael looks at Rias who smiles at him as he grins back at her._

From above the Club room was the mysterious man sitting atop of his purple cloud while smiling, "Interesting power it seems the Red Dragon Emperor gets angry rather quickly but I wonder what he'd be like in a bind?" The man creates a small communication seal and calls upon an acquaintance.

"Hello? Yes, its me." The man chuckles then gasped, "What? You expected me to want something from you by just a single call?"

A few seconds to reply later and...

"You're right, I need to ask a favor of you, is 'she' there?" The man asked for, "Great! Could you give her a break and tell her this for me..."

"The Red Dragon Emperor is visiting the Forest of Familiars."

* * *

**Next Chapter- Wish me luck as I survive through the treacherous Forest of Familiars!**


	9. Wish me luck as I survive through the treacherous Forest of Familiars!

**Wish me luck as I survive through the treacherous Forest of Familiars!**

* * *

When the glow of the teleportation magic circle dimmed down the ORC club was met with a captivating sight of an un **familiar** forest which had a strange aura to it.

"Whoa, where are we?" Michael was in awe at the sight.

"The forest where familiars are created." Akeno answered.

"In this forest, there lie many familiar devil users who reside here." Rias took a step in front of the group.

"This place is named the Forest of Familiars."

"This is also the place where we received our familiars as well." Kiba explained as Koneko nodded.

"This place is a little scary." Asia trembled behind Michael.

"Don't worry Asia, I, the Great Hanamura won't let anything hurt you." Michael grinned.

"Oh my, Michael-sama you truly seem to be fearless." Raynare crossed her arms and smiled.

"Of course I am, do you have any reason to doubt me?" Michael gave a white grin which sparkled.

"GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL!" A loud voice echoed.

"Kyaa!" Asia hid behind Michael who was freaked out and raised his arms in self defense.

"Back off, I know Kung-fu!" Michael screamed in fear.

_**[How manly.] Ddraig chuckled.** _

_'Quiet you!' Michael cried._

Appearing in front of them was young man wearing rough clothing and blue worn backwards in some way to resemble a certain protagonist. The man stood on top of the branches of a tall tree and introduced himself.

"Welcome, travelers! My name is Satooji of Madara Town, I may be a devil in training, but soon... I'll become a Familiar Master!" Satooji grinned.

"Michael-sama, are you okay?" Raynare rubbed Michael's shoulder.

"The bastard almost gave me a heart attack." Michael panted in fright, "I thought something bigger would pop up."

"Asia-chan, are you alright?" Kiba asked the blonde.

"Yes, Kiba-senpai, I'm fine." Asia smiled.

"Oi, Pretty Boy, back off! That should be my line!" Michael screamed at Kiba.

"...Wuss." Koneko said behind Michael.

"What did you say!?" Michael roared.

"Hmm? A Feisty loud mouthed boy and a blonde beauty, so are these the two who need my assistance, Lady Gremory?" Satooji asked.

"Don't you start too." Michael growled.

"Correct, these two are new and are in need of your help." Rias nodded.

"OK! Then leave it to me any familiar who faces me will immediately get captured!" Satooji declared.

"Is this guy for real, he's quoting everything Satoshi from Pokemon would say?" Michael said it while looking at Satooji in disbelief.

"Alright, Michael and Asia, this man is a professional when it comes to familiars so make sure to take his advice while we hunt for your familiars." Rias said.

"Hai!" Michael and Asia nodded.

Jumping off the tree branch, Satooji approached the group with a catalog and said, "Now, what Familiar do you desire the most? A Flying type, Poison Type or a Speed type?"

"Hmm?" Michael was in thought then smiled, "Oh, I know! Do you have one that's befitting for a Maou!?"

"A Maou?" Kiba questioned.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm going for a high level class, and since I'm going to become a Devil King one day, I might as well get nothing but the best!" Michael clenched his fist as his eyes went on fire.

"Ara Ara, Michael-kun seems to be really excited." Akeno smiled.

"If its a Maou class familiar you want, then this is what I'd recommend-!" Satooji shows Michael a page in the catalog with featuring a large blue western dragon, "One of the Dragon-Kings! Chaos Karma Dragon, Tiamat! It's a legendary dragon! It's also the only female among the Dragon-Kings! Even until now, there hasn't been a single devil who has caught her yet! That would be obvious! Since it's said to be as strong as a Maou!"

"Perfect, then I'll be the first one to tame and capture it as my familiar!" Michael grinned.

"Michael-sama, shouldn't you try something that's at least at your level?" Raynare asked.

"I am, that's why I'm capturing it, Ray-chan?" Michael chuckled.

"I have to side with Raynare on this one, Michael. I agree that choosing a powerful familiar is a great choice, but you should at least try and find something a little more realistic to capture." Rias gave a bitter smile.

"...You're way over you head." Koneko shook her head.

"I must agree." Kiba nodded.

"Sorry, Michael-kun." Akeno giggled.

_'Geez, you guys are no fun.' Michael sighed._

**_[I-I must agree, Michael, maybe you should focus more on something else. Maybe something that's not Tiamat because nothing about her personality and powers are interesting in general.] Ddraig said calmly but a little hastily._ **

_'Huh, why are you so shaken up?' Michael asked._

**_[I-I'm fine, don't worry about me, and focus on avoiding Tiamat at all costs.]_ **

_'But-!' Michael's right hand slaps his face without his control._

**_[No, buts just listen to what I tell you!]_ **

_Ddraig then  ended his communication with the boy..._

_'Huh, that was strange... I wonder what has him acting so weird?' Michael rubbed his cheek._

"Michael-san, are you okay?" Asia was worried about why the boy slapped himself.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." Michael nodded then realized something, "That's right! Asia, what type of Familiar do you want?"

"M-Me, well, I was hoping to get a cute one." Asia fidgeted a little.

"Well then lets focus on getting yours first then." Michael grabbed Asia's hand.

"R-Really?" Asia asked.

"Of course, I did promise you that, and it wouldn't be my style to break a promise so let's do it." Michael grinned.

"Thank you, Michael-san." Asia smiled happily while slightly blushing.

"No problem and after that we'll go hunting for Tiamat! Michael roared as Raynare sweatdropped.

_'He's not going to let it go is he?' Raynare thought._

"Now let's do this for ASIA!" Michael roared and pumped both his fists in the air.

"This young man's spirit even has me pumped, Let's CATCH 'EM ALL!" Satooji did the same next to Michael.

Koneko just looked at the both of them with half lidded eyes and sighed, "...Morons."

Rias simply groaned and said, "Well, it may be a chance, but maybe we may change his mind when he sees another Familiar while we look for Asia's."

Kiba and Akeno nodded towards that suggestion.

Traversing through the forest, the Club gathered around a large lake as Satooji explains the possibility of a seirei appearing any moment. The group was hiding their presences so the arrival of one could be more likely to happen.

"Water seirei, known as Undine are said to inhabit the area, but are shy when it comes to revealing themselves to outsiders." Satooji explained.

_'Hmm? Maybe something like that would fit Asia's preferences since a holy spirit could match Asia's former status of a sister of the church and also they'll get along since Undine's are girls so win-win!' Michael scratched his head._

Catching his attention now was the glowing lake ahead of them.

"Look, it appears the lake is glowing." Kiba stated the obvious.

"Undine should now make its appearance." Satooji points to the large body of water.

"Come on, let this one be the one for Asia." Michael grinned and crossed his fingers.

Blue Lights sparkle as a rather huge muscular body emerges from the lake in a transparent robe, the being had many battle scars on its body as it seems to be a veteran of war, as its chest seemed to have same assets as other it easy to tell that her upper body if jacked and hard as steel.

"This is Undine." Satooji explained.

***SHATTER!***

"What was that?" Satooji looks back to see the group and a broken, pale Michael who looks at Undine with the same smiling expression only with sad eyes.

"Ara Ara, it seems Michael-kun got his expectations up a little too high." Akeno giggled.

"I guess too much hope can be a bad thing." Raynare sighed and crossed her arms.

"Michael-san, are you okay?" Asia shook Michael a little.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine. I just have to recollect myself." Michael sighed.

"It seems another Undine has made its way to face its fellow race." Satooji pointed.

"Huh?" Michael looks to now see 2 Undines glaring at each other and preparing themselves by raising their fists, "Oh that's not good..."

"What is it that they are doing?" Rias questioned a little intrigued by this occurrence.

"It seems a territorial battle between the two will begin and judging by their appearances it seems only one will walk out alive in this battle for survival." Satooji nodded while closing his eyes.

"Now this just sounds like that Animal Documentary at home." Michael sweatdropped as he watched the fight commence upon the two massive hulks (females) delivering massive blows between one another which could send a normal man flying for about 5 meters.

"...Violence is the only answer in the wild." Koneko said.

"Indeed." Kiba nodded.

"Why are you two so calm about this?" Michael exclaimed.

"Oh my, they really are going at it. I wonder if the one who survives will make a stronger familiar for you, Asia-san." Akeno smiled.

"Well, maybe so...um...should I call her Dine-san?" Asia struggled for a name.

"No." Michael put his hand on Asia's shoulder, "We're not getting her for you as a familiar, your kindness may be sweet, but I think-"

Suddenly Dine-san charges a block of blue magic in her hand fires it out in the form of a beam at the other Undine blowing the offending creature away in one blow.

"She can take care of herself without our help." Michael gulped.

"Yes, you may be right." Asia nodded with wide eyes.

"Since neither of you have no interest in making the victor of the fight your familiar then lets move on to another place." Rias sighed and puts her hand onto her forehead.

Moving away from the large lake, the group traversed deeper into the forest while lamenting over the past sight of the Undine.

"She might have had a tough exterior, but I could tell from her eyes that she's a good person." Asia smiled.

"Yeah, a good person, a person whose hugs could pop off my head with those freaking huge biceps." Michael groaned then puts his arms behind his head, "And besides, I'm all the muscle needed to help you out since I, the Great Hanamura will become the next Maou!"

Unbeknownst to Michael, Asia blushed at those words as he was too busy glorifying himself in his head. Stopping ahead, Satooji looks up at a tree to point at a small blue dragon surveying its surroundings.

"Wait, there seems to be a rare one in our sights." Satooji grinned, "A Sprite Dragon."

"What the heck is that thing?" Michael squinted his eyes.

"Its rare and hard to tame when it becomes old so it would be better to capture it now when its young." Satooji explained.

"Aw, it's really cute!" Asia cooed over the small dragon.

"Really, you think so?" Michael grinned as Asia nodded.

_'Great! That's all I needed to know!' Michael then runs after the dragon._

"Get down here, you!" Michael then climbs up the tree.

"Michael, what are you doing?" Rias gasped.

"I'm getting Asia her familiar!" Michael grunts while reaching the branch.

"Michael-kun may be trying to help Asia-chan with getting her familiar, but don't you think a dragon this size would better fit his status of Red Dragon Emperor better?" Kiba gave a bitter smile.

"It may seem that he's still interested in getting Tiamat as his familiar." Akeno said.

"Be careful, Michael-sama!" Raynare cried out.

"That fool should have waited for me to explain since anything that disturbs or angers a Sprite Dragon will receive-" Satooji looks up to see Michael reaching out for the blue dragon who glares at Michael and opens its mouth which was enveloped in a bright light.

"Huh?" Michael widened his eyes.

*SHOCK!*

"Gaaaagh!" Michael was then inflicted damage with many volts of electricity coursing through his body, falling back Michael lands on the ground with a sharp...

*Thud!*

"A million volts of thunder that could instantly burn the body of a person to a crisp."

"Michael-san/sama!" Raynare and Asia ran to pick up the twitching Michael who coughs up a large amount of smoke.

"What the hell happened?" Michael groaned and sat up as he sees the sprite dragon mocking Michael with a teasing laughter.

"...You got toasted." Koneko stated as she approached the teen.

"You brought it upon yourself for rushing in before getting warned." Rias shook her head.

"Grrr!" Michael then took notice of the laughing Sprite Dragon flying away towards the mountains of the Familiar forest, "Oh, you think you can get away with electrocuting me like that? Well, you blue bastard you're wrong." Michael stood up limply and smirked before he roared angrily, "If it comes down to it, I'll follow your ass to the ends of the world!" Michael chased after the Sprite Dragon while ignoring the calls his friends are making.

"Geez, that boy can't stay still for even a second." Rias shook her head.

"He sure does have a lot of energy don't you think?" Akeno giggled.

"Michael-san..." Asia called out while looking at the rushing teen.

"Shouldn't we follow him?" Raynare showed a face of worry.

"He'll be fine, he might burn himself out by the time we reach him, so it's best to take our time and-." Rias stops herself to see a shining giant blue magical circle with the glyphs and designs of a dragon on them.

"Is that?" Akeno gasped.

"A Dragon Gate!?" Rias' eyes widened upon the sight of a giant blue western dragon soaring through the circle and eventually smashing it through its rough flying.

"Incredible, it would seem that the Chaos Dragon Tiamat has surfaced herself into the area!" Satooji gasped in awe.

"Ya think!?" Raynare annoyingly glanced at Satooji.

**"DDDDDDRAAIIIG!" The Large Western Dragon roared loudly as it follows a familiar scent towards the mountains.**

"Its heading towards the mountains." Koneko stated rather seriously.

"But isn't that where Michael-kun is going?" Kiba widened his eyes and clenched his fist.

"Yes, and it may be after him." Rias nodded.

"But why?" Raynare questioned.

"Remember, he holds the Boosted Gear, a mid-tier Longinus holding the Welsh Dragon's soul within it, it seems its power is attracting Tiamat to his whereabouts." Rias explained.

"O-Oh no." Asia trembled and fell to her knees, "He's going to get hurt because of me."

"No, you didn't know so don't worry." Raynare did her best to comfort the teary eyed girl.

"Yuuto, go ahead and support Michael, we'll be right behind you understood?" Rias ordered.

"Hai, Buchou." Kiba bowed and summons a magic circle which revealed his European Sword and after that he took off with incredible speed.

"Now let's go everyone." Rias turns back to the other girls who nodded.

"Right!" everyone nodded but their cooperation soon ended upon green slime raining down upon them.

"Kyaaaaaaa!"

"Oh dear it seems green slime has appeared!" Satooji gasped as the slime then began to constrict them all and burn off their clothing.

"Why now of all the times~!" Rias cried.

* * *

 

In the mountains, Michael was climbing after the Sprite Dragon, who was now getting on his nerves! At first, he would try to climb the first half of the mountain to reach it, but then as he reaches the ledge, he'd get zapped by the damn creature. This has been going for at least 5 times now and its still going right now as we speak.

"Okay, I think I got it almost t-there." Michael trembled being darkened by the electrifying volts of the Sprite dragon's attack, "Just have to stay focused and not allow my self to fall this time!" Climbing up top to the ledge Michael was able to drag his upper body to the overhang and lay down completely exhausted, "I-I made it hehehe..."

Flying down towards the boy was the sprite dragon who continued to snicker at the exhausted boy and opened his mouth to release another beam of electricity which engulfed Michael who stayed laying there taking the hit like a champ. Seeing that its effort was a waste the Sprite Dragon gasped in surprise as Michael raised his eyes to show an evil gleam in them.

"You think you can just shock me off the side of the cliff like that, huh, you little punk?" Michael said in a dark voice, "I may not be tough to endure your attacks, but you should know that my anger has reached its peaks and unlike you I have thumbs that help me do this!" Michael reached out for the Sprite Dragon grabbing it by the neck and hilariously throttling it, "How do you like that bastard, not so fun being the one getting hurt now, is it!?"

**[Michael...]**

"What now!?" Mcihael growled, "I'm in the middle of something!"

**[Your upper body is off the ledge.]**

"Huh?" Michael looks down to see that and gulps, "Dammit." Michael drops the Dragon and falls down the cliff to where he has to start all over to climb.

*Thud!*

"I think all this falling is bad for the head." Michael groaned.

**[It is and you should head back to your master because this is pointless. Sprite Dragons don't like men and even if you were to capture it, it won't just fall in love over that Blonde Nun.]**

"Shut your face, I can do it!" Michael growled and picked himself up.

**[Sure, whatever you say partn-No.]**

"What?" Michael was surprised at Ddraig's sudden serious tone.

**[It can't be... She's coming!]**

"Hah, that's what she sa-!" Michael would have finished that joke but Ddraig stopped him.

**[Now's not the time! This is serious you have to run and hide!]**

"But why?" Michael asked.

**[Tiamat's coming!]**

"That's what she sa-!"

**[Michael, now's not the time for your immature jokes, you don't stand a chance against Tiamat, she's the strongest Dragon-king!]**

"So? I'm going to be a Maou, so I don't see how its my problem, and besides I'll capture her no problem." Michael chuckled, "And since she's not mad at me it might go along easier."

**[Well, technically she hates me.]**

"Bummer for you." Michael sighed, "But why?"

**[I...don't remember, its hard to recall such memories from my prime, but pay attention... It may have been so bad that she killed me about 3 times over for it already.]**

"Wait...three, but I thought you only lived once, and if you were alive three times then why are you in the sacred gear?" Michael crossed his arms.

**[No, that's not what I meant. I truly mean to say that she's killed about 3 of my past possessors...]**

"*Gulp!* Wait, repeat that again?" Michael gulped as his face paled.

**[She thinks that by locking my consciousness away each time that she kills my possessors, she would put me through despair for what I did to her.]**

"So she's trying to kill you through...m-m-me?" Michael trembled.

**[Y-Yes.]**

"I-I think I'm going to be sick." Michael fell to his knees and clutched his stomach.

Suddenly the rustling of bushes were heard as Kiba rushed out and ran towards Michael.

"Michael-kun!" Kiba called out.

"Pretty Boy?" Michael gasped and looked back at his age mate but gasped as a huge shadow loomed over him.

"Eh?" Michael looks above to see a giant blue dragon claw reach out for him, "Oh, Maou no!" Michael cried as the dragon claw grasped his entire upper body and lifted him off the ground.

"Michael-kun!" Kiba yelled.

"Help me!" Michael cried out.

Kiba could only watch as Tiamat ascended higher into the sky and towards the mountain's summit.

"Damn, I was too late, but I still have to try and reach the top!" Kiba rushed up the mountain with his Knight Speed but had an issue with it due to the rocky terrain in the way.

On the summit, Tiamat picks Michael up to her face and looked at Michael with those sharp eyes, which held the intention to kill.

"H-Hi, Misses Tiamat, ma'am, I-I am Michael H-Hanamura nice to meet yo-aaaaaaah!" Michael cried as Tiamat suddenly dropped the teen onto the hard ground below.

"Seriously, what is with the falling today?" Michael groaned as he picks himself up.

**"Ddraig, I know your in this child. Speak up now for it will be the last words you'll ever say for a while!" Tiamat threatened.**

"Look, Miss Tiamat, maybe you should calm down, and maybe we could possibly get along and get out of this with both of us alive, hehe...mainly me, but you know the drill so..." Michael rubbed his head while giving a forced frightened smile.

**"Quiet, devil, you have no place to speak in this. If you continue any further, I will reduce you to nothing but ash!" Tiamat snarled and raised her clawed hand and smashes it to the side of upper half of the mountain which shatters and sends flying down the remaining rubble.**

"Yes, ma'am!" Michael saluted.

**"Now Ddraig...SPEAK!" Tiamat roared so loud that Michael was shivering in fright hell even his soul was shivering.**

**[*Sigh!* What?]**

**"!" Tiamat's eyes widened then looked back at Michael with rage which was directed towards Ddraig, "So it seems you really have awakened."**

**[Of course, now what is your business with my Partner and I?] Ddraig said with a cold/mature tone.**

Michael cold tell by Tiamat's trembling form she was filled with rage at how Ddraig spoke with her.

_'Dude, what are you doing she's going to kill me if you speak to her like that!' Michael thought._

**_[Quiet, I am just trying to solve this issue without violence. You're my host so my past affairs shouldn't affect you, Partner, so let me handle this!]_ **

_'W-Wow, okay then I'll trust you.' Michael nodded._

**"You dare speak to me like your the innocent saint, who had no recall of your past sins? That's it I'm going to tear down your possessor to make sure you can remember what you did to me!" Tiamat slowly dredged up a growing blue aura with a heavy killing intent aimed at Michael.**

**[I have no memories of what you are speaking of and even if I were to remember, I would still question why your killing my possessors over some petty grudge!] Ddraig roared back.**

**"You think its petty you, BASTARD!" Tiamat's aura grew more intense by the second.**

"This is terrifying!" Michael cried as he tried to stand through the pressure Tiamat was giving off.

**[I wouldn't know if its even something worthy to kill many people over and over, because all your mad about is me forgetting?]**

**"If you don't even know then you deserve death and those who are stuck with you should too, a pitiful welsh dragon should pay for his sins even those around him!" Tiamat growls, "Compared to you, I'm the only innocent victim out of all of this!"**

**[...] Ddraig remained silent after hearing those words.**

Michael who was listening to the whole conversation simple clenched his fist in anger and shouted,

"No, the only thing you are is a colossal  **Bitch**!" Michael shouted.

...

**Tiamat looks at Michael directly before she would have looked at him because of Ddraig but now her sights were solely on the boy.**

**"What did you call me?" Tiamat growls.**

"What? I said it pretty loud, bitch, or do you want me to call you a bitch again, huh, bitch!?" Michael retorted.

**[Michael, what are-!]**

"Quiet, Ddraig, I've had it with this Dragon's attitude!" Michael glared at Tiamat once more and said, "Listen you, you may be a Dragon King, but let me get one thing straight you never ever, EVER mess with me and my partner. I don't care what happened between you two back then, but let me say that only a real bitch would hold that long of a grudge! That's why, the Great Hanamura is going to put you in your place!"

**"And you seriously think that you can beat me child?" Tiamat crosses her arms as her shadow looms over Michael.**

"I can do anything if I try my best, and even if I can't win I'll just have to punch you in the face, so you'll never mess with me again!"

Michael punched forward and shouted,  **"Boosted Gear!"**

**[Dragon Booster!]**

Michael is now wearing the red clawed dragon gauntlet and points at Tiamat, "That's why I, Michael will make you to be my Familiar and force you to apologize to Ddraig!"

**"Hmhmhmhahahahahah!" Tiamat then grew into a fit of laughter, "You seriously think you can pull any of these feats boy how hilarious, but don't think you'll survive after calling me a Bitch!" Tiamat started to breath in causing her belly to extend out massively.**

**[Partner, dodge! She's using her Dragon Fire!] Ddraig warned.**

Tiamat then released a huge gout of blue flames towards Michael.

"Holy Crap!" Michael dodges the attack by rolling away at a safer distance as the blue flames engulfed half the summit along with half the mountain with it creating a crater off to the side of it.

"That was close." Michael then clenched his fist.

**[Boost!]**

"But not close enough!"

**"Don't get cocky, kid. I haven't even started to get serious!" Tiamat spins around and sweeps her tail towards Michael.**

***BAM!***

"Gah!" Michael coughed up some blood as he was slapped to the side and hit a nearby mountain wall much to his luck.

"Come on, I need more power!" Michael picked himself up.

**[Boost!]**

**"Try to give me a challenge, child if you can!" Tiamat crossed her arms and let her tail do the work as it constantly swung itself at Michael many times.**

***WHOOSH!***

**[Boost!]**

***BAM!***

***WHOOSH!***

**[Boost!]**

***BAM!***

***BAM!* *BAM!***

Even with his best efforts, Michael was being over taken by the many attacks the tail sent right at him, but he was able to get a few boosts in before being flattened by the tail once more.

***BAM!***

"Gugh!" Michael was crushed underneath the weighty appendage as Tiamat laughed at the beaten teen.

**[Boost!]**

**[Explosion!]**

"It's done!" Michael picked himself up and clenched his right fist, "This one's gonna hurt!" Michael used all his energy to run at Tiamat while focusing his power into the boosted gear.

**"Hmph!" Tiamat simply puts out her clawed hand and awaited the attack, "We'll see."**

**"Dragon Magnum!" Michael fired his red aura clad gauntlet at Tiamat.**

**[Magnum!]**

***BOOM!***

A slight explosion occurred upon impact but Michael was able to see through the smoke to see something unbelievable Tiamat's hand was still in place after the attack.

 **"That is all? How boring..." Tiamat then grabbed Michael in mid air then proceeded to crush the boy,** **"How pitiful was all that talk was for nothing?" Tiamat looked down to see Michael struggling to break free, "I guess the curse of being the Red Dragon Emperor meant that the soul within it would always lead their possessor to death as always, but sadly this kid barely even fought the "white" one so I guess this will make the curse even worse for the next wielder of the boosted gear!"**

***Crush!***

"Aaaagh!" Michael cringed as he tried to free his right arm.

**[Michael, just stop you can't win against her!]**

"I don't care, I just wanna punch this Stupid Dragon Bit-!" Michael grunts as his right arm slowly moved up from the dragon's tight grasp but then a tight constriction came to him once more causing him to scream once more, "Aaaaaaaargh!"

**"You should have stayed quiet boy and I may have let your death, be swift but now you'll suffer for insulting me!"**

"Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you over how much of a bitch you are..." Michael weakly chuckled despite his lungs being crushed by the Blue Western Dragon's strong grip.

**"Grrrr!" Tiamat crushes Michael further towards the point where his breathing isn't even stable.**

As hope seems lost a miracle happened...

***SHOCK!***

***SHOCK!***

Tiamat slightly blinked after feeling mosquito bites of pain on the right side of her face.

The attack was ineffective...

**"Who dares interrupt me!?" Tiamat whips her head back to see a small Sprite Dragon zapping her with electricity, "Why you pest buzz off!" Tiamat drops Michael while trying to swat the evading Sprite Dragon away.**

***Thud!***

Michael lies face down on the ground completely beaten and crushed.

"Hehe! So this is what Maou-class power is huh, I guess I still have a lot of work to do." Michael chuckles weakly.

**[How odd the Sprite Dragon is assisting you.]**

"I know go figure, heheh!" Michael chuckled and used one arm to pick himself up and stare up at Tiamat while panting heavily, "Now to get my punch in."

**[No, you have to retreat its the only course your not strong yet.]**

"I don't care if I'm not strong enough. She said mean words towards us and that's a reason why I have to do it, its my pride and it should be yours too, I mean whether or not you brought the deaths of other people who used your sacred gear doesn't mean that I dislike it. It means I can try and live longer than them and... try to know you." Michael looked at the green gem of his Boosted gear with a grin.

**[...!]**

"So what do you say? How about we get one punch in before going back to everyone!?" Michael chuckled.

 **[...Kukukuku! Of course as the,** **Sekiryuutei we won't let someone like this push us around!]**

Michael used whatever reserves of willpower to stand on his feet resorting to will himself back to his feet.

"Now what can I do to leave a mark on her?" Michael asked.

**[Like I said, you're not strong enough to beat her. You're still a Low-Class Devil.]**

"Wow, and just when I thought you and I were having a moment." Michael sighed.

**[But there is a way, but you may not like it...] Ddraig explained.**

"Okay, what is it?" Michael asked.

**[Being the owner of the Boosted Gear, you can make trades with me to gain more power.]**

"Trades like what?" Michael raised and eyebrow.

**[You have to give me your arm and transform it into that of a dragon's for example.]**

"Whoa, really I wanna do it!" Michael grinned.

**[Really? Hmph! A weird one as always, so I guess you won't regret it then.]**

"No way, man! Dragon me up!" Michael raised his right arm.

**[Okay, if you want a permanent Dragon Hand then go ahead.]**

"Wait, permanent!?" Michael gasped then screamed in pain as his hand started to glow bright red, "Why does it hurt!"

**[Because your skin, flesh, and bones need to be reconfigured to match that of a real dragon's.]**

"Okay, but does it have to hurt THIS much!?"

**[Yes.]**

**"Huh?" Tiamat who takes notice of this while finally swatting the Sprite Dragon away only widens her eyes, "You gave up your hand to Ddraig!?"**

"Of course I did you, bitch now prepare to eat it!" Michael charged forward as the bright red glow starts to die down and reveal many red scales coming out of the sacred gear which looked more lifelike than before.

**[BOOST!]**

With just one boost Michael was covered in a large amount of red aura.

**"Impossible, you gained that much power already!?"**

Tiamat stuck her hand out to block the attack.

**"But it still won't matter, any attack a brat like you could make won't affect me at all!"**

"We won't know unless we try!" Michael then kicked himself off the ground and jump straight after Tiamat with his fist cocked back.

**"This will only end in the same result, you fool!"**

Enclosing upon Tiamat Ddraig roared,

**[Now!]**

As Michael approached the huge Dragon hand he quickly grabbed onto the Dragon's finger and pulled himself onto Tiamat's arms and climbed up to Tiamat's shoulder.

**"What!?"**

"You let your guard down!"

**[Boost!]**

**[Explosion!]**

**[You're already at you limit! Two boosts is already good enough as it is!]**

"Right!" Michael lunged at Tiamat's face.

**"Why you little-!" Tiamat began to breathe in but the time it would take to breathe out another gout of fire would need more time to concentrate on the amount she'd use.**

**[Tiamat, I may not know the source of your rage towards me nor do I care because right now my Partner and I won't be losing to you anytime soon!]**

"That's right!" Michael cocked his fist back and empowered it with a thick red aura then sent it flying towards Tiamat's face,  **"Dragon Magnum!"**

**[MAGNUM!]**

***BAM!***

**"...!" Tiamat's eyes widened as the attack was able to knock her off her balance and off the side of the cliff,**   **"Damn you, Ddraig!"**

***THUUUUUD!***

Tiamat laid flat on her back on the bottom of the mountain as Michael fell face first into the ground of the summit above.

"Hey, stupid dragon, next time you want to mess with Ddraig, you'll have to get past me first." Michael grunts and drops his head in exhaustion.

**"Damn those two!" Tiamat picked herself up and bat her wings hard to reach the summit once more, "This time I'll make sure to finish him!"**

Finally reaching the summit, Tiamat looked around for Michael with the intent to end him along with the bastard, Ddraig once and for all and as soon as she looked down she found the boy, but also found a man wearing a suit an orange dress shirt. The man was crouching near Michael while lightly tapping the boy's forehead with a red staff which emitted calm white waves of aura and flowed it into the boy's body.

**"You! Why are you here?" Tiamat asked slightly shocked.**

"Oh nothing, I was just observing is all." The man pulled out some white aura glowing bandages and rolled them around Michael's right arm which was able to suppress his dragon and force it to revert back to its human form, then he looked around to see the damage dealt upon the summit, "And I have got to say you made quite the mess here haven't you?"

**"Quiet, I'm going to kill them for making a fool out of me." Tiamat glared at the boy in rage.**

"Okay, but before you do let me clarify a few things. First off, this boy you wanted to kill is the first Low-Level Devil to have dealt a blow against you like that, right?" The man chuckled.

**"So?" Tiamat crossed her arms.**

"So don't you think something like that is something special and he's just a kid too, so he must have potential and second you attack them first so I saw no problem with them insulting you or questioning your reasons." The man smiled.

 **"Hmph! And you expect that to sway me from killing them?"**   **Tiamat crossed her arms.**

"No, but this will..." The man points at Tiamat while smirking, "And your rage towards Ddraig is the attitude of that of a School girl's classic tsundere."

**"!" Tiamat growled at the comment.**

"I mean, I even know its harsh if a guy forgets a promise, but when he's been chopped up into pieces and had his soul crammed inside a sacred gear then maybe I would understand. Maybe." The man laughed, "So why not just forgive the boy and become his familiar."

**"Why would I do such a thing!?" Tiamat roared.**

"Because I think a reckless kid like him deserves all the help he wants." The man looked down at Michael with a mischievous smile, "And also he may be someone fun to fight with one day given the many powerful influences that are around him."

Tiamat looked at the man in disbelief until...

"Or you can start off where you left off with them, but with me as their substitute, but let me warn you I won't hold back." The man readied his red staff and emitted a golden aura from his body as he grew ready to fight.

Seeing the battle ready male in front of her, Tiamat simply sighs.

**"I know a fight with you would lead to this area to be a desolate wasteland." Tiamat sighs in defeat, "But I guess I'll have to listen to your words, Son Kai. This child is interesting and I may have stood out of line with my rage blinding me."**

"And?" Kai raised his eyebrow.

**"And nothing I won't become his familiar I will only admit to my wrongs but he still hasn't earned my total respect, but..." Tiamat groans, "If he were in need of a favor I wouldn't mind lending a hand, but he only gets one that's it!"**

"Hmm? I guess that's okay for now." Kai rubbed his chin, "And since your a dragon it'll be tough to convince a selfish being such as yourself so I'll allow it."

**"Now can I leave I still have things to do?" Tiamat asked.**

"Of course, sorry for telling you something you wouldn't like in the middle of your work, but I just wanted to see what this kid had to show when cornered."

**"Whatever." Tiamat sighed and turned around.**

**[Tiamat, wait.] Ddraig called out.**

**"..." Tiamat stopped herself.**

**[I may not know your vendetta towards me, but I ask of you to not use my partner as a replacement for me.]**

Tiamat stared back and nodded,

**"I understand, I won't dare do such a shameful thing again and Ddraig..." Tiamat said, "The fact that you forgotten something so important is the reason why I wanted you dead even after you were put in that infernal sacred gear."**

Tiamat furled her dragon wings and bat them with great strength then proceeded to fly through the air with incredible speed.

***FWOOSH!***

"Stratus!" Kai called out as a purple cloud flew to his side, as he hopped on he waved goodbye to the unconscious Michael and said, "Well I hope to see you later well much sooner than later so until we meet again!" Zooming away the cloud carried the strange man away.

After that about 10 minutes had passed and Michael was able to wake up and look to his right to see the Sprite Dragon beside him smiling at him, the small creature was covered in some non-major bruises besides Michael, who was seeming to heal much faster than normal for some reason.

"We showed her, huh?" Michael chuckled as the Sprite Dragon nodded.

***Roar!***

Looking in the sky for the source of the noise Michael's eyes were in awe of Tiamat flying through the air while leaving a glowing translucent blur light behind her.

"Whoa, is that her?" Michael asked.

**[You lost.]**

"Ddraig?" Michael looked to his new dragon clawed hand as the jewel atop of it glew each time Ddraig spoke.

**[But you were able to impress her with your poor amount of strength which is very shameful for the Red Dragon Emperor to have.]**

"Wow thanks." Michael groaned as he was getting scolded by the dragon.

**[But you did great today.]**

"Huh?" Michael gasped at the compliment then smiled, "Of course, I am the Great Hanamura!"

Picking himself up Michael looks around, "I should get back to everyone else before I get left behind."

Nudging at his pants, the Sprite Dragon tried it's best to get Michael's attention.

"What is it?" Michael picks up the Sprite Dragon who laughs upon getting picked up.

**[It seems the Sprite Dragon has taken a liking to you.]**

"It has, but why me!?" Michael gasped.

**[I believe it saw your determination in battle and grew to like you for it.]**

"Well, this is cool and all, but I doubt I can keep him I did promise Asia she'd get her familiar first so I'll just give her this little guy instead." Michael chuckled and started his descent down the mountain to where he saw Kiba who was covered in dirt waving towards him.

"Michael-kun!" Kiba waved.

"Huh, Pretty Boy, what took you so long!?" Michael yelled.

"The massive quakes from above shook me off the mountain along with that huge fire attack, which almost knocked me off the mountain and possibly almost ended my life along in the process" Kiba explained, "And everyone else below is waiting for us." Kiba points toward the ground below to show everyone waving towards them.

"Wait, why do there clothes look a little burned off?" Michael asked while sweatdropping.

"The only way to tell is by going down to find out ourselves." Kiba tried to pat Michael's shoulders until...

*Shock!*

Kiba was then electrocuted by the small dragon as Michael chuckled a bit.

"It seems he does not like me as much as you." Kiba gave a bitter smile.

"Oh man, now I'm starting to have regrets on giving you up, Big guy! Hey, wait...your powers involve electricity and your blue, so how about this as a name... Rael. Close to Railgun from Towaru no Magical Index, but with a little of my name at the end, eh!?" Michael chuckled as he and Kiba climbed down the mountain to meet up with the rest of the Occult Research Club. As from above in the air was a flying red eagle like bird surveyed the gathering ORC group rather closely as the sound of laughing was heard from it,

_'Hehehehe...'_

* * *

**Next Chapter- I meet the Immortal Flame Yakitori! I won't let you take Buchou away without a fight!**


	10. I meet the Immortal Flame Yakitori! I won't let you take Buchou away without a fight!

**I meet the Immortal Flame Yakitori! I won't let you take Buchou away without a fight!**

* * *

After the Familiar forest incident was dealt with, Michael was able to rejoin with his friends and give the Sprite Dragon, Rael to Asia to make a pact with, as a way to fulfill his promise. As the preparations were done, Rias then informed them all that any further business here would prove wasteful due to the large amount of time they've been wandering around the forest. As Michael however didn't get a familiar in the end, but he did get Rael to be his friend, so he considered that a win (sort of...). Now the ORC club is back in the club room getting ready to leave to their respective homes.

"I see, so Tiamat was attracted to the Boosted Gear, I suppose power such like that will lead to future encounters such as her." Rias crossed her arms and smiled, "I should say your quite lucky your still alive after getting attacked by the strongest Dragon King out of the other 5."

Michael was scratching his head, while looking away in annoyance.

"Hmph...she just got lucky is all. Next time, I'll show her whose boss!" Michael declared as he clenched his fist, "And prove that I'm worthy of being a Maou!"

"...And next time, you should seriously think about getting a familiar before you start proclaiming such things." Koneko, who was already packed to leave, chided while walking past Michael.

"Why you little...?" Michael broke his determined expression and looked at the leaving Koneko in annoyance.

"Now, now. Let's all calm down." Akeno smiled.

"She is right though, Michael, a familiar is a crucial part of being a devil and now that you're the only one with none. It seems that things may be a little hard for you in the future." Rias explained with a smile which just oozes the pitying look of "I feel sorry for you".

"Aw man..." Michael sighed in depression.

"Don't feel too bad about it, Michael-sama, you always have me to help you out instead." Raynare puts a hand on Michael's shoulder and gives him a cute smile.

"Yeah, I guess your right." Michael chuckled lightly still a little bitter about being a familiarless devil.

"You guess?" Raynare looked a little ticked off by the comment and pulled Michael's ear.

"Ouch! Ow! I mean, I am, I'm so lucky to have you please let go of me!" Michael cried as Raynare eventually released his ear as he can now hear the laughs from the rest of the club members much to his disliking.

Until he turned to his side to catch Asia tugging onto his shirt while looking apologetic with those puppy dog teary eyes of her's.

"I-I'm sorry that you weren't able to get a familiar because of me." Asia looked down sadly.

Michael looked at Asia and sighed, "Look, Asia, don't be sorry for something you didn't do. It was my choice to help you get your familiar before my own, so don't feel bad about it." Michael smiled and adjusted his goggles as he said, "And besides, now I'll get to prove that I can become a Maou without the aid of a familiar."

"But..." Asia sniffled but before she could continue Michael patted Asia's head which brought a blush to the girl's face.

"I'm happy when your happy so just smile and take Rael, all right?" Michael grinned.

"H-Hai, I will Michael-san, thank you and I'm sor-" Asia finally smiled until.

"Boo!" Michael poked the girl's forehead to interrupt her, "I said no apologies got it?"

"But Michael-san..." Asia looked even more apologetic than before, but another poke to the forehead stopped her.

"Boo!" Michael repeated this time for emphasis.

Asia prepared to open her mouth but once Michael raised his finger once more she stopped herself and simply smiled upon realization, "I understand, Michael-san."

"Great! Now lets go home. Almost getting yourself killed by a Dragon builds up a huge appetite." Michael grinned.

"Then allow me to tend to your needs, Michael-sama." Raynare smiled seductively as she caressed her hand onto his cheek, "I'll try my best to sate your tastes."

"Sate?" Michael questioned, but felt something push between him and Raynare to get in the middle of them, and that was Asia, who looked at Raynare with teary eyes.

"Auuu...! I want to make food for Michael-san, too." Asia retorted.

"But Asia-san, you already received a familiar from Michael-sama, who helped you to get it, so I believe its fair that I do this for him." Raynare crossed her arms under her chest.

"That's exactly why I have to do it to repay, Michael-san for being selfless for me." Asia pushed on bringing up a valid point.

"But I-...but I..." Raynare trembled and grew teary eyes also as she said, "I also want to get doted on like Asia-san and its not fair that Michael-sama just does it to you! It's not fair itsnotfairitsnotfair!" Raynare stomped her feet on the ground repeatedly in jealousy, the fallen angels seems to be acting like a child not getting what they want.

Suddenly before Asia could reply, Raynare started rushing out the club room much to Asia's surprise.

"I'll be the first one to cook for Michael-sama!" Raynare cried, cutely.

"N-No, Raynare-san, its not fair! I want to cook for Michael-san too!"

"N-No~!"

Asia cried and rushed out the room after the stubborn Raynare.

The two girls seemed to be in a rush back to Michael's apartment to try and gain his affection as a dumbfounded Michael who was watching this simply sweatdropped and looked out the open doorway.

Laughing besides him was Kiba who patted Michael's shoulder.

"Well, it seems that you'll have a lively dinner tonight, Michael-kun." Kiba chuckled.

"Shut up, Pretty Boy." Michael sighed then turned to Rias and Akeno and bowed to his master, "Buchou, I'm sorry for not getting a Familiar even after all you guys did for us." Michael showed a complex expression at the feeling of using his friends efforts all to receive nothing in the end.

"No worries it seemed to have been way too fast to do a task like this either way, you and Asia are still new to being devils so don't rush things and try to get the swing of things okay, Michael." Rias gave Michael a true Onee-san smile deserving of her school title as one of the school's "Two Great Ladies".

"R-Right!" Michael suddenly felt uplifted by Rias' words and raised his head while smiling, "I'll do my best to live up to your expectations, Buchou, and I promise to never get discouraged with something like this ever again!"

"Ara ara, such strong words, Michael-kun, you must really be hoping to really impress Buchou, aren't you?" Akeno giggled.

"Of course I do. She is the one who told me about the Four Great Maou and how they played an important role in the devil society, and since I'm a devil now I can become one if I try my best so I can be someone important too, but first I have to live up to Buchou's expectations as a servant." Michael explained.

He wasn't able to notice, but Rias had on the faintest look of surprise before she returns to her usual mature demeanor and said, "I know that you'll keep that promise." Rias then catches sight of Michael's bandaged hand and questioned, "Michael, what happened to your right arm?"

"Huh?" Michael just then realized what she meant, "Oh, you mean this? Well, while facing Tiamat, I sacrificed my arm to Ddraig, so I could get a little boost of power but now it looks to be back to normal somehow so it's fine."

Everyone's eyes widened at his words as Rias approached Michael and grabbed the boy's hand and inspected it.

"You really did something that drastic?" Rias questioned.

"Of course, I wanted to live so I did what it took to survive no matter the cost, and I needed to keep my promise to Asia, so I decided to give up an arm." Michael chuckled and scratched his head, "And besides, I tried taking it off, but it won't unwrap."

"But still, we should examine it. Akeno?" Rias turned back to the club's vice president who nodded and approached Michael to identify the bandages constricting his arm and looked rather closely as a magic circle above Michael's hand was made to analyze the bandages origin.

"First, we have to know who placed this upon you before attempting to detach it." Akeno looked through the seal as it started identifying the seal placed upon it but before she could even get a seal or any name the bandages suddenly began to glow bright with a golden aura which grew in volume and instantly shattered the magic circle. Everyone in the room gasped in shock at this.

"It didn't work?" Michael questioned.

"It seems that way, but Akeno's demonic power is far too advanced to break so easily like this, so it must mean that someone beyond her power has taken upon themselves to place their power upon these bandages." Rias crosses her arms under her chest.

"Someone beyond?" Michael asked himself in worry as Rias took notice of this and sighed,

"But don't you worry about it, it seems to be doing more good than bad at the moment so just act like everything is normal as usual, okay?" Rias assured her underclassmen.

"Alright, if you say so..." Michael said while staring at his bandaged arm.

"And besides to make up for your lack of familiars, you'll have to work extra hard when juggling your duties of getting your contracts signed and handing out fliers." Rias explained.

"Wait, what?" Michael's eyes widened, "But I thought you said that job was for familiars and that me and Asia were off the hook?"

"I do remember promising that to the both of you, but since Asia is the only one advancing right now, I can't let you be the only one getting special treatment, so you'll have to work extra hard to gain such a privilege, alright?" Rias said with an unmoving tone.

"B-But I take temporary part time jobs around town to live off of the money I barely have, and I have school work and contracts to deal with as it is. How do you expect me to do all of that!?" Michael shouted.

"That's the challenge of being a devil, remember, you did say you were not going to let me down." Rias used Michael's words against him.

_'Dammit, Michael! Why did you have to open your big mouth! Stupid! Stupid!' Michael beat himself over and eventually nodded while looking depressed._

"So fight on, Michael." Rias encouraged the teen.

"H-Hai." Michael was still depressed and nodded.

After saying goodbye to everyone, Michael and Kiba left the clubroom while Akeno and Rias watched the pair of them leave through school grounds and eventually split up upon leaving for their homes. But as soon as Michael turns to leave he jumps up in fright and runs away from a massive group of VVV members holding pitchforks and stakes which he didn't want to know or stay to know why they have them as they screamed.

"Get the pagan!"

"The infidel must die!"

"Burn in hell, Hanamura!"

...

"Don't you believe it's funny, how Michael-kun acts?" Akeno began as Rias looks at her best friend curiously.

"It's weird, but the reviews that our clients give us about Michael-kun tend to vary from him being absolutely clumsy to being sweet and generous." Akeno explained as she remembered one review, "There were pacts where he definitely failed in getting because of his gloating personality which some clients disliked and his inability to control his temper causes him to become clumsy, and do the opposite of what he's supposed to do. Out of 7 pacts, he was only able to get about 3 so far. It's not bad, but he's doing about below average for a devil. But he's doing better I suppose." Akeno then walked to pick up a stack of papers from the coffee table which was Michael's current progress as a devil compared to Asia's whose stack seemed to exceed his by just 11 more pages.

"But you know some clients beg to differ and ask if they can have him again, but out of those clients he was able to get 1 pact signed." Akeno smiled.

"Interesting." Rias said.

"But as you already know, he is trying his best so it's only natural that he starts off stumbling a little." Akeno said trying to make Michael's slow progress positive.

"That may be true, but his reckless behavior is still an obstacle in his way as it always gets him in danger." Rias went through these facts as she remembered the dodge ball incident where Michael let his anger take over his actions and overexerted himself to where he couldn't even protect himself and now with him separating himself from the group and eventually faced the Dragon King, where he sacrificed his arm to the dragon residing in his boosted gear.

Rias then continued,

"And after losing his chance to get a familiar he may seem to falter little by little if more failures were to follow, which is why he needs me now to help with that before it becomes too difficult to fix."

"Ara ara, it seems your truly focused on helping him through his struggle Buchou." Akeno commented.

Rias looks to Akeno questioningly,

"Is there something you mean by that?"

"No, I'm just remarking that you would let personal issues be handled by the person themselves instead of being apart to solve it." Akeno arranged the stacks of reviews and stood giving Rias a worried smile, "It's just that...I find your commitment to him interesting is all, but do you suppose there may be more to it-?"

"I appreciate that my close friend is worried for my well-being but I believe this is an issue I must handle myself." Rias reassured Akeno, "After all I am the Club President correct?"

"Yes, Buchou." Akeno bowed to Rias and asked, "Then please excuse me?"

"Of course, thank you for your hard work." Rias nodded as Akeno then made her way to leave the clubroom.

*Door closes.*

Turning back to look out the window, Rias was still observing the surroundings until a silver light caught her attention, gasping she turns back to see a magic circle teleporting someone into the clubroom. As the serious expression Rias gives shows that she may know who to expect...

Outside the clubroom, on the roof was Kai, who was showing a face of fear and said, "It seems she's here and if my senses tell me anything its that I have to get the hell out of here." Kai was about to take a step back but as he stopped he felt a looming shadow draping over his body.

"And please explain to me where you are going." A calm female voice asked.

"C-Crap..." Kai's shoulders slumped down, "Busted..."

* * *

 

Later at night, Michael was in his room laying on his bed while holding onto his aching stomach that was given to him by Asia and Raynare. The two girls made so much food that he literally had to eat 20 dishes. At first he was okay with about 3 to 4 but 16 more was too much for him, and that wasn't the biggest ordeal out of all of it the two wanted to feed also meaning he was force fed the whole time while they argued over it. Michael was confused on why they would worry about such a thing, but then he couldn't think of doing anything except swallow and breathe.

*Stomach Growling!*

"Quiet you, we're in this together... If I'm going to be in pain then you are too." Michael grumbled to his stomach.

**[You do realize that your talking to yourself?]**

"Yeah, but it's not the first time and besides I've got you to listen to me so it counts as me saying my thoughts out to you." Michael yawned.

**[Actually, when your thoughts aren't relating to something of importance, I tune you out.]**

"Whatever..." Michael sighed in disappointment.

**[Please don't tell me that you're still upset about not getting a familiar, it's fine to make mistakes even your master said it's nothing to worry about since your still new. Just like your power as a dragon you must allow yourself to adapt before you strain yourself with what you can or can't do.]**

Michael rolled over and looked at the bedside wall.

"It's not that, I just feel..." Michael trailed off, "That I'm just wasting everyone's time is all, since I've wasted everybody's efforts with the dodge ball game and got absolutely nothing from it." Michael looked down sadly to himself then remembered his promise to Rias and his new goal, he stood up and shook his head, "Wait, what the hell am I doing getting sad over one thing ain't my style! I have to keep trying even if it kills me!"

**[That's the spirit, Partner!]**

"Yeah!" Michael roared, "I won't let something like this get me down. I'll do my best to prove that I'll be a Maou!"

*Stomach GROWLING!*

"Gack!" Michael held his stomach in pain and went pale.

**[What is it? Did you sustain internal damage from the fight before!?]**

"N-No, that's not it." Michael fell to his knees and grabbed his gut, "Damn, I can't feel my legs..."

**[Partner, tell me what's wrong with you, I don't sense any abnormalities such as poison in your body what is it!?]**

"I-I have to use the bathroom..." Michael smiled in pain.

**[... ... ...Bye.]**

"Wait, don't just leave, I'm really serious!" Michael screamed as he felt the link between the two cut off then held his stomach in pain once more.

"Man, this is killing me. Must use bathroom!" Running out of his room, Michael rushes to the bathroom and opens it to see a surprising sight, it was both Asia and Raynare naked with Asia getting her back washed by the latter. Both of their eyes were on him as Michael was trying to look at their faces other than their revealed bodies.

"Kyaa!" Both girls screamed as Michael yelped in turn and thrusts his palm and while saying,

"Whoa, my bad! Sorry for barging in!" Michael gulped and stepped back,

"I guess that you guys decided to wash up together, so I'mma head back now and try to think about my actions so no need to pinch me when you come out alright, cool? Well, c'ya." Michael would have left, but then two hands grabbing his arms caught his attention.

He stopped to look up at both girls whose faces are blushing while they gave him an apologetic gaze as they lifted the wet forms and approached Michael.

"Michael-sama, wait!"

"Michael-san, don't leave!"

"Wait, why are you two getting so close-?" Michael could barely utter a word as he was pulled into a hug with their breasts pushed up against his chest, "W-wait you two what's this all about?" Looking down at the two girl's Michael could only see the tops of their heads as they nestled their faces into his chest.

"S-sorry, Michael-san its just that u-um the first time a man has ever seen me naked, and I got a little frightened." Asia said looking away from Michael.

"O-Oh really?" Michael looked up.

_'Man, now this makes me seem like a pervert.' Michael mentally face palmed himself._

"Michael-sama forgive me also, I too was frightened by your intrusion, I was expecting you'd see me naked one day but I was hoping you'd be too." Raynare said with a teasing tone.

"What?" Michael questioned with a panicked expression,  _'Man I have no idea what to do here maybe I should just retreat.'_

"But I should be the sorry one you two, I intruded in something private so..." Michael tried to back away from the pair but he felt their hold him get stronger.

"It's okay don't feel sad Michael-san b-because now that we're all in here we can all follow the Japanese bath culture rules that Raynare-san told me about." Asia said.

"Rules?" Michael looked to Raynare and asked, the fallen angel.

"Y-yes, I've researched that interacting in baths allow people to learn about one another on a deeper level." Raynare looked up at Michael, blushing, "Which is why..."

"Eh?" Michael then felt two hands slowly pulling up his shirt.

"Wait Ray-chan what are you doi-?" Michael stopped and felt that Raynare was currently still holding him, he looked to his left to see that it was Asia committing the action, "Asia?"

"I-I want to learn more about Michael-san..." Asia said as she continued to lift up Michael's shirt while pressing her naked chest onto him

_'Asia, you may be thinking innocently, but what your doing isn't going to help with that." Michael tried to reach the girl's shoulder, but he was interrupted by Raynare grabbing his arm and placing it around her naked waist._

"I want to get closer to you, Michael-sama!" Raynare declared as she pressed her body closer to Michael.

"M-Me too!" Asia decided to stop raising his shirt and hug him tightly also.

Being pressed by two beautiful bodies made Michael even more uncomfortable as the teen was visibly panicking through the hug.

_'This isn't kosher, c'mon Michael think! Think! THINK!' Michael cried in his head over and over until he gasped in success, "Wait that's it thanks brain!'_

Grabbing the girls by the shoulders, Michael pushes them away and looks them directly in the eyes while giving a serious expression.

"Look..." Michael sighed, "I know you guys really want to know me and all but I don't think being naked together will do that and besides I don't think I want to get close to you guys by just getting naked whenever you don't know something simple about me."

The two girls looked down saddened.

"But it doesn't mean I don't want to get to know you two as time grows on." Michael smiles.

Those words perked the girls up as they saw Michael brightly smiling at them.

"I really want to know you two very well so lets take things slow and try our best alright!" Michael grinned while patting both girls on the head, "Since I know we'll always stay by each other, bet on it."

Both girls were blushing as they were getting their heads rubbed as they nodded.

"Do you truly mean it?" Asia asked as Michael inched his face closer to hers and grinned.

"Of course, we'll be together forever, Asia." Michael chuckled then looks to Raynare who was still looking down in embarrassment and grabbed her shoulder, "Right, Ray-chan?"

Raynare slowly looks up to see Michael's grinning face and reciprocated it with a shy smile,

"H-Hai, of course Michael-sama."

"Great now you two enjoy your bath while I wait!" Michael laughed then backed away,  _'Good job Michael you were able to make it through now all you have to do is wait until their done and-!'_

*SLIP!*

While walking backwards, Michael's heel came in contact with a bar of soap on the ground and slid right under him, causing the teen to fall back into the hard bathroom floor with a loud...

***BAM!***

"Ugh..." Michael grunts in pain then felt his whole head grow numb then fainted.

"Michael!" The two girls rushed to Michael's aid yet again to see a pool of blood forming around the back of his head.

"He's bleeding again!" Raynare cried.

"N-No, Michael-san hang in there." Asia summoned her twilight healing and began healing the downed teen.

_**[And that would make this K.O. # 6, I presume?] Ddraig chuckled jokingly then heard no reaction from Michael's consciousness at all and gasped,** _

_**[Oh no...]**_

* * *

 

Later the next day, Michael suddenly wakes up abruptly while panicking looking to his left and right to see that he's in his room and in his pajamas. He saw that no one was here but him as he realized the time of day it seems that it was close to noon already.

"Geez, what happened?" Michael looked around.

**[You fell and smashed the back of your skull against the bathroom floor, At the rate you were bleeding I thought you were gonna end up in a coma.]**

Michael groaned and said, "Man, really, and just when I finished saying something cool... What a bust!" Michael then rubbed the top of his forehead to feel bandages wrapped around them, "So how long was I out?"

**[Not that long about Fifteen hours.]**

"W-Wha-!? Fifteen hours that's long, man!" Michael gasped.

**[You shouldn't underestimate your head injuries, it may not be much, but it could prove fatal so just relax and those girls seemed really torn up about leaving you to go to school so calm down.]**

"Fine." Michael pouted and remembered something, "But you know since I'm all alone at home I guess I don't have to do anything school related for a while." Michael said with a happy smile, "That means my injury did do some good!"

*Beep!*

"My phone?" Michael picks up his cell phone to see that he got a text message from Saji, "Wait, Saji, isn't he busy doing Student Council work at school?"

Opening his messages, Michael read:

_Dear, Mike I heard from Asia-chan and Raynare-chan that you were a little under the weather today, so as the best friend that I am, I made sure to send you all the homework I asked your teachers for so you don't slack off so here is the following list I mad-_

*Beep!*

_*Message Deleted*_

"Nope, not having none of that." Michael shook his head and dropped his phone, "Now what should I do?"

**[Partner, check the side of your bed.]**

Michael looked confused by those words and did what he was asked then gasped, "Oh come on!" He looked to see a stack of papers, notes and text books near his bed, "How did he do that!?"

**[He used magic to teleport it here.]**

"...Okay, I guess that makes sense since we are devils." Michael sighed in defeat as he picked up his work and dropped it onto his desk and began working on it.

"Man, this is going to take forever..." Michael sighed.

**[No worries I believe you can try your best if you work at it.]**

_7 hours later at 8:00_

Michael was holding his head while scanning his math homework (The work he started with 7 hours ago) in confusion/frustration.

"I can't do it!" Michael cried.

**[Michael, you are being ridiculous, its just basic multiplication after you do this one step.]**

"Oh right, huh, never expected you to be the mathematical type." Michael said while solving problem number 3.

**[I've lived with many other possessors even one close to your age.]**

"Really, what ever happened to him?" Michael asked curiously.

**[...]**

"D-Ddraig?" Michael said a little frightened by the silence.

**[You should worry about the Sister and Fallen Angel they haven't returned ever since they left for school.]**

"Well I guess your right, but maybe Asia is in the middle with being with a client?" Michael leaned back in his chair, "And maybe Ray-chan with her as well, but I don't mind being alone at home. I kind of grown used to it ya know." Michael then closed his eyes, remembering those old days of coming home alone, eating alone, or just doing anything alone when outside of contact with only the few people who he actually called friends.

_'Growing used to being alone, eh?' Michael's hair covered his eyes._

**[Partner?]**

Snapping back, Michael shakes his head and gives a forced smile, "Right, homework!" Michael grabbed his pencil then grinned, "Let's get this crap done shall we?"

**[Hm?]**

"What?" Michael questioned the dragon's suspicious tone.

**[No, its nothing just continue.]**

"Man, why are you acting weird all of a sudden?" Michael shrugged

Glancing over his question, Michael smiles happily and answer it while laughing, "Wait, 2 times 2 is 4... Holy Shit! After so many hours, I finally able to get it!"

**[Michael, you were meant to use that for the slope intercept form.]**

"I don't care its staying like that!" Michael growled then widens his eyes as a sudden...

*Flash!*

Then glowing in the middle of his room was a red magic circle with the seal of Gremory on it.

"Is that?" Michael turns back to see the circle and readies himself for whomever may come out of it but soon relaxes when someone he does know does...

It was Rias, his master, it was easy to distinguish her because of her trademark crimson hair.

"Uh... 'sup Buchou what brings you here?" Michael asked but could tell on Rias' expression that she was rather concerned about something, He then realizes his absence at school and his devil jobs as he touches his head the grins boastfully in realization, "Oh, you came to check on me because of this? Don't worry I'm fine okay, since the Great Hanamura cannot be broken so easily!"

"No, that isn't why I'm here, your current state isn't the most important matter at hand." Rias shook her head.

Michael then felt his ego shatter and said, "O-Oh, okay then its cool."

_'Well there goes my boost for the day.' Michael gave a forced smile._

"So what brings you here?" Michael asked in a depressed tone.

"Hanamura, Michael." Rias said sternly as Michael sits up straight in full attention to his master's words.

"Yes." Michael nodded.

"As your master, I have a single command for you." Rias crossed her arms and approached Michael closely.

"Y-Yeah..." Michael felt sort of uncomfortable at the sudden tension picking up.

Michael may not have shown it but he's currently hiding a panicked expression behind his serious face.

_'I wonder if she's mad that I wasn't able to report to her about my injury because I did my homework! Dammit Ddraig your worries for my public education screwed me over!' Michael gulped._

Awaiting for his masters words of punishment, Michael then let his guard down when he heard something unbelievable directed towards him.

"Michael Hanamura, my pawn, make love to me." Rias said absolutely serious.

... ... ... ...

_'Eh?' Michael blinked._

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT!?" Michael shouted in surprise.

"I need you to take my virginity, immediately." Rias then begins to unbutton her uniform as Michael quickly stood up in distress.

Rias then grabs Michael's hand and sits him on the bed as she continues to unbutton herself,

"Hurry and get yourself ready like me."

Michael shook his head and shouted, "But wait I'm still confused about what's going on here!?"

Michael then blinked to notice that Rias was now in her pure white bra and panties.

"Ah!" Michael jumped to the side of the wall near his bed and pressed himself against it.

"Michael, aren't I good enough?" Rias asked as she started to approach him.

"N-No, that's not it!" Michael shook his head hastily, "I just wanna know why your in my place demanding for sex!"

_'I know a regular guy from my school would automatically agree, but I ain't going to do something without a reason and what's with this sudden seriousness with her about having her virginity lost?' Michael gulped._

"This was the only method I could think of at the moment and it seems to be the only way." Rias then got herself up on the mattress as crawled over to Michael slowly.

"What method, and why are you getting so close?" Michael gulped and tried not to look at Rias' bra constricted breasts.

"If there is evidence, then they can't complain about it. The only person close to me who is able to do it with me is you." Rias looked up hopefully at Michael.

"Wait, who are they? Buchou, please tell me what's going on." Michael said a little afraid at the situation,  _'Ddraig, I need your help I don't know what to do at a situation like this! Support! Support!'_

**_[The way she's acting could mean a lot of things, but what I have to say for you to do is... Wait, what is that? Oh, I have another call on the line... Please hold!] Ddraig suddenly cut himself from the conversation and link on purpose._ **

_'You son of a bit-!' Michael screamed in his head._

"If I were to have asked Yuuto he would've declined since he's a pure knight so I thought of you instead, Michael." Rias explained.

"Gugh!" Michael held his chest in pain and said, "So Pretty Boy was the first choice and I was the second?"

Rias looks at Michael blankly then looks away while saying, "Let us continue with you taking away my virginity."

_'She avoided the question!' Michael's jaw dropped._

"…There are things that you still lack in, but you seem to have the potential. _"_ Rias places her fingertip on Michael's cheek who shudders under the light touch.

"You are the only person, who would climax as soon as I ask for it and might probably go at it until the end." Rias then reaches back to undo her bra which snaps open and falls on top of Michael's legs.

"B-Buchou!" Michael gasped as he was given a full view of Rias' large breasts.

Taking his shock into account, Rias was able to push Michael onto his back on the bed and straddle his hips as she looks down and veils Michael's head with her long crimson locks.

"W-Wait, Buchou, I don't know anything about sex, and I'm not mentally prepared, so please just stop and explain to me what's happening!" Michael shook his head and cried.

"It's your first time?" Rias asked as Michael nodded shamefully.

"Y-Yeah..."

Smiling with a little nervous blush Rias said, "Then it's fine... Its my first time too, so we'll learn together if we must."

Shaking his head rapidly Michael said, "No, that's not the poi-iiiiint!" Michael squeaked as Rias grabbed his wrist and pressed his hand against her left breast.

"Can you feel it?" Rias asked.

"Buchou, please just hear me out real qui-" Michael stops himself to feel a loud thumping on his hand,  _'Is this Buchou's heart?'_

Looking up at Rias in surprise, he said, "Are you really nervous?"

"Yes." Rias nods as her blush grew.

_'But Buchou is always calm and collected so even if its sex she can get all jittery like this?' Michael thought._

"Michael, please begin I am ready." Rias said while getting her face closer to Michael's.

_'She's really serious about this isn't she, she actually wants me to take her virginity?' Michael gulps then sighs._

"A-Alright, Buchou, I'll try my best!" Michael gulped trying to bring all of his courage to figure out what to do.

Quickly sitting up, Michel embraced Rias tightly while thinking of what next to do...

_'So what should I do now?' Michael froze in thought._

"Um...Michael?" Rias wondered why the boy isn't taking the initiative.

_'Oh my gosh! What the hell do I do? Please anything come get me out of this mess!' Michael panicked._

Much to his favor something did show and it was a silver magic circle of the Gremory Clan.

"...It looks like I was a little too late..." Rias sighed in defeat and sat on her own as she looked at the magic circle in disgust.

"Oh thank god-ow!" Michael gripped his head in pain.

Appearing from the magical circle was a beautiful woman appearing to be in her early twenties, with silver hair and matching eyes. Her hair, which flows all the way down to her back, features a long braid on each side with small blue bows at the ends, while the rest is let down, ending in twin braids as she wore a blue and white French maid outfit with long sleeves and a white maid headband over her head, with red lipstick as a cosmetic accessory.

She looks upon both Michael and the half-naked Rias and speaks softly, "Are you trying to break the agreement by doing something like this?"

"If I don't then both Otou-sama and Onii-sama won't listen to me correct?" Rias retorted as her eyebrow twitched.

_'Dad and brother, so Buchou's family is the problem?' Michael raised an eyebrow as he translated Rias' words._

"Both Sirzechs-sama and the master will become sad after they find out your purity to some lowly servant." The maid says that while staring at Michael who shakes in anger and shouts,

"Oi! What's your deal, you just met me and your starting to call me the, Great Hanamura lowly!?" Michael yelled in defense as Rias sighed and stood up defensively in front of Michael and said,

"My purity is mine and mine alone to give it to anyone I see fit, also don't call my adorable servant lowly... Even if it's you, Grayfia, I will not forgive such an action."

Taking a closer look at Michael mostly the way his hair was shaped and resembled something familiar, the maid's eyes widened a little then turned back to her usual stare.

"What is it?" Rias asked catching that secret moment of surprise.

"Nothing I was mistaken with someone else." The maid said then went to pick up articles of Rias' clothing, "Anyway as the next heiress of the House of Gremory, you must show dignity so carelessly revealing your skin to a man is something which must be avoided even in a situation like this."

Then the maid puts on Rias' bra for her then looks over to a still mad Michael and bowed,

"How do you do. I'm a maid that serves the House of Gremory. My name is Grayfia. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"First you insult me by calling me lowly, then you introduce yourself? Heh, well, since you did tell me your name, I will tell you mine in return, I am Michael Hanamura, a guy who'll break expectations and become the next Mao-Aaaaagh!" Michael suddenly got his cheek pinched by Rias who wanted to end her Pawn's ranting before it could continue.

"Grayfia, did you come here of your own accord? Or because the household sent you?...Or is it that Onii-sama asked this of you?" Rias said with an unpleasant face which actually shows her reacting like a normal girl her age.

_'Buchou, is so uncomfortable it's kind of relaxing to know she can act like the rest of us sometimes.' Michael thought while looking at Rias in awe._

"All of them." Grayfia answered.

Sighing in consent Rias stands and says, "Is that so? If it took Brother's Queen to come to the Human World personally then I can try to understand." Rias takes her clothes from Grayfia and slips on her uniform top.

Looking over at Michael apologetically, she said, "Forgive me, Michael, but let's forget that this ever happened alright. I wasn't thinking straight so let's say this never happened."

_'Trust me I will.' Michael thought._

"What never happened?" Michael tilted his head.

Rias smiled at her servant's compliance.

"Michael, wait, is this person?" Grayfia looks at Michael with a shocked expression.

"Yes, he is Hanamura, Michael. My [Pawn]. And also the user of the Boosted Gear.

"The Boosted Gear, a weapon possessed by the Emperor of Dragons." Grayfia remarked and looked at Michael like a phenomenon, "So that's why  **he**  is so interested in this location."

"He?" Rias questions.

"I will explain later." Grayfia said.

"Then we'll discuss this in my room then, I'll listen to what you have to say with my [Queen] Akeno attended as well." Rias explained.

"Of course, a High-Class Devil must always have the Queen by their side." Grayfia nodded.

Walking closer to Michael, Rias leans in closer to his face.

"But Buchou, what's going on I don't understa-" Before Michael could finish his question Rias places a kiss upon his cheek.

CHU.

"Please forgive me for today, it seems I troubled yo a lot so I'll meet you back at the clubroom tomorrow understood?" Rias smiled then turned back to Grayfia who prepared a magic circle.

"Wait, Buchou I still don't understand what's going o-!" Suddenly Rias and Grayfia vanished from sight leaving Michael to himself in his room.

"What the hell just happened?" Michael said to himself.

Then the noises of footsteps entering the apartment were heard.

"Michael-sama, we're back~!" Raynare called out.

"We brought you snacks to help you feel better!" Asia also called out.

"But… my rule of snacks always comes before thinking." Michael said to himself and rushed out his bedroom to greet the two girls.

The next morning, after going through school as usual Michael had to put up with the insistent whining of the Perverted Duo yet again, but was able to calm down the thoughts of what happened the other night while discussing with them facts about Dragon Ball Z and other anime, since they too were fans as well. After this he then decided to hang out with Saji who was watering the School's plants while under duty as a member of the Student Council to do so.

"You look like you could use some water, you pansy." Michael said looking at the flowerbed of pansies.

"Michael, what do you mean I'm watering them alre-! You're talking about me aren't you?" Saji said with half lidded eyes.

"Yeah…" Michael sighed.

"Okay, what's up?" Saji asked.

"What do you mean?" Michael crossed his arms.

"You're not laughing at your own jokes or insults at me, and that means you went through something hard to cope with." Saji said.

"Am I that readable?" Michael asked.

"Yes, yes you are. Now spill it." Saji said putting down his watering pale.

"Alright, so yesterday my Master tried having sex with me for something she wouldn't tell me so no big deal." Michael explained as Saji stared at him with his jaw dropped.

"Okay, I don't know what deal you have, but I would think that's a huge deal." Saji shook his head, "But seeing as you said "tried it" must have meant that you failed to attempt anything because you know little there is to know about sex, right?"

"No!" Michael screamed as Saji just stared at him as he gave in and said, "Yeah…"

"Thought so." Saji said.

"Look that's not the point all I'm saying is that I'm pissed and don't know what do to, without knowing what's up with Buchou." Michael explained.

"Well, Mike, over the years that I've known you, I know you can find a way by just going up to her looking her dead in the eye and saying 'Buchou, tell me what is troubling you.' See? Simple as that."

"But what if it doesn't work?" Michael asked.

"Well, if it doesn't, then you'll probably get punished for trying to dig into the affairs of your master without her consent." Saji said blankly.

…

"Meh! I've been through worse." Michael shrugged then walked away waving, "Thanks for the talk Saj, I have to see Buchou and the other club members in the Clubroom."

"Well, good luck." Saji waved back and sighed while looking up into the sky calmly as he tried to remember what he was doing.

But this was interrupted as a stern Tsubaki looked upon the calm Secretary with strict eyes, "Enjoying your break?"

_'Shit!' Saji gulped and grew pale._

* * *

 

Making his way to the Abandoned Schoolhouse Michael entered to see Kiba waiting outside of it smiling at Michael.

"Pretty Boy, why are you here?" Michael asked.

"Michael-kun, my duty here is to tell you what Buchou asked of me to do, she wants you to keep yourself calm and try not to cause any tension for our visitors today, especially one who may seem out of the ordinary, so please…"

*Door Opens Abruptly!*

"I'm sorry, you began to bore me after you said 'Michael-kun'." Michael sighed and entered the clubroom while leaving a bitter smiling Kiba to follow after.

"Hello, everyone, the Great Michael Hanamura is here to-" Michael stopped himself from his usual proclaiming to feel a strong tension in the room as he was able to catch sight of everyone in the room, basically everyone who is a member of the ORC club was here including Raynare, who was sitting on one of the couches rather uncomfortably. As the silver haired maid stood by Rias as an unfamiliar face nearby sat on one of the nearby couches while humming.

_'Hey, it's that maid from earlier and some guy…' Michael looked down upon the man who turns his head towards Michael and simply gives the boy a smile while closing his eyes, 'For some reason, he's giving off a strange pressure that I can't explain, but you know he seems kind of unreliable once you look at him.'_

_Then all of a sudden the man opened his eyes to give Michael a rather ominous stare with that smile of his, at that moment, Michael could have sworn that the man was able to read his thoughts and even for some reason the bandages around his right arm started to tingle anxiously like it was in the presence of something familiar._

Stepping forward to break the silence was Rias who says, "Now since everyone is here let me explain something before we begin with our daily activities."

"Ojou-sama, do you want me to explain the situation?" Grayfia interjected but Rias' rejects the offer with a wave of her hand.

"Maybe I could expl-" The strange man suggested but stopped upon Grayfia staring down upon him strictly, the man sweatdropped and chuckled, "Or maybe I'll just be quiet."

"The truth is-" At the moment when Rias was about to speak a magic circle appears on the floor.

_'Someone's coming but who?' Michael thought as he saw a strange seal which differed from the Gremory Family._

"Hey, Pretty Boy, whose coming?" Michael asked.

"It's the mark of the House of Phoenix." Kiba said seriously as he continued to watch the teleportation take place.

"Phoenix?" Michael repeated then turns his attention back to the magic circle which shines brightly revealing the person who used it, but then suddenly!

*Fwoosh!*

Flames burst out of the circle and overwhelms the room with heat.

"Whoa, what's going on!" Michael looked around the high temperature room in shock but stopped once he saw a single man inside of it as he was a handsome young man in his early 20's with short blonde hair and dark blue eyes as he wore a red suit which didn't consist of a tie and white dress shirt that was unbuttoned by one.

The man looks around the room as soon as his magic circle dies down, "I haven't been to the Human Realm in a while."

As soon as he turns around he looks over to Rias and smirks, "I've come for you my lovely, Rias."

Michael looked between the two in confusion as Asia and Raynare walked over to stand behind him. Catching sight of Rias' displeasured look, Michael could tell that she didn't like the man in front of her.

"So who's this guy?" Michael asked anyone in the room who would answer.

"This is Riser Phoenix-sama, a pure-blooded devil and the third son of the Phoenix family." Grayfia explained.

"Another Pure-Blooded Devil, whoa, and wait... Did she say Phoenix?" Michael gasped.

"Correct." The man answered gaining Michael's attention.

The man spun his staff in his hand while staring at it lazily with a smile, "The Phoenix family is a Devil Household which hold remarkable abilities of flames and wind that they can bend to their will and are immortal due to their ability to regenerate."

"I-Immortal?" Michael began to sweat a little.

"Exciting, right? Makes you wanna try your chances with him in a fight, right?" The man excitedly looked at Michael with a little sparkle in his eyes as he chuckled.

"I thought you were to remain silent, Son Kai." Grayfia looked down at Kai with Cold eyes.

Suddenly, Kai froze in his spot and nodded, "Yes, ma'am, I'll behave."

"Anyways this man you see in front of us is the Fiancé to the next heiress of Gremory." Grayfia continued.

"Wait, next heiress so that must mean?" Michael gasped.

"That is correct, he is currently engaged to Lady Rias." Grayfia answered.

"Wait, this guy's married to Buchou?" Michael asked.

"Of course, silly who else would be the heiress of the House of Gremory?" Akeno giggled at Michael's question.

"Well, I thought you know maybe Buchou might have had a twin sister so maybe he was engaged to her instead but now this makes sense." Michael crossed his arms.

"…Moron." Koneko shook her head.

"W-Why you!" Michael growled then realized an intense glare from Rias but when he looked at Rias he could tell she was pointing her dislike towards Riser instead.

"B-Buchou?" Asia tilts her head.

_'Seriously, I am so lost.' Michael looked between the two high class devils while sweating._

Walking over to Rias while ignoring her show of dislike the man grabs Rias' arm rather rudely and says, "Now then let's go take a look at the ceremony hall, my dear the date for the ceremony is decided so we need to check it before then."

_'That bastard! Show respect to Buchou!" Michael clenched his fist._

"Let go of me, Riser." Rias said with a serious, opposing voice and shakes the man off.

"Heh." Riser simply let it happened and didn't care.

"Hey, man, lay off of Buchou already, she's a girl so be nice!" Michael growled and spoke out of turn as Riser turns to look down upon Michael with a stare he knew too well it was the stare of superiority over him and telling by his displeased voice he could tell the man wouldn't like him at the slightest,

"Ah? Who are you?"

"Michael Hanamura the Great, I am the Pawn of Rias Gremory, and who the hell do you think you are hotshot!" Michael took a step forward and raised his fist as Raynare began to hold him back before he decides to do anything drastic.

"Michael-sama, relax." Raynare whispered.

"Hmph! A measly little Pawn?" Riser said uninterested.

"Hey, what did you mean by that tone!? I don't like it at all!" Michael growled and raised his fist.

"Please calm down." Raynare whispered to Michael silently.

"Michael-san, it's not good to get mad please relax." Asia whispered while holding back the furious trident haired teen.

…

"The tea made by Rias' Queen is superb." Riser complimented Akeno while sipping his cup.

"Thank you very much." Akeno bowed and smiled which held some extra iron in the tone which frightened Michael a little.

After settling down Riser and Rias sat together on the couches rather closely as the servants had to stand away from the High-Class Devils and only watch them. The only one showing any emotion of rage was Michael who continued to watch Riser touch Rias' body constantly as she was clearly discomforted by his actions.

_'You bastard if you weren't a High-Class Devil I'd punch you in the face with my Boosted Gear non-stop!' Michael growled._

"Michael-san are you alright?" Asia noticed Michael's contorted face.

"Ah, I'm fine nothing to worry about." Michael shook his head.

"… … Thinking violent thoughts won't help you calm down, idiot-senpai." Koneko said harshly.

"Grrr!" Michael glared at Koneko in annoyance but that annoyance soon ended as soon as Rias screamed-

"Stop this already!" Rias' voice echoed through the room.

Michael returns his attention towards Rias who was standing and staring down at Riser in anger as Riser is smirking so smug as usual.

_'That bastard is really pushing Buchou's buttons and mine too!' Michael trembled in anger._

"Relax, Michael-sama you are a stream a gentle stream cascading down a passive aggressive river." Raynare sang to Michael hurriedly to soothe his temper.

"Riser, as I told you before! I will  **not** marry you!"

"Yeah, you've said it way too many times my dear, but I hardly say you have a matter in the fact due to your Family's issue overweighing your own selfish wants." Riser said slyly.

"That's none of your concern! If I'm the next heiress for the House of Gremory, then I will choose who will become my husband! My father, brother, and everyone in the clan are rushing it! Also it was a promise that I will be free until I graduate from university of the human world!"

"That's right. You will basically be free. You can go to college and you can do whatever you like with your servants. But your Otou-sama and Sirzechs-sama are worried. They are afraid that your household will become extinct. We lost a great number of pure-blood Devils in the last war. Even if the war has ended, our rivalry with the Fallen Angels and God hasn't ended yet. It's not rare for the successors of pure-blood Devil to get killed in the worthless battle against them, which leads to the household becoming extinct. So for a pure-blood Devil that are also happens to be a High-class Devil, getting together would be the obvious solution for the forces of Devils. A pure-blood High-class Devil. Even you know that these children will be important from now on, right?"

Riser explained while still looking comfortable as ever knowing his facts and the wishes of the Households would outweigh Rias' own feelings in the matter.

_'That bastard, he's taking advantage of their problem for his own use!' Michael grinded his teeth._

"A soothing river, Michael-san, a soothing river~." Asia rubbed Michael's back as the boy looked ready to initiate something he'll regret.

Riser then continued, "The newly produced Devils—. The ones like your servants, the reincarnated Devils, are expanding in terms of strength but that would make us, the High-class Devils with old history background, lose our place. There are old nobles who gets close to the reincarnated Devils because they are very powerful. Well, that might be alright. The newly produced Devils are also important for our future. But we can't allow the pure-blood Devils to go extinct right? You and I were chosen in order to prevent the pure-bloods from going extinct. My house is safe because I have my older brothers. But there are only two siblings in your house. And your brother is someone who left the house. Then there would only be you, Rias, who can inherit the House of Gremory. If you don't take a husband, the House of Gremory will go extinct in your generation. Are you trying to crush the household that has been continuing for a very long time? Because of the past war, there is not even half the number of Devils who were referred as "72 pillars". This marriage has the future of the Devils on the line."

Catching something terrifying not only Michael but everyone but Riser noticed the strange man known as Kai lower his head to cover his eyes with his hair as slowly growing gold aura leaking killing intent left from his body.

Riser stood up and smirked, "And besides we wouldn't want your household holding any Incomplete Pure-Blooded Devils in your family just like the Sitri fam-!"

"Extend."

***DON!***

Riser stops himself as the brunt side of a staff extends towards his face and narrowly misses it to crash into the club room wall. Looking over in shock he catches the sight of Kai who picks himself up from the couch and looks at Riser with a pissed off smile with his eyes closed.

"Riser-san, you may be a Pure-Blooded Devil, but remember your place when discussing the matters of other families. Or I wouldn't mind eradicating you from the history of your Devil Household, understood?" Kai said with a hint of poison in his voice.

"Tch!" Riser simply looked away in defeat/fear and said, "Fine, I wouldn't want to incur the wrath of the [Strongest Male Queen] and lose my life even I would have to obey his warnings." Riser spat.

_'Strongest Male Queen?' Michael questioned._

"Good." Kai sat down then looks over to Rias, "Forgive me, Rias-sama, you may continue."

Grayfia looked at Kai with a look of neutrality and decided to let his outburst go for now.

Rias nodded slightly as even she was scared by the man's sudden action then said, "But don't get me wrong, Riser, I am willing to take a Husband."

Riser smiled widely and said, "Finally, you decide to see what's for the best as expected from you Ri-"

"Now don't think that I meant I wanted to marry you, I will choose someone I acknowledge to marry even the old noble house has it's right to choose and so do I." Rias said sternly living up to her name as a Great Onee-san once again.

But however Riser was rather unpleasant as his eyes became shaper along with his tongue as he said, "…You know, Rias. I'm also a Devil who carries the name of House of Phoenix behind me. I can't let that name get tarnished. I didn't even want to come to a small old building like this in the human world. Rather, I don't like the human world that much. The fire and wind of this world is filthy. For a Devil like me who rules fire and wind, I can't stand it!"

***FWOOSH!***

Creating flames around his body Riser stares at Rias' servant with a strong killing intent, "You leave me no choice, I will take you back to the underworld by force even if I have to burn each and every single one of your servants to do so."

Kiba and Koneko grew ready to fight as for Michael well…

"Michael-sama, remember calm down you are a gentle river flowing and-!" Raynare cried as Michael was visibly shaking in anger until he roared,

"Fuck the river!" Michael charged at Riser and slams his fist into the man's face as he ran through the ring of fire.

***BAM!***

Everyone was visibly surprised by Michael's actions especially Riser who stepped back and gripped his stinging cheek in pain as Michael started to breathe easily.

"Phew...that felt good, you know, you'd make a good punching bag." Michael chuckled as Riser picks himself up and glares at Michael with burning fury.

"How dare you a pitiful Low-Class Servant such as you raise a hand against me!" Riser growled.

"Well you were asking for it so I punched you for being a douche or should I say a chicken." Michael smirked, "Bawk Bawk!"

"Are you insulting me?" Riser growled.

"Wait, could you repeat that? All I heard was Bawk! Bawk! Bawk! Or was it "Please, punch me in the face I need it because I'm such a jerk!" Blah! Blah! Blah!" Michael pulled his eyelid down and taunted.

"That's it, you little brat! I'll turn you into ash!" Riser began to create a large ball of flames from his hand.

"Bring it!" Michael summoned his Boosted Gear and grinned, "I won't lose to a Chicken like you, pal, and besides you won't kill me because I'm going to be the next Maou!" Michael declared.

Riser and Grayfia were shocked at his words as Grayfia simply closed her eyes as Riser just laughed right in Michael's face.

"Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Riser laughed, "Do you seriously think that a Low-Class Devil such as yourself can reach a goal such as a Maou hah don't make me laugh you shitty brat!"

"I can do whatever I want if I try hard and besides-!" Michael grinned.

"Alright you two that's enough." Rias said but then gasped as Michael said.

"If I'm doing this for anyone it's for Buchou she's the one who gave me this dream and I ain't gonna doubt it yet bitch!"

"Michael!" Rias' eyes widened.

"So let's go at it me and you right now, for you it'll just take a single K.O.!" Michael clenched the fist of his red gauntlet and grew ready in his poor-fighting stance.

"Why you!" Riser growled but then before they continued Grayfia appeared between the two while giving both males a serious stare.

"Michael-sama, Riser-sama please calm down. If you two were to continue then I won't be quiet about it. For Sirzech-sama's honor I won't hold back." Grayfia warned.

Suddenly, Riser calmed down his flames and sighed while shaking his head, "To also be warned by the [Strongest Female Queen]. How dangerous, I'll stop now before I incur her and Sirzech-sama's group of monsters' wrath."

_'So does this Sirzech's guy have some major power I don't know about because he sounds to be related to the Buchou so I guess I can understand.' Michael thought._

Seeing the intention of a fight was dissolved Grayfia turns to Rias who was standing near Akeno and said, "Master, Sirzechs-sama and the House of Phoenix have already seen an outcome such as this so meetings of a last resort was held."

"Last resort? What do you mean, Grayfia?" Rias questioned.

"Ojou-sama, if you wish to push your opinion forward, then how about you settle it by having a [Rating Game] against Riser-sama?" Grayfia informed.

"!?" Rias became speechless.

"A Rating Game?" Michael repeated remembering Saji's explanation of it to him then wondered, "But isn't Buchou still not mature enough to play, Grayfia-san."

"Just as you know, Ojou-sama, only mature aged Devils can participate in official [Rating Game]. But if it's an unofficial match between pure-blood Devils, even immature Devils can participate but for this situation-"

"It has to involve a family household and its disagreements correct?" Rias said in anger, "But still Father is still making us do this as a last resort even when he's been controlling my life so far, the nerve!"

"Then shall I take this as a decline for the Game?" Grayfia questioned.

"No, this is a chance I won't allow to slip by. Let's settle this with a Rating Game Riaser." Rias declared as Riser smirks at Rias' challenging words,

"Heh, what foolishness your actually accepting the last resort? But fine I don't mind since I'm already a mature Devil who has participated in the official game and kept quite an impressive winning streak but for you my dear, Rias sure I'd be willing to play with you."

"Then it's decided I'll blow you away, Riser!" Rias declared.

"Fine. If you win then the engagement is canceled to your pleasing, but if I win then you'll marry me immediately." Riser said his terms for the Game's victor.

***GLARE!***

"This will be interesting." Kai stood by Grayfia and rubbed his chin.

"Understood. I, Grayfia have confirmed both sides approval. I will be in charge of referring the game between the Gremory Household and the Phoenix Household. Is that fine?"

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"Then I shall inform the households of this then." Grayfia bows.

"Alright then, you Yakitori Chicken prepared to get your ass kicked by the Great Hanamura." Michael clenched his fist.

Riser then looks around at Rias' number of servants and smirked, "So these are you servants, Rias?"

"Of course, what of it?" Rias asked until Riser laughed once more in front of her face.

"Then this match will be a laugh. The only formidable one amongst your group is your [Queen] the "Priestess of Thunder" as the rest of them could barely stand a chance against my servants."

Saying that, Riser snaps his fingers and summons a large magic circle on the ground as it reveals the emblem of phoenix as many shadows behind the flames of the circle appeared.

"Uh…" Michael blinked at the sight as he saw 15 people who seem to be his servant appear and they appear to be…cute girls in distinguishing clothing.

"W-Whoa, that's way too many!?"

Michael gasped as he identified the different girls as they were The knight and the magician I mentioned earlier are also girls! A girl wearing a Chinese dress! Two girls with beast ears! Two girls with identical face that seems to be twins! A loli girl! Two older girls with nice bodies! A Yamato Nadeshiko like girl wearing a kimono! There's also a girl wearing a dress who looks like a European princess! A wild looking older woman who is carrying a sword on her back! There's also a girl wearing a dancer's outfit! There's also a mysterious woman wearing a mask that hides half of her face!

Riser watched Michael's stare towards his servants and smirked beautifully, "Hmph! Pathetic brat, you'll never achieve such beauty like this in your life, no matter how hard you want to work."

"Huh?" Michael looks at Riser then points at the Girl's in confusion, "Why would I want some overdressed cosplayers for servants?"

"!" Everyone in the room except for Grayfia and a laughing Kai looked at Michael in surprise.

"What an undignified brute." The blonde girl wearing a European Dress said in anger.

"Riser-sama, why is this guy not interested in us at all?"

Riser turned back to his servants and comforted his girls while saying, "Now don't worry you all it's just that this Low-Class Bumpkin might be inbred so he must reproduce asexually."

"No, it's just that your servants are all girls dressed weirdly man, I mean you're rich get them better clothes for Christ's-ow sake!" Michael groaned.

"What was that you-!?" Riser growled.

"Heh, I guess I've already decided you jackass, Yakitori Chicken." Michael points at Riser , "I won't allow someone like you to be Bushou's fiancé because I'll be honest anyone having you for a husband will literally regret being a devil and living an eternity with you." Michael declared as he heard slight laughter from everyone even a small held back one from Koneko.

Riser began off with a growl then smirked after gaining an idea,

"Grrr! Rias it seems you failed to educate your servant so I'll do you the favor and teach how to know his place," Riser turns to his peerage and said, "Isabella handle this."

"Yes, Lord Riser." Walking forward was the woman with a half mask on.

"So you think you can handle me, well then. Just to warn you, I, the Great Michael Hanamura won't hesitate to beat a girl!" Michael thrusts his fist forward and roared, "Let's do this!"

**[Boost!]**

Taking a stance, Isabella then charged at Michael with impressive speed and escaped from sight.

"Huh, where did she-?" Michael looked around frantically.

"You're too undisciplined." Isabella then appears behind Michael and grabbed his shoulder and twisted him around while cocking her fist back,

"Fly!" Isabella shot her fist into Michael's face with a loud…

***BAM!***

"Augh!" Michael gasped as he got the wind knocked out of him then gritted his teeth.

"Yield!"

***BAM!***

"N-Never!" Michael grunts in pain after the first fist to the face.

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

"Guagh!" Michael bit his lower lip in pain and endured the hits as signs of him drawing blood was shown.

"Riser, stop this at once!" Rias shouted.

"Why should I? That bratty pawn should have stayed quiet while he had the chance." Riser said ruthlessly.

"Hm?" Kai looks at Michael closely as he endured each hit Isabella sent at him.

"What is it?" Grayfia asked.

"Oh, nothing... I was just seeing something important is all." Kai shook his head and continued to observe.

**[Boost!]**

_'Come on, need more power!'_

**[Boost!]**

"That should be enough!" Michael growled, "Now take this!" Michael grabbed Isabella's head and headbutted the woman causing her to stagger back a little in pain as Michael wearily panted after taking so much damage from her hard hitting attacks basically having the air knocked out of him.

"*Pant!* *Pant!* So how *Pant!* do you like that?" Michael panted as the Boosted Gear alerted,

**[Reset!]**

"Ngh!" Michael fell to his knees after having all his power zapped from him.

"Michael-san/sama!" Both Asia and Raynare cried.

"Pitiful, you can't even stay standing after giving your first hit." Isabella stood over Michael with disappointment evident in her eyes, "Well I guess this is it." Isabella picked up Michael by his collar then tightened her fist to land one last hit or preferably an uppercut.

"The strength of a rook is crippling if their opponent can no longer fight!" Akeno said, worriedly.

"Riser, stop this NOW!" Rias shouted as Riser simply watched with a smirk.

"This is what happens to those who oppose Lord Riser." Riser chuckled.

"Nothing personal..." But before Isabella could land the final blow; from underneath her neck, a stray finger tapped her which inadvertently caused her to lose consciousness and crumple on the floor.

"That's enough." Kai sighed as Isabella fell limply on the ground as the falling Michael was caught one handed by Kai, who then proceeded to toss him onto the nearby couch, "I believe he belongs to you."

"Michael!" Rias rushes over to Michael's side and picks up the teen's head to check on his condition.

"He took too much damage before he could boost anymore and was too cocky, he's a work in progress indeed but oh well." Kai looked over at the Phoenix Household's third heir, who was frozen in fear and said, "Riser-san, if it weren't my choice to stop your servant from potentially killing this child then you would have wasted something fun for me and you and the whole underworld know how I get when I've been deprived of something entertaining."

Kai points his finger at Riser as he created a small golden orb of demonic power, no, it was something more complex than that as it showed more stronger properties of power.

"I'll destroy something boring, and I'm sure the Phoenix Household will be honored to know what it took to kill their third son was by me."

"Kai-sama." Grayfia stood behind the man and gave him a serious stare.

"Right, sorry that I got a little too carried away." Kai folded his arms behind his back and smiled, "So how about this I'll set up a handicap for the Gremory Team for 10 days."

"What?" Riser questioned.

"Correct, it would seem unfair if the Gremory Side had to face you as it is, so 10 days would suffice to prepare. Unless, you wish to object about my rules..." Kai opened his eyes and showed a gleam of killing intent in them.

"Gugh!" Riser growled, "Fine, I'll do just that."

"And you Rias-sama?" Kai smiled.

"Of course I'll take it." Rias nodded while comforting the groaning Michael as Asia tends to his bruises with Twilight Healing.

"In 10 days, I expect to see you put up at least a decent fight since I believe you can accomplish a simple task such as improving that pawn of yours." Riser walks back to his servants and stopped.

"Remember this, Rias' [Pawn], each blow you take is a blow to Rias, don't you forget that."

With that Riser disappeared, with his peerage as a magic circle teleported him away.

"D-Dammit…" Michael whimpered as his eyes were covered by his hair.

"Michael?" Rias looks down to see the boy's trembling face as a single tear fell down his cheek.

"I wasn't even able to last a single minute, I-I failed B-Buchou." Michael sucked in his lips as he began crying.

"Michael-sama…" Raynare and Asia looked sad upon the usual cheery boy's sadness as Kiba, Koneko and Akeno closed their eyes at this.

_'I wasn't able to last against that servant of Riser's even for a second and I humiliated Buchou because I'm…too weak.' Michael thought then said, 'Maybe I'm not so…great after all.'_

Looking down at Michael, Kai simply smiles and stares at the boy in excitement, "If this is how his spirit will break then I wonder what will happen to him if I were to get involved, shishishishishi!" Kai laughed as his stare turned more mischievously.

* * *

**Next Chapter- My Hellish Training Begins teach me how to be Great again Shishou!**


	11. My Hellish Training Begins teach me how to be Great again Shishou!

**My Hellish Training Begins teach me how to be Great again Shishou!**

* * *

In the mountains, were the Occult Research Club climbing towards their destination after the encounter with Riser and their new goal to complete 10 days of training to prepare for the Yakitori's Peerage. As Rias, Akeno, Asia and Raynare walked ahead wearing hiking clothes with no bags on them whatsoever looked behind themselves to cheer on a struggling Michael, who was carrying a huge bag almost as tall and large as him.

"Hurry up, Michael, you can be quicker than that." Rias waved.

"Your almost there Michael-kun just a little more!" Akeno waved also.

"Man, what's in this bag, bowling balls? I would use my boosted gear if the Buchou would let me use it for the trip?" Michael grunts as he takes rather short struggling steps forward.

"Why do I have to carry this much while they just go on ahead and watch?" Michael growled to himself and grew a tick mark in anger.

"Um...maybe we could help Michael-san just a little?" Asia offered.

"No, don't worry. If he can't even handle something as insignificant like this, then he won't survive the training in store for him." Rias crossed her arms under her chest and shook her head.

"But it's a little hard to see him struggle this way though..." Raynare sadly looked at Michael weakly walking up the mountain.

"Oh it's fine, Michael-kun should stand to struggle a little if he wants to get stronger." Akeno smiled.

"A-Alright." Raynare hesitantly nodded and continued walking along with Asia and Akeno as Rias watched Michael's slow progress to climb up the mountain under a judgemental eye.

Walking forward while looking at the ground in exhaustion, Michael panted heavily and takes one more slow heavy step forward before he realizes the ground beneath him disappeared and changed into the sky above.

***Thud!***

"Dammit." Michael growled to himself then flails his arms around like a tipped over turtle.

**[This is sad.]**

_'I know shut up!' Michael cried as he continued trying to get up._

Seeing the boy struggle, Rias sighed and was trapped in thought on how to help the boy, good thing she was quick to say this as she catches sight of Kiba, "Yuuto were you able to gather some herbs for tonight's meal?"

"Wait, he had time to do that but isn't he carrying the same load as me?" Michael turns his head to see Kiba carrying twice the luggage he had while holding onto herbs.

"Yes, Buchou it was rather easy to find them due to the area's nourishing foliage." Kiba smiled and walked up the mountain with even struggling.

"What the-Grrr!" Michael then picks himself up and onto his knees and clenches his fist, "Is that smug bastard thinking to upstage me in front of Buchou, Well I'll show him what for!"

Before he could take action, a large shadow catches his sight as Michael looks to his right to see Koneko passing him with luggage about 50 times her size.

"...Please allow those who can move faster to stay in front." Koneko said while continuing ahead.

Looking at himself lagging behind, Michael simply stood up as his hair covered his eyes as he grinned, "Fine, if that's the way things are gonna be then I only have one choice." Michael raises his head to shout to the heavens, "I'll just have to be the first to make it to the top before any of you!"

"ORRYYAAAH!" Michael then broke into a fast dash past Rias, Koneko, and Kiba.

"*Sigh!*" Rias simply shook her head at her pawn's obsessive compulsion to make everything a competition, but she'll have to do this unless he won't get anywhere near stronger and she'll have to try and raise up his spirits or he literally won't survive once "his" training truly begins.

Later on top of the mountain, Everyone was amazed at the sight of the House of Gremory's mansion hidden inside the woods its very foundation seemed to have been created by wood itself as it stood tall and elegant.

"So we're finally here, this place will suit our needs for the next 10 days of training." Rias explained.

"Amazing..." Asia was in awe by the sight.

"Buchou." Kiba chimed.

"Hm?" Rias turns back to see Kiba bitterly smiling while pointing at Koneko, who was now carrying her huge luggage and dragging an exhausted Michael.

"Michael-senpai passed out 30 minutes ago." Koneko said.

"Uuuuurgh..." Michael muffled his tired moans into the hard ground beneath him.

"Oh dear." Rias places her hand on her forehead and sighed as Akeno beside her giggled,

"Ara Ara, it seems Michael-kun worn himself out as he kept declaring about beating everyone to the top."

"Geez this boy..." Rias shook her head then looked over to Kiba, "Yuuto, can you please take him to the male's bedroom and make sure he gets ready for today's training outside."

"Yes Buchou." Yuuto nodded and took the unconscious Michael from Koneko's arms.

"*Mumble!* *Mumble!*" Michael grumbled in relaxation as he fell into a quick slumber.

"He's going to be like this if it's not handled, so I'll help Kiba-kun with getting him ready." Raynare grabbed Michael's other arm and dragged him inside.

"Then I'll leave it to you." Rias smiled to Raynare who smiled and nodded back, the relationship the Fallen Angel was able to create with Michael has seemed to have gotten some trust from Rias and the others to the point to where they won't suspect her of anything shady.

"Please Raynare-san be gentle with him." Asia smiled nervously.

"No promises." Raynare said.

As everyone prepared to change into the jerseys they arrived back outside waiting for Raynare and Michael to show.

"It seems they are having ore trouble than I thought." Rias crossed her arms under her chest.

"Raynare-san said she had a method she wanted to use which required me to leave the room." Kiba explained.

"I wonder what method that may be it may prove useful for me someday." Rias questioned until a loud scream which sounds like its coming from Michael resounded through the mansion.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Michael bursts through the doors to the outside while crawling, he was wearing his jersey as per instruction but also wore an expression of fear, "Get her away from me!" Michael instinctively rushed over to Koneko and wrapped his arms around her legs not much to the girl's surprise who simply looks at him with half lidded eyes.

"Michael-san are you alright!" Asia kneeled down next to Michael who began panicking even more.

"N-No more please!" Michael cried into Koneko's leg.

"Ara Ara Michael-kun you seem to be very frightened whatever could have happened?" Akeno giggled and actually enjoyed the frightened face Michael was expressing.

"Hmhmhm!" Raynare walks out wearing her jersey as well as she pulls out a needle.

"Keep her away from me!" Michael cried.

"A needle?" Rias tilts her head at it.

"Michael-san dislikes needles to an extent." Asia explained.

"Because needles are creepy and who wants to have a sharp metal object stabbed in your body its strange and painful!" Michael cried like a little child.

"Oh come on, Michael-sama it isn't that bad." Raynare smiled approaching Koneko.

"Nooooooo! Stay away!" Michael cried.

"Hm? Maybe I went a little too far." Raynare looked at the sharp red colored needle she held with a frown.

"You think?" Kiba gave her a bitter smile.

"Michael-senpai..." Koneko patted Michael's head gently.

"Koneko-chan?" Michael looks up at his junior with teary eyes.

"...You're a wimp." Koneko smiled.

"Gah!" Michael stood up after taking the insult and growled, "Why did I expect you of all people to comfort me!?"

Everyone laughed at Michael's antics then returned to business at hand as Michael's training has finally begun.

"Alright, everyone let's begin!" Rias declared.

"Hai Buchou!" Everyone nodded.

* * *

 

"First Lesson, Michael you will be sword training with Yuuto." Rias explained, "You may never know when you may rely upon a weapon so it's best you learn the basics.

"R-Right." Michael nodded.

Standing across from each other, Kiba and Michael stood on the field holding bokuto in their hands as Kiba held one as Michael was holding two.

_'Alright since the Pretty Boy is a Knight I can use this to my advantage while using two swords meaning more the damage!' Michael growled as he took a wide stance._

"Anytime your ready." Kiba narrowed his eyes at Michael.

"Hiyaaaaa!" Michael charges at Kiba while swinging his wooden swords recklessly as Kiba easily blocked each blow given to him with ease and even evade some just to prove Michael was just hitting the air in front of him.

"Your stance is way too open and you should focus and widen your line of vision instead of looking at just the opponent's sword." Kiba instructed.

"Tch, my stance is fine see!" Michael swung his blades at Kiba at once but in one swift motion Kiba performed an upper attack under the bokuto and hit them out of Michael's hands and into the air.

"See?" Kiba sighed.

"This proves nothing!" Michael crossed his arms then gasped as he remembered the bokuto in the air falling towards him one hitting him directly on his head and one flatly landing onto him.

"Ugh!" Michael passed out after receiving the hits to the head.

***Thud!***

**[Do you ever not get knocked out?]**

"It appears there is more work to be done." Kiba sighed.

* * *

 

_'Your second lesson will be to control your Demonic Powers every devil must know the basics or they can hardly call themselves a devil to begin with.' Rias' words echoed through Michael's head._

"Good, you two now gather the drifting aura surrounding your body then concentrate it to feel the wave of demonic energy." Akeno instructed as she looked at both Michael and Asia with their eyes closed concentrating their power into masses of Demonic Power.

_'Come on, you've been practicing this at school, you just have to concentrate! Concentrate! Concentrate!' Michael repeated over in his head as he was having tons of trouble conjuring his power._

"I did it!" Asia smiled as she was finished creating a green mass of demonic power the size of a volleyball in her hands.

_'Whoa, Asia was able to do it for the first time on her first try.' Michael looked at Asia with a smile which could mask his slight jealousy as it actually took him to 3 days to conjure his demonic power._

"Ara Ara, Asia-chan you sure do have talent in using demonic power I guess your Bishop pieces only further increased your potential." Akeno complimented Asia.

"Thank you." Asia nodded happily with red cheeks.

_'Dammit! What's wrong with me? Asia's power looks bigger than my first attempt and I'm just lagging behind I have to do this faster!' Michael thought eagerly then concentrated felt his power manifesting into something big._

"Michael-kun that's amazing." Akeno smiled, brightly.

"Huh?" Michael opened his eyes then looked at his hands to see what Akeno meant, in his hands was a mass of red demonic energy in the size of a basketball.

"I did this?" Michael gasped.

"Incredible, Michael-san, you were able to do it, too!" Asia praised Michael happily.

"Yeah, I guess I did." Michael grinned happily, "Well that's what you'd expect from me now watch this I can turn this into the element of fire!" Michael concentrated his mass of demonic power into an orb of flames.

After hearing this Akeno's eyes widened as she warned, "Michael-kun, you should wait and settle down before you attempt somet-!" But it was too late the ball of flames grew unstable and began to glow brightly.

"Uh-Oh!" Michael's eyes widened.

***BANG!***

Suddenly a big red flash rang throughout the room as it shot Michael off his feet and crashing into the wall behind him, Michael slid off the wall and fell to his knees.

"Aaaah!" Michael gripped his burnt face in pain, "Why would it do that!?"

"Michael-san, are you alright here let me heal that." Asia said.

"Your hard work has taught you how to conjure magic, but you still have to know control before placing more power into your spells, understood?" Akeno explained.

"Y-Yeah, I understand..." Michael sighed in disappointment,  _'Man, I can't even use magic right... what's next?'_

* * *

 

In the woods, Michael was frantically running from Koneko who was tailing after him seriously with the intent to fight.

_'After that experience with Riser's Rook you must adapt yourself to getting faster and taking the correct moment to strike understood so your Third Lesson would have to be sparing with Koneko.' Rias' voice resounded through Michael's head._

"Hmph!" Koneko picks up a rock and throws it at Michael with her inhuman strength.

***BAM!***

Michael gasps as he saw the little rock was able to knock down an entire tree.

"Holy Crap." Michael stepped back then realized Koneko was right behind him cracking her knuckles.

"...Stay alert." Koneko cocked back her fist and aims it for Michael's face.

"Yikes!" Michael ducks away and hops to the side with surprising good agility.

"...Nice moves your dodging my attacks fluidly." Koneko complimented but remained in her fighting stance.

"Hah, I haven't been running from the VVV for nothing! I have to constantly dodge their traps to survive, so don't think I'll be taken down so easily." Michael grinned.

"...Okay then." Koneko walks over to a nearby tree.

"Huh, what are you doing?" Michael was about to regret asking as Koneko grabs the trunk of the tree and rips it out of the ground and aims to throw it at Michael.

"...I'll come at you with the intent to kill, baka-senpai." Koneko explained.

"Wait, no, that's not what I mea-!" Michael shook his head and waved his hands defensively.

***CRASH!***

Koneko threw her first tree and missed...on purpose.

"Run." Koneko warned.

"Dear God-ow help me!" Michael cried while running away.

As the entire spar consisted of Michael avoiding trees and trying to attack Koneko who would either take the hit and punch him or resort to burying him with uprooted trees.

* * *

 

Next up, Lesson number 4, involves Rias personally training him something he will begin to dislike...

"Come on, Michael, why are you slowing down? Keep moving!"

"Sorry, I'll go faster!" Michael roared as he climbed up the mountain path with a large rock attached to his back while she made things harder by sitting on his back.

"*Pant!* *Pant!*" Michael panted as he finally made it to the top as his legs began to shake in exhaustion.

"Now that we're done with our 12 laps around the mountain, lets move on to muscle exercises, so start with push ups." Rias ordered.

"Right, I'll do my best!" Michael nodded eagerly then prepared his push ups.

"This training will help you increase your basic ability which needs more improvement." Rias stated as she props another rock on top of the one she put on earlier.

"Grugh!" Michael grunts as more weight was applied to his back.

"Now." Rias sat upon the weight to make it heavier, "Let's start off with 500 push ups."

"N-Ngh! Of course, I'll do my best Buchou!" Michael grunted as Rias smiled down at her pawn and said,

"Good that's the spirit, then I'll add on more. How about 100 more?" Rias crossed her arms.

"No, I'm fine." Michael shook his head.

"Michael do the 600." Rias said with a cute/strict tone.

"F-Fine." Michael groaned.

As all the training was completed for the day everyone returned to the mansion to eat dinner which consisted of almost everyone's help. As Rias hunted down a boar, and did some fishing for the dishes they are currently eating. As Kiba's herbs were able to bring out the flavor of the dishes.

As the foods were handmade by Akeno with the aid of Raynare.

Michael was impressed by the flavor and complimented them, "Wow this tastes great, Akeno-senpai and Raynare-chan you two would make some awesome wives!"

"Ufufu, your embarrassing me Michael-kun." Akeno smiles as she puts a hand on her cheek.

"T-Thank you, Michael-sama." Raynare blushed then looked down while muttering, "M-Michael-sama thinks I'll make an awesome wife...Michael-sama's wi- *Mumbling*"

Raynare continued to mumble to herself to the point to where she can hear herself only.

Seeing this Asia seemed to sulk at the fact Michael was praising someone else.

But unbeknownst to her Michael tried the soup and smiled happily in delight, "Wow this soup also tastes great." Looking to his side Michael saw Asia through the corner of his eye and said, "Did you make this, Asia?" Michael asked.

"Yes, Michael-san, I wanted to help out too so..." Asia fidgeted a little.

"Wow, for real you're growing to be an awesome chef Asia, it makes me glad that your living with me." Michael chuckled as he failed to notice Asia's growing blush.

"I-I'm so glad... ... then maybe I could become Michael-san's..." Asia said something quietly to herself.

"My what?" Michael questioned.

"No, it's n-nothing!" Asia waves her hands in front of her and shook her face.

_'Was she just red right now, is there something spicy in the food?' Michael thought._

**[Your still to weak if you couldn't fully hear what she said.]**

_'Hey lay off I've been doing good so far!' Michael growled._

"So Michael from today's training how would you rate yourself?" Rias asked.

"Hm?" Michael rubbed his chin, "About 5.5, I'm not really the best at the training categories so I don't really understand if I can do them all."

"I suppose that would be fair because amongst us you are the one who is both progressing and lagging behind so not that much experience has been gained for you yet." Rias nodded.

_'So I'm basically the same then, huh, well that's just great.' Michael groaned._

"The members aside from you and Asia have lots of battle experience even though they haven not participated in a Rating Game yet, so they can adapt to a fight because their used to it. And since your Boosted Gear and Asia's Twilight Healing is an important factor in our teams balance of power we can't ignore the fact that the enemy will try to eliminate you two first. So that why I want you both to at least have the power to retreat from the enemy." Rias explained.

Michael looked up at Rias with a frown as Asia asked, "Run? But isn't it much easier to escape than fight?"

"Running away is also a part of the strategy. Retreating to form a new formation is also a professional way of battling. There are ways to win a match like that. However, running away with your back facing an enemy is something quite hard. If it's an enemy with roughly the same strength as you, it is easy, but showing your back to an enemy who is far superior to you is basically asking them to kill you. So being able to run away from such an enemy will also be the part of your strength. So I have to teach you and Asia the time you have to run away. Of course, I will also teach you how to fight the enemy head on." Rias said.

"Yes." Asia nodded.

"Yeah..." Michael looked to the side not as encouragingly as before as Rias took notice of this and frowned also but then perks herself up with a thought.

"So since dinner is finish let's take a bath after the meal. It's an outdoor bath so it's wonderful." Rias stood up and clapped her hands.

"Huh?" Michael looked at Rias questioningly.

"I'm sorry Michael-kun, but I'm not the kind of person to follow the leader and peek on girls, alright?" Kiba said jokingly.

"What the hell do you mean Pretty Boy?" Michael said coldly then noticed Koneko gazing at Michael with a stoic expression,

"...A moron's curiosity can lead to untimely deaths, senpai..."

"Koneko-chan?" Michael raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, Michael. Do you really want to peek at us while we're bathing?" Rias questioned as everyone turned to look at Michael.

"No, I never said that, bluntly." Michael shook his head, bluntly.

"Oh really then you wouldn't mind taking a bath with us right, because I wouldn't mind?" Rias asked.

"What?" Michael's eyes widened at that.

"How about you, Akeno?"

"I don't mind if Michael-kun comes to bathe with us, it will give me a chance to wash my adorable Kouhai's back." Akeno approved.

"Wait, I don't understand what's going on?" Michael looked around the room to see all eyes on him.

"How about you, Asia? Wouldn't you fell better to take a bath with you beloved Michael?" Rias asked Asia with hald lidded eyes as Asia's face grew red as she gave a slight nod.

"Asia?" Michael began to sweat.

"And you Raynare, wouldn't it be fun to let Michael soak in the same bath as you as he helps wash your back and you do his?" Rias questioned the fallen angel now.

"W-Well..." Raynare twiddled with her thumbs with a face full of embarrassment, "I wouldn't mind if Michael-sama were to take a bath with us for a while."

"So now the last one, Koneko? How about i-?" Rias said but...

"...No morons should stay morons by themselves." Koneko rejected Michael much to his confusion and somewhat relief.

_'Phew, even though she insulted me I feel at ease knowing I won't get involved in something weird.' Michael sighed in relief._

"Then it's a no. Too bad, Michael." Rias chuckled with a naughty expression.

"N-No, it's fine I'll somehow manage." Michael chuckled.

"So then I'll guess we'll have to bathe together Michael-kun will you let me wash your back?" Kiba smiled and placed a hand on Michael's shoulder as Michael looked at Kiba with an alarmed face and back to the leaving girls,

"Wait Koneko-chan could you reconsider-?"

"...No."

***Slam!***

Once the door slammed Michael was left alone in the room with. Kiba.

"So shall we get going?" Kiba asked.

"Damn you life," Michael fell on all fours and pounded the floor with his fist, "Damn you to hell!"

*Crack!*

"And damn you life for breaking my favorite hand is there no limit to your destruction!?" Michael cried.

"Er...Michael-kun are you coming?" Kiba asked.

"Sure, why not?" Michael shrugged and left the dinning room.

The next day of training, Michael was a little groggy because of the extra training he had to do at night by Buchou as she was extremely tough on Michael as she even said that last night might've been his true last supper whatever that meant but he knew it wasn't good.

Now it was time to train the mind as everyone gathered in the living room to learn more about the many races of the supernatural such as Angels, Devils and Fallen Angels. Such as the Devil's Greatest Enemy Angels who are led by God and his Seraphim: Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel.

As the Devil leaders were of course Lucifer-sama, Beelzebub-sama, and Asmodeus-sama as the last Maou is a female devil known as Leviathan-sama.

And lastly Raynare explained the leaders of the Fallen Angels who are known as the Grigori. As their Governor is Azazel someone Raynare once took affection upon before meeting Michael, Vice-governor Shemhaza as the other leaders names were Armaros, Barakiel, Tamiel, Benemue, Kokabiel and Shariel as these were known as Cadre highly ranked Fallen Angels. There was one more name Raynare wanted to say but held herself back sadly as the name sounded like her but with a  **"Raym..."**

As lastly Asia began her lesson about exorcists such as their two types which are either fathers who exorcise devils with holy water and holy exorcists who have been given divine protection to purge devils from the world. As they are given the power of light as evidenced from Raynare showing a light spear for example. Then Asia began talking about the trait of Holy Water and looked sad when she explained she could not touch it or her skin will get harmed. The saddest part was when she explained reading the bible would give her extreme headaches especially when she reads just one word. She attempted to read it again but still the effects were painful to her as she received massive headaches but she wouldn't stop there as she would try to pray to god to forgive her but she only got hurt even more which made Michael sweatdrop.

"So now since we're done let's head back to training everyone." Rias said.

"Right!" Everyone nodded.

"But you Michael your training today will last for the whole remainder of the trip." Rias explained.

"It will?" Michael asked.

"Oh you'll find out once your teacher arrives." Rias smiles.

"Teacher?" Michael tilts his head.

"That'll be me, Mr. Welsh Dragon." A voice chuckled next to Michael.

"Huh?" Michael's eyes bugged out as he saw the man from the clubroom stand next to him while leaning himself on his shoulder as he misses the sight of a small gold magic circle disappearing.

"Nice to meet you again, Sekiryuutei. I hope your injuries have gotten better." Kai smiled, "Because I'm going to teach you how to fight the correct way."

"Um, Buchou." Michael looks over to Rias and points at Kai, "Who is this?"

"Wait, you don't know who I am well then I guess I'm not as popular than I thought." Kai chuckled with a joyful smile as he wrapped his arm around Michael's neck.

"Michael this here is the Underworld's Strongest Male Queen, Son Kai a Master Martial Artist of his generation and an Ultimate-Class Devil whose power is on par with the Maou's Lucifer-sama and Beelzebub-sama." Rias explained.

"Really?" Michael gasped as he stared at Kai's smiling face.

"Yep, that's me but that's only one of my many titles ya know." Kai grinned as he expected someone else to reveal something about him.

"He also goes by the name of [Monkey of Destruction] because of his destructive techniques and his mischievous demeanor." Akeno smiled, "It's a pleasure to meet you once more, Kai-sama." Akeno bowed to the man as everyone but Michael and Asia followed in suit.

"No need to be formal, I may be in a higher class than you all, but I'd rather be treated casually then normal like home." Kai chuckled as he placed his staff onto his shoulder then catches sight of Koneko and smiles, "Oi! Koneko-chan its been a while nice to see you've been well."

"Yes, Kai-sama it's nice to see you as well." Koneko actually showed a genuine smile on her face just by greeting the man. Michael grabbed his chest in pain knowing he had never made his kouhai smile like that for him even once.

"And it looks like we have a Fallen Angel amongst us." Kai looks over to Raynare who was rather frightened the devil might see her as a threat but Kai simply chuckled and said, "Loosen up, I can tell your a nice person and besides I have no reason to eliminate someone who hasn't dealt a terrible blow to me...yet."

Raynare shivered at that and nodded, "T-Thank you."

"Wait so he's going to train me?" Michael asked.

"But of course he offered to do it himself." Rias nodded.

"But why would an Ultimate Class Devil wanna train me?" Michael asked pointing to himself.

"Kai-sama is a devil who enjoys entertainments that benefit him and fights and he rarely interacts with anyone he wouldn't find fun but he takes interest in those he does and makes sure to get something fun out of interacting with them in return." Akeno explained, "He's the very definition of a True Devil."

"Amazing..." Asia looked at Kai in awe.

_'So I'm just entertainment for the guy?' Michael looked at Kai and deadpanned._

"It is right?" Kai nodded then turned to Michael, "Michael Hanamura."

"!" Michael turned to Kai and looked serious.

"From this moment onward you are to be my student meaning right here and now you are completely under my orders, I mean if Rias-sama wouldn't mind." Kai looks back at Rias who nods in agreement.

"Correct apart from me you can have full authority over him." Rias nodded.

"Wait full authority?" Michael gasped as he just felt like he was sold away like some byproduct.

"Great." Kai opened his hand towards Michael and said, "Close your eyes."

"Uh...alright." Michael closed his eyes as Kai then fired out a colorful beam at Michael which envelops the boy until it disappears with sparkles along with Michael's past outfit.

"Whoa..." Michael looked at himself to see he was wearing a Red Gi tied to the waist with a dark green sash with the symbol of "Kai" as he wore martial art shoes along with and green wrist bands.

"My clothing feels so much lighter now." Michael smiled as he hopped up and down to show what he meant.

"Now let's go to the area where you'll train." Kai smiled and places a hand on Michael's shoulder.

"Right." Michael nodded then turned back to everyone, "Well I'm off."

"Be careful, Michael-san!" Asia waved.

"Please don't do anything stupid to hurt yourself!" Raynare waved.

"Bye, Michael-kun." Kiba still gave Michael a pretty boy smile.

"Take care." Akeno smiled.

"Yes, Michael you must work hard understood?" Rias said sternly while crossing her arms.

Suddenly Michael remembered those very words Riser said to him,

_"Remember this Rias' [Pawn] each blow you take is a blow for Rias don't forget that."_

"Yeah, I'll try my best." Michael nodded while staring at Rias determinedly, "I'll do my best for you and everyone, Buchou so leave it to me Bet on it!"

Then Koneko walked up to Michael and tugged on his shirt.

"Are you also here to see me off, Koneko-chan?" Michael smiled.

Koneko shook her head and said,

"...I just wanted to see your face one more time before you disappear, Senpai."

All of a sudden Michael froze in fear, "Wait, what does that me-?"

Interrupting Michael, Kai grabbed the boy's head and waved goodbye to the Gremory Family, "Well I hope you all work hard see ya!" Suddenly both Michael's and his body slowly began to fade away.

"Wait Koneko-chan what do you mean!?" Michael cried to Koneko but it was too late.

***Flash!***

Both Kai and Michael disappeared in a flash of light as their body particles are now traveling near the speed of light.

In the woods nearby, In the sky, was Kai who was quick to unfold his devil wings and fly as for Michael...

***Thud!***

"Geh!" Michael falls directly on his face and picks himself up, "What just happened?"

"Oh nothing." Kai floated downwards to the ground and smiled, "Our body particles seperated and traveled at the speed of light to teleport us here as I virtually bent space to my liking."

"Wait you can do that?" Michael gasped then jumped up, "That's like some Dragon Ball Z trick!" Michael gasped.

"Dragon Ball Z, huh?" Kai crossed his arms, "Either way that doesn't matter, let me see your right hand."

Michael looked at his bandaged arm then back to Kai as he stretched out to the man.

"Release." Kai used a hand sign to dispel the gold aura wrapped around the aura as it slipped off Michael's arm and fell to the ground as Michael's human hand reverts back to that of a dragon's.

"My arm!" Michael gasped.

"It seems I was able to suppress the Dragon power after all it may be strong but the Ki I used to imbue the bandages were that of a high level." Kai picked up the bandages and rolled it up.

"Wait, so you were the one who put this on me!?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, didn't you know?" Kai asked.

"No, how would I?" Michael asked.

"Because the Original Welsh Dragon knew all about it after your encounter with Tiamat." Kai explained.

"Wait, Ddraig knew about th- wait how do you know about Tiamat!?" Michael started to bug out by these unanswered question.

"Hehe! Well you see I was curious about your power before so I observed you and kind of tested your strength by sicking her on you...yeah maybe that was a bad idea." Kai scratched his cheek.

"I almost died because of you!" Michael shouted.

"Ah! Almost so you can forgive me, right?" Kai smiles.

"No I can't!" Michael shook his head.

"Oh, come on it was ages ago." Kai gestured his hand by rolling his wrist.

"It was two days ago!" Michael exclaimed.

**[You may have almost died, but you were able to at least get some experience from it.] Ddraig said out loud for Kai to hear.**

"Ddraig?" Michael questioned.

"Oh, is that the Dragon spirit, hi Mr. Original how is it in that Sacred Gear." Kai asked.

**[A little cramp and somewhat empty possibly a result of Michael's lack of knowledge.]**

"Oi, no one's asking you to stay in me and besides I thought we were partners." Michael said with half lidded eyes.

"Wow, you two really seem to be the best of friends huh?" Kai chuckled.

"No, he's a pain in the ass with all his lecturing and stupid scolding." Michael shook his head.

**[At least I don't pass out every hour of the day.]**

"Hey, I thought you would be quiet about that!" Michael shouted.

Kai who was watching the Host and Spirit argue simply cackled at their argument until it was time to get serious.

"Alright first off let me introduce my self again, my name is Son Kai how's it going. Now my goal this week is to increase your skills in combat." Kai smiled.

"Skill?" Michael blinked.

"Yes, your skill in combat needs improving and also your attitude could do with a lot of fixing as well." Kai explained, "I know you dislike Riser-san but you should understand he's cocky because of his talent while you don't have any."

_'By the way he's using Riser-san disrespectfully I can tell he hates the douche too.' Michael thought._

"Hey I can be talented." Michael clenched his fist and growled, "Because I the Great Mi-!" Michael stopped himself then looked down, "Never mind."

Taking notice of this Kai looked surprised then smiled, "Talent may be good, but it could only get you so far in a battle which is why training is necessary for a fit and better fighter."

"Next are your cons your were too cocky even though your weak when fighting Riser-san's Rook, but you made up for that with spirit correct so have you ever been in a battle which took long for you to even throw a hit before you finally did and change the course of the fight?"

**[Yes, he had before when he encountered a Fallen Angel and took a vicious beating before striking back and knocking him out and this was all when he was just a human.]**

"Really!? Well then that's great because now I can see even more value in ya and why Rias-sama chose you for her pawn." Kai smiled then smirked, "Then this will be interesting them."

"Huh?" Michael blinked.

Kai raised his finger at Michael and shot a magic seal onto his arms and legs making them incredibly heavy.

"Urh!" Michael fell to one knee due to the seal's heavy pressure on him.

"Too make your skill better you'll have to work with weights on." Kai explained, "Now from this point on you'll call me Shishou."

"But I can barely move." Michael grunts.

***Snap!***

Kai snapped his fingers and created a huge barrier surrounding the area completely blocking out everything on the outside by being in another portion of space.

"Now we can go all out without disturbing the others." Kai taps his staff on his shoulder.

"Ngh!" Michael stood up trembling while trying to stand, "Man this is tough!"

**[Do not worry, Partner I will assist you in your training as well so you can at least learn to control the Power of the Dragon within you.]**

Kai then gave Michael a serious glance and said, "But before we begin I must warn you, I won't be so lenient like your master, as soon as we begin I will be attacking you non-stop for 3 days straight until your break period for one day, then we'll continue from there. But I see no point in forcing you to train if your not motivated to do so, do you accept this training or will you return to your friends?"

_'Buchou... she's given me many things friends, opportunities and happiness and what have I paid her back with, nothing! I'm not so great as I thought I was at all!'_

_'But...!'_ Michael looked down in thought and remembered his defeat at the hands of Isabella and the face of Riser who laughed at  **his** dream given to him by Rias,  _'I can't let that bastard get away with mocking me and because of him Buchou can't be free to choose her own choices that's why!'_

Michael widened his legs and raised up his fists.

"I accept the challenge!" Michael declared, "I won't fall, I will be Great and make Buchou proud of the one Pawn she's got!"

"Good answer!" Kai smirked then raised his hand, "Then ready. set. GO!" Kai flicked his wrist in front of him while imbuing it with a gold aura as the ground in front of Michael crumbled and picked up tons of dirt.

"Ngh!" Michael covered his eyes and stepped back, "What is he doing?"

"Your open." Kai said behind Michael.

"*Gasp!*!"

"Extend!"

***Don!***

Getting jabbed in the back by Kai's staff, Michael was sent flying by the man's surprise attack.

"Too slow." Kai tsks as he stabs his staff into the ground.

"Urgh!" Michael falls forward and groans.

"Get ready because this is only the beginning." Kai lunged at Michael.

"Ngh!" Michael raised his arms to block the attack.

"Hmph!" Kai fired out rapid punches into Michael's guard.

_'Gah! His punches sting really bad.' Michael thought._

***BAM!***

***THUD!***

***BAM!***

***THUD!***

***BAM!***

_'How come he's still going at it?' Michael grunts._

Michael stayed in place and continued to block the attacks as Kai's face turned disappointed.

"You still haven't figured out your mistake yet, so I'll take action." Kai sighed.

"!" Michael's eyes widened as Kai's punches stopped once the man took a step back.

"Your lower body's-!" Kai fires a punch directly to Michael gut.

***BAM!***

"Guaagh!" Michael coughed up a little blood by the impact.

"Open." Kai explained then raises his fist for an uppercut against Michael's chin.

***BAM!***

"Uaaargh!" Michael grunts in pain as he was sent flying in the air.

But he wouldn't touch the ground without some help, as Kai jumped after him and slammed the back of his heel into Michael's side and sends him crashing down into the ground which creates a powerful shockwave which shook the ground and create a large crater where Michael stood.

"Argh!" Michael picks himself up onto all fours, "This guy is strong and fast too, what sort of training did he do?"

Landing next to Michael, Kai folds his arms behind his back and smiled, "Come on we're just getting started with our warm-up before I start to get a little serious."

_'He's not even serious yet?" Michael's eyes widened._

"Michael-san, come on do I have to poke you with a STICK!" Kai raises his leg and kicks Michael out of the crater and into the air.

Wincing in pain Michael looked to his Boosted Gear/Dragon Arm and clenched his right fist.

"Here's another one!" Kai jumps up to Michael's level and fires a punch towards the boy's face. Though this was stopped upon Michael grabbing the man's fist and cocking his own back.

"Gotcha!"

***BAM!***

Michael leans forward and slams his fist into Kai's face as the man simply stayed in place in the air and grabbed Michael's arm and held him out as he unfurled his wings.

"Wha...?" Michael's eyes widened.

Kai was floating in the air staring at Michael with a smile without flinching in pain by the punch.

"Nice punch I almost felt it. Almost." Kai complimented.

"Man...I wasn't able to get you to flinch back." Michael pouted then grinned, "That means I have a new goal by the end of this, Shishou!"

"And what's that?" Kai asked.

"By the end of this week's training I'll prove I can be a Maou in the making by making an Ultimate-Class feel the pain of my fist!" Michael declared.

"Nice goal, but do you really thing you can do something like that?" Kai raises one hand and places it onto Michael's chest as it emitted a sharp golden aura, "Your basically saying the impossible."

"It's not impossible because I'm going to do it!" Michael said seriously, "You'll never know unless you try!"

"Hm? I suppose so." Kai smiled then tilted his head, "Then I guess we can skip our warm-up to train then." Kai's hand glew brighter as Michael simply gritted his teeth and looked at the man's hand.

"Bring it!" Michael roared.

***BOOM!***

And from that day on, Michael begun his Hellish Training with his new mentor, Son Kai for those three days and started to develop his skills in basic combat and power. He's grown more adept in controlling Demonic Power to an Amateur's extent as his experience with combat is only growing each time he faces his teacher in a one on one brawl constantly. There were times when Michael would think he would die due to his teacher's brutal attacks and cruel punishments such as:

_"If you can't lay even a single blow on me you cannot eat for the entire day."_

_or..._

_"For each hit you take you'll have to do 200 push-ups understood.'_

Each of those 3 days were true hell itself in a nutshell but finally he was able to make it to the resting period of his training on Day 5.

"Hyah!" Michael lunges at Kai and punches the man's face.

"Too simple!" Kai caught the punch and gripped onto the fist.

"Hmph!" Michael raises his knee and swings it for Kai's head.

"!" Kai swings his head back and releases the fist.

Twisting around Michael concentrates his demonic power to conjure two spiraling flames in his hands as he throws them at Kai quickly.

**"Dragon Flare!"**

***Fwoosh!***

Kai smiled and swiped the back of his hand towards the ground and created another dirt cloud to pick up and distinguish the flames, but even with the dirt cloud Michael still jumped through it and fired many punches at Kai non-stop.

"Good! Good your focusing your punches real nicely than before but your hitting where I am instead where I'm going to be!" Kai dodged each punch easily side to then thrusts his finger towards Michael's head and tapped his forehead.

"Whoa!" Michael was then pushed back by a massive force and tumbled onto the ground, "That was nothing..."

"I guess your right I mean if you can handle me at more than 4 %." Kai explained with a little hint that he would go that far.

"You know what today Shishou I'll let you off because now I want to enjoy my day off." Michael chuckled.

***Pants!***

On the ground in the woods was a panting, bruised and beaten Michael looking at the sky while sticking out his tongue in exhaustion. His Gi was still in tact as a couple of rips and tears were seen on the legs and top of it. Michael's body was able to grow some muscle as his arms and abdominal muscles look a little more sturdy.

"I-I did it!" Michael chuckled heavily.

Standing over Michael was Kai who was looking at the teen with an impressed smile, "You sure did but you were only able to learn the basics while you still lack control of your other power as the Welsh Dragon."

"But all that matters is I did it!" Michael sat up and clenched his fists, "I can feel that I've gotten stronger and besides maybe I don't need my Boosted Gear at all." Michael concentrated a little and began to saw a regular amount of white aura seeping out of him, "See? It's supposed to be like this right?"

"Yes, but it's still small compared to regular users of the power." Kai nodded.

"Meh! It doesn't matter because with this I can beat Riser without worrying about his flames." Michael chuckled and looked at his hands, "Yeah that's right everyone the one and only Michael Hanamura is back and Greater than ever!"

**[Your getting too cocky, Michael you may have improved but you should factor in everything before getting so snug.]**

"But it's true I think I'm good enough to do it by myself." Michael retorts.

_'He's getting cocky again this isn't good what should I do before he gets a big head?' Kai thought, he knew those he grow overconfident like him will fall harder to the ground the fastest so he needs to think of a way to motivate him once more, 'I'll think of something when he comes back.'_

"Alright training is dismissed for now you have the rest of the day to yourself." Kai sighed and snapped his fingers as he let the barrier down.

But as he did Michael then looked up at the sky it wasn't day it was night!

"Oi! Shishou what is this?" Michael shouted while pointing at the sky.

"The moon and some stars." Kai answered bluntly.

"Don't screw with me!" Michael growled, "You said I would get a break today now its night!"

Kai simply looked to the side with half lidded eyes and said, "It's not my problem its your day off."

"Ngh!" Michael clenched his fist as tears streamed down his eyes, "I almost died constantly every second I've been with you and the least you couldn't do was tell me that my day off just began!?"

"Like I said not my problem." Kai shrugged then waved goodbye, "Haha! Well see you later in 5 hours."

"Wait, I only have five hours!?" Michael gasped.

... an awkward silence occurs.

"Stratus!" Kai jumped high in the air and hopped on a purple flying cloud coming for him.

Michael just watched the man zoom off into the night sky with his jaw comfortably on the floor.

**[Well, if it makes you feel better the mansion is only 5 miles away it will probably take you about 5 hou-]**

Michael's eyes narrowed at his dragon arm.

**[Running will only take you 4 hours.]**

"Fine, lets do this." Michael sighed in defeat and began running towards the Gremory Mansion, "I can't wait to see everyone again they must all be up worrying about me."

Upon arriving, Michael sees the mansion's lights were all turned off signifying no one was awake.

"Seriously?" Michael groaned as he dragged his feet, while walking to the stone Pergola at the back of the garden.

"Finally some rest!" Michael slumped onto one of the steps and breathed out, exhaustively.

_'Man, this was just my day off too and I really wanted to see Buchou and the others before I continue.' Michael thought._

"Michael, you're here?" A voice coming from the side grasped Michael's attention as he looks to the side to see Rias wearing a red negligee and reading glasses as her hair was tied back.

"Buchou!" Michael smiled excitedly and picks himself up as he rushes to the crimson haired girl, "I'm back!"

"I can see that, but may I ask why?" Rias asked.

"Well today was supposed to be my day off, but Shishou messed me up and forgot to tell me." Michael scratched his cheek.

"You mean, Kai? Well, he does live up to his name I can tell you that." Rias smiled as she continued reading a book presumably on the Rating Games.

"So you have bad eyes, huh?" Michael asked.

"Oh these? No, these are just for looks, I can think more clearly while having them on. Fufufu, this is proof that I have been in this world a little too long." Rias fixed her glasses.

"Well if it makes you feel better even when I'm not wearing them..." Michael dug through his Gi to pull out his goggles, "I keep them with me at all times."

"You sure do love those, don't you?" Rias smiled.

"Of course, it's a special something from one of my past...yeah, well you could also say he was a douche but I guess he's okay..." Michael remarked.

"Well then I wouldn't mind meeting him one day." Rias went back to studying.

"So are you studying about the Game?" Michael asked.

"Yes, as this book is the only thing that will give me a peace of mind." Rias closed her book and sighed.

"Huh, how can something with paper do that?" Michael folded his arms behind his head and yawned. He doesn't really like to read that's why he has Saji to do the reading for him.

"This book is important because it holds research that High Class Devils such as what our opponent is but our issue isn't just our opponent but what family he's from." Rias rubbed her chin.

"You mean Fedex?" Michael questioned.

"No, its Phoenix and yes." Rias nodded.

"Well that Yakitori used flames so is he like a bird that belches flames?" Michael chuckled.

Rias simply picks up a book and opens it while facing it to Michael, the page showed a fire bird with its winds spread out.

"A long time ago the mystical beast, Phoenix, was looked upon by humans as a bird that governs life. It was so looked upon that it left it legend in many countries in the human world where it's told that the tears of the Phoenix can heal any wounds, and the blood that flows within its body can give eternal youth to those that drink it." Rias said as she closes the book.

"Wait, so does that mean that Bastard is related to-?" Michael took the book and opened it back to the page.

"Yes, the humans named the Devils' Phoenix as "Phenex" to distinguish it from the mystical beast Phoenix, however the mystical beast Phoenix has the same ability as Raiser's clan. In other words immortality. That's the opponent we must fight someone against."

"Whoa, being immortal...oh well, I'll still kick his ass." Michael shrugged and closed the book as Rias giggled.

"You can try, but they are basically invincible. Even if you attack them, their wounds will heal right away. Their flames won't even leave a bone left. Eight wins and two losses. This is the record that Riser has at the official "Rating Game". He fought ten times and won eight matches. He lost two of the matches on purpose out of kindness to one of the households that he is close to. In reality, he won all of his matches. He already became a candidate to obtain a title in the official game."

"So it doesn't matter, he's a guy like me whether or not he's some immortal, he must have a weakness somewhere so I'll get 'im." Michael explained, "And besides, I know we can do it." Michael looked at Rias and gave her a determined smile.

"Right..." Rias looked off to the side still thinking of her problem.

_'Wait, I think I know the issue here the Buchou is sad because! Riser!" Michael growled._

"I felt uneasy when my father announced that Riser was to be my fiancé, but I think I know why he did. It's probably because he knew I wouldn't be able to do anything about and this match I believe they expect me to win." Rias was looking at the night sky.

"..." Michael looked serious as he listened.

"When the Rating Games became popular the House of Phoenix were able to easily climb up in popularity and rank. Not too many devils were able to match them when introduced this family is truly a terrifying force to be dealt with. Immortality is a true terror to face."

Rias stopped then continued, "Our chances of winning may be slim, but there is a way consisting of crushing his mind because just because his body is immortal doesn't mean his mind is. We either need the power of a God-Class or save our stamina to when Riser is to the point of mentally collapsing."

"Buchou?"

"What is it?"

"Why do you hate Riser so much or maybe why do you hate the marriage?" Michael questioned.

Rias sighs then stands up,

"I am a Gremory."

"Yeah, I know that." Michael nodded.

"No, I wasn't re-introducing myself. I am a devil from the House of Gremory and that name will follow me to wherever I go."

"You don't like it." Michael tilts his head.

"No, I'm actually quite proud of my title. It's just that it's a burden to me because everyone looks at me for Rias from the Gremory. I'm not allowed to have them look at me as Rias. That's why I love being in the human world. They don't know I'm a Devil from the Gremory household. They look at me for who I am its a feeling I appreciate a feeling I find hard to receive in the Devil society. The only time I can enjoy my life as me is in this world." Rias looked towards the night sky with a faraway look with rather sad eyes. As Michael looked at her with a frown which was contorted in confusion.

_'I don't think I can understand anything like that because, I never had anyone care for my status or care about my last name like its some big deal since I'm not that popular, but I have some people who matter to me as I am to them so I feel we sort of relate a little.' Michael clenched his fist and looked down, 'That's why I'll do my best to cheer her up, The Gr- ...The Great Michael Hanamura will not back down.'_

"I want to be with someone I love as me not as Rias Gremory, but just as Rias. It may be a small dream but it's something I want to achieve but sadly Riser just sees me as Rias Gremory and only loves me as Rias Gremory. That's why I despise it. The title of Gremory is always put before my own feelings. But I'll still hold onto the dream I have."

Michael lowered his head and let his eyes be covered by his hair.

"Buchou, forgive me for this." Michael said.

"Huh?" Rias looks downwards to Michael who picks his head up to look Rias in the eyes seriously.

"I like Rias as Rias."

As those words left Michael's mouth, Rias' eyes widened and looked at Michael in wonder.

Michael continued,

"I like Rias because she gave me a new drive to be better, I like Rias because she gave me the chance to have new friends, I like Rias because she's trying to help someone as annoying as me, I like Rias because she brought back Asia and gave Raynare a new chance, I like Rias because she gave me a dream to protect, I like Rias because s-she's...!" Michael was stuck at the last part and didn't want to continue saying all the things in his head then he realized he had to say just one sentence, "I like Rias because she's RIAS!"

Rias' face then turned red without Michael's notice as he was in the middle of his speech.

"Buchou, you're a genius and someone who brightens my day every time I see you smile, and if your gonna be sad over some jerk forcing you to marry him, then I'll take matters into my own hand and beat him up because as your pawn, I won't allow such a guy to be with you!" Michael jabs his fist forward and points it to Rias,

"I promise, no, I swear to you this! To protect that smile I, Hanamura Michael will kick Riser's ass so far that you'll be free to be with whoever you want to be with!" Michael declared.

"!" Rias gasps as a slight blush was apparent on her cheeks.

Suddenly Ddraig spoke up,

**[It's time to leave, Kai will arrive soon at any moment.]**

"Right." Michael nodded then turned around and ran into the woods while looking back at Rias, "See ya, Buchou, I swear to be stronger to make up for all you did for me!"

Rias continued to look at Michael even before he disappeared into the woods and kept that face of surprise even the small tint of red in her cheeks.

While dashing through the woods with all his might Michael came to realize something,

"I'm not good enough yet."

**[Hm?]**

"I'm not strong enough, The current me hasn't grown yet. I may have gotten some better fighting skills, but me as Michael Hanamura is fully better that's why I'll start drawing out the Dragon Power within the Boosted Gear." Michael said seriously.

**[Kukukuku!]**

"What's so funny?"

**[Nothing I'm just surprised you've changed character like that is all.]**

"Whatever I never wanted your opinion anyways." Michael spat as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, "I have to get strong faster, I need a way to do it."

**[Hey, Partner...]**

"Yeah?" Michael asked.

**[Wanna do something stupid?]**

"Ddraig, come on, you should know better than to ask me tha-YES!"

* * *

 

In the early morning on the training grounds was a yawning, Kai, who had just arrived early to wait for his student who was probably a little bitter about missing out on his day off. He was actually kind of lenient right now and decided to let him stay there for a while before calling him back, but all these thoughts were pushed aside as he sees a meditating Michael, sit in the middle of the field.

"Wow, you're back early, Michael-san. Weren't you going to return to your friends?" Kai asked with a curious expression.

"No, I don't want to show them the current me right now, I'm not strong enough. I'm still too weak and I need more power to accomplish what I need to do." Michael said with his eyes closed.

"Oh really, so you've taken Ddraig's advice to practice using your Dragon Power?" Kai asked.

"Yes and no." Michael said.

"Hm?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

"If I try to control the little amount of Dragon's Power I have, then it won't be enough which is why I have to release it all at once and think things through as I go along."

"But something like that is suicidal, Michael-san. If you tried that then you'll be overwhelmed by the full power of the Welsh Dragon."

"Like I said, I'll think things through later, which is why I need your help, Shishou." Michael then raised his head.

"And that is?" Kai was a little worried for the boy, but strangely excited about him going full power.

Michael stood up and grew ready in a stance, "I want you to try and kill me!"

* * *

**Next Chapter- It's time to show the results of my training! Rating Games, here I come!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and I hoped you guys enjoyed the chapter!
> 
> And in case you don't know I loosely based Son Kai off of Son Goku from Dragon Ball Z, so I hope you like his character!
> 
> Well, I hope you have a nice day and please be safe!
> 
> See ya!


	12. It's Time to show the results of my training! Rating Game here I come!

**It's Time to show the results of my training! Rating Game here I come!**

* * *

Outside the Gremory Mansion was the entire Occult Research Team going over the results of their training as it was their last day of training, everyone was still waiting for the return of Michael and Kai. Everyone was rather focused on their own training than worry about the boy during the duration of the week, but only a certain few such as Asia and Raynare kept losing focus wondering if the boy was alright. As Rias was acting a little lenient towards everyone's training for some odd reason she would even cast faraway looks while lost in thought but still that was the only noticeable change anyone could see from.

"I hope Michael-san comes back soon." Asia clasped her hands together and looks down sadly.

"Don't worry, Asia-chan, he'll be here, I mean he's Michael-sama." Raynare reassured her friend and patted the girl's shoulder.

"Really?" Asia asked.

"Of course." Raynare nodded but looked towards the ground sadly,  _'But I still can't shake my uneasiness either.'_

Speaking up to the entire group, Rias crossed her arms and sighed,

"It appears that both Michael and Kai-sama are late."

"Maybe a slight delay came their way before they could arrive?" Akeno suggested.

"Yes, that may be true, but we can't just wait here all day waiting for them so we'll go underway with seeing the results of our training." Rias said as everyone nodded to her order, as Asia and Raynare begrudgingly accepted as well disappointed that they were not able to see Michael before then.

"Now Yuuto and Koneko get ready to show us how you've improved." Rias exclaimed.

"Hai, Buchou!" Both the pair nodded as they separated from each other on the field and took on offensive stances.

"Right now begin!" Rias raised her arm in the air to start the spar, but then the noise of bushes were heard.

"Huh?" Everyone looked towards the forest to see a shadowy figure walk out of it, they all grew defensive until the light from the sun shined down on the figure to reveal a smiling Kai who had a single Band-Aid on his right cheek.

"Yo." Kai raised his hand.

"Kai-sama, welcome back." Rias greeted.

"Well, it's good to be back. I hope your all of your training went well." Kai said as approached the Gremory Group.

"Some of them have been quite excellent, but I still see some chances that these small changes will be enough against our opponent." Rias placed a hand on her chin in thought.

"Well then I guess you'll have to find a way to make the best of what you got." Kai suggested then looked around at the group.

"Um..." Asia steps forward, "Kai-sama?"

"Yeah?" Kai smiled as he turns his attention to Asia, who in turn jumps in surprise.

"W-Where is Michael-san isn't he with you?" Asia asked.

Everyone looked to Kai, with a worrisome expression (except for Koneko) since half of them knew how the Devil would get out of hand and do some rather extreme actions.

"O-Oi! What's with those looks you guys think I did something cruel to him?" Kai chuckled then joked, "Well I could have, but I'm actually lenient. But I am shocked that you all would even think of something like that!"

"...Kai-sama, you always hide something when you insinuate things." Koneko nodded.

Kai simply sighed at the young girl's ability to read him.

"I should have expected Koneko-chan would read me like a book?" Kai shrugged then chuckled, "Well to tell you the truth he's going to be here in a few seconds or so..." Kai smiled.

"How can you be so sure?" Rias questioned.

"Give it a minute." Kai said with his usual smile.

Then from out of nowhere a figure jumps out the forest to get above Kai and cocks back his fist.

"Your mine!" The figure shot his fist forward to punch Kai's head.

"Too obvious." Kai simply raises his hand to grab the figure's wrist then slams him onto the ground.

***THUD!***

"Aaaah! That hurts! Why'd you do that!" The figure grabbed his head and rolled around on the floor

Everyone looked at the figure on the ground cautiously as Kai simply chuckled to himself.

"Your still centuries away from ever catching me off guard, Michael-kun." Kai shook his head.

"Hah! Don't get cocky, I wasn't even serious yet!" The figure turned back to Kai and shouted.

"Oh really, then you wouldn't mind me getting serious too, would you?" Kai smiled with a challenging tone.

Michael sweatdropped at that and shook his head, "You know what, I'll just have to let you off with a warning this time."

Michael's appearance changed moderately as his hair grew a little wilder and dirty as he was in a horrible state which could be told by the many bags under his eyes as his Gi top was completely torn off as his bandaged chest and arms were on full display as even his feet were bare with the bandages implying that he had been covered with the wrappings from head to toe.

"M-Michael-san?" Asia approached the sitting boy.

"Huh? Oh hi, Asia its been a while." Michael smiled as he picked himself up then looked around to see everyone, "Oh, everyone your here too what's the haps?"

"Michael-sama!" Raynare ran to Michael and gave him a big hug.

"Itai! Ouch Raynare-chan..." Michael winced in pain as Raynare took notice of this and stepped back.

"Oh sorry." Raynare apologized while blushing a little.

"No worries." Michael shook his head then placed his hand onto Asia's head, "It's nice to see you again too Asia."

"Y-Yes, it's wonderful to see you too, Michael-san I-I missed a lot." Asia fidgeted a little while blushing.

"Your back?" Kiba smiled as he and Koneko joined everyone to gather around Michael.

"Of course I am, Pretty Boy what you thought I would die?" Michael crossed his arms.

"...I did." Koneko closed her eyes.

"You little..." Michael glared at Koneko.

"Ara Ara, Michael-kun you seemed to have grown muscular." Akeno laughed into her hand.

"Well I would be surprised if I didn't, since I had to struggle with trying to survive Shishou's training." Michael said looking at his arms which have grown moderately muscular before he started training, "But that only means the Great Hanamura has only gotten stronger I mean if your impressed with my muscles then prepared to be amazed when you see my new moves!"

Michael gloated.

"Excuse me, Michael-sama?" Raynare approached the boy.

"Yeah?" Michael turned back to the girl

"Are you okay, you look like a mummy with all those bandages on." Raynare grabbed Michael's bandaged right arm and examined it.

"Huh? Oh this? I'm fine don't worry about it!" Michael grinned and folded his arms behind his head, "Hehehe! It's just that Shishou did a real number on me during training that I almost died."

_'Good, your not revealing anything about our training if you did then...' Kai thought._

"..." Kai looked at Michael with a serious look then turned his attention to Rias, who was the only one who hasn't said a word to Michael.

"So Pretty Boy have you worked on anything new?" Michael asked Kiba as they engaged in a conversation about their training.

"Well, no, actually I've been actually going over the basics." Kiba explained.

"Tch! That's all. Well I was able to learn a couple things while almost dying so I guess my power is stronger than yours now." Michael chuckled.

"Hm? Is that so? I guess we'll only know when the Rating Game starts." Kiba said with a pretty boy smile which ticked Michael off.

"Oi! That face is pissing me off." Michael growled as glared at Kiba.

"Now now, Michael-kun lets calm down." Akeno smiled and placed a hand onto Michael's shoulder.

"Even after almost dying by training, Michael-sama is still the same person." Raynare placed her hands on her hips and shook her head.

"What did you say?" Michael growled.

"...Baka-senpai will always remain stupid." Koneko insulted.

"Hey, what's your deal!?" Michael growled as everyone but Rias laughed.

"Michael." Rias said while walking through everyone to see him face to face.

"Buchou." Michael said with a complicated face as Rias continues to walks towards him.

_'Man, I hope she's not mad that I used her name without permission that night.' Michael thought._

Everyone just watches as quite a lot of tension was being picked up, but all that tension soon died once Rias showed Michael a welcoming smile and gave the boy a warm hug which surprises everyone even Michael.

"Welcome back." Rias smiled.

Michael's eyes widened then he gave a smile, "Yeah, it's good to be back, Buchou."

"Ahem!" Kai coughed resulting for everyone to turn their attention to him.

"I know you've all missed each other, but you should all get ready to return to your homes before the Rating Game begins." Kai explained.

"But we were about to start a spar to see the results of our training." Kiba spoke up.

"Yes, and now that Michael's here I believe it would be good to see what he can do." Rias looked to Michael who nodded excitedly,

"Yosh! I've been training up real good let me show them what you taught me, Shishou!"

"Michael-san, do you remember what I told you about how your training should be handled?" Kai asked.

"Uh...to never let your guard down?" Michael guessed.

*Bam!*

Kai karate chops Michael's head as the boy cried out in pain and held the large bump in pain.

"Ow!" Michael cried and looked at Kai in anger, "What was that for!?"

"Your body may have gotten stronger, but your mind still has a ways to go." Kai shook his head then continued,

"But what you truly need is rest if you keep training and fighting before a match you'll grow fatigue and unnecessary thoughts and doubts on what you can do to where you'll keep pushing yourself to exhaustion." Kai explained as he poked his index finger to Michael's forehead, which annoyed the teen, "Your injuries are also something which can't be overlooked which is why you should heal them before the game, alright?"

"This sucks!" Michael turned away and said, "But fine! I'll do it, but only because I feel tired and want to take these stupid bandages off!"

"Good." Kai nodded then turned to Rias and her peerage, "You all should rest also if you want to have a better chance against your opponent."

"Hai, Kai-sama!" Rias and everyone nodded to the man's instructions.

"Now last thing before I go." Kai nodded then turns towards Michael and snapped his fingers, "You don't need these seals anymore."

Suddenly the golden seals revealed themselves then deteriorated leaving Michael free from the weights to move freely (or move the same as always, but just faster) again.

"Whoa, I forgot about these!" Michael rolled his arms then chuckled, "I feel light as a feather now, hahahaha!" Michael tested his new light body out and jumped up about 3 times.

"Wonderful, that means your training was a success! Now your speed should be better than last time," Kai smiled widely, "Now it's time for me to take my leave, everyone good luck I'll be rooting for ya." Kai smiled and waved at the group before glancing back at Michael and said coldly, "Remember to know your limits."

Kai's face was filled with total seriousness once his eyes opened.

Michael looked at Kai in shock then simply nodded as his serious expression seemed to have calmed down the Ultimate Class Devil.

"So until we meet again, I wish you all good luck, but please don't bore me or  **else."** Kai chuckled as his tone seemed rather sinister an cheerful. This was able to cause everyone to shiver and look at the man put his fingers to his forehead and teleport away.

_'He's frightening when he's playing around.' Michael gulped._

**_[Yes, but I wonder what would happen if he were to be enraged?]_ **

_'That would be something, I would like to avoid thinking of, Ddraig.' Michael sighed._

"You all heard him, we mustn't get too worked over before the match starts, so we'll show them not to look down upon the Gremory Group, so my adorable servants let's teach them how powerful Rias Gremory and her servants can be!"

"Yes!" The Occult Research Club members agreed to the words of their Club President.

_'I'll make sure you win Buchou even if I have to break every bone in my body.' Michael gripped his right hand with his left very tightly._

**_[Remember what he said, Partner.]_ **

_'I know, but I'll still use it even if it means I'll help her win.' Michael thought._

After the training camp, everyone teleported back to town with a magic circle and went to their individual homes to prepare for the Games to begin. Since the next day was a day off and school was closed for the day and it was the designated day for the Rating Game to start, Michael stayed home while under the care of Asia to heal his bandaged wounds which made Michael's body look to be in a terrible condition. After being healed, both Michael and Asia prepared themselves for the fight ahead.

Michael was told to wear whatever made him felt comfortable during the Games so he just put on his regular uniform as usual but without his scarf as his goggles rested on his forehead and his dragon arm was bandaged by the same restraints Kai put on him from before.

"It's almost time." Michael sat on his bed while fiddling with his fingers as he watched the alarm clock ahead of him.

_'10 o' clock PM, we're supposed to meet up with everyone in 30 minutes prior to the time the game starts at 12 o' clock.' Michael said anxiously as he smiled._

**_[You seem excited.]_ **

"Of course I am, I'll finally get payback against that Yakitori, Riser!" Michael grinned, "Turning back now won't look good for future Maou, Lord Michael Hanamura."

**_[Kukukuku! Indeed but you should remember that despite your dragon power increasing you can't control it.]_ **

Michael then looked at the ground and nodded, "I know but I'll think of something to do with it."

Breaking the conversation was a knocking on the door...

"Who is it?" Michael asked as the door slowly opened to reveal a shy Raynare.

"Michael-sama, may I come in?" Raynare asked.

"Of course, this is your home too." Michael smiled and waved for her to enter.

Doing just that, Raynare blushes and enters the dark room as she takes it upon herself to sit by Michael's side.

"S-So today is the day, huh?" Raynare looked down at her feet.

"Yup and I can't wait to show everyone what I'm made of." Michael smiled.

"I know you'll just 'wow' them out there, Michael-sama." Raynare smiled at Michael then looked to the side, sadly.

"Huh, what's wrong?" Michael took notice of this.

"It's just that?" Raynare fidgeted a little, "Are you happy that I'm here with you?"

Michael looked at Raynare with an annoyed expression and said, "Why would you ask something so obvious? Of course I like you being here."

"But I haven't been able to help you much unlike Asia or the others does, and during the training camp, I wanted to support you with everything I had, but you went off somewhere with Kai-sama to train so I started to think that maybe I'm just not useful to you and nothing but a nuisance to you." Raynare looked down with teary eyes.

Michael looked at the girl with a sad expression before reaching out to gently hug her with his one arm.

"Michael-sama!" Raynare's eyes widened.

"Look I don't care if your useful to me or not in fact don't use the word "useful" at all your not a tool your, Ray-chan. My friend. So I expect you to stop thinking your useless and just continue being the you that I know." Michael grinned.

"Michael-sama..." Raynare said astonished as Michael released the girl and folded his arms behind his head.

"And besides helping out the future Maou is something you should be proud of. Even if it's for the little things you can manage to do." Michael laughed heartily.

Raynare looked at Michael with widened eyes then began to ponder over something.

"Michael-sama, you want to be a Maou in the future, right?" Raynare asked.

"You betcha." Michael nodded happily.

"Then that would mean you would have your own peerage." Raynare implied.

"I guess, I still haven't thought that far yet, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it." Michael shrugged then looked the other way while sweating,  _'I have to get someone who can actually tolerate me before I can decide that first.'_

Raynare played with her skirt a little then blushed, "So then would you mind if I...?"

"Huh?" Michael quirked an eyebrow.

Raynare started to tremble a bit as Michael looked at her in worry.

_'Uh..is she okay?' Michael thought._

Raynare kept holding it in until her face turned red completely to the point where she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Would you mind if I be apart of your peerage in the future!" Raynare bowed her head to Michael who looked at her in shock.

He scratched his cheek in thought.

"Well, uhm...I guess you could if you wanted." Michael chuckled, "Wait, what am I saying? Of course you can if its what you really want!"

"Michael-sama!" Raynare smiled with teary eyes and hugged Michael tightly, "Then from now on, I'll do my best to prepare to be your best and most useful servant as you grow to be a High-Class Devil!"

_'I thought I said that she doesn't have to do it just to be of use, but it's a start.' Michael hugged Raynare back._

"If it's what you want then you can get it just as long as you put enough meaning into your goal." Michael grinned.

The hugging continued to commence as Raynare was still intent to stay in it as Michael kept looking from side to side feeling a little uncomfortable at the long hug.

_'This is taking way too long.' Michael thought._

"Michael-san..." Raynare said dreamily as her hug started to get even tighter to where her breasts were now pressing up closer to Michael's chest.

Reaching for the girl's shoulders, Michael pushed the girl away and gave a bitter smile,

"Ray-chan, I'm sorry for doing this, but I really have to get ready for today's match so..."

"Ah, right I'm sorry, I forgot." Raynare looked off to the side, embarrassed by her actions.

"No worries." Michael stood up and headed towards the door, "Wish me luck! Wait, no, you don't because we've got this in the bag!" Michael closed his eyes and jabs his thumb into his chest.

"I know that, Michael-sama you'll definitely show that yakitori jerk." Raynare raised a hand and waved goodbye.

Turning back to the door to reach the knob, Michael stopped as he heard these words,

"Please return home safely, the both of you."

Michael's eyes widened at that for it was the first time he had ever heard those words directed towards him. It would always be silence when he lived alone before Asia and Raynare came along. No one would welcome him back or tell him to make it back home safely but now... he finally has people like that. He looked back to Raynare who gave him a genuine worried smile, Michael shook his head and nodded,

"Who do you think I am, of course, I'll return home safely and I'll make sure nothing scratches Asia, too." Michael gave her thumbs up as Raynare does the same,

"I know you will."

*Gacha*

Opening the door Michael sees Asia standing in front of him pouting her lips while having teary eyes.

"Auuuuu...!"

_'Crap!' Michael cried as he just remembered the Blonde girl._

Leaving the apartment, Michael and Asia walk to the Academy just before the match could actually start. While walking Michael noticed Asia was wearing her old Sister clothes but without the cross since she was a devil now and it would actually inflict damage if she had any on her body. Michael had noticed something off when they continued to walk down the street, Asia was uncomfortably look from side to side as she looked to be really nervous.

Michael smiles and puts his hand on the girl's shoulder earning a cute yelp from her.

"Asia, are you alright?" Michael asked.

"Y-Yes, Michael-san I was just startled was all." Asia tried putting up a brave face.

_'Is she really that shaken up about the match?' Michael questioned._

"Asia, here." Michael held out his hand to the girl who looks at Michael hand then his face in question.

Michael gestured his hand once more than said, "I'll hold your hand if your nervous."

"W-What?" Asia's eyes widened as her cheeks grew pink.

"Well, its obviously clear that something's bugging you and this is the only way I could think to help you." Michael shrugged as Asia looked at his hand closely in, "Or if it bothers you this much then I'll just sto-" Michael's hand suddenly gets grasped by Asia's.

"N-No, I want to hold onto Michael-san." Asia said as she looks away.

Smiling, Michael simply stayed quiet and nodded as the pair walked down the dark road hand in hand.

"So your wearing your old nun clothes?" Michael asked.

"Y-Yes, when I asked Buchou-san, she told me, "Wear something that you feel the most comfortable in." I thought about it a lot, and I found out that this outfit is the easiest for me to move around in… I'm not a Christian anymore, but I haven't forgotten my beliefs. Even though I'm a Devil now…"

"Don't worry about it, you still look good in it like before when I first met you." Michael complimented.

Asia happily said as a blush grew on her cheeks, "Thank you."

After a few more seconds of silence as they continued to walk, Michael decided to talk once more as he felt Asia's hand begin to tremble,

"Hey, are you nervous about the match?"

Asia nods timidly and said, "Yes, the thought of us going into a scary battle makes me shake in fear but if Michael-san is right near me then I know I'll be fine."

"Of course, you will be fine. And besides I'm always going to be with you bet on it." Michael laughed lightly.

"Really?" Asia questioned.

"Like I said before me and you won't be separating, Asia we'll be together forever so you won't get yourself in trouble or hurt." Michael sighed.

**_[Considering how you are it should be reversed.]_ **

_'Shut it.' Michael spat._

"So make sure to be safe during the game and call on me if your in danger." Michael points at the girl while saying those words very seriously.

"Yes! I'll do just that, Michael-san!" Asia nods happily.

"Good girl." Michael pats Asia's head as the girl turns red by the kind gesture.

Making it back to the Abandoned Classroom at 11:40 pm, all of the club members were getting prepared for the match by resting as everyone seemed to have been ready before arriving as Kiba had on gauntlets and leg armor on his lower legs. As Koneko was wearing those same gloves that martial artists wore. Drinking tea were Rias and Akeno who were acting calm out of everyone.

_'Wow, everyone seems to be mellow.' Michael thought._

**_[Because unlike you they know when to act reserved before a fight.]_ **

_'Hey, I can be reserved!' Michael growled._

**_[Name one time to me then.]_ **

_'Well there was that time when I helped Saji with his mothe- Wait ,no, I ruined that book club by eating all the snacks, which I dropped on the floor.' Michael slumped down in shame as he couldn't think of anything which could help with his argument against Ddraig._

*Gacha*

Entering the clubroom before the games begin was the student council's President, Sona Sitri and her Vice President Tsubaki Shinra.

"Excuse me." Sona said as Tsubaki closed the door.

"Good Evening, Sona." Rias greeted.

"Welcome." Akeno greeted.

"Huh, why is the Kaichou and Fuka-Kaichou doing here?" Michael questioned.

"The Rating Game is monitored by an outside clan." Rias answered, "They will be watching us tonight."

"We volunteered for this." Sona brought up, "Since it is Rias' first Rating Game."

"Don't worry, I'll show you a fight that will make you proud to be considered my rival." Rias smiled.

_'Man now even the Student Council is watching I guess the Rating Games are really famous in the Devil world.' Michael thought._

Looking around the room Sona's sight catches Michael sitting on the couch with his arm on the arm rest.

"Hanamura, Michael?" Sona called out to the teen.

"Huh?" Michael looked up to see the High-Class Devil then immediately stood up stiffened and said, "Yes ma'am!"

Smiling a bit by the boy's action Sona continues, "Just to let you know we will also place it upon ourselves to allow the Fallen Angel your living with to watch you in the match."

"Really?" Michael was confused at first then simply shook his head, "Thank you!"

"Hm, no need. Also Saji has placed it upon himself to stay and watch as well." Sona continued.

"He did?" Michael questioned as Sona nods.

_'So I guess he's trying to get some notes about my current skill huh? Well then I guess there's no need to hold back I'll show that I will be too much for him to handle.' Michael grins._

_'It's almost time!' Michael smiled._

Suddenly a voice called out,

"Is everyone ready?"

As ten minutes have passed by a magic circle draws itself on the ground and summons Grayfia to stand in front of everyone who now stand up to show they are ready. Grayfia then started the information the team needed,

"When it becomes the time to start the battle, you will be teleported to the battlefield through this magic-circle. The location of the place is in a different dimension used for battles. You may fight with all your power. It's a disposable space so feel free to fight to your satisfaction."

Michael's eyes sparkled in excitement at that and thought,  _'Awesome, so it's just like Shishou's own technique from training!'_

**_[Indeed, meaning you can run wild, Partner.]_ **

_'Yeah, I'll show everyone what I'm made of!' Michael chuckled._

"Then I will return to the monitoring room." Sona said, "I pray for your success, Rias."

"Thank you, but I would recommend the judging for the game's second half." Rias smiled confidently.

"Naturally." Sona makes her way to the door then looks back, "I just personally think that your opponent isn't a suitable match for you."

Smiling after receiving words from her Rival/Friend Rias smiled.

After Sona and Tsubaki left the room, Grayfia then continued her explanation,

"This "Rating Game" battle will also be viewed by members of both households from a different location through broadcast."

Hearing this Michael looks at Rias who gives a serious face at that.

_'So Buchou's parents will watch the game also huh?' Michael thought._

"Maou Lucifer-sama will also be viewing this battle so please remember this."

... ...

"WHAT!?" Michael screamed out as his eyes bugged out in surprise as everyone instead widened their own eyes in surprise as well.

"One of the Maou are gonna watch us!" Michael screamed as he suddenly felt tons of excitement at the moment. It was his dream to become a Maou and now one will watch him fight?

Rias made a shocked expression,

"Onii-sama is... I see, so Onii-sama is also going to view this battle."

_'Wait, Onii-sama!?' Michael looked surprise as it was clearly written by his vacant expression._

"The Maou is your BROTHER!?" Michael shouted.

Rias was unfazed by the boy's outburst as Grayfia showed an annoyed expression by Michael's rude shouting.

"Yes." Rias nodded naturally.

"B-But I thought your family was the Gremory clan?" Michael asked, "And the Maou is Lucifer so shouldn't you have Lucifer in your name?"

"Ufufufu! Michael-kun it appears that you are mistaken." Akeno giggled at Michael's obliviousness.

"Huh, how?" Michael asks.

Kiba then brings it upon himself to explain,

"Remember the Great War, well because of that our former leaders the Maou-sama's were in a critical condition and passed away. So if they were to have died then no more devils would be here today if there aren't any leaders so that's why-" Kiba leads off to where he thinks Michael gets it but...

Michael looked confused then growled, "And that's why, what come on Pretty Boy use words!"

Kiba simply sighed and continued, "And that's why the Maou-samas still kept the titles so those with Ultimate-Class Devil powers after them inherit them."

Putting a fist to his hand Michael said, "Oh! I get it now so they are just positions not names themselves heh, who would have thought."

Kiba then gave a bitter smile, "But even with them us devils out of the other factions are still in a tight sot but luckily the Great Satans have the same amount of power as their predesseccors."

"So Buchou, your Brother is an Ultimate Class Devil?" Michael asked.

"...He wouldn't be one if he wasn't baka-senpai." Koneko insulted while looking away with half lidded eyes.

"His name is Sirzechs Lucifer the "Crimson Satan" the strongest of the 4 Maou."

Rias answered as Michael nods understanding a little now.

_'So now I kind of understand so he was Sirzechs Gremory but now is Sirzechs Lucifer.' Michael thought._

**_[Correct, if you do not share the same surname as your clan, then you cannot inherit it.]_ **

_'So that would explain why Buchou is the next heir.' Michael thought, 'But I still want to meet this Sirzechs guy right away and see if I could stand a chance against him.'_

**_[Why? Doing that will get you killed.]_ **

_'Don't worry I'll think about that part when I get to it.'_

**_[Michael, the way you shove back the dangerous outcomes will result in you dying.]_ **

_'Ddraig look I'm not going to die because I won't simple as that.'_

**_[But what if you do die.]_ **

_'Well then I won't die, see?' Michael chuckled._

**_[It's no use trying to say reason to you...] Ddraig sighed._ **

_'I never listen to reason because all it has are doubts that's why I think later than before when I do something.'_

Grayfia then said on cue, "It's about time." She gestures her hand towards the magic circle.

"Please use this to transfer yourselves for the destination for your match."

Gathering on the magic circle, Michael and everyone looked at the seal of the magic circle a to reveal the mark of the phoenix. Michael's eyes narrowed at the mark as he couldn't wait to face Riser face to face and show that jerk what for! His thinking blinded him as the magic circle teleported them away.

* * *

 

Taking only a few seconds, the Occult Research Club was able to teleport into the area to where the Match will take place as the surroundings were still the same as before as they stood in the same Club room.

"Did we stay in place?" Asia grabbed Michael's arm.

"I don't think so." Michael shook his head and looked around.

Then.

[Hello, everyone. I am Grayfia, a maid from the House of Gremory and today I will be the arbiter of the Rating match between the House of Gremory and the House of Phoenix.]

Coming from the school's broadcast, Grayfia's voice was heard,

[In the name of my Master, Sirzechs Lucifer, I will be keeping my eye on this match. By using both Rias-sama and Raiser-sama's opinion, we created this battlefield which is a replica of the school, Kuou academy, which Rias-sama attends to in the human world.]

"So we did teleport." Michael said as he walked towards the window and saw nothing but the weird colored blue/green sky above, "So this is a replica?"

[The location where both teams were transported will be their "base". Rias-sama's "base" would be the Occult Research Cub's clubroom located in the old school building. Raiser-sama's "base" would be the Student Council's room located in the new building. For the [Pawns] to use "promotion", please head to the enemy's base to do it.] Grayfia announced.

"Aw what no fair!" Michael whined then remembered with a dull face,  _'Wait I don't even know how to promote at all.'_

**[But based on your opponents number of servants you'll have to take down an equivalent of 8 [Pawns] before they reach your Master's Base.]**

_'This will be tough but who cares I can handle it if I try my best!' Michael clenched his fist and smiled._

Handing out small earphones Akeno finishes with giving them to everyone but Michael and Asia,

"Please wear these transceivers."

Taking them both Michael and Asia stared at them in confusion.

"While your out there in the battle field we'll be able to communicate with these." Rias explained.

"Spy guy equipment sweet." Michael and Asia put the transceivers in their ears as everyone grew ready for creating a strategy.

Sitting on the sofa Rias confidently says, "First we must deal with Riser's troublesome [Pawns] before they promote to [Queen]."

"Wouldn't it be much easier to just barrel through them and attack the [King]?" Michael asked.

Rias simply shook her head and said, "No, that would be reckless and most of our main pieces will be eliminated before we even get to Riser."

"Oh...sorry." Michael scratched his head and sighed.

_'Well there goes my Plan A!' Michael cried in his head._

"Michael I know you want to end things quickly by getting to Riser but this is a Rating Game its a game which takes a long period of time to complete similar to the actual chess game. Yuuto."

"Yes." Kiba nods and places a map of the whole school on the table.

_'Seriously dude do you have a hobby for collecting maps?' Michael sweatdropped as he remembered the Abandoned Church Map Kiba conveniently had._

Rias draws a circle

Circling the old school building and old one, Rias was able to divide the territories accurately.

"There's a forest near our base so it's safe to assume that this is our territory. As the new school building has to be Raiser's territory. It's quite possible that there will be an ambush when you enter their territory. The school field is visible from the new school building. So it's dangerous to pass through here."

"Um, so wouldn't the sports grounds suffice if we want to enter the New School building?" Asia raised her hand shyly.

But Rias simply chuckles at the question and says, "Well, yes that would be ideal for this situation, but Riser already knows of this and it would seem too obvious for us to take. But my hunch says he'll have his Knight and 3 Pawns stationed near one of the Club room in the sports ground. He'll need mobility so he will use them to gain control of the whole sports ground."

Michael blinked at Rias' serious strategizing.

_'I don't understand almost half of this.' Michael sweatdropped, 'But I have to keep serious so they won't know.' Michael continued showing a poker face through the entire explanation._

"Buchou, I believe securing the gym near the old school building should suffice for our first location. If captured we can gain a rout to the new school building as the passage between the school will restrain any enemy movements."

Kiba points at the gum on the map.

"Yes, I believe so too, our first objective is to capture the gym. Though there may be a rook positioned there since the opponents mobility will be shortened as the Rook's destructive power will be a threat to handle." Rias nodded.

Michael looked over at Asia who was staring at everyone intently.

"Oi, Asia do you get any of this?" Michael asked.

"Huh? Yes, I guess so." Asia nods with a smile as Michael grew shocked at that as he felt that she may not have also learned of what everyone is saying.

"Why don't yo,u Michael-san?"

Michael fixes himself and gives a gloating laugh while sweating, "Hah! Of course I do I mean I am the Great Hanamura!"

"Yuuto and Koneko I want the two of you to set up a trap in the forest. Take another map with you and make the to mark where your traps are set." Rias crossed her arms, "To avoid anyone of us getting trapped by them I'll make a copy afterwards for everyone."

"Yes."

"...Roger."

The two left with a map and a strange looking tool box.

"Now Akeno I want you to do something for me." Rias turned to her queen.

"Yes." Akeno nods.

"Once Yuuto and Koneko return, I want you to cast an illusion of mists around the forest and sky so it can react to Riser's group. If taken care of then the battle will start with it confusing the enemy, though I know it will only get more intense midway so I'll entrust this task with you." Rias said.

"I understand, Buchou."

Akeno bows and exits the club room leaving only Michael and Asia.

"So Buchou what should we do?" Michael asked.

"For now you two are on standby but Asia you are to stay by my side as my healing support so I can keep you safe. Because if you go down then we'll all be in big trouble in battle." Rias answered as she looks at Asia then to Michael.

"H-Hai, Buchou." Asia nods.

Rias smiles then focuses her attention on Michael.

"Now Michael sit here." Rias waves her hand towards Michael.

"Alright, but how will this help with getting ready?" Michael complied and sat next to Rias.

Rias then points to her lap and said, "Lay your head here."

_'I'm confused how will this help the match as it is!?' Michael's eyes wandered from Rias' to her eyes in confusion._

"Um, Buchou what's the point of this?" Michael blinked with a blank confused expression, "Wouldn't it be better to focus on the fight?"

Laughing, Rias gently grabs Michael's head and places him onto her lap.

"You'll understand soon, so just calm down."

_'Wow! Her lap is soooo soft!' Michael blinked as his cheeks grew a little red, 'Is this that lap pillow, Matsuda and Motohama kept crying about. Now I know why they're striving for this. But Buchou's lap feels really soft for some reason. Hm? I wonder?' Michael rubbed his cheek against her lap curiously and felt the smooth texture of Rias' legs and suddenly relaxed in contentment, 'It is, her legs are really smooth too, once the games are over. I'll tell the school of my triumph and become famous for this!'_

_Michael had tears streaming down his face, 'I'm gonna be so well-known as the first student to have placed his head on the lap of the school's Great Lady!'_

"Geez, why are you crying?" Rias sighed while looking down at the crying Michael.

"Nothing! Just blinded by how awesome this is!" Michael responded lost in his glory seeking mind.

Though he did notice Asia's teary eyed face as she looked rather unpleasant with the sight of Michael getting so close to Rias.

"If something like this will get you to cry in happiness then I guess letting you do this from time to time won't be so bad, Silly Boy."

"No, that's fine once is enough for me." Michael shook his head as he just wanted to bask in this for just a little longer so he could brag to the Perverted Duo later. He can just imagine them crying out tears of blood right now.

But suddenly these thoughts disappeared as soon as Rias placed her hand on top of Michael's head.

*THUMP!*

*THUMP!*

*THUMP!*

Michael could have sworn that his heart beat was growing faster as a surge of power grew within him.

_'I feel so calm what's going on?' Michael thought._

"It seems you've noticed the change within yourself." Rias stroked Michael's head, "I just released the seal placed upon you."

"Wait, a seal?" Michael asks.

"Yes, Michael as a pawn I had to use up about 8 pieces to reincarnate you, but if I had released all of your power in the beginning then your untrained devil body would have broken under the pressure of power you hold. As you are the strongest after Akeno so I had you train to get better to adapt to your inner strength." Rias explained.

"But I felt something big release out of me though." Michael responded.

"Yes, It was hard for me to identify how much or how little to remove part of the seal due to your sudden growth, but I trust you so I only released about 5 pieces I sealed." Rias said.

"Really, that's awesome that means I can go all out without worryi-ouch!" Michael cried in pain as Rias pinched his ear.

"Remember if I see that this given opportunity is too much then I'll seal back the pieces unlocked, understood?" Rias said with a strict tone.

"Yes! I do! Please let go of my ear if it's pulled on anymore then I'll lose it!" Michael cried.

"Good." Rias released his ear.

_'Why do they always go for the God damn ear!' Michael rubbed his ear in pain._

"Now listen up, Michael your opponents may be girls, but don't hold back because they won't hesitate to finish you off okay?" Rias warns.

"Oh I know that. All I have to do is punch them in the face, right?" Michael grinned.

Rias sweatdropped at Michael's simple mindedness and simply nodded, "Yes, but it will take more than that you have to use promotion to change into a Queen."

"Nope, I'm fine a Queen sounds too girlish for me." Michael pouted while looking away, "I want to rely on my power alone."

"Michael." Rias said with a stern/playful voice.

"Fine, I'll do it, but only because I want you to win!" Michael growled then looked up at Rias with a genuine smile.

"Yes, I will rely on you my adorable, Michael."

Then suddenly receiving a transmission from Akeno, Rias answered, "Yes?"

"Buchou, Preparations are complete."

Standing up while forgetting about Michael who falls down and hits his face against the floor, Rias then announces, "Then here are our plans."

Crawling towards Asia Michael held his nose in pain and cried, "Why?"

"Michael-san, are you alright?" Asia inched closer to the downed Michael.

After gathering back in the Clubroom the operation was set as everyone went to their positions.

"Yeah! Let's Do this!" Michael smacked his cheeks twice with both his hands to get pumped up.

Right now he was outside the School Building with Koneko who was to be assigned his partner much to his dismay.

"Okay then, Michael and Koneko once you are able to enter the gymnasium a battle will be imminent so move accordingly as planned, we need this location for it is crucial to our strategy." Rias explained through the transceivers.

"Yes." Michael and Koneko responded.

"Then I will go to my position as well." Kiba walked off with his sword on his hip.

"Yuuto move accordingly like we discussed." Rias said.

"Understood."

"Asia, will stay by my side, if she's taken down then we'll lose our only source of healing." Rias explained.

"Y-Yes." Asia said nervously with a little energetic tone.

"Akeno, I trust you to move when you think the time is right."

"Yes, Buchou." Akeno responded.

_'Akeno-senpai a true queen I can't wait to see what she's capable of.' Michael thought in wonder._

"Now then my adorable servants. The time for turning back is too late. Our enemy is Riser who is a gifted man of the immortal house of Phoenix with a promising career. Let's go and Blow them away!"

"YES!" Everyone replied and headed off to accomplish their objectives.

"Michael-san! Everyone please do your best!"

(In the monitoring Room)

Watching the games intently were Sona, Tsubaki, Saji and Raynare who were keeping an eye on the Gremory Team rather than the Phoenix side,

"So Mike is paired with Koneko Toujo-chan, huh?" Saji said seriously.

"It's only accurate since he's the only pawn Rias has and with the support of her rook it will be quite the right choice to put them out in the game first." Sona responded.

"Michael-sama…" Raynare looked at the screens in worry as she watches Michael and Koneko sneak through the back door of the gymnasium.

"It seems the Gymnasium will be their first location." Tsubaki commented.

"Yes, it seems crucial they do that." Sona nods.

(In the Copy of Kuoh Academy)

Hiding behind the curtains in the back platform, Michael and Koneko kept hidden behind them despite it being open for the inside to be visible.

"Okay time to show my stuff." Michael grinned excitedly.

"…I feel 4 presences. Enemies." Koneko muttered.

"Really are you like a dog or someth-!" Michael then got his nose pinched super tightly by the girl.

"…I do not like dogs and do not like to be compared to one." Koneko said with an annoyed face.

"S-Sorry, I get it, stop before you break my nose!" Michael cried as Koneko suddenly let her grip loose.

"Geez...you didn't have to take it as an offense." Michael covered his nose in pain.

Suddenly the lights to the gym started to turn on as the voice of a woman sounded, "We know you're in here, Servants of Gremory! We literally watched you enter."

"I am Mira, Riser-sama's Pawn."

"I am Xuelan, Riser-sama's Rook."

"I'm Nel and I'm Riser-sama's Pawn."

"My name is Ile and I'm also Riser-sama's Pawn."

Entering was a woman with a china dress, female twins and a loli girl with a staff.

_'Heh, now it's time to make my entrance!' Michael thought._

Koneko was about to pick herself up until Michael grabbed her shoulder and shook his head as he then shouted,

"Fools do you think you can actually intimidate me!" Michael roared.

Koneko placed a hand to her forehead and shook her head.

"I am the man who even makes God tremble in fear!" Michael's voice sounded throughout the gym, "I am the man, who has conquered dozens, no, Millions of lives in his lifetime! And you morons want to deal with me for I am, the Powerful and Great Michael Hanam-!"

***BAM!***

Punching him into view of Riser's Servants, Koneko simply walked over to the downed Michael.

"Ouch, what the hell was that for!?" Michael cried.

"…Unnecessary." Koneko stated.

"It was not!" Michael got up on a knee and stamped his foot while pointing at the girl, "I was just about to introduce myself to them in the most awesome way ever but no you just had to ruin my cool entrance!"

Michael was really starting to regret pairing up with Koneko as the two don't really see eye to eye at all. Well eye to black eye, Koneko can't even stare at him once without trying to punch him in the face.

Koneko simply ignored Michael's angry rambling to focus on the enemies at hand, "A Rook and 3 Pawns, we are outnumbered."

Letting the girl ignoring him slide Michael looked over to the enemies and said, "Man, that much I guess me using up all the pawn pieces left us at a disadvantage." Michael sighed then stood up, "But…" Michael thrusts his fist forward, "Summon!"

**[Boost!]**

"I guess I'll prove that quality is better than quantity!" Michael summoned the Boosted Gear and punches his fist into an open hand.

"I'll handle the Rook so I entrust the Pawns to you, Baka-senpai, make sure they don't interfere with my fight." Koneko said as she fixed her gloves.

"Don't need to tell me that, I've got your back all the way!" Michael's sudden change in personality shocked Koneko until Michael lunged forward and grinned as Koneko then followed.

"Let's go!" Michael roared.

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

The battle between Koneko and Riser's Rook, Xuelan began as they exchanged blows which look very powerful as each of their strengths cancelled out each attack with a block. Even with Koneko's small build she was able to keep up with the Rook and move more freely but…

***FWOOSH!***

Growing on the defensive Koneko was dodging a few kicks imbued with the power of flames.

_'She can use Pyrokinesis?' Koneko thought as she rolled under an incoming kick then decided to take the initiative and attacked the Rook from behind as she was momentarily open._

"Heh, Careless!" The Rook raised the back of her heel and slashed it upwards against Koneko.

"!" Koneko's clothes were grazed a little as he clothes revealed her underwear from underneath.

"Koneko-chan, are you alright!" Michael gasped.

"Focus on your opponent!" Lunging forward the Mira thrusts her staff forward at Michael with the ability to pierce through the air.

Michael gasped in surprise then sidesteps to the right and thrusts his palm into the staff redirecting the attack as the Pawn grew unbalanced.

"Hah!" Michael took this chance to raise his leg and slam it onto the girl's torso sending her flying and crashing into the wall.

"Phew! That felt good I wonder who else I can hit next!" Michael grinned as he landed and grew ready in a battle ready stance until.

DRILL! DRRRRRRRRRRIL!

Blinking Michael heard the sounds of chainsaws and looked back to see the twins coming at him while swinging such dangerous weapons.

"Disassembling time~!" The girls sang happily.

"The hell!?" Michael gasped then jumped back narrowly dodging a chainsaw.

_'Chainsaws! Why do little girls have chainsaws?' Michael thought in surprise as the twins then began running at Michael with their chainsaws recklessly._

**_[I would focus on running if I were you!]_ **

_'Crap! Damn why me!?' Michael then ran with his tail between his legs as the twins chased after._

"Rip it, rip it apart~!" The twins sang so happily.

"Running won't save you!"

"We're still going to cut you to pieces~!" The twins said these words happily.

"You guys are freaking weirdoes!" Michael screamed as he stared back at the twins.

Turning his head forward Michael sees that Mira was up and thrusting her staff at him once more.

"Oh, would you give me a bre-!"

*BAM!*

The staff thrusts itself into Michael's chest and sends him flying through the twins who separated as Michael bounced off the ground multiple times before stopping harshly. The staff's attack may have been strong but Michael still stood up with some more fight in him.

_'Wow, that really hurt!' Michael patted his chest in pain._

"Now it's payback time!" Michael grew ready in a fighting stance but then remembered.

"Rip it, rip it apart!" The twins were still chasing after him with their deadly chainsaws.

"Okay you two need to stop!" Michael growled in annoyance as he jumps back avoiding another slash then ducks as a twin from behind tries to get him.

"Geez! This is so frustrating why can't we hit him!?"

"Just hold still we just wanna slice you!" The twins cried in annoyance after missing each hit they send Michael's way.

Rolling away from the 3 pawns Michael pulls up the Boosted Gear and smirked, "Heh you brats think I'll go down so easily, this is nothing compared to what I did with Shishou during training. In fact I'll let you bear witness to Michael Hanamura new Signature Technique!"

**[Boost!]**

**[Explosion!]**

Michael then engulfed himself with a fierce red aura which intimidated the 3 pawns.

"Now let's go!" Michael takes a single step forward and instantly reached the surprised twins in nothing but a single second.

"Wha-?"

***SMACK!***

"Kyaaa!"

Michael smacked one twin across the cheek sending her falling back as a small magic circle appears on her, "One."

"Why you how dare you do that to Onee-cha-!"

***BAM!***

Michael lands a straight punch against the other sister's cheek sending her falling down as a magic circle was also placed upon her, "Two!"

"Darn you!" Mira charges forward at Michael and attacks with her staff.

"You know when things annoy me I tend to-!" Michael grabs the staff then breaks it with the fist of his boosted gear gauntlet, because he didn't want to get hurt in the process, "Break them!"

"What!" Mira gasped.

"Your open!" Michael smacked Mira across the face then kick her back as he placed another magic circle on her body.

"My staff?" Mira grunts in pain as she looks at her broken weapon.

"Seems you can't spam your old thrust attack now huh!?" Michael chuckled then gave her the peace sign, "You know, if you give up now I'll let you off with this!"

**_[Partner remember…]_ **

_'Yeah I know not to get too cocky but I won't attack them if they lost their will to fight.' Michael thought._

"Like hell we'll listen to you bastard!" The twins shouted in unison.

"Yes, we must win or Riser-sama will be angered with us!" Mira picked herself up.

_'I guess it's the hard way then!' Michael grinned._

"Let's get him!" The three pawns rushed Michael at once as the teen raised his fist in the air.

"Boost!" Michael roared.

**[Boost!]**

_'Concentrate your power on the three targets!' Michael said to himself as he thrusts his hand forward and creates a ball of demonic power in the size of a Basketball._

_'Is he going to attack one of us?' These thoughts went through the minds of the three girls as they continued rushing Michael._

"My new Technique followed by new my signature one,  **Dragon Break + Dragon Shot!"** Michael punches the orb of demonic power which sends out a single beam entirely missing the girls.

"Hah, you missed!" Mira laughed.

"Did I?" Michael said seriously before snapping his finger.

***ZING!***

Suddenly the magic circles on the girls glow bright and started to blink on and off.

***DWOOON!***

Suddenly the still active Dragon Shot that was about to hit the wall suddenly responded and broke into three beams which then turned back and hit the three Pawns with their guards open.

***BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!***

"Kyaaaa!" The girls fell over having the wind knocked out of them while receiving partial damage as the beam split into smaller ones and attacked them.

"Hahahahahahahaha! What do you girls think about my power now, huh!?" Michael roared in triumph.

"What? That stupid Pawn was able to pull off something like that!?" Xuelan gasped in shock as Koneko took this as her chance.

***BAM!***

***WHAM!***

Leaning in Koneko fires a straight right into Xuelan's chest followed by a quick jab to her face. As the woman flinched back in pain, Koneko finishes things up with a power shoulder ramming into the woman's stomach.

"Ku!" Xuelan falls onto all fours and struggles to move up.

"Now stay down." Koneko said standing over the woman before turning back to walk to Michael before muttering, "…And only I'm allowed to call Michael-senpai stupid."

"H-How?" Mira struggled to get up with no avail.

"Simple, you just witnessed my Dragon Break technique which allows me to target any opponent I touch and attack without worry of missing." Michael explained as he then held up three fingers, "But I have a limit to how many I can target as 3 is the limit and if I target more enemies my attack power decreases by the number of targets." Michael sighed then folded his arms behind his head, "Man this limit sucks."

**[It's still good though you were able to showcase your new move in battle with positive results, at first your demonic power control was atrocious. But now I can see you gradually getting it down.]**

_'Yeah, but the seals are small so it's still too hard to concentrate on such a thing.' Michael cried, 'But hey my Dragon Shot improved so maybe I can go further with it.'_

"…Good job." Koneko said as she pops up behind Michael.

"Whoa! Where the hell did you come from and did you finish your enemy?" Michael gasped in fright.

"…Yes." Koneko nodded.

"Wow, you really did it. I had my doubts because you're so short, but hey, maybe I can have a higher opinion about yo-ugh!" Michael was then socked in the gut by the "Short" girl.

"…Do not call me short."

"Got it…" Michael whimpered in pain before standing up, "So what do you think of my move?"

"…It's clever for you, idiot-senpai." Koneko said with a somewhat nice tone to Michael.

"Hah now even you see the might of my power!" Michael crossed his arm and nodded with a grin.

But his compliment would later fall flat…

"But Kai-sama uses a technique similar like that but for a different purpose. Your just copying and pasting his own move and using it as your own." Koneko said with half lidded eyes, "Idiot-senpai is cheating off of Kai-sama's teachings."

***CRUSH!***

Michael held his heart in pain at the rather cruel/true statement.

"Ugh!" Michael grunts in pain, "I don't even know why I tried to dig for compliments from you it was just a bad choice."

[Michael, Koneko. Can you hear me? It's me.]

"Yeah! We're both done here Buchou and we're okay!" Michael answered.

[That's good to hear. Akeno's preparations are complete now you two should continue with the plan!]

"Right, Koneko-chan." Michael looks to Koneko who nods as they then made a dash out the gym.

"Are you running away!? This place is supposed to be a crucial location!" The servants of Riser screamed at the Pawn and Rook's action.

Making it outside, Michael and Koneko run a good distance away from the gymnasium.

"Okay now what?" Michael asked Koneko who ignored him and kept running before she says,

"That."

***FLASH!***

***DOOOOOOOOO!***

A huge lightning bolt falls upon the gym and explodes leaving nothing be a smoking crater.

"Take." Akeno smiled as she flew through the air with her devil wings out. She seemed to be wearing a Miko Outfit for battle which confused Michael a little.

_'Whoa Akeno-senpai is strong.' Michael gulped as he can still see electricity crackle from her hands, 'She's known as the Priestess of Lightning for a reason because even though she hasn't been in the official games some people know about her despite having no official appearance yet.'_

[Riser Phoenix-sama's three [Pawns] and one [Rook] retires!]

The sound of Grayfia's voice echoed through the battle field.

_'So when an opponent loses the arbiter announces it. That's rather convenient.' Michael; looked at the smoking crater._

**[…You should avoid angering her in your current state, Partner.]**

_'Yeah I know.' Michael nods in agreement._

"Well that's it I guess we did it!" Michael raised his hand towards Koneko who simply stares at him then looks away,

"…I do not talk to plagiarizers."

"Oi! I'm trying to be nice here and who cares it's my technique the way I use it so get over it." Michael growled.

[The Lightning Akeno emitted takes a certain amount of time to charge for a second use. So using it continuously is out of the question but the enemy still has a few players more than use. So we will move out once Akeno's power has recovered, so I will leave the rest up to you until then so please begin the next phase!]

"Yes!" Michael and Koneko nodded.

"Okay so let's do this again." Michael raised his hand towards Koneko and said, "Come on we're teammates so let's just shake hands alright?"

"…" Koneko looks at Michael then his hand cautiously.

_'Hey, why is she acting like I'm carrying some sort of disease or something?' Michael thought while sweatdropping._

"…Fine." Koneko raised her hand much to Michael's surprise, "…Let's work hard."

Michael chuckled and said, "Yeah!"

As the two hands were about to meet Koneko's eyes turned serious as she felt an incoming presence coming straight towards them more specifically the "Bigger" target out of the pair.

"Michael-senpai!" Koneko then leans forward and pushes Michael away from her.

***BAAANG!***

A huge explosion blinds Michael as he reaches out for his kouhai.

"K-K-Koneko-chan?" Michael gasped as he fell back,

"Koneko-chan!"

As the smoke rises, Michael sees Koneko lying in a big crater completely injured as her clothes were in tatters. Michael's eyes widened as he rushed after the down girl and picked her up.

_'Who the hell did this?' Michael looked at Koneko with sad eyes._

"Take."

Hearing the voice of the culprit Michael looks up to see a woman dressed up as a mage wearing a hood, it was Riser's Queen, Yubelluna Riser's strongest servant!

"Fufufu. When hunting prey you allow them into a false sense of accomplishment before taking them out when they are most vulnerable. It's enough for us to sacrifice many of our pieces in order to take you all down. But your group is already small in numbers as it is, so I guess that alone will damage you lot correct? But your chances of defeating Raiser-sama are slim if we're out of the way. So it's useless to resist."

"You sacrificed your own teammates just for an easy win?" Michael whispered darkly as his anger rose.

"…Michael-senpai….Akeno-senpai…" Koneko said with a weak, disappearing voice,

"I'm sorry… I wanted to be of more use to Buchou and everyone…."

"No don't be Koneko-chan, you didn't do anything wrong it was me I was an idiot for pushing you into giving me a handshake so it's my fault! Just you wait when I take you back to Asia she'll fix you right up so you can knock sense into me again and-!" Michael had tears streaming down his face as he continued until he felt Koneko's body get enveloped in a light.

"What's going on!?" Michael cried in worry.

**_[She's retiring from the match, Partner.]_ **

_'Retire? No. No. No!' Michael shook his head rapidly._

"We were supposed to win this without losing anyone! So come on Koneko-chan you can still move!" Michael cried as he then shakes Koneko to keep her awake but the light simply enveloped the girl who shook her head and gave Michael the smallest of smiles.

"No, wait maybe I can rush to Asia and Buchou if-!" Michael stood up carrying the girl who then fades away from his arms and retires from the game.

*Thud!*

Michael fell on all fours as a cruel announcement called out,

[Rias Gremory-sama's [Rook] retries.]

_'Why did you push me out of the way? I didn't ask you to do that... No, what confuses me is why you even thought about helping someone as pathetic as me in the first place...' Michael clenched his fists in anger as he continued crying, 'And because of me you got knocked out the game and cried!'_

Michael then was filled with rage with not only himself but the Queen who did it.

"Fufufu. I didn't realize that loud mouthed pawn was such a crybaby. I wonder would he like to explode like that short girl from before." Yubelluna puts her hand out towards Michael intending to finish the boy off.

"!" Michael gasped at her words.

Stepping between the two, Akeno takes a stance to shield her kouhai from the enemy,

"I will be your opponent. Riser Phoenix-sama's [Queen], Yubelluna-san. Or should I call you the "Bomb Queen"?"

"I don't like that name because of its bad taste, "Priestess of Lightning". Though I was hoping I can fight you."

On the ground below Michael clenched his fist and growled, "Her name was Koneko."

"Huh?" Riser's queen looked down at Michael in question as the boy's hair covered his eyes.

Akeno looks seriously at Michael then says, "Michael-kun, meet up with Yuuto-kun. I will take care of here."

"No." Michael answered back coldly as he focused his sights on Yubelluna, "I want to make this person pay for this."

Akeno grew even more serious at the situation as the plan may go astray at this point, "Michael-kun this a [Queen] the strongest piece you can't handle her yet when you haven't even promoted."

Michael then shoots Akeno a serious stare with a serious tone, "I don't care about things like that I'll do what I want and you won't stop me, ya hear?"

Michael's action was able to cause Akeno to widen her eyes and create a slight tinge of pink hue to appear on her cheeks before she smiled, "Ara ara, after hearing words I guess I can't stop you then."

Michael nodded before breathing in and out, "Release."

Suddenly a white aura flows out of Michael by a small amount of volume,  _'Release the amount of Touki needed calmly.' Michael thought to himself then he remembered this much from Shishou's words._

_-Touki is an ability which anyone could learn but it puts a strain on those who can't properly use it as it consumes your life energy and stamina if misused, So in battle remember to limit down the times you use it or you'll find yourself unable to fight.-_

_'I'm still not an expert at using it but I can still manage with what little I got!' Michael thought._

**[Michael, what are you doing!? It's still too early for that!]**

Ignoring Ddraig's comment, Michael continued as he clenched his fist, "Give me power."

**[Boost!]**

**[Magnum!]**

Suddenly the Red Aura of the Dragon power within Michael grew out of his body intensely and highly dangerously.

"Now concentrate it all in one point." Michael breathed out and placed his hand onto his sacred gear.

"Hm?" Yubelluna looked at Michael in confusion as the aura started to get focused in one point…his right hand's index finger.

"So you believe you can frighten me with that power how pitiful, I am a [Queen] while you are a [Pawn] my power outweighs yours!" Yubelluna smirked confidently.

Michael looked at Yubelluna with a strong killing intent and growled, "This is a warning shot please dodge it."

**_[A warning shot? Michael using this now will drain you before your fight with Riser you should save the power you have left before your body begins to-!]_ **

_Michael cuts off connection with Ddraig as he continued his attack as the mixture of dragon power and touki mixed in the boosted gear's finger._

"This will be a good laugh." Yubelluna placed her hand forward and decided to block the attack.

"Now don't blink." Michael said coldly,  **"Dragon Burst Driiiiiiill!"**

Released from his finger was an intense wave of spiraling red/white beam of energy as it spirals towards Yubelluna who begins to see the intensity of the attack before raising up a barrier to block the attack but…

***CRASH!***

"I-Impossible!" Yubelluna gasped as the beam broke through the barrier and makes almost makes contact with her had she not slightly dodge to the left.

"Her name was Koneko and she hates being called, Short!" Michael roars as he continues to hold the stance he fired the beam before wincing in pain as he suddenly grasped his finger in pain cutting off the continuation of the attack.

_'Dammit, it's starting to sting even more after my training!' Michael winced in pain as he felt his dragon aura start to be a little overwhelming for him to control._

"Michael-kun, was capable of such a thing?" Akeno looked at Michael surprised.

***FLASH!***

"Such power came out of that [Pawn]?" Yubelluna gasped as she continues to stare at the beam which went up in the air then suddenly flashes brightly before a huge explosion occurs,

***BOOOOOOM!***

With the flash taking place, Michael quickly dashed and ran to regroup with Kiba to further the plan as he now left everything to Akeno.

_'Akeno-senpai, I'm sorry I talked back to you, but I needed to do that so make that Bomb Bitch pay for making our Koneko-chan cry!' Michael thought in his head as he rushed away from the imminent fight between [Queens]._

* * *

**Next Chapter- I won't lose, I'll protect Buchou's Happiness with everything I've got!**


	13. I won't lose, I'll protect Buchou's Happiness with everything I've got!

**I won't lose, I'll protect Buchou's Happiness with everything I've got!**

* * *

Running towards the Sport's Field, Michael was gripping the hand of his Boosted Gear in pain as he can feel a trickle of blood escaping the finger's tip.

"Tch, It hurts!" Michael grunts in pain.

**[That was reckless, using such a move too early could have fractured your hand. You're lucky that you directed the power into a single finger, but your stamina fell quite a lot just from using it now. You have to level out, what you can do before you actually cause permanent damage to yourself.]**

_'But I can fight through the pain! I just have to meet up with Pretty Boy and get ready for the plan!' Michael thought then turned back to see two fierce auras clashing against one another, 'Akeno-senpai please blow that stupid queen away for Koneko!'_

Suddenly the announcement called out.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's three [Pawns] retires.]

"Three Pawns so it means Pretty Boy isn't slacking off, huh?" Michael chuckled, "So I have to do my best to knock out a few more than him."

Then from out of nowhere a hand grabs Michael's wrist and tugs him out of sight from the two battling queens.

_'Crap! Someone's got me!' Michael thought then clenched his fist._

"Let go!" Michael roared as he shot his fist forward.

***WHAM!***

Michael took a better close at who he punched and saw that it was Pretty Boy himself.

"Michael-kun?" Kiba flinched back at the punch and revealed it was him.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" Michael gasped, "I panicked then I-!"

Kiba places a finger to Michael's mouth then shook his head.

"It's alright, I forgive you." Kiba smiled, "You were frightened, so you had to react." Kiba said.

"Well, actually, I was kind of just going for it." Michael shrugged.

Suddenly Kiba turned his face around, "Now if you're still mad, you can punch me once more since I'm turning the other cheek."

"Blurgh!" Michael gagged, "Dude, you're kindness and chivalry at this point is sickening!"

Hiding in the storage room which was a blind spot in the sports field, Michael and Kiba discussed what had transpired.

"So Koneko-chan was...?" Kiba said sadly.

"Yeah." Michael nodded then said, "She pushed me out of the way from Risers Queen's attack."

Michael then felt sadness enter him as he knew it was his fault that the girl was able to lose focus momentarily before sacrificing herself for his safety, but instead of getting overwhelmed by his sorrow, he heavily took a deep breath to release all of his pent up sadness.

"But I won't stop now and cry about it because if I do we'll never win this game and I know she'll only hit me if I fail now!"

"Right!" Kiba nodded and smiled, "Koneko-chan did her best when setting up the traps and was really pumped for the game. If we look sad now, then how will we face her?"

"Yeah, we're going to win this!" Michael grinned and stuck out his fist to Kiba, "That's why I'm counting on you...Kiba."

Kiba's eyes widened as he smiled, he was surprised to hear Michael finally say his name for the first time, "You too, Michael-kun."

The two then fist bumped.

"So tell me, how did you defeat those three Pawns?" Michael asked.

"The club room is located in the sports court so it's an important location that's why I suspected there would be many enemies entering our area. So I was able to lure the Pawns that were focused on the target and cut them down." Kiba explained, "But since then their King hasn't responded to this so he may have used this to sacrifice his pieces to observe my attacks."

"Sacrifice his pieces?" Michael growled and clenched his fist,

_'He's sacrificing his servants just for analyzing our attacks and to gain the upper hand? That bastard is someone I can never like, I'll make him pay for hurting Koneko-chan and making Buchou slowly lose her smile.'_

Kiba then said with a serious look, "On the Filed, we have a total of three enemies a Knight, a Rook and one Bishop."

"...That sounds to be tough, but who cares I'll make sure to kick each and everyone of their asses!" Michael grinned.

"But that was before the Gym was destroyed now I believe they will try to increase their guard so we don't enter the school building, the only path to Riser." Kiba explained.

"Great, then we'll be able to deal with them all before reaching Riser." Michael said while looking at his busted up finger under the boosted gear as it still was dripping out blood and stinging like hell.

_'I used one finger while using the Dragon's Power, I just have to be careful and make sure to make use with what I got.' Michael thought._

"Are you not nervous?" Kiba questions.

"Huh?" Michael looks at Kiba in confusion.

"It's just that you've been serious about winning that I couldn't tell is all. So are you?" Kiba asked.

"Hah, me you must be kidding!" Michael chuckled then sighed in defeat.

"Of course, I am since THE Lucifer, the Student Council, Saji, Raynare and even Buchou's parents are watching. Being observed and judged based on what we do is actually intimidating but..."

Kiba looks up surprised to see Michael smiling at him with a determined face.

"If I let it get to me then I won't move forward and I won't be able to help Buchou break off her engagement with Riser. Also a future Maou would never run from a fight such as this so let's win this, Kiba!"

Kiba looks at his trembling hand before clenching his fist and nodded as he picked up just the right motivator to do his best.

"Right!" Kiba smiled refreshingly.

"So lets make a cool combination between the both of us so we'll be unbeatable!" Michael grinned.

"Hahaha! Really then will I be the one who'll be "behind"?" Kiba laughed.

Michael pretended to laughed along with Kiba before anger filled his tone with the laughter, "Hahahaha! That's not funny you Pretty Bastard joke like that again and I'll rip your nuts out!"

Then suddenly a loud voice from a brave woman was heard outside,

"I, the Knight of Riser Phoenix-sama, Carlamine have grown tired of sniffing you out of your strategy! Rias Gremory's [Knight]! I challenge you to a duel!"

The voice echoed from the basketball court as a armor clad woman stood there waiting threateningly.

Michael grew excited by this and started to breathe heavily with excitement.

"Wow, someone challenged you! As a swordsman you have to accept the challenge!"

"I know that would be the correct response, but I believe something is up outside." Kiba tried to persuade Michael, but the teen kept budging the blonde to go out.

"But you have to do it! Every manga that I've read says that a swordsman must absolutely accept every challenge given to them or else they aren't a swordsman at all!" Michael growled as he wanted to see a sword fight so badly.

"W-Well, if you insist then let us go." Kiba walked out the room and outside followed by Michael.

Coming face to face with the Knight, Michael and Kiba introduced themselves.

"I'm the Knight of Rias Gremory, Kiba Yuuto."

"My name is the Great Michael Hanamura, Pawn to Rias Gremory!"

Smiling at the brave fools, Carlamine said, "To think there are such warriors in the Gremory group. But actually coming out into the open also makes me question your sanity."

She draws her swords and points it at Kiba, "But idiots like you make this game so interesting. Now Let's begin."

Kiba walks forward and draws his sword Holy Eraser, "So a match between Knights? How fun, I've been waiting for a chance to enter an intense sword fight."

"Well said! [Knight] of Gremory!"

***GIN!***

***GIN!***

***GIN!***

The two knights dashed towards each other and began clashing blades as Michael watched in excitement.

"So cool..." Michael said in awe.

**[Shouldn't you be alert? The Knight may be occupied, but remember a bishop and rook resides here too.]**

"Don't worry, we've got this and besides this is a good rest before they find us as a whole." Michael chuckled.

"Found them." A girl's voice was heard approaching Michael.

"Dammit, I jinxed myself again!" Michael facepalmed himself.

"You seem bored so let's begin fighting." A familiar voice also pops up as Michael twists around quickly.

"You!" Michael growled and points at the Rook who knocked him out earlier, Isabella!

The voice from earlier was revealed to have come from a girl wearing a dress like the ones worn by western princesses. She has a drill shaped hairstyle on both sides,

"Geez, this only seems like a mud fight since both of them only think about swords, swords and swords. Carlamine was getting so uppity when the [Pawns] were being sacrificed, she disliked Riser-sama's method so much that she had to do something. And just my luck too, when I thought I found a cute boy, he also happens to be a sword freak, so I can't stand this."

_'That must be the bishop.' Michael thought._

Suddenly Michael focused his glare on Isabella, "Your the one that embarrassed me in front of Buchou, I'm going to take you down!" Michael raised the boosted gear and shouted, "Boosted Gear!"

**[Boost!]**

"Hmm?" The blonde girl looks at Michael with judgmental eyes then sighed, "So this is the [Pawn] of Rias Gremory, who she adores so much? Does she have bad taste for choosing such drab and uncouth looking men?"

Michael's eyebrow twitched as he mockingly exclaimed, "Oh, hello there weird little drill-headed girl, my name is Michael, the guy who isn't judging you based on your appearance!"

"Hmph! Whatever I won't be participating, I'm just tagging along to watch. Isabella, why don't you handle him." The girl smiles smugly earning a growl from Michael.

Isabella nods, "I was planning to in the first place, now show me how much you've trained since the last we met."

"Yo, what's her problem? Why won't she fight like the rest of us!?" Michael points at Ravel in anger.

"Do not concern yourself with her, she is a special case during this match. As an observer in Riser Phoenix's peerage, Ravel Phoenix, his sister will not participate in battle." Isabella explained.

_'So that's the yakitori's sister!?' Michael gasped._

"Gross that's incest!" Michael held his mouth in disgust, "I think I might throw up!"

"Hey! Watch your tongue vulgar [Pawn]!" Ravel shouted in defense.

"According to Raiser-sama, "Having your sister in your harem has a significant meaning. You know the significant view of having your close relatives? You know how there are people who look up to and also get jealous about it? Well, I'm not into little sisters, so I have her in my group as fashion."

"..." Michael blinked then said in disgust, "That's still sounds wrong in so many levels!"

"Now here I come, [Pawn] of Rias Gremory!" Isabella dashed at Michael and fired a sharp punch to his face.

***SWISH!***

"!" Michael clenches his fist and cocks his head to the side narrowly avoiding the attack.

"So a simple punch won't take you down anymore, huh? I guess that means I better get serious and go into high gear!" Isabella then prepares another punch but was too slow as Michael leaned forward and digs his fist into her gut.

***BAM!***

"Gah..!" Isabella holds her stomach in pain back as the punch sends her skidding back.

"Now!" Michael runs after Isabella and fires out a flurry of punches at the woman who simply guards them with her arms crossed, "Haaaaaaaaaaa!"

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

The speed of Michael's punches were impressive, but the punches that he threw with his right hand slowed him down as the pain of his damaged finger got to him.

"Nice speed!" Isabella complimented, "But it's still not good enough!"

Isabella reaches out to grab Michael's wrist as one of his punches were a little slower than the other.

"Darn!" Michael cursed as Isabella throws a sharp punch to Michael's gut.

***BAM!***

"Uarck!" Michael coughs out a moderate amount of blood at the punch but grits his teeth and endured the pain.

"Hah!" Michael raises his leg and slams it into Isabella's chest, sending the woman skidding back once more.

"What?" Isabella grunts as she took the brunt of the attack, Michael then dashes after her then spins while approaching her side as he readies his elbow and digs it into her torso.

"Ngh!" Isabella tanked the blow then simply locks her hands together and brings it down onto Michael's head.

***THUD!***

"Guagh!" Michael coughs out in pain as he falls down.

"Hyaaa!" Isabella raised her fist.

"Tch!" Michael pushed himself up with his arms and pushed himself out of the way as Isabella creates a big crater where Michael once laid.

Panting to the side of the woman, Michael looks at Isabella who simply walks out the crater and towards him.

"It seems you really were training, to be honest, I thought I had you there with that punch." Isabella complimented, "It seems Rias Gremory trained you well."

"Thanks, but she wasn't the only one who trained me." Michael panted.

"Really then who?" Isabella asked.

But Michael stuck out his tongue and said,

"Beh! Idiot, like I'd tell you!"

"Well whoever it is that taught you really improved your stamina it's excellent." Isabella crossed her arms.

Michael looked confused at that then said,

"Stamina? Wait, that's right all that work Buchou put me through even lending me to Shishou who almost killed me many times it was for my sake. She kept focusing on what was best for me even though I wasn't the greatest." Michael's hair covered his eyes as he grinned, "That's why I have to do her good and make her win as payment for all that she did for me!"

**[Boost!]**

Michael's red aura began to pick up at that as Isabella said,

"It seems I said something unnecessary. The pressure around you has increased."

"That's right, Isabella. I'm gonna kick your ass as a [Pawn] of Rias Gremory and the future Maou, bet on it!" Michael roared.

***SHATTER!***

"My Holy Eraser!" Kiba gasped as Carlamine's demonic flame sword shatters Kiba's own weapon.

"Sad for you that your Sacred Gear won't work on someone like me." Carlamine's sword's blaze grew even fiercer.

"Oi! Pretty Boy, you need help!?" Michael screamed worry for the weaponless Kiba.

"Hmhmhm!" Kiba smirked and laughed to himself.

"What so funny?" Carlamine asked.

"I'm sorry to bring this upon you, but this isn't everything my Sacred Gear has to offer." Kiba answered.

"How foolish [Knight] of Gremory, as a swordsman it is unsightly to-!"

"Freeze." Kiba's blade handle forms a pile of ice which forms itself into a sword until...

BREAK!

A blade forms itself as the ice shelling breaks.

"For all fires "Flame Delete will put them out." Kiba explained.

Michael's eyes widened as he could tell his opponents were also shocked,

"Another sword?"

"A-Absurd! Are you telling me that you have with you two Sacred Gears!" Carlamine clashes her Flame blade with Kiba's Flame Delete.

"Bad Move." Kiba smiled as the instant Carlamine's blade touched his the flames Carlamine's flade had instantly freezed along with the blade then-

BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!

Carlamine's blade has been destroyed.

"Damn!" Carlamine steps back tossing aside her broken sword then takes out a short blade from her hip the holds the sword up and shouts,

"We members of the almighty House of Phoenix rule over the power of fire and wind! Taste this whirlwind of flames!"

***BUUUUUUUUURN!***

Suddenly a rough wind of flames spiraled around the baseball court with both swordsman in the middle.

"Hm?" Kiba casually notices his blade melting, "So you decided to use the mixed element of fire and wind to burn us both, but you should really  **stop."**

Kiba puts his blade-less sword in front of him as it creates a unique looking blade which devours the flames.

***SUUUUUUUCK!***

"And this one is "Replenish Calm"." Kiba smiled coolly.

Carlamine gasps and staggers back, "...You posses Multiple Sacred Gears. How? Do you take the Sacred Gear from others and make them yours?"

Kiba shook his head and answered,

"I'm sorry but that is incorrect because you see I don't take Sacred Gears, I  **create** them."

"Create?"

"That's right. My true ability, "Sword Birth" allows me to create any type of demonic sword I wish."

Kiba then places his hand on the ground and creates a blue magic circle which summons many demonic swords to surface up from the ground.

"Impossible!" Carlamine jumps back avoiding getting skewered by the blades.

_'Dammit, why does he get the cool powers and look handsome! Damn you God you're so unfair!' Michael growled in mind._

**_[You have me.]_ **

_'I know why God, why!?' Michael cried and shook his head._

**_[Screw you, Partner.]_**

* * *

 

(In the monitoring Room)

"Amazing, I didn't know a Sacred Gear like that exists!" Saji gasped.

"Yes, the ability will seem to be quite troublesome if you were to disarm him of a weapon at first." Tsubaki nods as Sona continues watching the game intently.

"I wonder how Michael-sama is doing?" Raynare focuses on Michael.

_Watching the two swordsman, Michael was unaware of a charging Isabella who yells,_

_"Focus on the enemy!"_

_"I'm sorry wha-!" Michael screamed as Isabella's fist approached his face_

**_*BANG!*_ **

_"Aaaaaaaaaaaaugh!" Michael was sent tumbling across the ground wildly._

"Seems about right." Saji groaned and sweatdropped at the sight.

"Come on, Michael-sama, you can do it!" Raynare cheered.

* * *

 

(In the Rating Game)

Picking himself up Michael rubbed his cheek and glared at Isabella, "Okay, not gonna lie Dick move, Isabella, Dick move!"

**[Boost!]**

Michael grinned as he got another power up just in time.

"Aw, right!" Michael suddenly released a large amount of red aura around his body, "Now prepare yourself as I blow you away with this Ultimate technique!"

"Ultimate you say?" Isabella asked.

"He's bluffing the poor servant is just desperately trying to intimidate you." Ravel mocked.

"You won't be laughing after this!" Michael thrusts his palms in the air before bringing the back under his shoulder.

* * *

 

(In the monitoring Room)

Saji's eyes grew wide as he said, "He wouldn't."

"Huh?" All of the girls looked at Saji in question.

* * *

 

(With Michael)

"Ka-Me!" Michael suddenly creates a red basketball sized mass of demonic power, "Ha-Me!"

* * *

 

(In the monitoring room)

"Holy Crap, he would do it..." Saji groaned.

"Do what?" Raynare asked curiously.

* * *

 

(With Michael)

Michael grew ready to fire his attack as it was now the size of a beach ball, as he was ready Isabella dashed towards Michael and cocked back her fist.

"Your open." Isabella fired a straight punch to Michael's face.

"Ha-ugh!" Michael grunts in pain as he accidentally fires the beam into the forest nearby and creates a large explosion as it destroys many trees around it as the impact of the wave rolled over to the court.

Picking himself up Michael rubs his cheek in pain, "Damn that hurts."

**[You left yourself open while trying to do that stupid attack.]**

_'Hey if Son Goku can do it so can I!' Michael thought as he looked over the destruction in front of him._

"This is the power of the Great Hanamura!" Michael laughed giddily as he saw the shocked expression of everyone even Kiba.

"Isabella! Quick, you must defeat the [Pawn]! That Sacred Gear has the power to change the winner of this battle!"

Carlamine shouted.

"Right! Michael Hanamura, your Boosted Gear is a big threat that's why I'll take you down before you can use "promotion"!" Isabella rushes Michael while cocking her fist back.

"Just my Boosted Gear, huh?" Michael de-materializes the Boosted Gear to reveal his bandaged hand with the damaged finger now covered in blood with severely torn skin,

"He's not using it anymore?" Ravel said to herself.

Michael spreads his feet and grew ready in a fighting stance seen by many martial artists.

"Even without it, I'm still strong as just Michael Hanamura!" Michael growled as a white aura exudes off his body, "Now prepare to feel the power that I gained from training with Shishou!"

Michael takes a single step forward then takes a lunge forward with great speed to where he is already in front of Isabella with his fist cocked back.

"Huh?" Isabella gasped as Michael fist slowly approached her.

"Eat this!" Michael roared.

***BAM!***

Michael's fist slammed itself into Isabella face causing the [Rook] to stagger back a little.

"Gugh!" Isabella coughs out some blood as Michael kept going.

 **"Hanamura Rush!"** Michael knew the name was cliché but its the first move that didn't involve the boosted gear's power so he was very proud about it.

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

_'His punches are stinging me even with my strong defense what power is he using to do this!?' Isabella was able to barely keep up her guard as Michael's assault kept going._

Michael then said this through his assault as Isabella kept guarding her upper body.

"You're leaving your lower body open." Michael commented.

"!" Isabella gasped as Michael stepped back then leaned forward,

***BANG!***

Michael's elbow stabbed itself into Isabella's stomach.

"Augh!" Isabella coughs up a large amount of blood as Michael said coldly,

"I am not just the wielder of the Boosted Gear, I am Michael Hanamura the Great don't you ever underestimate me!"

Isabella suddenly fell to her knees while holding her stomach.

"I put a bit more Touki into that attack so don't try getting any ideas that you can beat me because I won't lose to you again." Michael crossed his arms then thought,  _'That should be enough.' Michael's white aura disappeared._

**[Partner you've reached you maximum limit for that technique anymore and you'll exhaust you Life Energy, but not only that your stupid stunt from earlier has drained you of your demonic power so you're only left to rely on your current stamina.]**

Michael nods and sighed,  _'How much of my stamina is left?'_

**_[It's not that much while its not that little its wading by how much power overall your using.]_ **

_'It doesn't matter I still have to win and crush Riser completely even if I have to crush all of his Servants for Buchou' sake.' Michael clenched his fist._

**[Dragon Booster!]**

"For this to be a win, we have to crush you all." Michael summoned the Boosted Gear as Isabella looks up at him with a smile.

"I lost and you win that's the way things are supposed to be."

"Then don't take this personal but-" Michael puts his palm forward and said, "I have to win this for Buchou." Michael creates a softball sized demonic mass in front of him, "Meaning I have to win, no matter what..."

Isabella looks up at Michael with soft eyes and strangely a blush as she said, "Spoken like a true fighter."

***DON!***

**[Reset!]**

[Riser Phoenix-sama's [Rook] retires.]

Isabella fades away as the beam of demonic energy engulfed her.

"Phew!" Michael sighed in exhaustion as all the many incredible actions and powers he did was starting to catch up with him as he then grinned, "I got my payback!"

During the fight with Carlamine, the woman smirks,

"Apparently that Pawn has made us realized that underestimating him is a problem if he could take care of Isabella like that."

"Haha! Thank you!" Michael rubbed the back of his head and blushed at the praise.

**[Partner, you shouldn't get so flushed right now.]**

"But that attack he did was terrible, no, I should say it was rather brutal just blowing away an already downed opponent."

Kiba then bowed apologetically,

"Yes, it was, please excuse my friend Michael-kun for being such a barbarian."

"Oi! Whose side are you on, Kiba!?" Michael yelled.

"But-" Kiba shrugged.

"No, we have to win with everything we got!" Michael punched his fist forward.

"Oh, really then I hope you don't mind if we do the same then." Ravel smiled as the rest of Riser's servant appeared and gathered around Michael in a circle.

"What all of them?" Michael gasped.

"And that's not all, [Pawn]-kun." Ravel points to the sky as Michael follows the direction to where it leads to find a shadow with fire wings slowly descending towards the roof top of the school building.

"Riser!" Michael growled then noticed something else a shadow with black wings was also descending towards the rooftop also. The notable feature he can distinguish was the person's crimson hair, "B-Buchou?"

"What's going on?" Michael said a little distressed at what's happening.

[Michael-san! Michael-san can you hear me!?]

Asia called Michael through the transceiver.

"Asia? What's going on? Why is Buchou on the New school building?"

[Buchou-san and I are on the school rooftop and-]

"Wait your there too!" Michael gasped as he looks to see Rias was holding Asia as they descended from the sky.

[Yes, Buchou said I must lend her aid while she fights Riser-san who challenged her to a duel. Thanks to Buchou accepting we were able to get into the school with no problem...]

"Geez, Onii-sama really pitied her, if only he'd let us fight normally then the win would be ours but I guess in the end he gave her pity and decided to challenge her instead but at this rate she will be the one losing."

Ravel then gave a "Hohohoho." laugh which pissed off Michael to a high extent.

"Quiet, Drill-head we still have Buchou and Akeno-senpai, with them we can still win! And don't forget me and Pretty Boy we're not out just yet!" Michael growled.

"Hm? The "Crimson-hair Ruin-princess, "Priestess of Lightning", "Sword Birth", and "Boosted Gear" Such wonderful names in the same place gives my spine chills. But you must understand that your opponent is the "immortal bird". No matter what kind of power you have, it won't matter because the immortal bird will just rise up once again."

"Just because your immortal doesn't mean you can't lose!" Michael roared, "Everyone has a weakness don't look down on others because you have an ability that 1-ups us!"

Ravel laughs at the retort and said, "So your saying you have a plan to make Onii-sama lose his will to fight? Or are you going to use a strike equivalent to God? Don't kid yourself wining this match is an impossibility for you all."

"Shut up!" Michael growled, "We won't know unless we try!"

Suddenly stepping forward was another one of Riser's knights.

"I am Sieris [Knight] of Riser-sama." Sieres pulls out a large sword.

"This is Sieris and unlike Carlamine, she smashes her opponent into dust with no mercy, but she'll deal the finishing blow. Ni & Li."

"Nya."

"Nya-nya."

Two girls with cat like ears responded as they seem to be [Pawns].

"These two are female beast warriors. They specialize in hand to hand combat, you know."

"Crap..."

Suddenly lunging at Michael, the girls started to throw rapid punches towards him. But luckily thanks to his enhanced reflexes from training Michael was able to catch each blow, but he could not deny that his strength was ebbing away due to the constant fighting.

"Dammit." Michael started to pant heavily as each blow he catches visibly tires him out due to the girls impressive speed.

"Are you tired yet, Nya!" Ni smirked as she was able to knock Michael off balance.

"Guh!" Michael tiredly groaned as he was wide open.

"You may be strong, but can you endure the attacks of such speedy opponents?" Ravel was quick to deduce Michael's lack of stamina at the moment.

_'Damn her, she's observing me like she's the one in charge here!' Michael grunts as he picks himself up to stare down the two beast girls._

"Ni! Li!" Sieres calls as she charges forward with her large sword in hand.

Both twins nodded and jumped back as Sieres charges forward and hefts her large sword over her head and brings

"Haaaah!" Sieres brings down her sword with great force.

***SHIING!***

***CRASH!***

"Whoa!" Michael twists away and dodges the first hit with great speed.

"Take this!" Sieres executes a sideways slash to which Michael narrowly dodges as the blade grazes his school uniform.

"Damn this is unfair, at least fight me, one on one!" Michael grunts as he barely dodges the blades sharp edge.

"Michael-kun!" Kiba looks away for just a moment before Carlamine takes this chance to attack.

"Focus on your own enemy!" Carlamine and Kiba clashed weapons.

"Darn, I can't help as I am now!" Kiba grunts as he worries for Michael.

***BAAAAAANG!***

Suddenly a huge explosion from the school building roof shakes the field as the fight between Rias and Riser intensifies. Their demonic powers are clashing against each other with terrifying blows in the sky.

"Haha! Is that the best you can do at least give me some fun!" Riser laughed loudly for the field from below to hear.

Looking up at Riser while dodging Sieres' blows, he could see the man didn't even have a scratch at all not even a tear in his clothing.

As Rias' clothes were burnt off as most of her injuries were healed by Asia who was by her side but that didn't account for her stamina.

_'That's right I forgot Asia can't heal stamina but injures and that Fried Chicken Jerk is just toying with her!' Michael trembled in anger._

"Damn you, Yakitori!" Michael roared letting himself be distracted.

"There!" Sieres waves her sword strongly and creates a strong wind that knocks Michael back.

"Agh!" Michael falls onto his back but not before rolling as Sieres appears once more to stab her blade into his chest.

***DON!***

"Damn, why am I wasting my time here? I have to hurry!" Michael tiredly picks himself up and clenches his fist.

**[Boost!]**

_'I should be with Buchou fighting alongside her! Not wasting my time with these turkeys!'_ _Michael's anger grew along with his movements as each swing that Sieres made was easily dodged. The more that he would worry for Rias, the more that Michael would gain faster more quicker movements than before, its as though if his power is steadily rising once the tables have turned on them._

"What, how is the [Pawn] still going after fighting non stop?" Ravel said astonished as even she was able to catch Michael's movements picking up.

"Gugh!" Michael dodges a quick slash before being back to back with Kiba who was also facing his opponent.

"Michael-kun, are you alright?" Kiba said without letting his eyes off the approaching Carlamine who was now being followed by the rest of Riser's peerage now encircling the two males.

"Yeah, but things don't look too good for us..." Michael growled then said.

"Aww~! Look whose now backed into a corner!" Ravel smirked.

Kiba simply smiles bitterly and says, "I'm afraid, she's right, I'm open to any suggestions at this point."

**[Boost!]**

Michael who simply looked at his Boosted Gear breathed in and out before saying, "Kiba when I say "Go" I want you to liberate your Sword Birth."

"Liberate, but why?" Kiba asked.

"You'll see why, now shut up and let me do what I need to do." Michael closed his eyes then chanted,

"Ddraig, listen to me. I have to win this, react to my emotions! Listen to my desire! Fulfill my need to win! I need your power right now!"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

"No, come on we have to do better than this I won't settle for this half-assed situation to go on anymore! Please this is all for Rias, I want to actually keep my promise not like when Asia died..." Michael kept his voice from cracking before he violently roared out,

"So listen to me and help blow them away for me BOOSTED GEAAAAAAAR!"

Thrusting his fist in the air, the Boosted Gear glows brightly as a charging red aura swirls around and covers Michael's right arm as its shape began to change. The sharp aura engulfed both Michael and Kiba, who was close by to the dramatic change in power.

**[Dragon Booster Second Liberation!]**

Like a machine, the Gauntlet opens up to reveal another jewel like the one on the hand to appear on Michael's arm.

As the aura settles down Michael looks over to Kiba and said, "This is the power that I was able to attain through training with Shishou. Now let me show you all how stronger the Boosted Gear is with this! Kiba GOOOO!"

Kiba looked at Michael astonished by his current feat but paid no mind to it as he followed the teen's instruction and stabbed his blade into and howls,

"Sword Birth!"

***PING!***

Suddenly a magic circle glew brightly under Michael as the Sacred Gear activates as many metal rustlings were heard surrounding the pair.

"Now its time to use the Boosted Gear's second ability!" Michael roared as he punched the ground underneath him, "Go, Boosted Gear Gift!"

**[Transfer!]**

The transference of the dragon's power from the Boosted Gear was able to increase the power of production to Sword Birth as Kiba's demonic swords spawned from the ground at a impressive speed! But that's not all the power output Michael put into was so large that the entire sports field became nothing but a bladed covered mess!

"...Impossible."

"...How can we, the House of Phoenix lose?"

"So this is the power of the Dragon? How terrifying..."

"I lose."

The sharp blades spawning from the ground were able to penetrate the bodies of Riser's servants. They have reached their limit for damage as their bodies began to glow and disappear from the battle field.

[Raiser Phoenix-sama's two [Pawns], two [Knights], and one [Bishop], retires.]

* * *

 

(In the Monitoring Room)

"Did Michael-sama just transfer power to Kiba-kun's Sacred Gear?" Raynare said with an astonished face.

"It seems that the Red Dragon Emperor granted him a new ability." Sona smiled.

"But it fits because the Original Welsh Dragon was able to Boost and Transfer it's power when in battle especially against the White One." Saji explained once he pulled out a large book about old Legends from nowhere.

"Um...Saji-san where did you get that?" Raynare sweatdropped.

"Magic that's how." Saji retorted.

* * *

 

(Back in the Rating Game)

"And don't come back!" Michael spat.

Kiba walks to Michael's side then smiled, "I don't think they can come back."

"Shut your hole, Pretty Boy before I do it myself." Michael growled.

"Oh really?" Kiba smiled at that.

"You know what I'm gonna ignore your innuendos! LaLaLaLaLa~! I can't hear you LaLaLaLaLa~!" Michael covered his ears.

Kiba simply chuckles then looks out to the entire field to see the entire field of Demonic swords crowding the area, "But I have to say that power you just revealed Michael-kun was amazing."

Michael unblocked his ears and nodded, "Yeah, this is Boosted Gear Gift. With it I can transfer the power that I store up to any object or technique I want it was hard pulling this out because I had to put myself in a critical state of mind to bring it out."

"Incredible, so you were able to accomplish this during your training with Kai-sama?" Kiba asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah I was able to learn a lot with him ya know." Michael nods then realizes something, "Wait the announcement said One bishop so that means..." Michael gasps as he looks up in the air to catch the sight of Ravel Phoenix flapping her wings of fire over the field.

"Did that strange [Pawn] boy really do this with just the Dragon's Power?" Ravel glossed over the entire sword filled field in wonder as she then focused on the two Gremory Guys.

"So she escaped." Kiba commented.

"Yeah, but lets get to Buchou before dealing with her." Michael suggested.

"Right." Kiba nodded.

But before the two could sprint towards the school building they came to a halt as a terrifying announcement rang through their ears,

[Rias Gremory-sama's [Queen] retires.]

"-!"

"Akeno-senpai?" Michael gasped as he was frozen in place, "B-But she was our strongest piece after Buch-!"

***BAAAAAAANG!***

"Gyaaaaaa!" Michael was knocked off his feet as a huge explosion between him and Kiba knocked him away and sends him crashing to the ground.

Picking himself up, Michael could only see smoke around where he once stood and since he couldn't see Kiba doing the same he suspected for the worse.

"Pretty Boy!" Michael stood up and rushed towards the smoke only to find the sight of his comrade down covered in blood and burns.

Suddenly light engulfs Kiba's body and sends him off the Battlefield.

[Rias Gremory-sama's [Knight] retires.]

"Kiba!" Michael screamed in anguish as he realized that he was the only active servant besides Asia left in the game.

"Dammit!" Michael shouted in the air.

"Take." Yubelluna said coldly as she laughed.

"You! You took away Koneko-chan, Akeno-senpai and even Pretty Boy away from me! Come down here and fight me, one on one!" Michael challenged.

"That took you a while, Yubelluna." Ravel flew towards the [Queen] and smiled.

"Well the [Queen] was strong as the rumors told. But unfortunate for her I was able to hide this from her sight." Yubelluna pulls out an empty phial from betwixt her breasts.

"Good, I knew I could count on you to bring such an important item along." Ravel smirked.

"Wait, what's the bottle?" Michael points at Yubelluna.

"Oh, you don't know it's a Phoenix Tear, a treasure of my family that can instantly cure any wound completely." Ravel explained.

"What!? No fair! I call Hacks!" Michael points at the little girl in anger, "Your can't pull off a senzu bean kind of thing here!"

"Ara, we are allowed to use it up to two times in the game and besides you have a [Bishop] with Twilight Healing so its only fair and besides to make this expensive item only my family could make was able to bring fortune to us once the Rating Games have begun!" Ravel then laughed, "HoHoHoHo!"

_'Yeah, she's not going to be of any use right now so...' Michael looks to see Yubelluna approaching Riser and Rias' battle, 'Oh no you don't bitch!' Michael chased after Yubelluna with a pissed off expression._

"Hey, don't you ignore me!" Ravel said in annoyance.

"Look little girl, I don't have time to play with you. If your bored, then just stay out of my way!"

"Stay out of your way? Don't make me laugh, you can barely fight after taking on all of us and besides your going to lose anyways so why not just wait here until the game is over?"

"Because I'm not gonna stay here and let Buchou suffer through her fight alone!" Michael growled before pointing his finger at Ravel, "So as a warning you better listen, little girl! If you don't want to get caught up into something you may regret, then don't come near the School Building Roof!"

"What?" Ravel said with a confused expression.

Entering the School Building, Michael exhaled gently then said, "Ddraig."

**[Yo.]**

"It's time to use "it"." Michael narrowed his eyes forward.

**[Right, but remember the number of Boosts and that single Transfer have already cut down you stamina to a low degree so your time limit may be a little too low.]**

"Then I guess there is only one way I can think of then." Michael gave a huge grin.

**[Hm? Then you mean to?]**

"Yeah." Michael nods then breathes in with a smile,  _"I'm Ready!"_

"Promotion: Queen!"

Meeting the requirements for being in the enemy's base Michael was able to change his piece to a Queen to where his power grew twice than what he had before.

"Let's begin." Michael gave another toothy grin as the Boosted Gear emitted a green sharp light which shined throughout the hall.

As on the top of the roof, Rias' battle with Riser still commenced.

***Crash!***

Rias shields a huge blaze of flames Riser fires at her with a red barrier which breaks under the pressure the flames give off.

"Guh!" Rias grunts as Asia stayed behind her as it was her duty to heal any wounds Rias would be given.

"Resign already, Rias!" Riser smirked as he prepared to fire another ball of flames at the Crimson Haired Girl.

"As if I would!" Rias fires off another block of Destruction Power at Riser's face.

"Huagh!" Riser flinches back as his face is visibly erased but then stands back up as it slowly regenerates, "Can't you even tell that your already beaten? At this rate I'll only end up injuring that bishop and your 'adorable' little pawn."

Asia stepped behind Rias in fear and held her hands together, "M-Michael-san!"

Floating over to Riser's side, Yubelluna smiles, "I can handle the bishop girl before that pawn boy arrives, if he gets healed by her while he's a queen then this will make the task of eliminating him difficult."

Riser simply smirked and nodded, "Yes, that would be best and if I can show her just how futile this is by making examples of them, then it will all lead to me winning."

Hearing that Asia hides behind Rias even more in fear as Yubelluna floats higher into and casts a magic circle to appear beneath both her and Rias.

"What?" Rias gasps.

"Resign already, Rias I've already read through all your moves. It's not even that much of a challenge any more." Riser thrusts his hand forward and creates a giant ball of flames to insinuate his position, "Checkmate."

"Shut up, Riser! Checkmate? Read my moves?" Rias said angrily as she disliked this act of being pitied throughout this entire game as the losing side, "Don't make me laugh. As the [King], I am still standing!" Rias took a few steps forward leaving Asia standing by herself.

"Then you leave me no choice." Riser looks up at Yubelluna and nods, "Do it."

Suddenly a purple magic circle underneath Asia began to glow brightly.

"Understood." Yubelluna began her spell.

"No, Asia!" Rias looked back to her [Bishop] as she suddenly realized that she left Asia unprotected.

"B-Buchou!" Asia cried out also while trying to quickly leave out of the range of the attack.

"Too late." Yubelluna smirked.

***BOOOOM!***

A huge explosion engulfs the area where Asia once stood.

Rias stood there shocked as her [Bishop] was taken out of the game,

"Asia."

But for Riser, he just laughed,

"Hahahahaha! See Rias this all could have been avoided if you'd jus-what the hell?" Riser takes notice of the lack of the announcing of retiring players, "What is going on I was sure that bishop was eliminated after a blow like that?"

Suddenly a voice from the air revealed everything,

"I'm sorry, but if your thinking about hurting Asia then you have another thing coming."

Everyone looking high up in the air they saw a flying Michael holding Asia closely while flapping his devil wings.

"What the [Pawn]?" Riser said to himself a little surprised the brat would arrive upon him dealing the finishing blow to their team.

"Michael." Rias smiled hopeful that her pawn has come to rescue Asia and turn things around.

"M-Michael-san?" Asia looked up at Michael with teary eyes.

"Hey, don't cry. I'm here now, so don't worry. I'll handle everything!" Michael grinned as he wore his goggles over his eyes, "To think that you'd actually be targeted by that ruthless [Queen]." Michael landed on the roof and put Asia down, "Stay here so you won't get caught up in this okay?"

"Right." Asia nodded as she watched Michael walk over to Rias' side.

"Buchou, are you alright?" Michael asked.

"Yes, Michael thank you for coming when you did." Rias smiled.

"Well it was easy once I promoted to a [Queen] all this power within me grew so much that I was able to push through the pain." Michael chuckled.

"Pain? How severe are your injuries from the past battles?" Rias asked in worry.

"No, the physical injuries are not the problem just the mental one." Michael sighed as he walks forward ahead to stand between her and Riser with his Queen by his side.

_'Mental?' Rias thought._

Michael gave Riser a furious look and said, "Yo, it's been a while Asshole Yakitori."

"Heh! So it has [Pawn] so it has." Riser looks down upon Michael with a smirk, "So are you here to defeat my queen since with your current state you can be somewhat of a warm-up with her."

Michael then gave Riser a deadly glare as he said, "She took away 3 of my friends right in front of me and did it with that stupid smile of hers which pisses me off!" Michael clenched his fist then shook his head, "But no I won't hurt her only break her spirit to fight by beating you."

Riser simply snickered at that, "Do you actually think you could defeat me all by yourself?"

Michael gave Riser a big grin and said, "Of course, I won't know unless I try."

Yubelluna would have initiated a spell to blow Michael away, but Riser raised his hand up to stop her.

"No, let me deal with this maybe this little brat is the only reason why Rias won't submit yet." Riser walked forward and gestured his hand in the "come on" fashion.

"Buchou, please let me handle this." Michael said as he continued to stare at Riser with a determined stare.

But after hearing Michael's words Rias shook her head, "No, I cannot allow you to do such a thing, in your state you look like you won't handle Riser alone and even if you did use a promotion you, yourself just isn't ready for a one on one against that man!"

"Buchou." Michael turned back to Rias and pulled off his goggles as Rias gasped at the sight.

"Let me keep my promise." Michael said calmly.

Rias simply nods as Michael turns away to walk up to Riser.

"So is the Little shitty [Pawn] gonna try to make me, Riser Phoenix cry?" Riser mocked.

"Haha! Laugh it up for now but I still have a trick up my sleeve bastard." Michael spat to the side while closing his left eye tightly, "Because once I use it, I know you'll never stand a chance."

"What are you referring to your Sacred Gear because that thing is nothing, but a liability to you at this point." Riser smirked, "The Boosted Gear saps the possessor's stamina the more he uses its power to double his strength. Doubling your power is something very abnormal. The burden it puts on the body is several times higher than the ordinary Sacred Gear. You have been running around the battlefield fighting my servants and continued using it. Little [Pawn], you already reached your limit a long time ago."

"I don't care because even if the Boosted Gear were to be stressful on me I'd still fight on if it means Buchou will smile more again." Michael smiled as a rise in red aura surrounds his body, "Even if it means dying, I'll fight for her right to live on as herself because, no has the right to choose things for others against their will!"

"!" Rias' eyes widened at Michael's words as she starts to remember the words he said to her at camp.

"Hah!" Riser flexes out his arms then releases a large amount of flames covering his body as the force of the hot air blows against Michael.

***FWOOSH!***

"This is what's gonna make crushing you enjoyable. Watching the weak little [Pawn] fight for his honor against the Almighty Phoenix, Riser." Riser smirked.

"Hah!" Michael grinned and flexed his muscles as a secret message from Ddraig encouraged the teen to flare out his dragon aura to the same extent as what Riser is doing with his flames, "Counts up."

Michael chuckled as his dragon aura seems to be growing more and more by the minute against Riser's flames as the two forces clashed against each other. Both Rias and Asia had to fly off of the roof to watch at a safe distance along with Riser's Queen Yubelluna who watched in surprise.

"Count what?" Riser quirked an eyebrow.

"Say Yakitori have you ever wondered if you a Phoenix can experience fear from a Dragon?" Michael gave Riser a menacing smirk as he slowly opens his left eye.

"That's bullshit! How could a proud Phoenix like myself ever fear a-!" Riser then stopped his words as a sudden force stops him no it wasn't just a force but intimidation as well because once he looked Michael dead in the eye, he saw a horrific and terrifying sight.

Michael walked forward and lowered his arms,

"What's wrong? Haven't you seen a dragon's eye before?" Michael smirked as his left eye was now sharp as that of a dragons but with green irises in place of his brown ones.

"W-What?" Riser stepped back and shouted, "You gave up your eye to that dragon in your sacred gear? That's insane, you know? You'll never change it back!"

"I don't care what I'll look like as long as Buchou will be free. I'll gladly look like a freak my whole life if needed. But with this I can beat you." Michael clenched his fist and growled, "You took advantage of Buchou many times trying to force her to marry you, but you never gave a damn about her feelings did you? You just kept thinking about how much of a hotshot you were, thinking that you can do anything!"

Riser simply stepped forward and said, "I am Riser, I will not let such a small thing as an eye stop me now with just that I don't think you'll ever have a chance of defeating me!"

But despite Riser's ranting, Michael went on with his words, "Buchou deserves more than you, she deserves better than an asshole like you! But she's still stuck with you unless we win! That's why I've been working my ass off to make sure that it will happen! To make sure that I can repay her for helping someone as pathetic as me! To make sure she can be known as just Rias not "Rias Gremory" anymore!"

"Michael..." Rias watched the boy in awe as her eyes grew a little teary.

* * *

 

(In the monitoring room)

"You can do it, Michael-sama!" Raynare cried out as she felt a little sad that Michael practically gave up his eye to go this far into the game.

Sona and Tsubaki watched this with interest as Saji simply clenched his fist anxiously and cheered.

"DO IT MIKE!" Saji roared as Sona and Tsubaki sweatdropped while looking at the boy make a fool out of himself.

* * *

 

(With Michael)

"That's why I've achieved a power that will even make God shit his pants if he were to see it!" Michael growled as his Boosted Gear started to glow brightly even more than before.

"What!?" Riser gasped.

"That's right I've unlocked something which will help avenge my fallen friends...prepare yourself, Riser, for I will unleash my...BALANCE BREAKEEEER!" Michael roared as the aura around him grows more severe in force that it surrounds Michael in a beautiful red aura as the Boosted Gear let out a single call which echoes through the entire battlefield...

**[WELSH DRAGON BALANCE BREAKER!]**

* * *

**Next Chapter- It's finally time: The Idiot Red Dragon vs. The Yakitori Phoenix! The Battle to decide Rias' Gremory's fate begins!**


	14. It's finally time: The Idiot Red Dragon vs. The Yakitori Phoenix! The Battle to decide Rias' Gremory's fate begins!

**It's finally time: The Idiot Red Dragon vs. The Yakitori Phoenix! The Battle to decide Rias' Gremory's fate begins!**

* * *

On the School Building, everyone marveled at the immense amounts of aura that Michael unleashed as Riser looked upon the teen with a frustrated expression, the sheer pressure exuded by the power was intimidating.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Michael roared as the roof was visibly collapsing by the large amount of power he was releasing.

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

"What's going on here?" Flying towards the commotion Ravel Phoenix catches sight of the huge burst of aura before stopping herself,

"N-No way is that the [Pawn] doing this?"

From within the aura, Michael slowly gains an armor like form which resembles the motif of a dragon.

"This is it!" Michael roared as he raised his arm and swung it to the side thus stopping the great flow of dragon aura from releasing itself as it allowed everyone to see his new form, it was a Red Plate Dragon like armor with the Boosted Gear's Gauntlet now on both hands and it's green jewels were placed upon its shoulder's, chest, knees and arms as jet boosters were in place behind his back. Michael's face was revealed as he puts down his mask and visor.

"Prepare yourself Riser, for this is the Boosted Gear's: Scale Male!" Michael struck a pose showing off the designs of the Armor.

"I-Incredible." Rias' eyes widened.

_**[Remember, you can only use this form for 15 minutes, after that you will surely meet you utmost limit in this fight.]** _

_'I know, but that's all the time I need.' Michael grinned, 'So let's do this, Ddraig.'_

**_[Right, Partner!]_ **

Riser who looked upon the armor simply smirked arrogantly, "So this is the power that you referred to, but do you truly think such a thing as this can help you beat me, Lord Riser?"

"I don't just think I can, I know I can." Michael smirked then said, "So are you done blabbing, so we can actually start?"

"You, low-classed insect!" Riser was infuriated by the way Michael spoke to him, "I am Lord Riser, a Phoenix Nobleman of my family! Do not think that you have the slightest chance of defeating me!"

Michael looked at Riser in annoyance as his talking was wasting his time in general, not even the countdown itself was its main factor anymore.

***FWOOOSH!***

Riser begins to create a massive gout of flames from his right arm.

"Now perish, you shitty pa-!"

"Oh, for the love of Maou! Will you shut up!" Michael growled in annoyance as he cocked back his fist.

**[Jet!]**

***BAM!***

***SNAP!***

In a single motion, the back of Michael's armor suddenly propels him at right using the jets on its back. By throwing a single punch, he was able to break Riser's arm with one blow as the flames Riser collected were now gone due to Michael's interference.

"Aaaaargh!" Riser grabbed his broken arm in pain as his flames start to cover it and regenerating it back to its original state.

But that wasn't the end, Michael quickly grabs Riser by the shoulder and cocks back his fist.

"Give me power!" Michael roared,  _'First, I have to power up my Touki if I wanna make the bastard squirm!'_

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

An intense white aura starts to surround Michael's fist as he roars,

"Here comes the Great Hanamura's Right Hoooook!"

***BAM!***

***THUD!***

***CRASH!***

Michael dug his punch into Riser's face so hard that the man's body was flipped over and went crashing against the roof with great force that created a small crater where he landed.

"Gough!" Riser coughs up a small amount of blood at the punch but quickly steadies himself to land on both his feet as his flames then began to heal the injures Michael gave to him, "That actually hurt you, shitty brat!"

Riser then picks himself up and shouts,

"You! How dare you, a Low-Class even land a hit onto me that hurts this badly!" Riser growled as a vein was easily seen popping up from the side of his forehead, despite his regenerative flames Riser could still feel the sharp blow Michael landed onto him.

_'Buchou was right, even with his flames healing him, he'll just be healed physically, not mentally. If I focus on beating his ass a little more then I can get him to surrender or submit to my attacks.' Michael looks over to Riser then bit his lower lip, 'But still I want to break this guy by showing him that he's not all that great with just his talent!'_

Michael simply watched Riser with a fierce glare and said, "If you have time to talk then try to fight instead of getting cocky, you bastard."

"!"

Once Riser's arm and injuries are fixed, the man glares at Michael with pure anger, "You! How dare you do something like this to me!" Flames start to surround Riser's body as it intensifies to the point to where it was unsafe for anyone to stay on the school building.

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

"Finally." Michael quickly uses the jets of his Armor to avoid the flames which engulfed the entire roof.

"Michael-san!" Asia called out from his side as she and Rias were still nearby.

Michael looks over to Rias and Asia and shouted, "Quick Buchou, Asia! Get to a safe distance, I'll take care of this guy once and for all!" Michael points to himself with his now clawed gauntlet's thumb.

"Right." Rias hesitantly nodded at this as she saw Michael's serious face to her gave her the sense that she can actually leave this up to him alone. As Rias turns to fly off she looks back to Michael and said,

"Michael make sure to show him what happens when he messes with the Gremory Group!"

Michael looks back at Rias with a grin and said, "Hai! Buchou!"

On his command, Michael's mask and visor puts itself on as he looks down at the large amount of spiraling flames on the roof.

Taking their chance to get to a safe distance away, Rias flew herself and Asia a few meters away from the battle and lands on the ground to watch.

Still awaiting Riser's chance to attack Michael readies himself as he focuses his Touki to surround his body for extra protection.

_'The armor of the Scale Mail may block out some of his attacks, but Ddraig warned me before that the flames of the Phoenix can even scratch the scales of a Dragon depending by the force the flames are being shot at!' Michael thought then saw Riser finally make his move._

"Huuuuraaaaaa!" Riser covers his entire body with his brilliant flames and Propels himself at Michael with impressive speed, "You brat prepare to turn to ashes!"

"Then try it!" Michael shouts as he surrounds himself with a large amount of red aura and propels himself back at Riser.

**[Jet!]**

"Huuuuuoooo!" Michael and Riser shouted as their charge towards one another lead to a huge...

***CRAASH!***

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

***DOON!***

The two large masses of red aura and flames clashed as they flew higher up into the sky and shot themselves into the ground as their hand to hand brawl commenced with both opponents clashing their fists with each blow as they tried to size one another up.

"You seem to have got some moves, but just "some" won't help you now!" Riser then imbued his fist with flames and shot it across the mask of Michael's mask and his face.

***BAM!***

"Goooough!" Michael coughed out a large amount of blood as half of his mask was cracked,  _'Damn even with the armor on his punches still hurt as hell!'_

Suddenly the cracks were getting fixed by Ddraig.

**[I'll handle all damage given to the armor. Focus on fighting, Partner!]**

_'Right!' Michael nodded then observed Riser getting ready to use a more dangerous move as a large mass of flames engulfed his arms._

"Now burn, you shitty low class trash!" Riser roared as he began his attack but was unaware of his raised arm being an opening.

Looking up, Michael chuckled and roared, "Your wide open!"

"Hah!" Michael placed his hand upon Riser's chest and gathered enough demonic energy to shoot back the arrogant man into the air with a medium sized magic bullet.

***DON!***

"Tch!" Riser grunts as he shrugs off the bullet with a little annoyance as the attack actually stung him a little, "Damn you!"

Raising his arm up while supporting it with his other hand, Michael started focusing the dragon power into his raised arm to attack Riser.

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

_'Come on, react!' Michael begged as his power slowly grew gradually._

"Hm? You believe that power input is better than mine, we'll just see about thaaaat!" Riser fired a large mass of flames towards Michael who simply smirked,

"You activated my trap card, you bastard!" Michael roared,  **"Dragon Wave!"**

***DOOOON!***

***CRAAASH!***

As his hand released a red wide wave of dragon power which collided with Riser's attack which caused smoke to rise up from the explosion.

***SNAP!***

"Augh!" Michael gripped his right arm in pain as he just felt a few of his bones crack under the pressure.

_'Dammit, not now! I can't experience such pain right now!' Michael cried in his head._

**[Partner, the dragon power is still too much for you to use!]**

"I know, but I can't stop now. if I wanna beat this guy then I'll have to use everything that I can to win!" Michael then readied his boosters as he flew into the large smoke cloud as the call resounded,

**[Jet!]**

Seeing Riser up ahead, Michael focused his sights and continued flying after the man.

"You bastard!" Riser shouts as he fires a huge ball of flames at Michael who quickly jets himself to the right avoiding the attack and hiding himself in the smoke.

Riser then panics and looks for the hiding boy, "Damn it... Qhere did you go!?"

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Riser then heard the Sacred Gear's call and waited for Michael to come out to attack but he was then met with a strange red light coming his way, he smirked and said,

"So an all out frontal attack is what your doing, but I won't let you get any close to me before turning to ash you little-! Wait, is that even the punk at all?" Riser then notices the red light was growing more closer and more intense by the second, but then he soon realized it wasn't Michael at all...

**"Dragon Shot!"**

"A beam!?" Riser gasps as he narrowly escapes the range of the attack.

But suddenly overhead of Riser was a fast approaching Michael with both his hands locked his head as he roared, "Geronimo!"

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Both of Michael's arms were covered with a thick red aura as he slammed them down on top of Riser's head!

"Holy Shi-Guaaaagh!"

***BAAAAM!***

***BANG!***

Riser received a strong blow to the head and crashes into the ground below with great impact to where his body created a large crater.

As the smoke clears, Michael was seen panting in the air while his two arms twitched in pain.

"Kch! Come on, body! Just hang in there for just a little bit." Michael winces in pain, he used too much dragon power to charge the damage output for his attack.

**[Partner, you must remember using too many boosts in your current state can kill you because of that act you did to unleash all of my power within your body, it will only serve to injure you if you can't focus the amount of power needed to fight with.]**

"Yeah, I know, but because of it I can stand tall and be proud to fight this douche!" Michael remembered the distant memory of him training with Kai as the man almost killed him by firing a huge sphere of demonic power at him.

Michael also felt the enormous pressure which headed his way, but as soon as he caught the attack head on and was almost engulfed by the attack before he realized that something within him was starting to get unlocked sort of like a catalyst for a reaction as it proved helpful since he was able to use a high amount of power to disperse the sphere with a single punch.

Seeing the sphere disperse, Kai was surprised a Low-Classed Devil could do such a thing but then smiled as he looked at where Michael stood as the figure of the boy alone was gone, and it was replaced with a red dragon armor as the two eyes gleamed green from the mask before the armor disperses as Michael falls over in the little crater he made as both of his arms were badly broken and covered in blood.

For such a power like this to emerge, a catalyst must be taken into effect and that catalyst was,

"And if it makes sure Rias' dream comes true then so be it!" Michael smirked as he just realized he said Rias' name without permission again, but he didn't care as the moment right now could decide Rias' fate itself!

Watching from afar both, Ravel and Yubelluna watched the fight with frightened expressions as they couldn't bring it upon themselves to get into the fight between a dragon and phoenix.

Landing down onto the ground, Michael looks at Riser who slowly picks himself up from the crater as he covers his face with his single hand and laments on what is currently happening.

"I am Riser Phoenix, a Devil with the power of immortality, and a High-Classed one at that. While you, nothing but a simple boy, who was just recently reincarnated into a Low-Class is giving me this much trouble. How!? Just how can he even put a scratch on me let alone touch me!?"

Riser then picks himself up and uncovers his face to see something rather shocking, it was his blood...his pure devil blood which has been spilt by the lower class devil standing in front of him. His regenerative powers might have healed his injuries, but not completely as he felt that the blow landed upon him was a bit special than any ordinary hit he had received before. But the most infuriating thing about this current predicament was that Michael was looking down at the man with such uninterested eyes.

"Get up, we're not done yet. I know that wasn't your actual best so why don't you stand up and actually fight me because your wasting  **my** time!" Michael said with a dominant tone.

"You!" Riser lowly growls as his wings of fire flares out wildly behind him as he then shouts completely enraged with frustration, "Wasting your time? Stop kidding yourself just because you possess the power of the Welsh Dragon doesn't make you any better than me, Lord Riser!" Michael still kept giving Riser a lax stare through his posture as Riser then trembled and clenched his teeth.

"You think your better than me, well you're not!" Riser growled but still did not receive a response from Michael.

"I am a Pure Blooded Devil, Riser Phoenix, a superior being to you a former Human! Everything that I am is superior to you in every way! But still a low ranked nobody like yourself is still giving me damage even though my biology tops yours! How, just how are you able to do this!?"

"You really want to know?" Michael chuckled as Riser clenched his fist and increased the output of his flames.

Michael removes his mask and visor to give Riser a challenging smile, "It's because I'm just a nobody that I'm still capable of kicking your ass!"

"!" Riser gasps at this then screams, "Don't you...FUCK WITH MEEEE, SHITTY BRAAAT!"

***FWOOOOOOOOOSH!***

Riser fires himself at Michael with incredible speed and fires a punch to Michael's face.

"Uarrgh!" Michael coughs up a moderate amount of blood before Riser continues to attack Michael with a flurry of punches non-stop.

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

Each hit that Michael received forced him to cough up a moderate amount of blood as he was helpless under Riser's continuous punches imbued with his flames.

"Your just a kid, who knows nothing about the real world of Devils. This engagement between me and Rias doesn't concern the likes of you at all! This action is important to the entire devil world, for the greater good as it greatly outweighs the feelings of Rias' stubbornness!" Riser shouted as he wouldn't give Michael a chance to recover.

Michael's hair covered his eyes as he took on the blows more sturdily than before as he stood his ground and continued to take them all on.

"Hah!" Riser then knees Michael's gut then locks both his hands over his head then brings it down to smash Michael into the ground, "Perish!"

***THUD!***

"Michael!" Rias cried out as the teen slowly picked himself out of the rubble.

Seeing this, Riser flies high up in the air and starts to collect a massive amount of flames in over his head.

"A low class devil such as yourself deserves death for messing with me, a High-Class!" Riser yells out over the top of his lungs as the ball of flames grew bigger with each growing second. But Michael still picked himself and stood in place as he stared Riser down with a sharp glare and said,

"Buchou's feelings are outweighed by what others want?"

**[Boost!]**

"Are you kidding me?"

**[Boost! Boost!]**

Michael growled at Riser's words, "I guess I was right from the start your not the man Buchou deserves she deserves better than you..."

**[Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Michael puts on his mask and visor while grinding his teeth, "Buchou deserves to be expressive with her feelings for the sake of herself not the sake of others!"

A sharp aura leaves Michael's body when he puts both his hands forward and shouted, "Riser that's it I'm going to beat you here and now not as the Red Dragon Emperor nor Michael Hanamura but as Rias Gremory's [Pawn]!"

"This is it you, brat I'm putting everything I have into this attack!" Riser roars as the giant ball of flames was humongous and was about the size of half the battlefield, "Let's see you get up after THIIIIIS!"

Riser waves his arms down at Michael and fires the massive ball of flames.

_'Ddraig, I'm going to use all the power I have to end this so I need you to direct me at Riser once I do!'_

**_[Right, Partner, let's show then what the Sekiryu-no, what Rias' Gremory's [Pawn] can do!]_ **

"HELL YEAH!"

**[JET!]**

Michael propels his entire body towards the large mass of flames and thrusts his fist forward and roars, "Boosted Gear give me the power to beat this Stupid Yakitori!"

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Michael's constant boosting has caused the layering of power around his armor to increase exponentially.

_'I have to take it on headfirst or the blast may reach the ground and hurt Buchou and Asia!'_

Looking down upon the rushing Michael, Riser simply chuckles and crosses his arms, "Hahahahaha! How foolish to think you'd kill yourself by taking my attack head on. Maybe I've broken a screw in that empty head of yours!"

"Don't laugh yet, you prick! I still have an ace up my sleeve!" Michael thrusts his fist forward and roars, "Now Magnum!"

**[MAGNUM!]**

All the aura which covered the armor now surrounds itself around Michael's arms as he gets with a few feet away from the fire ball.

"Now just a little more..." Michael concentrated on the boosted gear one more time.

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

**[JET!]**

Michael used the last remaining boosts to increase the speed of his jets as his fist makes contact with the intense fire ball.

"Guarck!" Michael grunts in pain at the intensity of the flames as he could feel the intense heat penetrate his armor through his fist.

"Hahahahahahahahaha! Yes, die by the flames of the Phoenix Family you, stupid brat!" Riser laughed.

"Gck!" Michael grinds his teeth as he cocks back his other fist before punching the fireball with it.

***DON!***

"Shit, it burns, but I won't stop here!" Then he fired his other fist towards the attack once more pushing the fireball back.

***DON!***

"Buchou has to win this!" Then again...

***DON!***

"For her dream to come true!" And again...

***DON!***

***DON!***

***DON!***

***DON!***

***DON!***

Michael's punches kept on going as they smashed into the large mass of flames rapidly with no rest,  **"Dragon Burst Gatling!"**

"Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora!" Michael shouted as his punches were digging into Riser's attack slowly pushing it back to the man who watched in fright.

"I-Impossible, he's actually stopping it!?"

"Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora!"

Riser's face grew pale at the sight below.

"He's a monster! That's it, I have to end this now!"

Riser put his palm out forward, and tried to add on another blast of flames to completely crush Michael, but then felt somewhat exhausted as he tried to do so as the amount he fired was by a little amount doing little to stop Michael, who continued to push through and attack.

"The hell? My flames aren't coming out as strong as before!" Riser gasped.

"What's happening?" Asia asked.

Hearing this from her position, Rias said, "Riser used up all of his stamina to create that massive ball of flames, he can heal himself and use the power of fire and wind at any time at his own disposal, but his stamina isn't immortal like himself."

"A-Almost t..there!" Michael's fists grew numb through the intense heat and pain of the overuse of his dragon power but he still kept firing off his fists at the fire ball, finally after a few more minutes Michael was able to control the lengths to where he could push back the fire ball as he cocked his fist back once more and said, "Hey Riser!"

"Gugh!" Riser jumped at Michael's sudden call then answered, "W-What?"

"If you can't handle the heat then stay out of the kitchen!" Michael fires his punch at the fire ball one last time before it gets thrown back and hits Riser himself who was too slow to dodge.

"Uaaaaaargh!" Riser screamed in pain.

_'It burns! It burns! But I can't stop now!' Michael thought out loud as he continued to move forward._

Michael cocked back his fist once more and propelled his whole body through the fireball as he aims directly fire Riser. But the intense flames were too much for him as his armor starts to slowly break off starting with his chest plate then his greaves, his gauntlets and lastly his mask as Michael's unprotected body was now traveling through the flames. With his armor off now Michael would have succumbed to the flames and died but he continued moving forward as he could see the silhouette of the Yakitori ahead!

"Uuuoooooooooh!" Michael roared as he got closer to Riser.

"!" Looking into the ball of flames, Riser gasped as he could see the sight of a red western dragon behind the approaching Michael.

**"Dragon Buster!"**

***SMASH!***

Michael sees Riser up ahead and fires his red aura clad fist at the man's gut as he completely passed through the entire fire ball.

"DAMN YOUUUUU!" Riser cried as the punch forces the man to vomit out a terrifyingly large amount of blood, looking down at Michael Riser could see a dangerous killing intent within Michael's dragon eye.

"If you ever mess with me, my friends, or Buchou again, then I'll make sure to crush that will of yours to ever stand in our way again, understand?"

Riser's eyes then dyed down in fear.

***THUD!***

***BOOOOOOOOM!***

The fireball then grew highly unstable and explodes sending both Michael and Riser falling in different directions.

The impact of the explosion sent Riser falling to the ground with a loud...

***DOOOON!***

Crashing into the ground below Riser's body laid out in a massive crater.

"Riser-sama!"

"Onii-sama!"

Ravel and Yubelluna flew over to Riser's side to pick him up only to have the man's body slowly light up and disappear as he trembled in not only pain but...fear,

"N-No...more, please..."

[Riser Phoenix-sama loses. He has retired. Thus this ends the Rating Game. Rias Gremory-sama's team are the victors.]

The final announcement rang through the demolished replica of Kuoh Academy as everyone grew the correct responses.

"Impossible, we the house of Phoenix have lost?" Yubelluna's eyes were filled with disbelief.

"..." Ravel was staying place as she remembered the words of the Pawn go through her head.

_-You listen little girl if you don't want to get caught up into something you may regret then don't come near the School Building Roof!-_

Ravel remembered Michael's very words and could feel a slight heroic vibe from it even though it wasn't meant to be taken that way, but still it was able to make her blush a little.

But as for Michael...

**[Burst]**

Suddenly all of Michael's physical energy disappeared after that last hit as he was left mentally alright. The boy was covered in burns, bruises and some blood it was rare to see anyone stay alive with these injuries. All that remained of Michael's clothing were his red shirt as his school jacket was burned off, his tattered pants, and his single sneaker as the other foot had lost its own along with the sock.

_'I guess that the side effects of using the Balance Breaker didn't disappear when I gave up my left eye.' Michael thought then said,_

"Hehe, but who cares we won..." Michael smiled as he was slowly plummeting towards the ground as his body was incapable of moving.

 **[Your actions during this game were quite dangerous and suicidal. In my years as a Dragon, I have**   **never seen such a host attempt these actions before that is why I may have to consider you the most Reckless Sekiryuutei in history.]**

Michael smiled and said, "I don't care, I was able to win and kick the crap out of that douchebag Riser, nothing could spoil this moment for me." Michael smiled.

**[You do realize you are falling to you death, correct?]**

"I am?" Michael looked beneath to see the fast approaching ground below, "Oh I guess I am... HELP!" Michael suddenly cried in fear.

**[Well, your Balance Breaker has improved because of the price you paid, but that only means it will be more harmful for you in the future. Your current state puts your body in a temporary state of rest meaning you're a vegetable until 24 hours have passed, but that is the correct price to pay for achieving Balance Breaker when you were barely fully ready to handle it.]**

"OI! Ddraig, why are you talking about this now? Help me, I'm gonna die!" Michael cried out pitifully as his calm state of mind from before turned into panic.

**[Moron, I haven't forgotten about you, but it seems your the one who's forgotten someone else.]**

"What the hell does that even mean!?" Michael screamed until he heard a call for his name.

"Michael!"

Turning his head to the side, Michael could see his master flying to him as fast as she can.

"B-Buchou." Michael smiled as he got caught by Rias just in time as the two land onto the ground.

Feeling the woman hug him tightly, Michael could see that she was happily crying,

"You did it...You really did it." Rias sniffled.

_**[Kukuku, enjoy yourself, Partner, you've earned it.] Ddraig then cuts the link and lets the scene play out.** _

Michael who was smiling gave Rias a tired look and said, "Yeah, I was able to do it, so don't cry Buchou, please?"

Michael could tell Asia was nearby watching, but he could feel that she was watching with teary eyes and a smile.

"You moron." Rias smiled and grabbed the side of Michael's cheek and stares at his dragon eye with sad eyes,

"You gave up your eye to the dragon in your boosted gear to gain more power correct?"

"Yeah, and I already achieved Balance Breaker in my training. So you don't have to worry it was actually able to increase the time I can stay in it for a little while, and besides a person like me had to rely on skill since I don't have talent. Now I can make sure you'll never get messed with by that stupid Yakitori jerk again." Michael smiled.

But after hearing this, Rias narrows her eyes at Michael and looked even more sad.

"You do realize that it will never turn back to normal?" Rias said.

"Meh! I don't care I would gladly give up more parts of my body to Ddraig if it means you'll smile again." Michael chuckled light heatedly, "I'd rather be a freak than watch that smile of yours disappear.

"Michael..." Rias said with her eyes growing wide as her tone was astonished.

"I know the others will be sad when they find out, but I don't really want them to because it's my choice to do it." Michael smiled, "And seeing you win is a great way for me to repay the kindness you've shown me, The Great Hanamura."

Looking off to the side, Rias said,

"Michael, you may have prevented this engagement, but more others will come. If that were to happen then you will..."

"What are you talking about? No more engagements will ever happen again as long as I'm concerned."

"!" Rias looks back to see Michael's grinning face.

"Because from now on I'm gonna stay by your side and make sure your happiness comes first before anything else, okay? Because I want to protect you, Rias." Michael smiled with truth behind his words.

Rias blushed at Michael's words as it took Michael a little more time to digest what he said.

"Oh crap! Sorry, Buchou I used your name without permission again! Dammit, I ruined the moment and I thought I sounded so cool until I screwed it u-Mmmrph!" Michael cried out and shook his head but the he felt Rias touch his cheek once more and lean herself forward...

*Chu~*

Overlapping Michael's lips were his master's, Rias as it was a soft kiss which left Michael speechless (Partly because he was in the middle of a mouth hug).

_'A-A kiss?' Michael's brain was flipping out, 'I'm kissing Buchou!'_

After a minute passes, Rias breaks the kiss and said, "My first Kiss. Isn't something like this treasured by girls in Japan?"

Michael simply nods with a blank face as his voice was taken away once he was kissed.

"What's wrong? Aren't you happy with your reward?" Rias said in wonder.

Suddenly Michael got the ability to speak once more, but it was in a high pitched voice, "N-No, its just that it surprised me, yeah, surprised me."

"I see, so was it your first kiss too?" Rias asked.

Michael looked to the right then left suspiciously before nodding, "Y-Yeah."

(In the monitoring room)

"That liar." Saji shook his head and sighed, "But good for him, he won though, but now I'm being left behind by him."

Sona looks over to Saji and sternly said, "Then you'll just have to work harder too, Saji."

"Hai! Kaichou!" Saji bowed then realized a sharp killing intent filling the air, he slowly turns back to see a smiling Raynare looking at the scream with tears streaming down her dark eyes.

"Ufufufu, Me and Michael-sama are gonna have alooooot to talk about when he comes back! Ufufufufufu!" Raynare was clearly peeved off about Michael losing his supposed first kiss.

(With Michael)

Auuuuuuu...!"

Michael could hear the disappointed cry of Asia behind him and Rias.

 _'I'm sorry Asia and Buchou, but...you must never know.' Michael thought_.

"And while we're still on the topic of physical contact, say Michael what would you do if I were to give you my virginity?"

Rias' words rang through Michael's head before the teen could calm down after the kiss.

"Y-Your WHAAAT!?" Michael screamed.

Rias smiled teasingly, but stopped when she felt Asia get between her and Michael as the red haired girl lost her grip on the boy and let him fall on the floor.

"Ouch!" Michael twitched in pain.

"Asia, what are you doing?" Rias crossed her arms.

"Michael-san is injured, so I have to heal him before its too late." Asia looked at Rias with teary eyes as a glint of a challenge resided in them.

"Then if that's the case let me hold him while you do it." Rias walks over to kneel next to Michael, but Asia scooted to the spot where she would have stayed.

"Asia, what are you-?" Rias tried to do it again, but Asia then blocked her once more.

"Auuu..." Asia's cheeks puffed out.

"Asia, let me hold Michael while you heal him, he is my [Pawn] so move." Rias ordered.

"No, this way of healing him is much more efficient." Asia then looks to Rias with suspicious eyes before placing Michael's head on her lap to heal him again. This action then stirred an argument between the [King] and [Bishop] as they were unaware of Michael passing out when his head hit the ground.

_'Why me?'_

(In the Underworld)

Standing on a terrace was the current Maou, Sirzechs Lucifer, a handsome man with a young appearance as if his age was in his early 20's, he has shoulder length crimson red hair and blue-green eyes as his power as he wore a rather fancy looking robes and a fancy mantle on his shoulders.

And right beside him was his best friend and personal adviser, Kai who is the husband of the current Leviathan and Brother-in-Law of Sona Sitri. He is also the father of the current next-next head of the House of Sitri.

Smiling, Kai hums next to a smiling Sirzechs, who looks at him with quirked eyebrow,

"Now what's gotten you so happy, I mean aside from you destroying my Father's planned engagement for my sister with the new Red Dragon Emperor."

"Oh, you know, I'm just happy that I could see Riser-san learn his lesson from all of this." Kai raised his finger in the air and smiled.

"Oh really and what lesson would that be may I ask?" Sirzechs chuckles.

"The lesson today was to never speak ill of my family while we're in the same room, or should I say dimension." Kai answered then rubbed his chin, "But I suppose he learned not to mess with an underdog especially if the underdog has the Red Dragon Emperor helping him out."

"So you were still furious with Riser when he was speaking ill of your child, but if you wished to, you could have asked me to use another method of breaking up the engagement with no violence, but instead you persuaded me to do the opposite and offer my little sister a rating game. May I ask why?"

Kai opened his eyes and smirked, "Because...it was fun to watch and it gave me the chance to interact with the Sekiryuutei up close and train him for my amusement."

Sirzechs simply laughs and said, "You never change it's always fighting with you, but I do see why your interested in the boy he is rather...strange, but its not so much a bad thing just a unique one. I'm just glad that my sister has a trustful servant by her side."

He continued with a slight joyous chuckle,

"He even stated that he wanted to become a Maou, he's truly interesting indeed especially if the Welsh Dragon wants to be a future leader for the devils."

"Yeah, but I know the future will not get boring any time soon my friend because if the Welsh Dragon presides here then very soon..." Kai said looking up at the unchanging sky of the underworld.

"Yes, I know very soon the two forces of Red and White will clash as the fated duel between the Welsh Dragon and Vanishing Dragon may draw nearer than expected."

Appearing through a magic circle, Grayfia walks over to the pair and bowed, "I hope you two enjoyed the game."

"We did and thank you for spectating, Grayfia." Sirzechs nodded as Grayfia bows in respect.

Kai looks in the air and smiles,  _'Michael-san, you may have grown strong, but not strong enough. Soon, I expect you to reach the level of a High-Class and someday eventually give me the challenge that I seek.'_

"Well see both of you later, I have business to attend to." Kai walks past Grayfia and raised his hand in the gesture of farewell.

"Whenever you say something like that I start to worry you'll cause trouble." Grayfia said looking back at the man.

Kai raised his hand then shook his head, "Not this time, Grayfia-san. I actually do have business to attend and it involves meeting with "him"."

"I see, well then keep safe and remember to return soon or Serafall will throw tantrum because of your long disappearance." Sirzechs gave a bitter smile.

"Understood." Kai groaned as the thought that such a thing could happen during his absence...again.

Kai nods then pulls something out of his pocket which seemed to be a letter.

"Grayfia-san, can you please give this to Michael-san once he recovers?" Kai handed her the letter.

"Yes, and may I ask what is it?" Grayfia asked.

"These are contact lenses for his new dragon eye so he can disguise it and also there is a gift for him inside he has to read himself." Kai chuckled then smirked and winked, "So until we meet again!"

* * *

**Next Chapter- My new hectic Life as a Devil Continues on!**


	15. My new hectic Life as a Devil Continues on!

**My new hectic Life as a Devil Continues on!**

* * *

About 2 weeks had passed since the Rating Game with Riser Phoenix as Michael was able to secure his master, her first Rating Game win and also break her engagement with the Yakitori, Riser himself. And during those past 2 weeks a surprising event had occurred, it was Rias moving in to live with Michael and his other two roommates, the reason for this was so she could get closer to her servant but somehow Michael knew that wasn't the case, but was okay with letting his master stay with him.

But Raynare and Asia were rather uncomfortable with a new Boss Class challenger moving in with them. Now resting from the long battle, Michael is back to enjoying his normal school days as before or at least as normal as it'll get for a devil...

In the morning, Michael was wearing a black shirt with white shorts as was still resting in his crowded bed trying to find a comfortable spot to sleep in during the night, but was able to find a soft pillow to hug through his good night sleep. Suddenly sunlight from the window shines down into his room and shines in Michael's face stirring the boy half awake,

"*Yawn* Morning already?" Michael opened his tired eyes then looked around his room to see everything was where it should be, "It's good to be back."

Suddenly Michael felt something soft in his right hand as it showed signs of light movement.

"Hm, What the heck is this?" Michael moved his hand a little to feel the soft object roll around in his hand, "Is this even a pillow?"

Michael continued feeling up the soft object in his hands before a voice shook him out of his curiosity.

"Ara, your awake Michael and you seem to be enjoying yourself."

Michael then froze as he remembers that voice as his eyes lost their tired look and turned to that of shock as he looks forward to see the back of someone's head as he saw long, crimson hair ahead along with the face which turned back to look at him, his master Rias Gremory who was completely naked,

"B-Buchou?" Michael stuttered as takes a closer look at his position to see that he was in fact hugging Rias from behind as his chest was pressed up against her back and also did he forget to mention the fact that she was completely NAKED!

_'Ack! I did it again and what does she mean by enjoying myself?' Michael thought then felt his hand twitch slightly and felt that strange soft feeling again, 'Wait am I!'_

Michael looked Rias' body to see he was openly grasping her entire breast with hand.

"I have to say your method of saying Good Morning surprised me." Rias said teasingly.

_'Uwaaaaaah! Ddraiiiiiiig!' Michael cried out._

**_[What is it Partner is there an enemy nearby!? Are you in danger!?] Ddraig suddenly awoke from his rest and shouted._ **

_'I'm trapped Ddraig and I don't know how to break out of this situation!' Michael cried._

**_[A trap? Be more specific what kind of trap!?]_ **

_'I-I-I found myself hugging Buchou and touching her breasts and I don't know how to explain help me!'_

**_[...You woke me up for this...] Ddraig sounded disappointed then yawned, [I'm not going to be your solution for this one partner call me when you have a "real" emergency I can help with. See ya.]_ **

_And with that Ddraig cut the link._

_'No! You bastard!' Michael cried in his mind._

Thinking fast, Michael quickly came up with a response to this situation.

"W-Wait Buchou before you get mad I just wanna say that Ddraig made me do it, and whatever else I did when I was sleeping it was also him so I'm innocen-"

*Chu*

Rias leaned back and caught Michael off guard as she kissed his cheek.

"Silly Boy, you don't have to make up a story like that and I personally don't mind if you use me as your personal hugging pillow because I believe its much more enjoyable when you are the one doing it instead of me." Rias pressed herself closer to Michael who in turn grows red and gulps,

"R-Really, your not mad?"

"Of course not, I believe us staying like this can lead to something naughty which could help me better communicate with my adorable servant." Rias said with a naughty voice which caused Michael to stiffen as she turns back and whispers, "It's fine if you have the urge to attack me."

"W-What?" Michael gulped then he heard the sound of light breathing on both of his sides and remembered that both Raynare and Asia are still asleep, "But Buchou we can't both Asia and Ray-chan will hear and I'm a dude so if you say that it will-"

"So lets be quiet about it as we start, remember I'll do anything to please you." Rias placed her hand over Michael's own which still stayed grasping at her breast.

_'What's gotten into Buchou lately, first it was her moving into my small apartment, next it was her making me lunches for school, which taste awesome, and now its this I don't know why she's so nice to me all of a sudden but I know it will be to some getting used to.' Michael gulped then felt something behind him ooze a terrifying pressure,_

_'Wait I sense a disturbance could it be...?'_

_Michael looked behind his back to see a hand instantly grabbing his ear and pulling it._

"Ouch! It hurts! It hurts!" Michael was suddenly pulled away by Rias as the mood was interrupted by an angry Raynare who was wearing a pink nightgown.

"Michael-sama care to explain what you are doing?" Raynare said with annoyed half lidded eyes.

"Ack! Nothing I was doing nothing wrong so please release my ear!" Michael said with teary eyes.

Casting her glance from Michael, Raynare focuses her sights on Rias who was now sitting up and giving the girl a challenging smile.

"Rias-san may I ask, why you are naked and why you seem to be getting a little too close to Michael-kun?" Raynare asked in a demanding tone.

Smiling at that Rias replied, "I can't really sleep comfortably with my clothes on and I believe it is within my own right to partake in some skinship with my servant."

Raynare retorted with a blush, "B-But such an indecent thing is not allowed in Michael-sama's room as he even told Asia and I not to do it again."

_'Yeah, that day was sort of complicated as I woke up with my hand between Ray-chan's naked thighs and once Asia woke up to see it she got all sad and started to strip off her clothes just so she doesn't feel left out.' Michael thought._

"Well again as his master such rules won't apply to me and I don't see him complaining right Michael." Rias asked.

Michael, who was absent mindedly staring at his master's naked chest shook his head as Rias smiled.

"See?"

Raynare's hair covered her eyes as she looked a little pissed off by Michael's answer to Rias.

"I see if that's how things are going to be then-then!" Raynare released Michael's ear and stood up as her eyes were revealed to be watery, "I'll get naked too!"

"EH!?" Michael was shocked by Raynare's sudden cry as the Fallen Angel was quick to strip herself out of the nightgown.

_'No! If this starts then a chain reaction will commence!' Michael thought but all of those thoughts disappeared as Raynare was already naked and decided to pounce the off guard Michael._

*Munyuu!*

"Michael-sama look at me instead!" Raynare cried as she pressed her large chest up against Michael's.

"Ray-chan!" Michael screamed and panicked as he could fell the girl's warm chest through his shirt.

Rias watched this with an annoyed expression and said, "Raynare-san release yourself from Michael at once."

Raynare looked back at Rias and stuck out her tongue as she lost her teary eyed face rather quickly,

"No, you may be Michael-sama's master, but I'm still a Fallen Angel so I don't have to listen to you at all. I deserve to also get looked at by Michael-sama the most."

Rias was easily seen to be angered as a red aura surrounds her body.

_'Oh shit!' Michael's eyes widened._

*Grab!*

Pulling Michael away, Rias said,

"That may be true, but he is my, servant to do with as I please what right do you have to say that?"

*Grab!*

Grabbing his other Raynare screamed,

"One day I'll become Michael-sama's servant so he can look at me as much as he wants!"

"Let go of him!" Rias cried as she pulled one arm.

"No, you let go!" Raynare cried.

"No!"

_'Agh! Their gonna have halves of me at this point! How can this get any worse!' Michael groans in pain until he hears a slight crying noise behind him, taking a glance back he sees Asia starting to strip out of her nightgown as well, wait when did she wake up!?_

"Auuuuuuuu! I don't want to be left out too!" Asia cried.

_'I was freaking kidding!' Michael cursed himself for again placing another jinx upon the situation._

(In Kuoh Academy)

Since Fall Season is over now, Michael now wore his summer uniform which consisted of the Kuoh Academy Dress shirt, a red shirt with the logo of a large skeletal dragon in the middle, black jeans and finally red and black sneakers as Michael wore his goggles on his forehead.

During class break, Michael and Saji were walking down the halls of the school building as Michael walked tiredly beside his friend while trying to understand why most of the girls in the hallway are giving him fearful stares.

"Hey, are you alright man?" Saji asked.

"Yeah, and your hair looks stupid." Michael rolled his sore shoulders around in a grouchy mood.

"Well that's a definite no." Saji sighed, "So what isn't Casa De Hanamura more off hook ever since your master started living with you?"

Michael looked at Saji and said, "Okay first off Saji you shouldn't try talking street especially if you don't know how to use it right, second no one ever says "Off the Hook" anymore its gotten old and everyone knows it and three ever since Buchou moved in I haven't been able to let my guard down and relax."

"Well that is a curse for having too many girls living in your home." Saji shrugged as the two guys stopped at an open window and looked outside of it to see the girl's track team was practicing.

"It's not that I don't want Buchou staying with me because its actually nice to have her company, and she's a great cook like Asia and Raynare but ever since she moved both of the two started acting strange and are doing weird stuff to grab my attention." Michael propped his head up with one arm,

"*Sigh* I just don't know how to deal with this now."

Changing the subject, Saji looks at Michael's eyes to see they are back to normal,

"So what happened to that dragon eye you had?" Saji asked.

"Huh, oh, this?" Michael used his index finger to pull off a contact lens to show Saji that the eye was still that of a dragon's, "I was given a contact lens to cover it up in public." Michael then lifted up his arm to revealed he had no bandages around it any more because it took the shape of what it used to be from before,

"And I don't use bandages anymore because after I used Balance Breaker the Dragon's Power exceeded the seal and made it unusable so Akeno-senpai or Buchou scatter the power and changed it's shape back to my old human one."

Saji shook his head and chuckled, "I still can't believe you got Balance Breaker already, but I guess that means I'll have to do my best to surpass you now."

"Hah! I'd like to see you try that because no one can beat the Great Hanamura now!" Michael grinned but then remembered an image of himself as a kid covered in bruises on the ground as he looked up at another kid his age stood over him with his arms crossed,

_'That's right I guess not even "he" can now...' Michael's eyes narrowed down at the mental image._

"Mike?"

"Ah! Sorry I was just remembering something important is all." Michael smiled bitterly then noticed a couple of girls walking past him giving the boy fearful stares.

"It's him."

"Quick walk faster so you don't make direct eye contact..."

Saji simply snickered to himself as Michael's jaw fell.

"Yo! What the hell was that? I've been receiving comments and glances from the girls like that ever since I came back to school!"

Michael grinded his teeth, sure he wanted to be well-known throughout the school, but he didn't want to be known as the guy for everyone to always avoid and since the girls are doing it then so will the guys.

"You don't know?" Saji tilts his head while leaning back against the window as Michael shook his head.

"Well it's only natural since you were gone that one week, but I guess rumors sure do fly fast. Matsuda and Motohama have been spreading them like wildfires that go like this 'The Wild Beast Michael playing around with beautiful girls. He's got a hold on Rias-senpai and Himejima-senpai. He's forcing them to do evil, sexual acts against their will. "Fufufu. The dignified Ojou-sama is making such a slutty face for me! You pig!" ' sort of like that."

Saji shrugged,

"Also there's one about Raynare-san also which involves "The Wild Beast Michael sets his fangs on the foreign transfer student, Raynare! Through devious teachings of sexual torture he was able to break her mind and turn her into an obedient servant to the point to where her once painful cries of pain turned into ecstatic moans of, "Michael-sama! More! Please I can't live without you inside of me! You can have any part of me as long as you at least stick it in m-me...Iyaaaaan~!" Excuse me for my bad imitations, but it's true."

"WHAAAAT!?" Michael screamed and grabbed his head in shock.

"But that's only the beginning dude since there's this other rumor that sort of made the girls start to fear you since the next one starts as 'The beast finally set his filthy fangs on the school's mascot, Koneko-chan, the girl with a fragile loli body. Then he instigated intense sexual intercourse that could easily break her body. He feasted on an underdeveloped body. "Senpai...please stop..." But her words were futile to the beast. His lust for sex then reached the Angel who had just transferred to our school; he attacked Asia-chan on the first day. "I'll teach you about Japanese culture with my special after school lesson". He made the Angel fall down to the abyss at dawn... Ever since he took her into his house. The never ending hell took place in your small room. The brute Michael's hunt for beautiful girls will never end.' and that's it for the girls of the Occult Research Club."

Michael was on the floor on all fours crying as he said, "Why me? Why do I have to get dragged into this crap, I wanted to be known as a badass not a sex fiend!"

"Well, I guess this is what you wanted, but it turned out to be a monkey's paw." Saji scratched the back of his head.

Suddenly something clicked in Michael's head, "Wait! You said those were the rumors involving the girls then that means that there are rumors about..."

Michael froze in place as Saji nods.

"Yep, and some girls are already (MichaelxKiba) fans so its basically Beauty and the Beast." Saji said.

"..." Michael looked down and let his hair cover his face as he can hear the two perverts talking down the hall right now.

"You know what, I guess this was Karma for something I did to them." Michael forced a smile as he slowly picked himself up.

"Are you okay?" Saji asked.

"But you know..." Michael walked over to the nearby janitor and grabbed the mop out of his hands.

"Hey, you-!" The janitor started but...

"Piss off, Old man!" Michael screamed earning everyone's attention in the hallway, as the janitor simply nods and runs away in fright as he was visibly crying,

"Screw this job! Cleaning at American Schools are much better than this!"

Walking down the hallway, Michael looks at Matsuda and Motohama who were trembling in fear.

"So guys you think it's funny to make a joke of my social life?" Michael said with dark eyes.

"You need to be social before you can have a social li-" Saji started.

"Was I talking to you!?" Michael spat.

"Sorry." Saji raised his hands in defeat.

"But you know what I believe rumors can come back and bite you in the ass, but sadly I don't have a dog to do that for me." Michael inched closer to the two perverts who stepped back.

"Good thing I got this stick to shove up both your assess, hahahahaha!" Michael laughed crazily.

_'This isn't going to help your status get any better if your acting like this.' Saji sweatdropped then looked to see the many people trembling at the scene, 'Especially if you doing it in public!'_

"B-B-But you just have one stick." Motohama gulped.

"Oh, do I now? Well, let's fix that!"

***SNAP!***

Michael broke the mop with his knee as he held two sticks now, "See a magic trick? I made two sticks appear! Now I'm gonna make them disappear."

"W-Wha?" Matsuda tried to say something, but suddenly Michael's face was close to their as he whispered,

_"Run!"_

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" The Perverted Duo cried and ran away leaving Michael to stand in the hallway which was surrounded in an awkward atmosphere.

"Phew, That was well handled so does anyone want these?" Michael returned to normal as he held up the broken mop in the air.

"Quick run away before he attacks someone else!" The whole hallway was evacuated leaving only just Michael and Saji alone within it.

"Michael you really overdo things sometimes that it's not even funny." Saji face palmed himself as Michael slumped down and sighed,

"M-My bad..."

Thinking things couldn't go any more wrong right now Michael heard a voice which he knew all to well,

"Well, if it isn't the "Beast" Michael Hanamura."

"Kiryuu Aika!" Michael growled as he looked up to see a brown haired, glasses wearing girl looking at Michael with a smirk.

"We meet again, Michael-kun, how have you been?" Kiryuu crossed her arms.

"Bad, now its worse since your here now." Michael took a defensive stance against the girl.

_'Am I missing something?' Saji thought._

"Aw, but I thought we were friends you know since I know some things about you, well, you can say I know something "Big" about you." Kiryuu adjusted her glasses.

"Stop it!" Michael growled while turning red, "Just why are you in the presence of the Great Hanamura?"

"Now, now don't get all mad. I was just helping my friend look for you is all." Kiryuu said.

"Your friend?" Michael repeated.

"Michael-san." From behind Kiryuu was Asia who walked up to the talking group.

"Oh, hello, Asia-san." Saji waved.

"Hello, Saji-san." Asia returned the greeting.

"Asia? Wait, your friends with this girl!?" Michael points at Kiryuu in an exaggerated fashion.

"Yes." Asia nodded happily.

"It's not so surprising if you look at us, we're basically the best of friends!" Kiryuu smirked as the light in the hallway shone on her glasses.

_'This girl is p-poison if she stays near Asia any longer, she'll corrupt her.' Michael thought._

"But are you really sure you want a guy like this to be your boy-Mugah!" Kiryuu had her mouth covered by Asia who was blushing.

"Aaaah! Kiryuu-san, you promised not to say anything!" Asia cried.

Michael, who was confused tilted his head until Saji places a hand onto his shoulder and said seriously,

"Mike, if I weren't in the student council right now I'd have dropped you in a vat of boiling oil right now."

"Yeah...wait what?" Michael growled.

"Just saying." Saji chuckled.

"Why you basta-!"

***THUMP!* *THUMP!***

"Gah! Dammit!" Michael grabbed his right arm as he felt a powerful pulse go through it.

"Huh?" Saji blinked.

"Hey, what's up with you?" Kiryuu asked.

"Oh, nothing! I just had a sick feeling in my stomach is all, don't worry~!" Michael chuckled as he started to walk past the girl.

"But you grabbed your wrist." Kiryuu said suspiciously.

"Look, you're not a doctor, so you can't tell how the Great Michael's body works so shut up!" Michael growled.

"Your right I guess trying to figure out the "Great" Michael's mind will be a mystery for all." Kiryuu teased.

_'One of these days, Kiryuu, one of these days!' Michael thought._

"Michael-san, is it your-?" Asia asked as Michael nods.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Michael whispered back as he left the hallway in search for one of his Upperclassmen.

(In the Clubroom)

Sitting on one of the couches, Michael was wearing nothing but his jeans as his upper body was naked, since the ceremony strangely needs person's shirt off for some reason.

_'I'm so glad I got to Akeno-senpai as soon as I did or things would have turned bad.' Michael looked at his right arm to see black claws and some scales emerging._

*Gacha!*

Looking over his shoulder, Michael sees an stimulating sight as it was Akeno wearing nothing but a wet Obi which stuck to her skin that made most of her body transparent and easily seen.

"Thank you for waiting." Akeno untied her ribbon and let down her hair as she walks over to the boy.

"Sorry to make you come all of a sudden, Akeno-senpai." Michael scratched the back of his head.

"Don't worry Michael-kun it isn't your fault." Akeno kneeled down and gave Michael a somewhat seductive smile he couldn't understand, "Now let's begin."

"A-Alright, I'm in your hands." Michael closed his eyes tightly as he caught a glimpse of his senior's naked body.

"What's wrong?" Akeno asked.

"No, it's just that I don't wanna look at your wet body while you do this for me, it just selfishness because your helping me fix my arm as I stare at your body." Michael said seriously.

"Ufufu, you're really an honest boy, Michael-kun it's really adorable." Akeno grabbed Michael's hand, "You shouldn't worry about me, I had to wash myself quickly before the ceremony, when you called on me so suddenly it actually made less time for me to dry myself. Forgive me if I make you uncomfortable."

"N-No, it's fine. It's really okay." Michael said as he kept his eyes closed.

"Your dragon arm's spirit is stronger than expected so our only resort was to change its shape with magic, but as you already know it works only temporarily." Akeno explained as she held the finger up to her mouth, "That's why I have to suck it out of your fingers directly and take everything out."

Proceeding, Akeno puts Michael's finger in her mouth and begins sucking out the dragon's power manually as Michael tries his best to suppress a squeak trying to pop out of his throat each time Akeno rolled it around his finger. But his resistance breaks as he moans out,

"Gya."

Stopping Akeno looks up to see Michael's face as his eyes remained closed while panting as she releases his finger from her mouth,

"Ara, seeing such a reaction from you makes me want to tease you even more."

"T-Tease?" Michael repeated.

"Yes, I don't think there's a punishment for being kind to my kouhai is there?" Akeno then crawled up to Michael's lap.

_'What's going on!?' Michael squeaked._

Suddenly a whisper from his senpai surprises him,

"I'm fonder of you than you think, Michael-kun."

"R-Really?" Michael asked but then stopped as he felt Akeno's soft body on his own.

"I wonder if I would to lay a hand on you then would Rias be mad." Akeno said to herself.

_'So Akeno-senpai can call Buchou by her name. I guess they really are best friend and wait what does she mean lay a hand on me and how would Buchou be mad at that?' Michael thought._

Picking up Michael's hand, Akeno says, "You're such a sinful man."

"What sinful what do you me-Gyaaah!"

She then proceeds to lick, Michael's right hand and continued the ceremony which lasted 5 more minutes until she was finished.

"There now the dragon power is all out of your hand you should be fine for a while." Akeno wiped her mouth off with a handkerchief.

Standing up, Michael opened and closed his hand and grinned, "It even feels the way it used to too! Yosh! The Great Hanamura is feeling better once again!" Michael chuckled then looked back at Akeno and smiled, "Thanks for the help Akeno-senpai you're the best!"

_'I don't know why, but I feel like I need to take a shower to wash off some of this strange shame after this.' Michael thought._

As she was about to leave Akeno then begins to fix her Obi and says, "I believe you truly aregreat."

"Huh?" Michael looks back to see Akeno who continues,

"During the battle with Phoenix you were getting up time and time again after getting knocked down..." Akeno tightens her Obi a little more as she remembers the rest of the fight she watched while getting her injuries tended to, "You were really manly, Michael-kun and finally when you gave up your right eye to enter Balance Break and save Buchou, even defeating the well-known Immortal Phoenix."

Michael looks at Akeno who smiles back at him,

"After watching such a gentleman use all he had to fight made me feel so..." Akeno puts a finger onto Michael's bare chest and brings it down.

"Ngh!" Michael trembled in sensitivity.

"I wonder if this is love?"

***Ding!* *Dong!* *Ding!* *Dong!***

The bell rang indicating the end of free period as Akeno prepares to leave as she bows and said, "Let us meet again."

Upon her leaving the room, Michael was left alone and felt somewhat shameful for some reason, "Yeah, I think I should really go home and...shower, yeah taking shower sounds good right now."

Getting ready to leave for class, Michael suddenly remembers something that Rias told him in the morning after everything settled down.

"Oh! That's right I forgot that the Club's having a meeting at my place!" Michael screamed.

"Aw, crap the club is meeting at my place!"

(In Michael's apartment)

In the evening after school everyone from the ORC club was gathered in Michael's room which was cleaned up by Raynare so it could fit everyone inside despite its small space. Once everyone made themselves comfortable the meeting began to go underway rather smoothly,

"Now let's go through our regular meeting shall we?" Rias said as she sat on Michael's bed and drank tea.

"This month's contract numbers are: Akeno, 11."

"Yes."

"Koneko, 10"

"...Yes."

"Yuuto, 8."

"Yes."

"Asia, 3."

"Y-Yes." Asia timidly nodded.

"Wow, that's awesome Asia you're doing good!" Michael grinned.

"That's great, Asia-san." Kiba smiled.

"Ara ara, good job." Akeno praised.

"That's pretty good for a newbie." Koneko complimented.

"Oh, thank you so much!" Asia smiled brightly at the compliments.

"And Michael..." Rias takes a sip of her tea then says, "2."

Michael slumped his head down and thought,  _'Stupid client asking for a pet, how was I supposed to know he was allergic to cat dander!?'_

"Man, this sucks I lost a contract with one client, but..." Michael clenched his fist and smiles, "I'll do my best to do better!"

"That's the way to think." Rias nods, "If you focus on what your goal is then you'll be able to a High-Class Devil in no time."

"High-Class? Screw that I'm aiming to be an Ultimate-Class then be a Maou!" Michael grinned excitedly, "Yeah the Great Hanamura isn't going down just yet!"

Everyone, but Koneko laughed at Michael's usual proclamation.

"I wonder how you are always so full of spirit." Rias said with a happy expression.

***Gacha!***

Opening the bedroom door was Raynare who wore an apron over her uniform as she brought in snacks.

"Hello everyone, I hope I'm not interrupting?" Raynare entered with a nervous expression.

"No, not at all." Rias shook her head.

"Hey, guess who's earning more contracts between Michael-kun and Asia-san?" Akeno smiled.

"Asia." Raynare immediately answered.

"Hey, what the hell Ray-chan!" Michael growled and stood, "It could've been a trick question and the answer was both!"

Raynare looked at Michael with half lidded eyes then looked to Rias, "How many did he gain?"

"About negative 1." Rias answered truthfully.

"So the only one improving is..." Raynare began.

"Asia."

"Asia."

"Asia."

"...Not Michael-senpai." Koneko said.

Michael looked down then walked towards the corner of his room and sat near it as he sulked, "I don't care for any of you anymore..."

"It seems his spirit were short lived after all." Rias gave a bitter smile.

Everyone looked at Michael and sweatdropped.

"Oh, Michael-sama, I found something interesting while cleaning around your room." Raynare pulled out 3 Photo Albums.

"O-Oi, what are you doing with those!?" Michael perked up at the sight of the albums and looked terrified.

"Nothing, I just so happened to find them while cleaning out the underside of your bed is all." Raynare passed them out.

_'Nooooooo! Don't look at them!' Michael screamed in his mind as his embarrassment commenced._

"Wait, guys shouldn't we focus on the meeting?" Michael forced a smile as the girls began looking through his photos.

Looking at the first photo was Raynare who blushed and giggled, "This one has to be Michael-sama when he was in Grade School."

The photo revealed a photo of an 8 year old Michael running through the park wearing a blue cape like a super hero.

_'That one was taken when a couple of high school girls came to the park to see the little children play, I could've sworn they were Shotacons by the amount of pictures they took."_

"Ara Ara, is Michael-kun pretending to be a super hero how cute!" Akeno giggled as she stared at the photo album intently.

"…" Koneko was looking in her album closely as she stares at a photo of a 10 year old Michael running away from a pack of squirrels, the most noticeable features was the tears Michael shed.

"Michael-senpai's frank and humiliating past." Koneko commented.

"Oi, no one asked you for your opinion!" Michael growled but stopped as he thought he saw the littlest of smiles on Koneko's face as she gazes through the album.

_'That photo was taken by some random guy on the street who was looking to be famous online, fortunate for him I was being chased by many squirrels who smelled the bag of acorns I was collecting for a school project. That was the first and last environmental project I've done since.' Michael sighed._

Michael looked over his shoulder to see something rather strange.

"Little Michael from Childhood. Little Michael from Childhood. Little Michael from Childhood. Little Michael from Childhood. Little Michael from Childhood. Little Michael from Childhood. Little Michael from Childhood. Little Michael from Childhood. "

Chanting these words were Rias whose cheeks were red as her eyes sparkled each time she looked at a photo of a young Michael.

"Buchou?" Michael sweatdropped at the many chanting.

_'You know whatever you want won't come true just by staring at it…' Michael thought with half lidded eyes._

"I agree Rias-san these pictures of Michael-sama as an adorable child is too irresistible that I can't look away." Raynare's eyes sparkled.

"Yes I too understand Buchou's feelings. Michael-san in these photos are so cute~!" Asia's eyes also sparkled as all three girls surrounded the single album.

"Why are they so taken with my photos?" Michael asked.

"I believe it's a great way to learn about your character just by looking at them, Michael-kun." Kiba approached Michael as he looked at the album closely.

"Oi, Pretty Boy if you want to keep your hands then you'd best give that back!" Michael lunged at Kiba who jumps high in the air avoiding Michael's attempt to steal back the album.

"Isn't it fine, if we just take a little more of a look?" Kiba then stopped to look at a page in interest, "Michael-kun, who's this with you in the picture?"

Michael calmed himself down and looked at the page then widened his eyes to see the picture Kiba pointed at. It was a photo of an 11 year old Michael covered in bruises as a young boy his age with dark silver hair and icy blue eyes sat on top of him with his arms crossed without a single scratch on him.

"Oh, him? Well, he was one of my childhood friends, wait, no friends are for people you can stand this guy is a huge smartass with a bad attitude and wouldn't do nothing unless it involved some sort of strange impossible challenge which would end up in getting you hurt badly. The person, who took a picture of this was some perverted old man who watched over him and me for about 2 years before they suddenly disappeared without a trace leaving me alone again until I met Saji."

"Do you know his name?" Kiba asked.

"Of course, how could I ever forget a douche's name, he was called, Vali..." Michael scratched the back of his head.

"Huh?" Raynare perked up at the call of that name and whispered to herself, "Vali-sama?"

"Is something wrong?" Michael asked.

"N-No, its nothing Michael-sama don't mind me." Raynare gave a forced smile and went back to looking at his many child photos.

"So you don't have a family?"

"If I did have one why would you think I would seriously live in a one bedroom apartment?"

"No, it's just that, I don't necessarily have a family either." Kiba said sadly.

Michael looked at Kiba in surprise then begrudgingly said, "Oi, aren't you going to keep looking? If you're interested this album has a few of my past friends in there if you still want to look."

"Really, thank you, I appreciate it." Kiba then opened another page to be surprised once more, "Michael-kun, may I ask you about this picture?"

"Yup?" Michael looked at the picture Kiba was staring at and saw a photo of a 6 year old Michael and a light brown haired girl who looked like a tomboy play in front of a fireplace which had a sword on the wall over it.

"Oh, you mean this? Well, there was this girl who lived across the street from me and she would come over to my place to play. They had to move once her parents got a job overseas, yep, this was the first girl I ever interacted with and also my first ki-!" Michael covered his mouth as he heard the sound of the photo albums being loudly shut behind him.

"What was that, Michael?" Rias asked.

"Oh, nothing it was nothing." Michael shook his head with a pale face.

"I see..." Rias went back to examining the photos with the girls as Michael rubbed his forehead,

"That was a close one."

"One more thing." Kiba said with a serious tone, "Do you remember this sword?"

Michael looked at the sword in the picture and said, "Yeah, sure did. The girl's father wouldn't let me touch it when I wanted to use it to cut worms because he kept on glorifying it like something important, why?"

"With this I guess anything can happen for a reason." Kiba said with an anxious smile.

"Is something up with the photo?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, I'm just realizing, who you are and how surprising it is for me to see this object with you." Kiba said.

"What do you mean by that?" Michael asked.

Suddenly Kiba's once bright eyes turned dark as he said in a uncharacteristically dark tone, "This is a Holy Sword."

"A holy what?" Michael blinked.

"Never mind, it's nothing you should worry about." Kiba closed the album and handed it to Michael with his charming smile on and said, "Thank you for allowing me to see your pictures."

"Right." Michael nodded as for that single moment he saw something of Kiba he never knew before.

(Later that night)

"Well, I'm off." Michael walked out the apartment as Rias waved.

"Good luck with getting your contract."

"Hah! Me, luck? Please I got skill!" Michael chuckled then whistled.

"Sirus!"

***ZOOOOM!***

Zooming down from the sky was a red cloud floating towards Michael.

"Haha!" Michael laughed as he hopped onto the cloud and sat on top of it.

"Your still not good at using magic circles, but this present Kai-sama gave you is pretty handy for transportation, don't you agree?" Rias said with her arms crossed.

"Yeah, well Buchou I'm off!" Michael waved goodbye as Sirus zoomed off into the sky.

"Make sure to remember to give your seal after accomplishing your task!" Rias reminded.

"I know, sheesh, a guy messes up 4 times and gets nagged for it!" Michael groaned and shook his head.

While flying through the sky, Michael follows the directions to his client while lost in thought,

_'I wonder what was Pretty Boy's deal today he acted really strange and I mean actual strange not awkward strange.' Michael thought then remembered the photo Kiba brought up, 'And he said holy sword too so could that be the reason why?'_

Looking down, Michael sees the hotel his client is staying in, "Well this is my stop, I'll just have to ask Pretty Boy about it later."

After flying down to land, Michael enters the hotel to go to the top floor where his client presides.

***Ding!* *Dong!***

"Okay, what excuse can I use for not using a magic circle? Will they believe me if I told them I came here on a flying cloud?" Michael said out loud then sighed, "Shit…of course they won't."

***Gacha!***

As the door opens, Michael puts on his business face.

"Okay, I know what you're gonna ask me "Hey if you're a devil then why are you ringing the front door?" well I do have an explanation, but this isn't about that so what's your request and I'll handle it right away, bet on it!"

Michael closed his eyes and pulled out his seal.

"Well for a devil you sure do have strange hair." The man in front of him commented then chuckled, "And that catchphrase of yours still hasn't changed its still as cliche as ever."

Michael grew many tick marks on his head at the two insults before he opened his eyes and shouted, "You got a problem with me!"

Coming out of the door was a tall man, who looked to be in his late twenties as he had an average, but somewhat muscular build, black hair with golden bangs and a black goatee as his eyes were purple. He wore a fitting blue yukata.

"So I guess even when you're a devil, you're still the same loud mouthed brat from before, huh?" The man gave a lazy smirk as he scratched the back of his head.

Michael looked at the man with wide eyes before crying happily,

"E-E-Ero-Ossan!"

* * *

**Next Chapter- I sense a Holy Presence nearby, the Gremory Boys vs. the Church Duo! What's up with Pretty Boy?**


	16. I sense a Holy Presence nearby, the Gremory Boys vs. the Church Duo! What's up with Pretty Boy?

**I sense a Holy Presence nearby! The Gremory Boys vs. The Church Duo! What's up with Pretty Boy?**

* * *

"Hahahahaha! So that was the reason why you rang my doorbell!? Hahahahaha!"

In a fancy hotel sat Michael and his client, who was laughing at his face while the two shared a drink together. Well...Michael was a minor, so he had water while the Client was drinking Sake, but that wasn't the point right now, because right now Michael was ticked off at being mocked by the man in front of him.

"It's not funny!" Michael growled,  _'And this asshole right here is the guy who took care of another kid who was close to my age, he's cheating, conniving and a major asshole through and through, and I strangely wouldn't have it any other way. But I forgot his name out of anger and replaced it with Ero-Ossan because you're not gonna believe me, but he's also a major pervert beyond belief. I mean who tells two boys who are old enough to be in grade school to fetch a man a couple of dirty magazines for him!?'_

"To you, but it's pretty hilarious knowing that you a devil, can't even use a magic circle to teleport!" The man continued laughing in Michael's face.

"Hey, it's a work in progress!" Michael crossed his arms.

"Really, and how long have you been a devil for?" The man asked.

"T-That's kind of personal." Michael sighed while looking away.

"Why, come on, if it's about me laughing then I'm sorry, see kid I won't laugh at you anymore I swear." The man held up one hand in honesty.

"Really?" Michael looked up at the man.

"Cross my heart." The man gestured an x over his heart.

"Well okay..." Michael nodded then muttered, "A month."

"Pfft..! Hahahahahaha!" The man continued to laugh in Michael's face.

"Oi, What the hell you promised, Ero-Ossan!" Michael grinded his teeth and clenched his fist.

"Haha...I crossed my fingers, brat!" The man pulled up said crossed fingers and laughed, "Seriously its nice to know you still haven't changed. Your still a stupid, overly trusting brat!"

"Oh yeah, well you're still an Major Pervert, Ero-Ossan!" Michael retorted.

"So I don't care yell at me all you want, but I'm not ashamed of it!" The man smirked, "If its for my desired passion I'd just reject your insults like before."

"Grr! Why can't I ever win against anybody?" Michael scratched his head furiously.

"Because you're too simple minded." The man took another swig of his drink.

Calming down with a sigh, Michael looked up at the man and said, "So why are you here, Ero-Ossan?"

"Oh, you know just taking a break from my hobby is all." The man leaned back in the couch and sighed.

"You mean your weird obsession with collecting random ass stuff?" Michael said in disgust as he remembered the old days where this old man would collect old Samurai Armor, Katanas and even famous old paintings whenever he it caught his eye.

"It's not weird its unhealthy and I'm proud of it." The man kept his smug smile which pissed Michael off.

_'I don't think its good to be too prideful about something like that.' Michael sweatdropped._

"But enough about me, how about you? How have things been going for you now?" The man asked, "Have you gotten popular like you annoyingly proclaimed before."

_'I said that?'_

_Michael gulped as even if he did say he would do that he still hasn't even gotten known at school the best he could've done was get a few people to know his name or listen to that stupid rumor Matsuda and Motohama made up of him. Either way if this bastard knew then things will not be so easy for him._

"N-No reason..." Michael looked off to the side while drinking his water.

"Eh? Come on, you must be well known in something now like sports?" The man began.

"Er...no, they wouldn't accept me because I'm usually the last one to be picked." Michael sighed.

"As a player?" The man asked.

"No, as the locker room cleaner." Michael groaned.

"Wow, then you must really suck if your reputation is that low, for once I almost feel like patting you on the back." The man crossed his arms and nodded before smirking, "Almost though. Almost."

Michael stood up and shouted, "Look I get it alright, I'm not well known yet, but you bet on it!" Michael points his finger at Ero-Ossan, "One day, I truly will be known as Michael Hanamura in this town no hell maybe the world!"

"Haaaiii..." The man simply sighed and scratched his head, "Your loud mouth always knows how to give me such a headache."

"Heh!" Michael crossed his arms and grinned, "But guess what Ero-Ossan now that I'm a Devil it means I can have a better chance at beating you due to my awesome powers!" Michael creates a fireball on his finger tip.

The man stares at Michael for a second before waving off, "No, your still too weak to handle me kid."

Suddenly Michael looked at the man with a pissed off glare as his head went on fire in rage without his knowledge of it.

"Kiss my ass!" Michael growled.

"No, thanks I like women don't know about you though." The man joked.

Ignoring the comeback and settling down, Michael looked around the hotel room for someone,

"What is it? Looking for the other half of your brain?" The man joked once more.

"No, actually I'm searching for the prick, Vali where is he?" Michael gave the man a half lidded stare of disinterest.

"Oh, him? Well he's currently not with me unlike before, he actually has things to do without me being involved in them," The man shrugged then refilled his glass with sake, "I even invited him here to visit, but he said 'Meaningless a detour like that will only waste my time' but you know he would have came if I actually urged him to."

"Yeah..." Michael looked off to the side then thought,

_'That bastard, I could just imagine him saying it too.'_

"Aw, it seems like the brat is actually concerned for his old friend." The man rubbed his chin and teased, "But you don't have to worry he's doing fine."

Michael's eyes widened at that as he slammed his hand on the coffee table and shouted, "No way, Ero-Ossan, to hell with that asshole, I could care less if he were here or not and even if he were, he clearly won't stand a chance against me because I'm a devil!"

Michael sat back and grinned coolly,

"Anyways whatever happens to that bastard happens, I don't actually give a damn."

The man stared at Michael closely to see him secretly let out a sigh of relief.

"Whatever you say, kid." The man then looked at the time, "So since I summoned you here for a quick talk what should I give you as compensation?"

"Well since it's me, Michael Hanamura the Great, I guess it would have to be..." Michael smirked then points at the man, "Your soul!"

The man simply chuckled then placed a hand on his chin and said, "You know while I think about it someone as unpopular as you doesn't deserve compensation at all in fact maybe I should get something for just calling you over to talk."

Michael's eye twitched at that logic as the man approached him and placed his hand onto his shoulder.

"So come on, kid give me something in return for wasting my time on you!" The man laughed in his face.

The laughing continued as Michael looked at a nearby painting with half lidded eyes then back to the man.

5 minutes later...

"Oi, Come back with that!" The man shouted as Michael was running down the hallways of the hotel while hefting the large painting under his shoulder.

"I can't mess this up Old Man, Buchou will be pissed if I failed another contract, and you won't get in my way!" Michael shouted.

Looking up ahead, Michael sees a large glass window ahead and smirks, "Now to make my escape!"

Taking 3 huge steps forward Michael leans into the glass and breaks through...

***Shatter!***

"Extreeem-aaaaaaagh!"

***CRASH!* *RUSTLE* *RUSTLE!***

Michael shouted midair before falling to the ground below, he forget to remember that he was on the sixth floor. Crashing into the bushes below, Michael was heard yelping like a puppy good thing he was a devil and more durable or he might have actually gotten crippled.

Looking at the broken window, the man simply smiles, "Good riddance it was such an eyesore to look at anyways,"

He walks back to his room before muttering, "Too bad, he took my painting it was actually one of my favorites.

With Michael...

"Ugh! That went better in my head..." Michael groaned as he crawled out the bushes weakly, "But good thing this day is over and I can go home and get some re-!"

***Beep!* *Beep!***

Michael pulled out his phone and looks at who it was, Rias.

"Awwww, come on!" Michael banged his head into the soft grass below before standing up and wiping his face, "Apparently there was a dog here today..."

Sighing Michael dragged his feet and called Sirus to take him to the designated location Rias told him to meet at.

(At an abandoned Factory)

"What's going on at this dump?" Michael jumps off Sirus who curves back up in the air to await for its master's next call.

"Michael, over here." Rias called as she stood with the entire club.

"Coming!" Michael rushed over to everyone and saluted, "Michael Hanamura reporting for duty!"

"I apologize for making you come out here so sudden." Rias crossed her arms under her chest.

"No, worries, but what's the deal with this place?" Michael looked at the factory and tilted his head.

"A Stray has made itself rather comfortable here." Rias explained.

"...It's smell is too hard to ignore." Koneko commented.

"We've been given orders to subdue it tonight before morning, if an order like that has been issued then it must be too dangerous meaning we're at a disadvantage if we simply fight it inside." Rias smiled bitterly then says everyone's positions, "Asia you stay at rear."

"Yes, Buchou." Asia nods.

"Akeno and I will be ready outside, so Koneko, Yuuto, and Michael draw out the enemy."

"Got it, Buchou." Akeno nodded.

"Yes, ma'am." Koneko responded.

Michael chuckled and said, "You can count on me!" Michael thrusts his fist out and said, "I could always use something to keep me active after the Rating Game!"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

Michael summoned the Boosted Gear with a flick of the wrist.

Not paying attention, Kiba was looking off to the distance distracted by something, taking notice Rias called,

"Yuuto?"

"Huh?" Kiba perks up taken out of thought.

*Bam!*

"Oi!" Michael punched Kiba's arm then points to Rias.

"Ah, I understand." Kiba said in a rushed fashion.

"Well if your done drifting off then let's go Pretty Boy and you too, Koneko-chan!" Michael smiled as he ran towards the front doors of the factory.

"All right."

"Yeah."

The three servants walked up towards the front door with Michael leading them.

"Okay now's my chance to shine," Michael breathed in, "Now it's my chance to be the door kicker for onceeeee!" Michael roared as he charged forward to kick down the door but...

***Creaking!***

"...It's already open." Koneko simply opened the door as Michael toppled over and cried,

"Seriously!?" Michael's eyes widened as he tumbled inside and groaned in pain, "What the hell, Koneko-chan? I was in the middle of redeeming myself!"

"You can never redeem yourself in my cover, Baka-senpai." Koneko walked in and strapped on her gloves.

Michael shot Koneko a glare before looking at Kiba's still unfocused expression.

"Oi, Pretty Boy you there?" Michael asked.

"Huh? Oh y-yeah, I'm fine." Kiba nods as he enters deeper into the factory as Michael and Koneko follow.

Stopping Koneko looked ahead to say, "It's here."

"It is where?" Michael looked left to right before looking forward as he saw there target and it was a little girl looking at them with a dazed expression to which Kiba was still exhibiting! Seriously what is up with him today?

"Aw! It's just a little girl, maybe she's just been scared and-!" Michael scratched his cheek and smiled as he felt bad for putting down the girl before she started to show her real form which resembled the physique of a spider, even her face distorted a little to resemble as she,

***SCREEEECH!***

"Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!" Michael screamed as the monster jumped in the air and started climbing the ceiling.

**[Boost!]**

It's closer target was Kiba, who was still standing in place.

"Yuuto-senpai, please!" Koneko tried to get his attention but Kiba still stood in place.

"Yo, Kiba!" Michael shouted finally gaining the knight's attention.

"Oh, sorry." Kiba shakes his head but made no movement.

Pointing its abdomen at Koneko the monster sprayed an acidic white liquid.

Catching glance of this, Michael pushed Koneko away and shouted,

"Don't just stand there!"

***SPLAT!***

***SIZZLE!***

Michael gritted his teeth once the acid burned his left arm and burned off the shoulder of his school uniform, "Keh! This really stings!"

"Michael-senpai?" Koneko looked at Michael in worry.

"I'm fine, don't worry!" Michael growled and clenched his fist.

**[Boost!]**

Now jumping off the wall, the monster now lunged at the prey it had just attacked.

"Don't underestimate me!"

**[Explosion!]**

***BAM!***

Michael released a small amount of Touki in his fist, and punched the monster who flinched back and took substantial damage, but still kept standing and baring its teeth.

_'It's still standing? I guess it isn't enough! What's Kiba doing to help?' Michael thought then looked over to Kiba who was not doing anything to help at all, 'What is up with this guy?'_

"Pretty Boy, what the hell are you dazing around for!?" Michael shouted in irritation.

Finally snapping out of it, Kiba then lunged at the distracted monster and raised his blade!

***SHING!***

"Kraaaah!" The monster cried out in pain as Kiba's blade was able to sever its arm.

"Gugh!" Landing Kiba trips over a pole and falls on a knee.

"Kraaaaaaah!" As the monster who was still up then lunged at him for revenge and pinned down Kiba under it.

"Pretty Boy!" Michael shouted in worry.

"Guh!" Kiba leans his head back as the monster tries to bite his face.

"...Buzz off."

But taking the monster's focus on Kiba to her advantage, Koneko rushed and grabbed one of its legs and threw her into the air and through the...

***CRASH!***

...Roof.

_'Note to self do not piss off short girl.' Michael noticed Koneko glaring at him after thinking that, 'Oh snap, she heard me?'_

Outside stood Rias smiling as she said, "Akeno."

Floating high in the night sky was Akeno wearing her miko outfit as she raised her hand in the air and nodded, "Yes, Buchou."

Forming over her was a large yellow magic circle which sent down a giant bolt of lightning upon the monster.

***FLASH!***

***THUD!***

The now sizzling monster now laid in front of Rias who walks up and pronounces,

"How pitiful a wanton devil who left their master to fulfill their own desires. Your sin deserves a thousand deaths." Rias's body emitted a red aura as she begins to finish off the enemy, "In the name of the marquis Of Gremory, I'll blast you...away!"

***DOOON!***

Rias fires a huge block of her Power of Destruction at the monster reducing it to nothingness.

"Booyah! Another win!" Michael cheered as he and Koneko rushed out the factory.

Landing next to them, Akeno said while looking to where the monster once laid, "Her heart and mind were completely lost, she was barely worth calling a devil."

"I wonder what made her go crazy." Michael questioned and remembered Viser.

"I have no clue for her reasons for this, but this situation truly deserved an emergency subjugation." Akeno honestly explained.

"Yeah..." Michael nodded.

"Are you two all right?" Asia ran over to Michael and Koneko.

"Yeah, we're good." Michael gave Asia a thumbs up before.

***WHAM!***

"Guagh!" Michael gasped as he received a punch to the gut by Koneko and fell to his knees.

"...Baka-senpai took a hit and got injured, Asia senpai." Koneko pointed to Michael's burned shoulder.

"M-Michael-san, are you okay!?" Asia rushed over to Michael and healed his arm.

"Hey, its no biggie just a little burn won't hurt me Asia." Michael chuckled.

"B-But if left unattended-." Asia would have finished but...

***SMACK!***

Looking over to see the source of the sound everyone looked to see Rias scolding Kiba as it appeared she slapped him,

"Did that wake you up?" Rias asked then said, "If you were to have made a single mistake then you could have put someone else in danger."

"I'm sorry, for what I did." Kiba apologized while giving a blank look.

Looking worried now, Rias asks, "What's the matter? This is unlike you."

"Nothing is wrong. It's just that...I'm having an off day is all." Kiba said then bowed, "Now if you will excuse me, I am done here for today."

Kiba then walked off as Rias looked worried towards him.

"Yuuto..." Rias frowned.

Walking out the front gates of the factory, Kiba began to walk somewhat seriously.

"Hey, wait up!" Michael ran to Kiba's side once Asia's healing was over.

"Yo, Pretty Boy what's up? Your not acting like you today, and plus why were you giving Buchou the cold shoulder!?" Michael placed a hand on Kiba's shoulder.

"It has nothing to do with you." Kiba coldly responded.

"I know it doesn't that's why I'm getting involved because..." Michael started to remember Kiba's change of character recently, "Your acting stranger than usual and I want to help!"

"Me acting strange? Maybe you are the one whose just looking at things strangely?" Kiba responded.

"Grrr!" Michael twisted Kiba around and grabbed him by the collar and said, "You know what I mean now out with it, why are you acting this way!?"

Kiba who raised his head to look at Michael gave a cold stare which made Michael shiver, "Devils are originally selfish beings so isn't it normal to act this way?"

"No, that's not what I'm asking, dammit! I'm asking, why you aren't being yourself today!" Michael growled as his anger was being replaced with confusion.

"If it's about before then I'll admit I was wrong, alright?" Kiba strongly grabbed Michael's hands and put them down as he began to walk away once more, "Later."

"Hey, I'm not done yet!" Michael shouted then asked, "We're friends aren't we and when a friend is troubled shouldn't they tell their other friend what's up!?"

"Friends, huh? Michael-kun, you're very passionate when it comes to that, huh?" Kiba gave a slight chuckle in remembrance,

"But after hearing you say that I just remembered something rather basic."

"Basic?" Michael repeated.

"It's my reason for living...my reason to fight." Kiba then turned around and gave Michael a stare with a pair of fierce eyes.

"Huh? But isn't your reason to fight for Buchou and us?" Michael asked.

"No, that's not it at all." Kiba shook his head.

"What?" Michael clenched his fist in anger, "Then what is it?"

"I live..." Kiba began as his hair covered his eyes.

"!" Michael's eyes widened when he caught a glimpse of Kiba's eyes going dark.

"For revenge."

"What revenge?" Michael gasped.

"My purpose in life is to destroy the Holy Sword, Excalibur." Kiba gave a serious expression before walking off alone into the dark streets of town.

"That thing called "Holy Sword" it's the reason why he's like that?" Michael questioned himself,  _'I can't really think of anything to solve this! But I know one person who can.'_

Walking towards Michael was Rias and Asia as the red haired girl asked, "Are you ready to go home, Michael?"

"Yeah, but can I ask you about something?" Michael questioned.

"Okay what is it?" Rias nodded.

(Later in Michael's apartment)

Sitting in Michael's room was him, Rias, Asia and Raynare who were listening intently to Rias' explanation of Holy Swords.

"Holy Swords are the worst weapons against devils." Rias began.

"And Fallen Angels." Raynare inquired as Rias nodded.

"Just coming in contact with one will burn a devil's body. To be cut by one would mean instant death." Rias explained.

"Okay, I get it. I can safely assume now that Holy Swords are bad for us." Michael said with a lazy expression as the explanation bored him a little.

*PULL!*

"Gack!" Michael yelped as Raynare pulled his ear.

"Stay quiet until the whole explanation is over." Raynare scolded.

"Thank you, Raynare." Rias smiled then continued, "Remember a holy sword can eliminate a devil entirely, that's why its a fearsome weapon to us all."

"So, um..." Asia raised her hand.

"Yes?" Rias nodded.

"Can many people use them?" Asia asked until Raynare tapped her on the shoulder and explained,

"Actually anyone who can use a Holy Sword is really rare to see, so we shouldn't worry about it that much."

"Yes, it's ineffective usage is it's major weakness, but..." Rias placed a hand on her chin and said, "That's why the church has been artificially raising people to use Excalibur. That was the Holy Sword Project."

"The Holy Sword, what?" Michael asked in confusion a little lost with what's going on.

"I didn't hear anything about that when I was at the church..." Asia said.

Raynare placed a finger on her chin while thinking,  _'Wait I think I've heard of that project before but from where?'_

"I wouldn't think the church would keep around the results of a failed project," Rias explained, "Yuuto is the only survivor."

"Survivor?" Michael gasped.

"Kiba-san is..." Asia also gasped.

"Hold up!" Michael quickly went under his bed to pull out one of the Photo Books he hid from Raynare along with the others.

"So that's where you had it!" Raynare gasped happily.

"Don't worry, I'll find another place to hide it where you can never find it ever again and embarrass me." Michael smirked as Raynare pouted at that.

Giving Rias the photo book Michael opened it to the page where Kiba was looking at from earlier.

"Once Pretty Boy looked at this picture he said it was a holy sword then things went downhill from there." Michael said.

"What?" Asia gasped.

"It's not as powerful as Excalibur, but this truly is a Holy Sword." Rias examined the photo more closely.

"He got weird when he looked at it." Michael explained.

"For this to have been so close to Michael-san..." Asia said in wonder.

"But it's understandable since he does possess the Red Dragon Emperor within him." Raynare crossed her arms, "Dragons attract power to themselves wherever they may go."

"Wait a second!" Michael pointed at the girl in the picture, "This kid would take me out to church with his family many times whenever I visited. It's because of them I became a Christian before turning into a devil."

"So that's how it is." Rias said, "I understand why the predecessor left now. But I thought it was because..."

Suddenly a heavy silence filled the room until Michael said,

"Buchou, you alright you've just been sitting there staring at the picture?"

Perking up with a smile Rias said, "Oh sorry, well look at the time I guess we should get ready for bed." Rias then picks up the Photo book and transferred it away with a magic circle. Michael panicked and shouted,

"Oi! What did you do?"

"Nothing, I'm just keeping this for a further look is all." Rias explained.

"If you wanted the picture then why did you take the entire book?" Michael asked.

"Michael its necessary alright, we may not know what else may be in here that might be a clue for the Holy Sword, so you must be selfless just this once and let me borrow your Photo book, understood?" Rias crossed her arms under her chest while giving a serious explanation as he could tell in her sparkling eyes she was just gonna gaze at his baby pictures again.

"Yes, that seems appropriate Michael-san."

"Indeed, you must trust your master's words, Michael-sama." Both Raynare and Asia nodded in agreement.

_'Liars, you just wanna look at the pictures too!' Michael looked at the girls with half lidded eyes._

But that issue was over now, but another has come to rear its head...

Starting to unbutton her clothing, Rias stood up unzipping her skirt and let it drop to the floor as Michael and Asia were in shock.

"W-Wait, why are you taking your clothes off here?" Michael panicked and pointed at Rias with a flustered expression.

"Why? Because I can't sleep unless I'm naked, silly." Rias explained as she unbuttoned her shirt to reveal her black lingerie bra and panties.

"Stop! That's not what I mean, I meant, why are you doing it here!?" Michael shook his head and shouted.

"Because we're sleeping together." Rias said with a with a normal tone.

"Nope, not if your naked we're not!" Michael shook his head.

"But I see no problem with it since Raynare is intending to do the same as well." Rias gestures towards Raynare.

"No way, Ray-chan wouldn't possibly-Oh my goodness you are, why!?" Michael turned around to see Raynare was already in her underwear which consisted of a purple lingerie bra and panties.

"Michael-sama didn't mind if Rias-san slept naked this morning, so why should he care if I do too?" Raynare gave Michael a cute smile as she emitted a deadly aura directed towards Michael.

_'Well she still seems pissed about this morning...' Michael gulped then closed his eyes, 'I guess I have no choice, I'll have to use Asia as an example for the both of them before things get too out of hand!' Michael opened his eyes to see Asia taking off her clothes as well._

"If that's the case then I'll sleep naked with Michael-san too!" Asia had teary eyes and finished taking off her uniform to reveal her pure white bra and panties.

Michael gripped his head and shouted, "It got way out of hand!"

_'Alright Michael you can do this you just have to lay down the law as the guy of the house or apartment...you know what screw it just lay down the law as the man, and tell these girls that if they don't sleep with any clothes on then they sure as hell can't sleep with you!' Michael grinned and nodded with determination, 'Right I can do this!'_

(15 Minutes Later)

"I couldn't do it." Michael had tears streaming down his face as he wore his night wear in bed, but that's not the reason why he's crying. The reason why is because he was completely buried in bed by the bodies of three girls! Sleeping while clinging to his right arm was Rias, Clinging to his left was Raynare and due to the girl's beautiful bodies his arm was trapped between their breasts. But that's not all because sleeping on top of him was Asia snuggling her head onto his chest with a smile.

The positions were actually a result of a rock, paper, scissors game to decide who can be on top of Michael, (Don't take it the wrong way! You know who you are!) and the winner was apparently Asia.

"Nuuu...Michael-san..." Asia muttered while dreaming.

"Well at least they're happy..." Michael looked outside his window to see that it was raining tonight, "I wonder what's up with Pretty Boy..."

**[Yo, Partner.]**

"Ddraig?" Michael gasped in surprise.

**[Sorry for coming out while you're worrying.]**

"And just where the hell were you today?" Michael asked in annoyance.

**[I don't feel the need to watch over you 24/7 constantly and besides dealing with you actually tires me out to where a break is necessary.]**

Michael sighed and said, "Look whatever I can't talk right now man, I kind of have my hands full at the moment."

**[I can see that and I'm not surprised that you've attracted the opposite gender to yourself.]**

"Wait, what do you mean?" Michael asked.

**[As a Dragon your power is overwhelming and quite mesmerizing to those around you. Many will want to challenge such power while others will find it alluring and somewhat charming. But this effect only attracts the Opposite sex to you so I can understand your current position.]**

"I already heard that part about others wanting to fight me, but really the opposite sex will be attracted to me?" Michael asked.

**[Yeah, every possessor I've lived in has been surrounded by the opposite sex.]**

"Well that's great and all, but I don't believe this will help me solve a way to find out what's eating Pretty Boy up on the inside." Michael sighed.

**[I guess your right sorry for that.]**

"No, don't worry about it, anyways why did you suddenly come out?"

**[Because I bear a great warning for you.]**

"Warning?"

**[Recently I have been sensing strong presences around you, it's been making me restless that I can't relax]**

"Huh, you mean Buchou and everyone else?"

**[No, your friends aren't even what I'm speaking about.]**

Michael's eyes widened and said, "Really then are you talking about enemies?"

**[I have nothing else to say other than this, be careful and don't do anything stupid.]**

"Hey! You're talking about the Great Hanamura, I'll be fine." Michael chuckled.

**[That's the stupidity I'm talking about.]**

"What did you say?" Michael growled.

**[You may not know it, but there are many strong threats out there right now and they all are targeted at you.]**

"M-Me?" Mcihael gasped.

**[That's right I can't describe if it's for interest or for a malice intent either way you must always stay vigilant you may never know when the White One may appear.]**

"White One? Whose that?" Michael asked as this was the first time Ddraig has ever mentioned someone like that.

**[...The White Dragon, Vanishing Dragon.]**

"Wait White Dragon but you're the Red Dragon so why is this white guy so important?"

**[I guess I had to discuss this with you someday, prepare to listen to my explanation.]**

"Awwww, What, but I wanted to go to sleep!" Michael whined and pouted, "Can't you do it later?"

**[You asked for the information and you'll get it now, so shut up and pay attention.]**

"*Sigh!* Fine..."

**[You know that the three sides of God and Angels, fallen-angels and devils were having a big war a long time ago, right?]**

"Yeah, what about them."

**[That time other powers gave their support to certain sides. Fairies, spirits, European monsters, Asian Youkai and even the humans. But the dragons were the only beings that didn't side with any of them.]**

"Why was that?"

**[Hmmm, I wonder. I don't know the actual reason. But dragons are beings that are made from a mass of powers and they all act freely and selfishly. There were dragons that turned into devils and there were those that sided with God. But the majority of them lived a life of freedom generally not caring for anything a Faction would do.]**

"Wow, that sounds awesome, Hey do I resemble a dragon?" Michael asked.

**[Your selfish attitude to do what you want resembles that, but your power and lack of control makes you far from being one yet.]**

"Geez! Alright, fine I get it I still have a long way to go!" Michael rolled his eyes.

**[But during the Great War between the three powers, there were two stupid dragons that started a fight. And those two were in the highest class of dragons and they had a power that rivaled that of God and Maou. They started to fight each other while taking down the three great powers. For the three powers, there wasn't anything more troublesome than these two dragons. The three powers were having a serious war to take control of this World, and the two dragons were disturbing the battlefield without any care.]**

"Wow, Ddraig whoever were these two dragons were jerks."

**[Yes, I can understand that, but-]**

"I mean they barge in destroying everything like they don't even care, they deserve everything that will come to them."

**[Yes, I know Michael that does make sense but-]**

"I mean who even does anything that stupid, and that's coming from me so that must have to explain for something about their stupid minds."

**[...] Ddraig remained quiet before continuing,**

**[They weren't interested in anything at all. The two dragons probably can't remember the reason why they started to fight. And for the first time, the leaders of the three powers joined hands. "We have to get rid of those two dragons, or else it's not a matter of war anymore!" Like that.]**

"So the Devils, Fallen Angels, and even the Angels fought against them together?" Michael gasped excitedly hearing the first time that the three opposing factions worked together for a common goal.

**[But the two dragons that got their fight interrupted became mad. [Don't get in the way of our fight!], [A mere God and Maou shouldn't be interrupting a duel between dragons!] - they responded like idiots. They went head on and tried to eat God, Maou, and the leaders of the fallen-angels. Well, that was a mistake, I guess.]**

"Yahoo! The Dragons were eliminated then, right?" Michael asked as Ddraig gave a pained groan.

**[Yes, in the end the two dragons got cut into pieces and their spirits were sealed within human bodies as Sacred Gears. The two dragons that were sealed within humans used them as vessels, they encountered each other and fought each other countless times. Every time one of them won and one of them died. Sometimes one of them was already dead before the other one came and so they didn't fight,** **but most of the times they did. If the vessel, human, dies then the dragons stop functioning for a certain time. Their spirits float around in this world until the humans with dragon powers are born. That cycle has repeated countless times for many long years.]**

"Wait a minute, so what your telling me is that?" Michael said finally onto who were the two dragons, "One of the dragons was you father?"

**[...No, I'm talking about me and the White One, and since your my new possessor you'll have to deal with the White One's own possessor as well.]**

"I do?" Michael asked a little shaken up

**[You do. But you shouldn't worry about it, Partner out of all the possessor I've lived in you were the first to turn into a devil and since you have new abilities thanks to it I can't wait to see the outcome of what will happen in the future.]**

"Man, now you've given me more stuff to worry about thanks..." Michael groaned then grinned, "But now that I think about it, at least I know there's someone out there the same as me!"

**[Don't forget it is destiny that you two will fight one day, so don't think you can be friends with your Rival understood?]**

"I know that, but I'm still gonna try even if it kills me." Michael chuckled and nodded, "And maybe if I become their friend we won't have to fight."

**[Michael...]**

"I know, but it's still worth a try and if the White Dragon guy is someone who tries to hurt my friends then I'll punch him in the face and get a clean Knock Out as always." Michael grinned.

**[Partner, just be careful and remember that those strong presences have the potential to be close friends you may have encountered.]**

"What?" Michael's eyes widened as Ddraig suddenly cut off the link.

***FLASH!***

Suddenly the rain brought down a lightning flash which brightened the room.

(The next day)

In the early morning, Michael was running in the park wearing his school jersey as he does his usual morning training to stay fit and ready for any opponent. Accompanying him was Raynare who was helping the teen out as it was her turn for the day. Ever since Rias moved in she created a times chart for who can accompany Michael in the morning as she gets Monday, Wednesday and Saturday with him as Asia gets Tuesday and Raynare gets Friday. It may seem rather unfair for them both but they agreed since it would mean they would at least have a chance of staying alone with Michael for one morning

"First it was Pretty Boy, and those Holy Swords now it's the Vanishing Dragon..." Michael said to himself as he wasn't even breaking a sweat through his long 3 hour run, his training with Kai really increased his stamina to an impressive point to where he could last longer in a battle. Michael then stopped as he heard the tired moans of Raynare behind him.

"*Pant!* M-Michael...*Pant!*sama...*Pant!*"

"Oh sorry, Ray-chan." Michael apologized and scratched the back of his head.

"You ran too fast that I almost couldn't keep up with you." Raynare panted as she bent over and placed her hands on her knees as she was also wearing her school jersey as well.

"Huh, I did well sorry, but I was lost in thought, and besides I was only starting to get a little serious there so I thought you could catch up." Michael chuckled then looked at the panting Raynare with a grin, "Hey, why don't I get us something to drink so we can take a break, alright?"

"Really?" Raynare perks right up as her cheeks grew a little pink, "You mean a drink together? Just you a-and me?"

"Yeah, why, you not thirsty?" Michael crossed his arms and quirked an eyebrow up in confusion.

"N-No, that's not it. I just wanted to make sure was all!" Raynare shook her head then nervously laughed.

"Ok, then so what do you want?" Michael asked.

"Umm..." Raynare was lost in thought until she said, "I'm fine with whatever Michael-sama chooses for me."

"Really, because if I somehow get something you don't like then don't pull my ear." Michael said rather seriously as he realized the current ear pulling was stretching out his earlobe far too much recently.

"I promise." Raynare nodded happily as Michael nodded and headed towards the vending machine as Raynare sat down on a nearby park bench and squealed, "Best Morning Training ever!"

About a few meters away from the park bench, Michael walked to the vending machine and began putting in the money and was mulling over to what Raynare wanted.

"Now what does she want?" Michael rubbed his chin.

The sound of footsteps interrupted his thought as he looks to his side to see an approaching man going to the vending machine next to Michael's.

The man looked to be in his mid-20's as he had black, raven styled, spikey hair, Red eyes, a somewhat muscular body, as he wore a black dress shirt with the arms rolled up, a white small tie, black jeans, and finally a pair of black worn out sneakers.

"Good Morning." The man gave Michael a stoic expression and nodded.

"Uh...hi." Michael nodded and turned back to the vending machine to search for what Raynare wanted but the task was rather difficult.

"Are you going to choose something or not...?" The man asked as he focused on his own vending machine.

"Huh?" Michael gasped and looked at the stranger in confusion, "Yeah, it's just that I was trying think of which drink my friend would want."

The stranger looked Michael in the eye for a rather long time before focusing his attention to the person behind him as he saw a rather giddy, Raynare sitting on the park bench lost in thought.

"So yeah..." Michael felt awkward as he turned back to his vending machine until the man started inputting the code for which drink he wanted in Michael's vending machine, "O-Oi, what are you doi-?"

"Drinking soda in the morning is a bad healthy choice, which is why this would be perfect for a morning drink." The man said.

"No, you don't have to worry sir, its fine I can handle it from he-" Michael tried to persuade the man, but it was already too late as the vending machine has already dispensed a bottle of Fruit Milk.

"There." The man picked up a bottle of fruit milk and handed it to Michael, "Enjoy."

_'Fruit Milk?' Michael thought._

Now getting his own drink as well the stranger left with a bottle of water and turned back to stare at Michael and said, "Make sure to tell your friend that drinking this too fast will result in them getting hiccups, alright?"

"O-Okay." Michael nodded quickly.

"Good, it was nice meeting you." The man turned around and walked away.

"Yeah, you too..." Michael said awkwardly and turned around to get his own drink.

"I hope we meet again...Sekiryuutei." The man took a gulp of his water.

"What?" Michael gasped and whipped his head to see that the man has disappeared from his sight.

"Did he just say...?" Michael blinked.

"Michael-sama, is everything alright?" Raynare called.

"Yeah, everything is fine don't worry!" Michael replied then looked back to where the man disappeared before walking over to Raynare with just her drink.

_'Seriously, what is up with strange things happening to me?' Michael thought as he approached Raynare._

"Here you go, Ray-chan." Michael handed Raynare her drink.

"Thank you." Raynare smiled and bowed before opening the fruit milk and drinking happily, "Yum! Fruit Milk is my favorite drink thank you Michael-sama!"

"Eh?" Michael blinked in surprise as he knew the drink was chosen by the man he just met, but simply went along with it, "N-No, problem I guess I picked right after all."

"Mmm-hmmm!" Raynare nodded then realized something, "Michael-sama, where is your drink?"

"Oh, I, uh...didn't have enough money so I used it to buy just your drink." Michael chuckled then looked to the side,  _'After seeing that guy I suddenly lost my taste for a beverage.'_

"Really?" Raynare asked then looked at her fruit milk and hands it to Michael.

"Huh?" Michael blinked.

"If you used your money to get me a drink then I believe its only fair you drink some of it." Raynare said with a rather red face.

"Are you sure?" Michael asked.

"Yes, I don't mind!" Raynare nodded anxiously while staring at Michael with serious eyes.

"Uh...Alright then thanks." Michael smiled then slowly placed his lips on Raynare's drink as the girl turned even redder and gave a slight happy smile while twiddling her thumbs.

_'Yessss~! The Indirect kiss with Michael-sama has been attained!' Raynare thought then smirked in her head, 'Just you watch Rias-san, I'll catch up to you real soon!'_

"Man, that's refreshing." Michael sighed after drinking the whole thing with Raynare's knowledge as the girl was red and dazing off for some reason.

_'Okay, not getting into that one...so' Michael looked away until..._

***Beep!* *Beep!***

"My Phone?" Michael picks up his phone and read an interesting text message. Michael's eyes widened as he gasped,

"No way!"

After training Michael and Raynare then proceeded to go back home and went to school with Rias and Asia as go through another day of their normal School Life. Now standing in the hallways were Michael, Motohama and Matsuda as Michael's anger for the two faded away after the many troubles his devil life had and will get him into. As the group was conversing normally,

"Karaoke?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, it's a cool place in front of the station and also your able to insert songs like character specific ones." Motohama explained.

"Err...I don't know you guys did sort of spread rumors about me throughout the school." Michael said in wonder.

"They also have snacks." Matsuda said.

"I'm in." Michael nodded, "Do you mind if I bring along Saji as well?"

"You mean that douche bag from the student council no way!" Matsuda shook his head.

"Yeah, let his ass go to one himself alone!" Motohama growled and clenched his fist in anger, "And besides we don't want it to be a sausage fest, man!"

"Did somebody say sausage?" Kiryuu smirked behind the pair of boys.

"Kiryuu!" The three guys shouted in shock.

"How gross are you guys talking about erotic things in the morning?" Kiryuu mocked.

"We were just talking about going to karaoke!"

"Really? Wow, that sounds fun maybe I'll go too." Kiryuu then turns back and says, "Right, Asia?"

"Yes, I want to go!" Asia walked up and smiled rather cutely.

"WHAT!?"

Screaming excitedly both Motohama and Matsuda gave rather lecherous grins.

Michael then looked around the hall and sighed,  _'He's not here either, what's going on with Pretty Boy? Did he skip school?'_

Later in the evening, Michael and Asia returned to the now clean Old School Building to discuss Kiba's absence with her.

"Buchou, I'm still curious about Pretty Boy. Because he wasn't here the whole day at school." Michael said as he stood in front of Rias sitting down at her desk.

"..." Rias took on a more serious expression.

"I want to help him, but I need to know what he has to do with the holy swords, Buchou can you tell me please?" Michael said.

"I told you how Yuuto was the only survivor of the Holy Sword Project, right?" Rias began.

"Yeah."

"But aside from Yuuto there were others with him being raised to wield Excalibur."

"!" Michael and Asia gasped.

"Right now, there are seven holy swords with the name of Excalibur."

"7, but I thought there was only one sword?" Asia asked.

"It was shattered in the war long ago, the original Excalibur. Through the church the pieces were gathered and used in alchemy to create seven separate swords." Rias said.

"But if that's the case then shouldn't Pretty Boy use at least one of them?" Michael asked.

"Like I said they were being raised to use the Excalibur, but it was a failure since none could adapt to Excalibur." Rias explained.

"So the project ended with a failure and those in charge of it had no use for Yuuto and the others so they disposed of them."

"D-Dispose of? Wait you mean they killed them?" Michael's eyes widened in horror.

"They were met with a gruesome tragedy." Rias said then remembered a familiar sight, "But all, but a single child was able to run away alone while near death, and swore vengeance. I wanted him to use that passion in a meaningful way as a devil."

"So that is the reason for Kiba-san becoming a devil." Asia muttered with a sad expression.

"Pretty Boy…so that is the reason why you're getting so infuriated at the photo." Michael looked serious and looked down.

Looking at Michael's expression Rias gave a smile to lighten his thoughts as she said,

"It looks like we'll just have to wait and see what happens from here."

Michael nodded and looked down as Asia looked at him worriedly.

***Gacha!***

"Ara Ara, it looks like everyone is here." Walking in was Akeno with her usual smile and behind her was,

"The Kaichou and Fuka-kaichou?" Michael tilts his head.

"They have a matter they wish to discuss without Buchou." Akeno explained.

"Excuse us, Rias, but will you come to my house right now?" Sona walked forward as her serious expression looks even more serious than before, "No one will be able to interrupt us there."

"If it's come to that then this sounds like a very complicated situation." Rias nodded.

"So I guess we should leave then." Michael sweatdropped as both he and Asia left the school and walked back home.

"Man, things sure are getting complicated that's for sure." Michael sighed while thinking of something to do for the situation.

"Yes, I believe so too but we should trust the Buchou's word, I believe Kiba-san will be okay." Asia smiled.

"Yeah…me to." Michael looked down once he could see his apartment up ahead.

_'Oh right I forgot!' Michael facepalms himself and turns to Asia,_

"Hey, Asia I just remembered I had to do some Devil work to compensate for the past clients I lost so why don't you just stay at home with Ray-chan until I come back, alright?"

"Um, Okay Michael-san." Asia looked confused at first but tilted her head.

"Thanks!" Michael then pulled Asia into a tight hug to which she blushed at before turning around and running off alone, "I'll be back real quick I promise!"

Asia nodded still a little red faced and continued to the apartments as Michael focused his sights to the one person he knew would be supportive during this situation.

(In Saji's House)

"No." Saji shook his head as the two were in his room sitting at his table across from each other.

"Aw, come on, man, I need your help!" Michael begged.

"No, Michael, I will not be the host for your old childhood friend do it at your place." Saji returned to studying a book which showed some strange alphabets.

"But I can't…if I do then she'll get the wrong idea that I live with Raynare and Asia." Michael explained.

"That's because you do." Saji said.

"See, now do you understand, so will you help me?" Michael asked.

"No." Saji shook his head.

"Awwwww! Why not!" Michael growled.

"Because this will start off all good in the beginning, but end up worse in the end." Saji sighed, "And besides it's not that big of a deal just tell your friend, Irina-san to meet up with you in a café or the park."

Michael looked off to the side and said, "Yeah, about that I don't think she would fit normally in public."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because of this picture text she sent me." Michael pulled out his phone and showed it to Saji, who then first looked at the picture before screaming and covering his eyes in excruciating pain,

"AAAAAAAAUGH! My eyes are bleeding! What the hell is wrong with her!? Why does she look so different than what you showed me last time! Aaaaaugh! I don't even know what god is anymore!" Saji fell back and covered his bleeding eyes.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Michael looked at the phone to see a picture of his cosplaying magical girl client, Mil-tan.

"Whoops! Wrong photo that was meant for Matsuda and Motohama for spreading rumors to me." Michael changed the photo.

Saji slowly picked himself up onto his table and muttered, "I know those bastards are horrible, but that's a little too much don't you think?"

"Yeah, but when have I ever known when something is too much?" Michael chuckled then showed Saji another photo, "Now look at her and the girl standing next to her."

"Hm?" Saji wiped his bloody teareed eyes and looked at the photo to see two girls with white cloaks in the photo as one was a beautiful young woman around him and Michael's age with long, chestnut hair and violet eyes. Her hair is usually tied into twin tails, each held with a blue scrunchy as her robe completely covered her clothing. As the one near her was a young woman with chin-length blue hair with a green fringe on the right side and dark yellow eyes as she too wore a white robe concealing her body but there was a slight difference as sword shaped weapon on her back was covered in bandages and had a single badge of a cross on it.

"Wait a minute, they both look like members of the church!" Saji gasped.

"And that's not all, you see that thing her friend on her back?" Michael points to the sword shaped weapon.

"Holy crap, don't tell me that's a-?"

"Yeah bro it's a holy sword no doubt." Michael nodded as he put back his phone.

"I can't believe this is happening…you should tell her you moved to another town or something if it's for a visit, so she doesn't kill you because you're a Devil!" Saji shouted and shut his book really hard.

"Well I kind of can't do that since its Irina and knowing her she'll just insist and come anyways. Besides she already texted me this morning saying she was already in the area, so it's hard to try and avoid her now." Michael scratched his head, "But since her friend has a holy sword then that must mean she has one as well making her an exorcist I think."

Saji sighed and pinched his temples as he said, "I guess I know why Kaichou was so serious this afternoon."

"Yeah, it must be important." Michael nodded then said, "Saji, please I need your help do me this solid, and help a brother out."

"…Fine, but if things get crazy you handle it." Saji nodded and crossed his arms.

"Of course, I will I mean I do have the power of the Welsh Dragon with me, and most importantly the power of the Great Hanamura." Michael gloated.

"Well the Welsh Dragon power is reassuring, so I'll trust you on that." Saji chuckled.

"Are you saying I'm unreliable you, son of a bitch?" Michael growled and stood up.

"Yes." Saji nodded.

"Whatever." Michael groaned and gave up he was really tired with all this complicated stuff just flying right at him.

"So when are these two coming?" Saji asked.

***Chiilllss~!***

***Ding!* *Dong!***

"I got it boys!" Saji's mother said from downstairs.

Both Michael and Saji trembled as they felt an opposing presence nearby.

"Right now." Michael said with a blank expression.

"EEEEEH!?

"Yeah, I kind of sent Irina your house address before coming here so things could go faster, and it would have served as plan B if you rejected my request. Good thing Plan A was still a success right, hehehe!"

Michael chuckled and scratched his head as Saji looked at Michael with a fierce glare.

"Sooo….shouldn't we be going down sta-?"

"Die you, Bastaaaaaaaard!" Saji lunged at Michael and initiated a brawl.

The brawl was rather arduous as the two boys' fight eventually led them downstairs to where their guests were already seated.

"Dammit, Michael your always bringing me into your damn crap!" Saji head locked Michael.

"Well sorry, I thought we were friends, and that friends always put each other in mortal danger to strengthen their bonds!" Michael also head locked Saji.

Unaware that they were in the living room a female voice said,

"Michael-kun?"

"Huh?" Michael and Saji looked up to see the source of the voice was actually the chestnut colored haired girl from the photo, Michael's old childhood friend, Irina Shidou. Sitting next to her was the blue haired girl from the photo as well as her sword was seen leaning next to the couch.

"Irina?" Michael said.

"It's nice to finally see you again, it's really been a long time since we've seen each other face to face!" Irina got off the couch and approached Michael.

"Y-Yeah, it has." Michael nodded as he was surprised to see her and her peppy attitude.

Irina then turns to Saji who continued to look at in the same expression as Michael.

"And you must be Saji Genshirou, Michael-kun has told me a lot about how your one of his only friends." Irina smiled, "I'm Irina Shidou nice to finally meet you."

"Y-Yeah, nice to meet you too." Saji nodded as well.

Irina winked and said, "I could see you two are the best of friends who would stick through anything in their way!"

"Yeah, this guy is my homie." Saji gave a forced laugh.

_'You can't speak street we've been over this!' Michael growled in his mind._

"Yeah, this guy is the best he would even take a bullet for me!" Michael also gave a forced laugh.

"Yeah, I wouldn't go that far." Saji shook his head.

Breaking apart, Michael and Saji sat in the living room with Irina and her friend, who has been giving them rather suspicious stares.

"So how have things been going for you?" Irina asked.

"Fine." Michael answered then asked, "How about you though, how have you been?"

"I've been doing very well actually as you can tell I joined the church once my family moved to Europe." Irina pointed at herself and explained.

Deciding it was his turn to talk Saji said,

"The church, huh, that sounds rather interesting what do you guys do there?"

Michael nodded as he already knew that Saji was rather informed on what some regular church goers would do but it was good to make some conversation.

Irina smiled happily as her eyes sparkled, "Really, you want to know? Well we usually just do some of the classic actions of being a church such as doing prayer, holy mass, confession, baptizing and…!"

"Exorcism."

***GULP!***

Both Michael and Saji were surprised as Irina's friend brought up the most terrifying topic for them as devils.

"I was getting to that, but yeah, exorcising devils is another thing we do so are there any more questions you want to ask?"

"N-No, I'm fine." Saji quickly retreated and looked towards Michael who looked back at Saji with a surprised expression before turning back to look at the girls with nervous smiles.

_'Come on, Saji, do it ask them about the Holy Sword…' Michael thought as he predicts that outcome would happen._

"Say Irina-san can I ask you something else?" Saji began.

"Of course, ask away." Irina nodded.

Saji looked over to Michael who nodded.

_'Do it….' Michael thought._

"Right, well I just want to ask…" Saji said seriously, "Were you seriously Michael's first kiss?"

A sudden silence filled the room leaving everyone time to digest the asked question…

Michael whose eyes popped out of his head grabbed Saji by the collar and screamed,

"You MORON! That's not what I wanted you to ask her at all!" Michael shouted.

"Look I'm just curious is all." Saji shrugged, "Because you kept gloating on and on about it since we were little that I got a bit interested in the topic. Unless you want me to start bringing up what happened a few weeks up again?"

"Well you should know that Irina wouldn't just answer something like that so eas-!"

"Yes, I was." Irina nodded.

….. … …..

"What the hell, Irina…" Michael sulked as the truth came out.

"I'm just saying the truth Michael-kun, but you know it was kind of accidental when you think about it." Irina explained.

"Accidental?" Saji asked as Michael sighed knowing what she was going to say.

"You see when Michael-kun came over to my house to sleep over we'd usually share a bed and frankly Michael-kun had a posture when sleeping, so he was able to kiss me without even knowing it." Irina smiled, "There would be no way that I'd ever kiss someone like Michael-kun directly on the lips or kiss him at all actually!"

"Until you kept teasing me the next morning about how my breath smelling like a dead rat and kept calling me "Sewer Breath." Michael sighed at the sudden memory.

"So it was a kiss that never actually happened on purpose interesting." Saji said while rubbing his chin, "I guess even miracles can happen for idiots."

"I'm sitting right next to you, hello!" Michael shouted.

Irina laughed at the two boy's antics and said, "But things were really fun back then, and I even have to say that as time went on apart I guess a few things can change right…" Irina gave Michael a serious stare with her usual smile, "Michael-kun?"

Michael had a bead of sweat go down his head as he nodded, "Right."

Saji focused his sights on Irina's stare who was still giving them that suspicious look as before.

_'She hasn't taken her eyes off of us since we entered the room. I guess they already knew about us being devils after all.' Saji thought._

After the reunion, Irina and her friend then left due to it being late at night, now exhausted Michael and Saji were sprawled out on the floor of Saji's bedroom exhausted by the fear and chills of the exorcists and the Holy Sword.

"Man, that was a close one." Michael muttered.

"Yeah…I'm just glad they didn't eliminate us just for being devils." Saji said.

"Especially the Blue girl, she was the scariest out of the two." Michael sat up.

"Yeah, it seems compared to Irina-san that she a little more serious when involving us, devils." Saji sat up.

"Well at least we won't ever have to see them again for a while I hope." Michael then stood up and stretched.

"Me too." Saji nodded.

***Beep!* *Beep!***

"Huh?" Michael pulls out his phone and answers it, "Hello? Oh, hi Buchou."

After a few minutes of talking Michael's face suddenly grew pale.

"H-Hai, Buchou I understand, yeah I'll come home right now too bye."

Michael hung up his phone.

"What's the matter?" Saji asked.

"It's about Irina and her friend they're coming tomorrow after school to see Buchou." Michael said.

"Are you serious?" Saji said a little pissed off.

"Yeah…" Michael nodded then heard his phone beep once more to alert him of a client calling.

"Really, now?" Michael groaned as he rushed out Saji's room, "Thanks for helping me dude, but I really have to go!"

"Man, does that guy ever stay still?" Saji sweatdropped.

(The next day)

After school the entire Gremory Family+ Raynare assembled back in the clubroom as they welcomed their guests, the two exorcists. Everyone's instinct was rather normal because they held power dangerous which is the bane of their existence as the only one there who didn't even mind since his body was leaking a fierce killing intent was Kiba. Michael could understand why he was angry, but he couldn't believe that the once smiling Kiba was doing something that's really unlike him.

Rias sat on one couch as all her servants stood behind her as the other couch held both exorcists.

The conversation between the devils and exorcists then began,

"Thank you for agreeing to speak to us." The Blue haired girl said first, "My name is Xenovia Quarta."

"I'm Shidou Irina." Irina introduced herself then looked at Michael and winked.

_'What was that about?' Michael thought until he felt some sharp glares from Asia, Raynare and even Rias, 'Oh come on, are they doing this now?'_

**_[Afraid so partner.]_ **

"I wonder why the followers of God wish to meet with a devil." Rias crossed her arms.

"Of the 6 swords with known whereabouts, the church still has 3 of them." Irina explained,

"But 3 were stolen by Fallen Angels."

"Stolen?" Rias repeated as everyone behind her was shocked.

Suddenly Xenovia's sight turned towards Raynare who gasped at hearing that but was soon calmed down once Michael held her hand.

"It's alright you didn't do anything and your with us, so don't worry." Michael whispered and smiled.

"Thank you, Michael-sama." Raynare whispered and nodded as her cheeks were tinged with a little pink.

"..." Irina narrowed her eyes at the pair, but returned to her usual smile.

"The ones we currently have are the only ones left." Xenovia pulls out her sword which looked like a broadsword and said, "The Holy Sword of Destruction. Excalibur Destruction…"

"And the one I have here, the Holy Sword of Mimicry, Excalibur Mimic!" Irina showed a white arm brace which as its name implied is Excalibur Mimic.

"Well what would you like us to do with that information?" Rias said.

"Nothing, this is our issue with the Fallen Angels . We don't need devils in this town to interfere." Xenovia warned.

"Is that an accusation?" Rias asked, "Are you saying that we'll side with the Fallen Angels and do something about the Holy Swords?"

The intensity in the room began to grow as both sides stated their thoughts and responses.

"For a devil, a holy sword is a detestable thing." Xenovia's eyes showed a glint of challenge in them.

Rias looked at Xenovia as a sudden terrifying pressure of anger was given off of her body.

_'Man, I can't tell if she's looking for a fight because I sure as hell think I want to punch her!' Michael clenched his fist._

**_[Down boy remember what I said don't do anything stupid.]_ **

"If that's true then we will completely annihilate you. It won't even matter if you're the Maou's little sister." Xenovia continued.

"If you know me that well already, then let me tell you this: There is no way I'd ever stoop so low as to join the Fallen Angels." Rias crossed her arms, "I would never do anything to besmirch the name of the House of Gremory or the Maou."

Xenovia smirked and said, "It's enough to just hear that. I was just relaying the thoughts of those at headquarters."

_'Even if she was, I still think that she truly meant every word herself.' Michael exhaled in relief._

"I would never think that the little sister of the Maou would be so stupid."

"Then you also understand that I will not aid your side either?" Rias said.

"Of course. I'm fine if you promise not to intervene with anything that happens in this town." Xenovia stated seriously.

"I understand." Rias nodded.

"I'm sorry for taking up your time." Xenovia and Irina stood up as they were about to take their leave.

"Since you're here would you like some tea?" Rias offered.

"No thanks. I'd prefer not to make friends with devils." Xenovia responded as both she and Irina headed out towards the exit, "We'll take our leave now."

_'Finally they are gone now things won't get even worse…' Michael thought._

Stopping in her tracks Xenovia looks to the side to see Asia.

"Huh?" Asia blinks.

_'Wait, wasn't Asia in the chur-God dammit!' Michael cursed himself as he knew where this was going._

"I thought it was possible when we entered the room." Xenovia said.

"What?" Irina asked.

"Asia Argento, correct?" Xenovia asked the Blonde girl.

"Y-Yes…" Asia answered timidly.

"To think someone known as a witch would end up in such a place." Xenovia shot Asia a judging stare.

"!" Asia's eyes widened after hearing that and lowered her head.

"Oh, you're the former sister who became a witch?" Irina asked then smiled, "I had hear that you'd been banished because you could heal fallen angels and devils, but I didn't know you'd resort to being a devil."

Michael saw that Asia was visibly distressed by the two girl's insensitive words as the blonde grabbed her skirt and fidgeted under the pressure.

"U-Um, I…" Asia couldn't reply.

"Hey, you two what do you think you're doing?" Michael placed a hand on Asia's shoulder.

"But for someone who had been named a Sister to be a devil…" Xenovia said rudely, "There's just no saving such a rotten egg."

"Darn you…what gives you the right to say all that crap bit-!" Michael would have lunged at Xenovia if Koneko and Raynare didn't hold him back.

"Michael-sama don't!" Raynare shook her head.

"Baka-senpai…" Koneko held back her furious senior.

_'Damn, I don't care if this girl is from the church how dare she just do this to Asia in front of us!' Michael growled._

"Do you still believe in our God?" Xenovia asked.

"Xenovia, she's a devil I doubt she has any faith in the Lord anymore." Irina said.

_'Even Irina?' Michael growled._

"No, there are still those who have fallen who remain pious in the midst of their change in faith. I can tell she's one of them." Xenovia stated.

"You think so?" Irina said, "Hey, Asia, do you believe in our God even as you're a devil?"

"I-I just can't give up." Asia muttered as tears streamed down her face, "Because I had always believed in our God."

"Then allow me to execute you right now." Xenovia walked towards Asia while holding Excalibur Destruction.

"!" Asia gasped.

"You may be sinful, but our God is forgiving and will reach out his hand in forgiveness. At least die and be convicted by the hand of the Lord." Xenovia narrowed her eyes at Asia.

"Hey!" Michael growled breaking Raynare's hold, but was still kept back by Koneko's strength.

"Do you mind stopping right there." Rias stood up and looked at Xenovia threatningly, "If you're going to keep looking down at my servant like that?"

"Looking down on her? No, it's just pity from a former fellow believer." Xenovia smirked.

Michael quickly broke free from Koneko and ran to stand directly in front of Xenovia,

"Asia, doesn't need your shitty pity!"

"Michael!"

"You can't!"

Rias and Akeno called out but Michael ignored them.

"Michael-san…" Asia sniffled.

"Don't make Asia cry. Don't bully Asia. Don't even call Asia a witch!" Michael stared Xenovia right in the eye.

"At the very least she is someone who should be called a witch now." Xenovia smirked.

"Oh yeah, well I believe at the very least you should be called a bitch!" Michael growled.

"!" Everyone even Kiba was surprised by that.

"I said it!" Michael nodded then said, "You say that Asia sinned by helping a devil so what she helped someone. You were the ones who put her up on a pedestal as a saint to begin with! Didn't you know that she was always alone!" Michael clenched his fist.

"Oh, Michael-san!" Asia began to grow teary eyed as Raynare came to hug the girl so she would relax.

"A saint can live with the love of God alone." Xenovia said, "If she had wanted love and friendship then she didn't have what it takes to be a saint anyway."

"Well I'd rather be a regular guy then be a crappy saint who can't enjoy life!" Michael growled, "And those word "God's Love" don't you go spouting such a word to me, God? What has God ever done for Asia? Nothing! You're an idiot if you expect me to believe God has anything to do with this!"

Looking at Michael in admiration Asia blushed as someone was actually standing up for her.

"What are you to Asia Argento?" Xenovia asked.

"Her family! Her friend! Her comrade! If I dare see you try to mess with Asia again then I'll kick your ass!" Michael roared then looked over to Irina who gasped as his anger was also directed towards her, "All of you."

"Oh, is that a challenge to the whole church?" Xenovia raised her weapon and smirked, "Such big talk coming from a mere devil."

"I'm no mere devil, bitch because I'm going to become the Maou!" Michael said as he put his forehead to Xenovia and gave her a fierce glare, "And you can bet your ass I'm gonna do it too."

"Michael enough." Rias tried to break up the two but…

"This is perfect. I'll take you on." Kiba approached as his growing killing intent grew.

"Who are you?" Xenovia asked.

"I'm your senior." Kiba said with a dark tone.

"Yuuto…" Rias looked at Kiba with sad eyes.

Now standing outside of the clubroom Michael and Kiba stood side by side glaring at their enemies as the entire club stayed to watch the fight in case of any close casualties.

"Well then let's begin."

Both Xenovia and Irina unrobed themselves to reveal black, skin tight church battle suits which look somewhat erotic but Michael paid no mention to that as he clenched his fist and said,

"Ddraig…"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

**[Yes, Partner go all out.]**

"Thanks." Michael nodded as the Boosted Gear appeared on his arm.

"Is this okay? Fighting with people from the church without permission…" Akeno asked.

"This is just an informal bout." Rias explained.

"If the higher-ups found out, we'd all be in trouble." Irina took off her arm brace and transformed it into a katana.

"Let's have fun...without killing each other." Xenovia unsealed Excalibur Destruction and readied herself in a battle stance.

Suddenly Kiba began to laugh much to Xenovia's confusion.

"You're laughing?" Xenovia asked.

"Yeah, because the thing I've dedicated my life to destroy is now standing right before my eyes." Kiba smirked as a magic circle appeared beneath him and summoned many demonic swords from the ground.

"Sword Birth?" Xenovia said with a little interest, "I see, now I understand who you are now. There was a test subject who escaped disposal."

"Michael-kun!" Irina's eyes started to sparkle.

"What?" Michael grew a little freaked out.

"I can't believe the boy from my past became a devil! Oh, how cruel fate is!" Irina said, "I thought I would learn to use a holy sword, move far away and become helpful to the first boy who accidentally stole my first kiss." Irina then gave a complicated pose and cried, "Oh, this is also a trial from God!"

_'Oh crap, did she just say that out loud!?'_

"First kiss?"

Michael looked behind himself to see a furious Rias emitting a large killing intent along with Raynare.

"Michael, what does she mean by that?" Rias asked.

"Yes, Michael-sama care to explain?" Raynare glared.

"Whoa! Whoa! She's the one who said it not me!" Michael stood up and pointed at Irina accusingly.

"But if I can overcome this, I will be another step closer to true faith!" Irina said excitedly.

"She really has changed in some weird ways." Michael deadpanned.

"Now, Michael-kun. Allow me to judge your sins with my Excalibur!" Irina charged at Michael with impressive speed.

"Enough talk about faith! I'm a devil, so I've already gave up on God and that stuff a long time ago!" Michael lunged at Irina and shouted, "Boost!"

**[Boost!]**

* * *

**Next Chapter- Let's help out Kiba! I won't let my pal suffer through this alone anymore! Let's Destroy the Excaliburs!**


	17. Let's help out Kiba! I won't let my pal suffer through this alone anymore! Let's Destroy the Excaliburs!

**Let's help out Kiba! I won't let my pal suffer through this alone anymore! Let's Destroy the Excaliburs!**

* * *

The Battle between the Gremory Boys and the Church Duo commenced with Michael up against Irina and Kiba facing Xenovia, both sides were exerting a dangerous intent to harm towards one another. The area was covered in a barrier so the battle would not affect the outside world in any way, especially the school. With Michael, the teen was dealing with his old childhood friend, Irina Shidou who charges at him with her Excalibur Mimic,

"Now Michael-kun prepare as I shall bring judgment upon you with Excalibur Mimic! Amen!" Irina who the first move raised her blade and swung it down upon Michael.

"Judge-what now?" Michael tilts his head as the Holy Sword approaches.

***CLANG!***

With quick reflexes Michael was able to use the back hand of the Boosted Gear to block the attack of the Holy Sword as he and Irina jumped back and stared at each other.

"What? How come my sword wasn't able to make a dent on you?" Irina questioned then looked to see Michael's red gauntlet in a slow realization, "Wait is that?"

Michael took this as his chance as he charges forward, "Now it's my turn to attack!"

"Eh?" Irina was broken from thought and realized she was still in a middle of a battle.

"Concentrate..." Michael focuses some touki into his left arm before firing it at Irina.

"Hmph!" Irina was quick to evade as she steps to the side to avoid the punch and tries to swing her sword into Michael's now open arm.

"Geh!"

***CLANG!***

Michael gritted his teeth and raised his gauntlet covered arm to block the blade's harmful affect against him. Michael quickly swung back his arm and sent Irina reeling back, but quickly Irina was able to swing her blade to graze Michael's uniform before jumping back to gain ground.

***SHING!***

"Hey, that was my favorite shirt!" Michael gasped.

"It's sadly the only one he wears." Raynare sighed as she herself knows Michael's current wardrobe.

"It's still my favorite!" Michael cried.

"Remember this may be a match, but you are still fighting a Holy Sword Wielder so remain cautious!" Rias warned.

"Roger, Buchou!" Michael nodded and raised his Boosted Gear as he boosts up his power, "Boosted Gear power me up!"

**[Boost!]**

"The Mid-tier Longinus Sacred Gear?" Irina gasped upon realization, but not just her even Xenovia caught sight of this as she and Kiba prepare to face each other,

"The Boosted Gear? In a Far Eastern Country? I guess nothing is strange when occurrences like these happen." Xenovia sighed then quickly raised her blade as she blocked an incoming attack from Kiba's sword.

***CLANG!***

"You should worry about the opponent you have standing in front of you instead of Michael-kun." Kiba prepares another strike as Xenovia intercepts it with her Excalibur before it hits.

***CLASH!***

"Interesting the Sacred Gears "Boosted Gear", "Sword Birth" and even "Twilight Healing" have been gathered into one area. You all truly posses unique Sacred Gears!" Xenovia stays defending Kiba's quick attacks as she takes her chance to attack and try to cause large amounts of damage while Kiba uses his speed to dodge the fatal swings of the Excalibur.

***CLANG!***

***SHING!***

***CLANG!***

"This power bestowed upon me by the hatred of my comrades, who had their lives taken as they were consumed by regret! With my own hands and this power I will destroy the Excaliburs and their wielders too!" Kiba proclaimed his resolves to destroy the Holy Sword as Xenovia and Kiba's sword battle continued. As Xenovia simply prepares to attack,

"Haaaaah!"

***CLANG!***

One strike from Xenovia's blade pushed Kiba back a little as she prepares to exploit the opening until...

"I don't think so!"

***SHING!***

Kiba created another demonic sword in his other hand to parry the blow of the Excalibur as he fixes his stance and goes in to attack cautiously when he is given the chance as the two swordsmen clash blades.

***CLASH!***

In Michael's fight, the teen was literally just guarding Irina's attacks as he boosts his power to the recommended amount he needs, already he has boosted about 3 times but it still wasn't enough. And it's not particularly easy to block Irina's attacks while trying to focus on getting more power.

"Come on, just a little more!" Michael grunts as he dodges a swift blade to the head as he boosts more power,

**[Boost!]**

"Good just two more!" Michael nodded then gasps as he sees Irina quickly approaching,

"Damn!" Michael was too slow to react as Irina was already close to his range,

"Hyah!" Irina lunges at Michael and swings her blade upwards against Michael's shirt.

***RIP!***

Now showing half of his naked somewhat muscular chest Michael growled, "Oi! What has this shirt ever done to you!"

**[Boost!]**

"Now come on Michael-kun this isn't such a fair judgment if you don't at least put up a fight." Irina teased.

"Oh yeah, just you wait Irina because once I'm done with boosting then you'll get i-!"

**[Boost!]**

"Done!" Michael nodded.

**[Explosion!]**

Suddenly a red aura bursts out of Michael's body rapidly as he has succeeded in collecting enough power to attack with,

"Alright here I go!" Michael then charges at Irina and rapidly fires an array of punches and kicks at the exorcist. But unfortunately he was unable to land a single hit due to Irina's agile movements.

"Hold still!" Michael grunts as he fires a punch at Irina.

"Why should I?" Irina giggled as she quickly ducks the hit.

"Grrr! This is really getting annoying!" Michael fires a quick swing with his leg but Irina ducks the kick and thrusts her blade towards Michael's chest,

"Your open!"

***CLANG!***

Michael once again used his boosted gear to shield the blow and causing Irina to stutter back.

_'Now!' Michael nodded as he charged at the girl while cocking back his fist._

"Oomph!" Irina catches sight of this and swung her sword out in front of her to stop Michael's pursuit.

"*Gasp!*" Michael gasped as he felt a chill up his spine once the Holy Sword's blade grew closer so he jumps back to avoid the weapon.

Smiling at the impressive level of skill Michael has, Irina picks herself up and says, "Your pretty impressive Michael-kun even though you are a devil you show signs of great reaction and strength but those won't matter if you can't catch me."

_'She's right I can't catch her at this rate especially if she has that Holy Sword, and since I already used Explosion I can't Boost up until it times out. So I'll just have to use a new plan to get her.' Michael takes a step forward and launches himself at Irina with incredible speed as a final tactic to get a hit on the girl._

Giggling to herself, Irina readies her blade as she giggles, "How silly of you Michael-kun, thinking you can take me on when you know I have a greater advantage against you especially when your a devil who can't handle the Holy Sword."

"Let's see how silly this is when I knock you flat, Irina!" Michael roared as he cocked back his fist.

Finally within range Irina swings her sword downward at Michael who in turn adjusts his body to the left to dodge the sword's blade before continuing forward to see his target.

_'There!' Michael raised his open palm and readies himself, 'Since her front is heavily guarded I have to get her from behind if I want to get a good hit in.'_

"Wait, what are you-?" Irina gasped as she sees Michael slowly go under her shoulder.

"Got ya!" Michael brought down his hand and...

***SPANK!***

"Kyaaaa!"

Spanks Irina's ass really hard as a red magic circle was placed onto her body as he grins.

"There,  **Dragon Break**."

***SNAP!***

Michael then quickly scrambles to his feet and snaps his fingers as he looks back at Irina, "Now everything is set up..."

***ZING!***

The magic circle began to glow as Michael grins back at Irina and says, "Now it's time to show you the Great Hanamura's atta-!" Michael catches Irina staring at him with teary eyes and a little blush as he tilts his head and says, "What?"

"M-Michael-kun, you pervert!" Irina cried out, "I-I can't believe you touched me like that so roughly especially when we're in a fight!"

Michael points his finger at Irina and shouts, "Oi, don't go calling me a pervert when I obviously did that for a reason and besides we're fighting so aren't we supposed to be rough with each other?"

"Y-Yeah, but still..." Irina looked away as her blush grew a little more, "Next time just warn me if you're doing something like that, okay?"

_Michael looked dumbfounded, 'We're in a fight, so why do I have to do that, and why is her face red all of a sudden it's weird?'_

Suddenly Michael heard comments from his friends behind him,

"Ufufu! Michael-kun. you may be sexually curious but I don't think it's the time to act like that in the middle of a battle." Akeno giggled.

"Huh?" Michael turned back to see his friends giving him disappointed looks.

"Auuuuuu..!" Asia pouted while having teary eyes, "Michael-san is so mean, if you were curious about such things then maybe I..."

_'How am I so mean when I just defended you a while ago, Asia?' Michael thought._

"Michael-sama truly is cruel, he can do all these things to me, but he does it to someone else who doesn't give consent, he truly is a pervert." Raynare shook her head while she had teary eyes.

"Wait, what but-!" Michael gasped then he heard something hurtful from Koneko.

"...You truly are the worst."

***BREAK!***

_Michael fell to one knee and held his heart in pain, 'The worst?'_

Then these words from Rias stirred Michael up,

"Michael we'll discuss about your sudden outburst of lustfulness later."

_'But I didn't do anything!' Michael cried as he stood up and gripped his head in frustration._

Michael then growled and pointed at Irina with a furious expression, "It's all your fault that I'm getting punished, now I'm going to take you down!"

"Me. but it was you who-!" Irina responded.

"I already said I didn't want to do it for that!" Michael screamed then thrusts his fist out to create a a mass of demonic power in the size of a softball,

"Here let's see you take my load and still stand,  **Dragon Shot!"** Michael roared as he fired a red beam of concentrated power at Irina.

"Hmph!" Irina took a side step to dodge the straight forward attack and said, "Too bad it missed!"

"We'll just see about that!"

***ZING!* *ZING!***

Suddenly the magic circle on Irina's body glows brightly as the beam swerves back to attack its chosen target.

***DWOOOON!***

"What?" Irina gasped as she tried evading it once more only to have the beam change course and try to attack her, "It's not getting shaken off!"

"That's right I planted a seal on you so you wouldn't escape getting hit!" Michael chuckled, "So all you can do now is run until it gets you!"

Irina then stopped running and faced the beam while holding her Excalibur in front of her while sticking out her tongue, "Nope~!" Suddenly the shape of the katana changed to that of a large framed mirror which reflected the beam off of it and sent it flying back at Michael.

"What the hell?" Michael gasped as he crossed his arms over his chest to block the attack.

***DOON!***

Standing in the smoke Michael panted as he received some damage from the attack thanks to the energy he stored up as only his clothes took a little damage.

"Okay, I see what you did there… and I have to admit it was clever." Michael grunts.

"I know wasn't it?" Irina winked and transformed her mirror into a katana once more.

***KACHING!***

Meanwhile in Kiba's battle, Kiba was able to push back Xenovia a little, but as he did he soon found out that he was actually getting pushed back as well, seeing that he quickly jumps back to his other swords and stabbed the regular sword he had been using down before grabbing a fire and ice demonic sword as he screamed,

"Now burn to ash then freeze, Flare Brand and Freeze Mist!" Suddenly a raging torrent of flames was released in one sword as the other expelled a freezing cold force of ice.

"Haaaaaaaaaaa!" Kiba roared as he used his knight speed to attack Xenovia with his elemental demonic swords. But even with swift movement all it took for Xenovia to do is simply evaded his attack with little to no movement as she swings back her Excalibur and says,

"You have impressive moves. but it's still too weak." Xenovia commented before swinging her sword forward against Kiba's own swords.

*CRASH!* *CRASH!*

With a single strike Xenovia was able to crush the blades of Kiba's demonic sword with ease.

"!" Kiba was speechless by the spectacle.

Then taking her chance, Xenovia lifts Excalibur destruction over her head and spins it before bringing its blade into the ground and…

***DOOOOOOOOOON!***

Creating a huge magnitude which shook the ground and sent Kiba reeling back along with Irina, who was unfortunate to stand near their fight and actually get knocked off her feet.

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!" Irina cried.

"Whoa, that was amazing…" Michael said with wide eyes then sees a shadow above him, "Huh I wonder who that is?"

"Look out!" Irina cried as she fell straight towards Michael.

"Oh my Go-!"

***THUD!***

Getting the air knocked out of him, Michael now laid face first into the dirt as Irina sat on top of him.

"Ooops! My bad, sorry~!" Irina giggled.

"You know what you can do to prove you are?" Michael picked up his head and smirked.

"Huh?" Irina asked.

"By getting the hell off me!" Michael shouted, enraged.

Irina was quick to do so, but quickly readied herself and entered an offensive stance like before as Michael tiredly picks himself up.

"Man that hurt badly." Michael rubbed his back in pain, "How much do you weigh? I mean it felt like you gained weight while working with the church."

Irina grew flustered at the comment and let her guard down as she retorted, "T-That isn't true your just imagining things!"

SMIRK!

Michael then saw Irina's slowly crumbling guard and smirked with an idea in mind.

"I mean how could I, when the evidence is plainly obvious!" Michael continued his insulting, "I mean when you fell on me I literally thought an anvil from those old cartoons hit me!"

"W-What do I r-really weigh that much?" Irina grew teary eyed and looked at her body hastily.

"Pfft! That much? I say you weigh about 5 tons!" Michael shouted.

"F-F-Five Tons!?" Irina gasped and froze in place.

_'That's it get your spirit broken so I can deal the FINAL BLOW!' Michael thought as he points his finger at Irina and smirked,_

"Also Irina your thighs look totally chunky too."

***SHATTER!***

Irina's spirit just shattered as her entire guard was now down as she cried,

"N-Nooooooooooo!"

"Now's my chance!" Michael dashed at Irina and tackled her down, also luckily able to knock the Holy Sword out of her hands. Michael straddled Irina's hips and held down her wrists as the girl struggled to get up,

"Haha! Yes, I, The Great Hanamura have won!" Michael laughed heartily as Irina stared at Michael with a pair of furious teary eyes.

"Michael-kun has truly become a devil, resorting to such cruel words to break down my spirit!"

Michael looked at Irina and grinned, "Hehe! Sorry, I did have to say those lies about you to get the advantage."

"Lies?" Irina blinked.

"Yup, by lying about your cool figure I was able to bypass your defense and get a great upperhand."

"Wait, so you didn't mean a word you said?" Irina gasped and blushed as she just realized Michael complimented her figure. Irina slowly pulled her leg back towards Michael's crotch, "And you truly mean to say that you like my body?"

"Wait, what are you talking about." Michael tilted his head in question then chuckled, "Who cares about that now since I wo-GACK!"

Michael's face froze as he felt a painful sensation in his groin; he looked down to see he was correct Irina did in fact kick him in the balls…

"Even if it was a lie I couldn't just let you off so easy~!" Irina winked.

"Michael-san!" Asia cried.

"No, not there if it receives damage then it will be unusable for me!" Rias gasped in fright.

"You can hit Michael-sama anywhere you want, but please not there! I beg of you!" Raynare cried in fright at the scene unfolding in front of them.

"Ugh…my…children." Michael squeaked in pain.

"I'm afraid it's my win." Irina stood up and walked towards her Holy Sword and looked back to Rias with a knowing smile.

"I suppose it is. Shidou Irina-san I acknowledge your victory." Rias begrudgingly admitted.

"Thank you." Irina transformed her katana into an arm brace again and bowed.

As Michael who was still trembling on the ground squeaked, "I can't feel my legs…"

Back to Kiba's fight.

"Huuuuuuuuaaa!" Kiba hoists up an empty hilt and creates a large demonic sword which was taller than his entire body.

"Let's settle this! You're Holy Sword or my Demonic Sword which is more destructive!" Kiba charges at Xenovia blindingly as Xenovia stays in her stance and looked at Kiba disappointingly,

"How sad." Xenovia with a quick swing of her blade Xenovia dug the axe-like hand guard into Kiba's gut upon great impact which even forced Kiba to throw up some blood as he falls down in defeat.

Xenovia looked down upon Kiba and said, "You're a person who uses Demonic Swords to support your agile style. But once you let yourself use a large weapon beyond your control you couldn't use your speed to your advantage at all. And yet you still made such an avoidable mistake…"

Kiba gave Xenovia a spiteful glare and slowly picked himself up with no result, "S-Stop, we're not done yet…"

"Once you get a cool head maybe I'll think about fighting you once more," Xenovia looked back at Kiba and gave him a challenging smirk, "Senpai." Xenovia then sealed Excalibur destruction.

Walking towards her robe Xenovia says, "We're done here, wouldn't you agree Rias Gremory?"

"Yes, I am grateful you two did not finish off my servants with your Holy Swords." Rias agreed with a bitter smile.

"Then we'll leave, but remember our talk from earlier, do not interfere." Xenovia stated once more as she puts on her robes and begins to walk away with Irina.

"There's something I wish to know though, do you have any information on which Fallen Angel stole the Holy Swords?" Rias asked.

Xenovia still kept looking forward and said, "One of the leaders of the Grigori, Kokabiel is the Guilty man responsible."

"!" Almost everyone but Michael, Asia and Kiba gasped.

_'Kokabiel-sama!?' Raynare thought, 'But why is he-! No, wait could he be trying to!?'_

"The Gri-what?" Michael asked as he slowly recovered from his near "fatal" blow.

Akeno answered, "They are known as the "Protectors of the Son of God" a group of Fallen Angels."

"Oh, that's right Ray-chan said she was a part of it right?" Michael asked Raynare who was still busy in thought, "Ray-chan?"

Snapping out of thought Raynare shook her head and said, "Oh sorry Michael-sama I was just busy thinking is all."

Rias continued her conversation, "Your seriously going to handle a Cadre-classed Fallen Angel by yourself? Such an attempt is suicidal."

"We know of the possible outcome, but we'd rather destroy the Holy Swords than let a Fallen Angel take them." Xenovia said.

"We know what we're doing. As one of the Priests sent here before us has already been killed." Irina explained.

Getting up Kiba grunts, "Freed Zelzan, is the one responsible."

"Wait that mucked up, Looney Turkey did that!?" Michael screamed as he remembered bad memories of that priest almost killing me.

"The Stray Exorcist?" Rias questioned.

"I just happened to see the sight of him cutting down the priest with a Weapon which exuded a Holy Aura, a Holy Sword." Kiba explained.

_'Wait, he knew about this and didn't tell us?' Michael growled and stared at Kiba in anger, but not just because he didn't tell them that, but also that he's been rather secretive to the group since he's been away._

"A stray you say?" Xenovia asks, "So that's who did it. We appreciate the information but remember this is our issue with the Fallen Angels not yours so I'd heavily advise that you stay out of our way." Xenovia then continued to walk away and said, "Goodbye."

"Hey, wait up, Xenovia!" Irina called out before waving bye, "Well I guess this is it then, we'll be leaving now and Michael-kun remember not to lie about my weight again or I might have to bring "judgment" upon you again!" Irina then ran off as Michael covered in between his legs and shuddered.

"Man…" Michael looked at himself and Kiba and said, "We just got rekt."

**[Yeah, you sure did especially your balls.] Ddraig held back a slight snicker**

_'No one was asking you, Ddraig!' Michael teared up, 'They still hurt by the way…'_

Later in the clubroom as everyone was about to leave, Rias then stopped a silent Kiba from leaving the room.

"Stop, Yuuto. I won't let you leave me. You are a Gremory Knight." Rias said sternly.

"Forgive me, Buchou." Kiba walked out the door without looking back at anyone.

"Yuuto!" Rias gasped.

***SLAM!***

"K-Kiba-san…" Asia said sadly.

Michael who was watching the scene simply bit his lip and got up and ran towards the door and opened it, "Bring your ass back here, Pretty Boy!"

***Gacha!***

"Michael!" Rias gasped in surprise as she watched the teen run after Kiba.

"Rias-san." Raynare called as Rias turned back to see the Fallen Angel nodding.

Walking out the door of the School house Kiba looked up ahead without turning back to the call of Michael's voice.

"Pretty Boy, get back here!" Michael shouted as he finally gets outside and gets closer to Kiba.

"…" Kiba kept on walking until a hand reached him from behind and turned him around…

***WHAM!***

Michael punches Kiba straight across the face with all his might as he sent Kiba falling back.

"*Pant!* and just*Pant!* where do you think you're going?" Michael asked.

Kiba touched his red cheek before looking up in the sky with a blank look, "It is my own business, stay out of it."

Michael growled, "Like hell I will! First it was with fighting the Stray Devil, next it was you losing your cool in the fight and now you're dissing Buchou? Just what is up with you, Kiba?"

"I don't expect you to know what I'm going through." Kiba stood up, "You'll never understand what it's like to have your cherished friends taken from you."

"What did you say?" Michael growled, "Of course I know what it feels like don't you dare bring up that "you can never understand me" crap!" Michael clenched his fist and said, "Like with Asia I felt very angry and thought like you too."

Michael gritted his teeth, "Thinking about killing that bastard Dohnaseek for revenge and to clear my conscience of that image of Asia's final smile. So don't say I don't understand anything!"

Kiba gets up and points at Michael with a serious, angry stare and said, "That may be the case but, Asia-san was already revived before you can experience the loneliness that comes with her death. Try imagining that feeling being kept inside you for so long that you couldn't feel anything but your growing anger and sorrow as you kept living!"

"Ugh!" Michael was taken aback by Kiba's logical words and wanted to say something, but couldn't dredge up the words to say anything.

Kiba then turns his back on Michael and continues walking off, "Until you've experienced the same pain I've gone through then don't even bother sympathizing with me."

Walking off leaving Michael alone, Kiba walked off in a random direction.

"…" Michael looked up as he heard the approaching footsteps of Asia coming to check on him,

"Michael-san were you able to stop Kiba-san?" Asia asked.

"No…" Michael said in a monotone voice.

"I see…" Asia said sadly then asked, "Are you alright though?"

"No…" Michael shook his head and looked down and felt saddened that he wasn't able to help or even feel what Kiba's gone through up until now. Right now he just didn't know what to do…

HUG

Michael's eyes widdend as he felt someone from behind him wrapping their arms around him, "Asia?"

"Whenever, Michael-san isn't okay, I start to get nervous and a little scared." Asia said in a calm voice which was soothing Michael's sadness, "But whenever I stay this close to Michael-san, I feel more relaxed and happy."

"Asia…"

"When I was new here you were the first person to show me kindness, and after that you became my friend and helped me when I thought I was alone. Michael-san has done so much for me even when I didn't ask for any help. That's why I feel empathetic whenever Michael-san is happy or sad because your always thinking of ways to help." Asia gave a sincere smile.

_'Empathetic...Empathetic wait that's it, I get it now!'_

Surprised by Asia's words, Michael was quick to shake his head and turn back to the girl and smile as he grabbed her by the shoulders and said, "Thank you, Asia I feel much better now."

Smiling happily, Asia was quick to hug him again as she said, "I'm so glad, I was able to help Michael-san."

"Yeah, I'm glad that I can help you too." Michael nodded then thought,

_'What's up with me getting all sad now? Get your head in the game Hanamura, we've barely tried to help Kiba yet! And after hearing what Asia just said right now I think I might have a plan to helping Pretty Boy!' Michael rubbed his chin and grinned._

(The next day)

In a crowded café, sat Michael drinking a cup of tea, a deliberate habit he started to grow from staying with the Gremory Group. He still preferred Akeno's tea more than some public cafe's, but since he's here he might as well have something to fill up on.

"Meh, needs more sugar." Michael stared at his tea in disappointment.

"Yo, Mike." Saji entered and smiled.

"Hey Saji, sorry for calling you out so suddenly." Michael said.

"No problem, I already finished some of my daily work for the Council so the Kaichou gave me a day off today so what's up?" Saji chuckled and sat down.

"Sure you may as well sit down before I tell you my problem." Michael groaned.

Saji looked surprised, "Wait, you want me to help with a problem? But I thought you invited me because we're going to eat lunch while you pay."

"*SNRK!*" Michael held in a laugh, "Yeah right, when do I ever carry money with me?"

"…" Saji blankly looked at Michael before getting out of his seat, "Bye."

"W-Wait I'm just kidding just sit back down!" Michael cried as Saji sighs and looks back at Michael and says,

"This better be a good one, Mike."

"Trust me it is, so here is how it goes, I need your help in destroying the Holy Swords." Michael began.

**_[30 Minutes of explaining later…] Ddraig narrated._ **

_'What are you doing?' Michael asked._

**_[I'm bored and this is the only entertainment I could think of.]_ **

"And that's how it goes man so will you help me?" Michael asked then puts guilt over on Saji, "And remember the answer you give has a 50% chance of making Asia cry."

After explaining everything about the Holy Swords and Kiba to Saji, his best friend gave him a response he could not understand.

"Sure, why not?" Saji accepted the offer rather easily.

"You coward!" Michael shot up from his seat and pointed at Saji, "How dare you reject your only best friend in his time of need, and you'd even let Asia cry! You monster…"

Saji looked around to see the many people looking and whispered, "Michael, I said I was okay with it alright, geez!"

"I mean after all th-wait you're serious?" Michael asked with wide eyes.

"Yes." Saji nodded as Michael sat down,

"Wait really? Shit! I even prepared a whole speech to demean you in public and force you to accept against your will as other looks at you like some sort of disgrace." Michael explained in full detail.

"Yeah, I kind of saw that coming since this café is usually busy after school hours." Saji said as he looks around to see many Kuoh Academy students.

"But why the sudden acceptance?" Michael asked.

"Because if I left you to deal with the Holy Sword then you'd might accidentally start a war between the Devils and the Church also after you told me that story about Kiba I actually started to feel sorry for the handsome bastard as well." Saji explained then growled, "But shit, if Kaichou finds out she'll be pissed which means I'll have to think of a way to get off the edge of that steep cliff."

"Saji, please." Michael gave Saji a serious stare.

"I already said I'd help so stop looking like that, it's weird seeing you so serious about something other than food." Saji chuckled nervously.

"Thanks Saji, I appreciate it." Michael sighed.

"Don't thank me just yet, so what's your plan on getting the Church on board with your plan?" Saji crossed his arms.

"It's nothing to worry about I already have a plan that will work." Michael smiled.

"So what's your percentage rate of succession?" Saji asked as Michael kept his smile then grinned.

"About 40%." Michael smiled.

"40%? That's terrible we'd be better off with another plan than that." Saji said.

"Well it could be 40% based on one of them, but if I put in some other stuff into the negotiation then it will be about 60%." Michael scratched the back of his head.

"Well that's an improvement, but it's still not good enough. If we're looking to get permission then we have to be at 85% instead of lower so it can be more successful." Saji explained, "So let's start off with 100% as we go through the negatives which bring us down."

0%- None

-10%- Destroy Excalibur Fragment

-20%- Getting involved in a Church Matter

-10%- We're Devils

"Those are the high chance rates we can't deny anything lower would have to be our faults in the matter." Saji said.

"But still even if it's just a little chance we still have to try!" Michael said anxiously.

"I knew you'd say that, but maybe if we go at an approach differently than us being devils then maybe we can get more of a chance to getting permission." Saji rubbed his chin.

"There we go you can do it, Dr. Science!" Michael cheered.

"Please don't call me that." Saji shook his head then said, "Wait, I've got it, you're the new Red Dragon Emperor, so let's use it as our advantage."

"Okay, but how do I do that?"

"Don't worry, I'll explain things later." Saji smiled.

"Yosh! Now we're all set now we can-!"

Suddenly a waitress puts a tab on Michael's table to show a large amount of money spent on food.

"Excuse me, ma'am, I just ordered two drinks." Michael looked at the waitress.

"Eh? But aren't you paying for the young miss over there?" The waitress points to a single table to where Koneko was enjoying a rather large glass of ice cream and seeing as there are 3 other glasses it meant she was already eating the time he spent there.

"How long has she been there?" Michael then looked at the bill as Saji blinked,

"Toujo-chan?"

"What the hell, she's been eating that much? Craaaap! How am I supposed to pay for all of this!?" Michael cried as his eyes bugged out.

"Don't worry buddy, I'll help." Saji reached for his wallet.

"Wow, thanks man." Michael sighed in relief.

"Oh, wait I forgot my larger bills next to my bike let me come back after getting it." Saji immediately walked out the café.

"Okay, take your time." Michael hummed then gasped in realization, "Wait a minute, you son of a bitch! You don't have a bike!"

"Dine and Dash for the win!" Saji laughed as he ran outside.

"Darn, now I have to pay, but maybe if I ask Koneko-chan for some money to lend then maybe I could..." Michael rubbed his chin until her saw Koneko get up from her seat then rush out the restaurant in a split second.

Michael froze before screaming, "You guys are the worst!"

"Sir, are you ready to pay?" The waitress asked as Michael gulped and gave her a wry smile.

"Well you see I don't have any money…" Michael gulped.

The waitress gave Michael a dark glare then suddenly grabbed him by the neck of his collar, "You'll pay for the money one way or another."

"W-Wait, where are you taking me!?" Michael cried as he was getting dragged in the kitchen to serve the time and pay off the bill for his "added" on sweets.

Outside after 2 hours, Michael was walking besides Saji and Koneko while looking rather exhausted after being forced to clean the male's restroom all. By. Himself. Also Koneko tagged along because like Michael, she too felt concerned for Kiba's well-being as she's being cooperative with the two Pawns.

"You guys suck." Michael spat.

"It's your fault for getting easily tricked, man, things like this would usually backfire for me as you'd find a way to pin the blame on me." Saji smirked, "Meaning this stuff is really serious to you."

"…It won't be easy searching for the two." Koneko said.

"Yeah, but nothing is really easy in the start so let's be patient." Saji commented.

"Yeah your right it might take even months, years hell maybe centuries but we musn't give up for if we do then it will mean the end of Pretty Boy!" Michael said dramatically, "Now let us commence with our search."

"We already began about 2 hours ago…" Saji groaned.

"Don't be a smart-ass Saji." Michael sighed then saw Koneko tugging on his shirt, "Huh, what is it?"

The girl points towards a street to show a pair of white robed women holding an offering box as they cried out,

"Please give blessings to the lost lamb-"

"Please give charity to us on behalf of the father in heaven!"

No one would pay any attention to them and continued walking away.

"How can this be? This is the reality of the developed country of Japan? That's why I don't like countries that don't have the smell of our beliefs."

"Don't say that, Xenovia. We lost all the money we had. So we have to rely on charity from these heretics or else we can't get food, you know? Aaah, we can't even buy a single loaf of bread!"

"Hmph. It all happened because you bought that fake looking painting."

Xenovia pointed at a painting of a saint that was drawn really badly.

"What are you saying? This painting has the drawing of someone who looks like a saint! That's what the person in the exhibition said as well!"

With Michael and Saji, the latter looked over with a half lidded look of curiosity.

"So is she a little…?" Saji asked.

"Yeah, she's too trusting whenever someone says or brings up anyone in the Bible or involved in church." Michael nods and sighed.

"I see." Saji scratched his head.

With Xenovia and Irina,

"Then do you know who the person in the drawing is? I certainly don't."

The person in the picture certainly looked like a foreigner and was wearing poor clothing and had something on his head. There was also a baby Angel on the background with a trumpet who was floating in the air.

"…I think it's…Saint…Peter…?"

"Don't mess around. Saint Peter wouldn't look like this."

"No, he must have looked like this! I'm sure about it!"

"Aaah, why did my partner have to be someone like you…God, is this also a trial?"

"Hey don't hold your head down. You really get depressed when you are down, don't you?"

"Shut up! That's why the Protestants are called heretics! You guys have different beliefs than us Catholics! Show more respect to the saints!"

"What! What's wrong, it is Catholicism where they still abide by the old law!"

"What did you say, heretic?"

"What did you say, heretic!?"

Those two started to argue by banging their heads against each other…

RUMBLE.

Then we heard the sound of their stomachs rumble when we were a distance away from them. The two of them dropped onto the ground with their stomachs rumbling.

"…First of all, let's do something to fill our stomachs. Or else it's not a matter of retrieving the Excaliburs."

"…You are right. Do you want to get money from the heretics by threatening them? I think God will forgive us if we threaten the heretics."

"Do you plan to attack the shrine? Or do you plan to steal their offertory box? Don't do either. Let's use our swords to put on a performance. It's an international entertainment that works in every country."

"That's an excellent idea! If we can cut fruits with our Excaliburs, then we can gather some cash!"

"Well, we don't have fruits. It can't be helped. Let's cut the picture instead."

"No, stop you can't cut this down!"

The two church goers engaged in another argument as they were involving the Fake St. Peter portrait now.

"Maybe we should do something about this." Saji said.

Michael stood in place and rubbed his chin, "Maybe…Maybe…"

Koneko looked at her senior in annoyance and pushed him forward,

"Just buy them lunch, baka-senpai." Koneko commented.

"Alright, but Saji you're paying since you ditched me." Michael growled.

"Okay, I guess that's fair. I mean how much money does it take to feed two teenage girls?" Saji crossed his arms.

…

"Amazing! Irina, it's so delicious Japanese Cuisine truly is amazing!"

"This is the stuff, I can't get enough of the meals at these family restaurants!"

In a Family Restaurant, both Xenovia and Irina were digging into the establishments entire food menu. As they already had 4 course meals already. As Saji gave a forced smile as he could feel his wallet literally lighten up, "Man they are eating like animals right guys?"

Saji turns his head to the right to see something terrifying…

It was the pair of Michael and Koneko hastily eating food as well as Michael ate in a more rabid fashion as Koneko ate in a more quiet fast pace.

Stopping his eating, Michael looked at Saji and said, "Could you please pass the salt?"

"Oi! Who said I was paying for you two?" Saji shouted.

"No one, so that's why I decided to let you pay for 'all' of our meals!" Michael chuckled.

"Damn you… just die right now." Saji growled as tears streamed down his face.

Once they were finished eating both Xenovia and Irina looked rather depressed for some reason.

"How can we let ourselves get tempted by devils? What has the world come to?" Xenovia said while gritting her teeth.

"We sold our souls to the Devils!" Irina was in the prayer position while sounding kind of sad.

"Pfft! I don't care at least I wasn't the sucker who paid for you two to eat." Michael smirked and folded his arms behind his head.

"Oi!" Saji slapped Michael upside his head.

"O, Lord bless these kindhearted Devils." Irina prayed.

***BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!***

The devils gripped their heads in pain as Michael banged his against the table really hard.

"Screw your blessings, we're devils, we don't need them!" Michael cried in pain.

"Whoops, sorry I did it without thinking...again." Irina smiled cutely.

After drinking a glass of water Xenovia then asks,

"So what is your purpose of meeting us?" Xenovia asked as Michael glared at her,

_'I still don't like this girl for what she did to Asia, but I can let it go especially for Kiba's sake.' Michael thought._

"We want to help you destroy the Excaliburs." Michael stated his reason.

"What?" Xenovia questioned.

"Yes, we aren't going to go crazy and destroy them all we just need to destroy at least one sword that's all." Saji explained.

"I understand now, We could probably ask you to destroy one." Xenovia seemed nonchalant about the idea.

"Alright see told you 60% would be a good chance." Michael smiled.

"There's a first thing for everything." Saji shrugged, "Even morons have to make guesses to get half the questions on a test right."

"What did you say!" Michael growled.

"Hey Xenovia, are you sure? Even if it's Michael-kun, he's still a Devil, you know?" Irina raised an objection.

"Irina, to tell you the truth, it would really be tough to retrieve the three Excaliburs and to battle Kokabiel with only the two of us."

"I know that. But...!"

"The minimum objectives we have to achieve are to destroy the three Excaliburs or take them back. If our Excaliburs are going to be stolen then we might as well break them before it happens. Even if we use the last resort, there's only a 30% chance that we will succeed in our mission and return home safely."

"Yeah, but, we knew that the success rate was high enough for us come to this country to put our lives on the line."

"Yeah. The higher-ups also told us to continue with our mission as well and dispatched us to this country. It's almost self-sacrifice."

"And isn't that what we, the followers, desire for?"

"I changed my mind. My beliefs are flexible. So I can act in the best way."

"You! I have been thinking about it for a long time, but your faith is a bit weird!"

"I won't deny it. But I think that it's our duty to accomplish our mission and return safely. I'm going to live and continue fighting for God. Am I wrong?"

"…You are not wrong. But..."

Saji then elbows Michael, who gasps upon realization,

"Oh right, well if you can't trust me as a devil then how about me as the Red Dragon Emperor then?"

"Yes, I can trust the power of the dragon, but to think I'd meet the Sekiryuutei so far out in this country. Even if you're a devil, I can still see that you have a large amount of dragon power within you. And if legends are correct then maybe you can boost your power to that of a Maou and break the Excaliburs with no trouble correct?" Xenovia said rather joyfully.

"That may be true, b-but your belief is weird if you're going to trust the power of a Dragon." Irina still objected.

"I don't mind being weird and besides he's your childhood friend, Irina so shouldn't you trust him? And weren't you the one blabbering about how excited you were to see him again?" Xenovia said.

"…" Irina became silent as her sight glanced up at Michael to show him giving her a pleading expression.

"Irina, please…" Michael said.

"Fine. I see no problem having Michael-kun and his friends help." Irina nodded.

"Sweet!" Michael pumped his fist up in the air, "Now everything's ready!"

"Is he always this loud?" Xenovia asked as Saji, Irina and Koneko nodded at once,

"Yes…" The three answered.

Calling Kiba was quite a challenge for Michael, so he had Koneko do it for him as they all agreed to meet at the park. After explaining the agreed negotiation Kiba then stated his response,

"I see you were given permission to destroy the Excaliburs. It may be what I want, but I still find it unsatisfactory to get permission when I can just do it any time I wish to." Kiba responded.

"Your words are rather rough. If you were a Stray Devil then I would have you cut down without any time to spare." Xenovia said with hostility.

Suddenly a fierce stare down between the two began as they were about to draw their weapons until.

**[Dragon Booster!]**

Releasing his Boosted Gear Michael growled, "Stop it." Michael's serious tone stopped both swordsmen as the teen glared at both of them as the rest watched in shock at Michael interrupting the two.

"We're supposed to be a team and help each other even if it's temporary, if any of you try to fight with me around then I'll be forced to make you two listen to me by force." Michael said as a large amount of dragon aura leaked out of his body, "Unless you'd rather try me to see if it's true?"

Seeing this both Xenovia and Kiba backed down and started to actually talk instead of getting into a fight.

"So you do hold a grudge regarding the "Holy-sword Project". Against the church and the Excaliburs."

Kiba sharpened his eyes at Irina's words.

"Obviously."

He replied with a low and cold voice.

"But Kiba-kun. Thanks to that project, the research on holy-sword users showed results. That's why it created people like Xenovia and I, who can synchronize with the holy swords."

"Do you think it's a forgiving act to kill all the test subjects because the project was thought to be a failure?"

Kiba looked at Irina with eyes filled with hatred.

"N-No, what I mean is…" Irina looked away.

"Oi! Kiba calm yourself down, man." Michael puts his hand on Irina's shoulder which seemed to relax the girl.

"That incident also became one of the worst cases among us and people felt disgusted about it. The person in charge of that project at that time was said to have a problem with his belief. So he was charged with heresy. Now he's one of those people on the Fallen-Angels side." Xenovia said.

"On the Fallen-Angel's side? What's the name of that person?" Kiba asked.

"His name is Balba Galilei. The one known as "Genocide Archbishop."."

"…If I go after Fallen-Angels, then can I reach him?"

Kiba's eye had the color of a new determination.

"Like you said yesterday he has a stray priest as his assistant aiding him as a fellow stray." Xenovia explained.

"Wow, Freed, that turkey? He really likes to come out at the wrong time." Michael growled.

"It's common for exiles to work together." Xenovia said.

Kiba sighed and said, "After hearing all of this I no longer have a reason to refuse cooperating with you."

"Well that's it so I guess our deal is prepared." Irina said.

About to leave Xenovia said, "We will repay you for the meal someday, Sekiryuutei, Michael Hanamura."

"Bye~! Michael-kun, I'll make sure to call you once we're ready to discuss a cooperation strategy." Irina waved and followed Xenovia.

"Well I guess that worked out well." Michael exhaled in relaxation as he waved to them goodbye.

"Yeah, I guess it did, but who the hell is Freed?" Saji asked.

"Well you better take a seat because this will take a long time to explain." Michael groaned as he was about to begin until,

"Didn't I say this was my own business?" Kiba gave Michael a serious stare.

"Yeah, you sure did." Michael nodded.

"So why are you still getting into it?" Kiba asked.

"Because…I want to help you Kiba." Michael answered.

"But why?" Kiba asked.

"Well since letting you leave Buchou to go off crazy somewhere might make her sad and besides your my friend, so I can't just leave you hanging." Michael chuckled, "And besides I guess I understand what you're going through."

Kiba looked rather serious at that and would have answered but Michael interrupted and said,

"Because you're my comrade, and if I were to let you go off on your own you'd probably die and if that happens then I could never forgive myself and live the same grief your going through." Michael walked up to Kiba and placed his fist upon Kiba's chest, "So to make sure I don't live my life on a shitty note then why not prevent it, eh?"

Kiba looked surprised as Michael grinned,

"Kiba, we're your friends so try to trust them all right pal?" Michael grinned then raised his fist, "And besides I need another dude to be around just in case Saji gets his ass rid on by the Kaichou."

"Oi!" Saji growled.

"…Yuuto-senpai. I would get lonely if you were to disappear." Koneko gave a sad expression which shocked Michael as he was visibly crying.

"*Sniff!* Y'know she really does have a heart doesn't she?" Michael wiped his tears.

Seeing and hearing this Koneko elbows Michael in the gut and continues pleading towards Kiba.

"…That's why I will help you, so please don't go away..." Koneko's sad tone even made Saji cry next.

"*COUGH!* Just agree to it you selfish bastard!"

"Just tell her you won't go away already you damn bastard!"

Michael and Saji cried hysterically like the idiots they are.

"Hahaha. I give up. If Koneko-chan says that to me, then I guess going in alone is a big no for me. Okay from now on I will work with you all. Thanks to Michael-kun, I know who my true enemy is. But since we are doing this, we are definitely going to defeat the Excalibur. "

"Look I might not be involved in this matter, but let me do my best for you and besides you're not the only one fighting for something." Saji walked up to Kiba and shook his hand.

"Thank you, Saji-kun." Kiba shook the teen's hand, "It means a lot knowing I'll be able to avenge my past comrades with the ones I have now."

"No sweat and if we're going to be honest about our goals then I should to." Saji nodded and pulled back his hand to point at himself, "Because my dream one day is to become an Ace in the Rating Games as Kaichou's left hand man since you know Fuka-kaichou is her queen and they are right hands to the King so it makes perfect sense. Also finding the Holy Swords may benefit me in more combat experience as well."

Michael slid in and smiled with half lidded eyes, "Liar."

Saji growled and glared at Michael, "What did you say?"

"You know what I mean, because I heard from a certain somebody last week that they wanted to impregnate their President then marry them." Michael implied it was Saji.

"Eh?" Kiba tilts his head at that.

"You bastard, you promised you wouldn't tell!" Saji lunged at Michael and pulled his cheeks really hard.

"Hah! You actually believed me, and you're an unbelievable dumbass if you believe you're supposed to impregnate someone before you marry them! What are you trying to do force her into marriage?" Michael growled as he pulled Saji's cheeks hard too.

"I don't want to be called that by the King of Dumbasses like you!" Saji growled.

"Well you better listen clear ya, dumbass because this dumbass can tell your plan a mile away!" Michael growled as the two then started to engage in a brawl as they punched each other as Kiba and Koneko laughed.

"They sure do act chummy, don't you think?" Kiba smiled and laughed.

"…They are still morons." Koneko coldly said.

As this event occurred another was playing itself as well as a diligent Raynare was in a market shopping for more groceries to feed Michael and the others.

_'I wonder if Michael-kun loves croquettes.' Raynare thought as she was slowly filling her cart with various types of food._

Asia was doing her best at a devil job with her client as Rias was gone for a while as she told her and the rest she'll be with Sona discussing some important matters. But she actually knew that the main topic was Kiba. She may have not known the guy rather well but she too felt worry for him as well and hopes that Michael could find a way to help him.

Though she knew he was already on the job as she saw his serious expression the whole school day. Such a face causes chills to go down her spine as this side of him strangely excites for some reason as when she tried to strike a conversation with him, his strong tone and quick to the point responses would visibly shake her on the inside as she would fumble her words in the process.

_'It's just that something like that changing him somehow makes my chest feel hot. Could it be that he's showing a more masculine side of himself than before?' Raynare blushed as she placed a hand on her chest in thought before remembering something._

"But that could wait for another time as another issue is bringing itself up…Kokabiel-sama." Raynare furrowed her brow and looked down, "I knew he was against Azazel-sama's withdrawal from war, but would he seriously try to start another war especially when our race is barely just recovering?"

Pushing the cart, Raynare was oblivious to where she was going, "And it's even worse when that disgusting stray priest, Freed Zelzan is with him too." Raynare growled as she remembered that insane man all too well, he was a maniac who wouldn't know how to act civilized especially towards his own superiors.

But what really pissed her off about him was that she heard that he had tried to kill Michael! Michael! Especially when he wasn't even a devil to begin with! She knew it was under Dohnaseek's orders, but still such a threat towards Michael made her want to kill Freed a thousand times over.

_'A Holy Sword mixed with those two don't mix well, I hope things will be settled down as soon as possible.' Raynare sighed then gasped as she suddenly hit her cart up giants the back of someone in front of her without her knowledge._

"S-Sorry! I wasn't paying attention and I was-!" Raynare bowed in apology as the man sighed.

"So pathetic you can't even do something so simple as pushing a cart." The person she crashed into was a man. The same man Michael met with the other day, "And you even let your thoughts cloud your mind of judgment how sad, Ray-Ray."

Hearing that Raynare grew a little angry, "Hey what gives I already apologized and-! Wait, Ray-Ray…?" Raynare stopped herself as she heard a familiar name someone once called her a long while ago then gasped upon realization, "Y-You!" Raynare looked up to see the man face to face and showed an expression of utter terror, "Why are you here?"

"Use your words you reject, Geez! Why must I have such a untrained Little Sister?" The man scratched his head and said in an annoyed tone.

(The next day)

It was at night and Michael was leaving from the apartment to go see the others about their plan to eliminate the Holy Sword. Asia was saddened to see that he had to go so late to do a Devil Job (Yeah he lied…He knows he's a monster for lying to such a sweet girl!) but understood as this will make him better in the future. As for Raynare herself she has been rather quiet and somewhat lost in thought as she too was worried for Michael leaving so late but allowed it. Michael did want to know what the issue was with her to be so serious but decided to handle one problem at a time before engaging.

In the Abandoned Church, everyone was getting ready to depart for the search as Michael, Kiba and Saji wore Priest's clothing as Koneko was wearing a nun's costume. Michael had to cancel hanging out with his client for today but he didn't feel too bad because he knew the Ero-Ossan would be obsessed over some new object to collect in under 20 seconds.

"I can't believe us devils are seriously wearing this." Saji said as he finished putting his costume on.

"I don't care what I wear as long as it helps me get to my goal." Kiba finished adjusting his collar.

Xenovia then said, "We'll be better searching in separate groups than all of us as a whole."

"Yes, a search party of that size will only attract more attention to ourselves if we do that." Kiba nodded.

"Alright sounds like a plan!" Michael grinned then said, "Because after this I'm gonna be named Michael Hanamura, "The Excalibur Slayer"!"

"Wait wasn't this supposed to be to help Kiba?" Saji asked.

"Yeah, yeah, but this is even more important! I can be famous!" Michael chuckled in excitement.

"…Idiot-senpai, is the worst." Koneko sighed.

"Selfishness along with perverseness? Michael-kun, you truly are a terrible devil!" Irina cried shamefully then prayed, "Dear Lord! Please never forgive this sinful Devil!"

"You suck." Saji implied.

Michael looked at everyone around him then said, "Alright, you guys can officially all go straight to hell, and we'll take the east side."

"Fine, then I guess Me and Irina will take the west part of town." Xenovia nodded.

"Remember if you happen to come into any trouble just call my cell okay?" Irina said to Michael in a nagging fashion.

"I know, I know." Michael picked at his ear and looked to the side.

"Do you or are you just trying to pretend understand to make yourself sound better?" Irina asked in reassurance.

"Of course I do, I'm not an idiot!" Michael growled.

"If you weren't then I wouldn't be asking." Irina said with half closed eyes.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Michael shouted.

Staring at the two childhood friends Koneko said, "…This looks like an old married couple fighting."

"Uh-huh?" Saji nodded as Kiba lightly chuckled.

"Alright, Team Hanamura Alpha Sentai let's go!" Michael roared and thrusts his fist up.

"That isn't the name we discussed…" Saji groaned.

Xenovia then stopped Michael and said, "Oh wait, before you go there's something I must tell you,"

"Look if you're asking for an apology from me then you're going to have to redeem yourself in my book because I still think you're a bit-" Michael said honestly before Koneko socked him in the gut to shut him up.

"No, it's not that, I'm just grateful that you were taking care of us in our stay here, so as thanks I'll tell you this message the White Dragon has awakened."

"!" Michael gasped in shock then suddenly felt himself get anxious after hearing that.

**[It seems your fated battle will arrive closer then I'd expect.]**

_'Y-Yeah.' Michael nodded._

Separating into groups, Michael's own group was walking down the street searching for any signs of Holy Activity nearby. They already searched 3 areas and couldn't find such a presence so they searched for the fourth time.

_'Man, now I have this White Dragon crap on my mind, that blue haired girl sure knows how to mess me up.' Michael growled._

"Baka-senpai…?" Koneko called after seeing Michael's faraway look.

"Oh sorry, for spacing out, so where do we look next?" Michael asked.

"Maybe a place without people who can easily see us." Saji suggested.

"So what kind of place should we go to?" Michael asked.

"I have a place in mind." Kiba said.

"Really?"

After walking for only a couple of minutes, Michael and the others arrived to an abandoned building to where they once defeated the Stray Devil, Viser.

"This place seems to work perfectly as its away from the public." Saji said while looking around, "So what does this Freed guy look like?"

"Well he's technically a bishonen, but also a psychotic bastard who kills anyone despite being a devil or a human." Michael explained.

"How do you know?" Saji asked.

"Because he tried to kill me when I was human."

"Wow, that must have sucked."

"Yeah, it did, but the most psychotic thing about him is that laugh he does out of freaking nowh-"

"HYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" A demented laugh was heard in the area.

"Like that." Michael pointed out then looked above to see a man jumping off the roof and falling their way.

"Time to die!" The man was revealed to be Freed who was wielding a unique looking blade which exuded Holy Aura.

"Oh no, you don't!" Kiba then summons a demonic sword with his sword and blocks Freed's attack with great reaction.

"Hmph!" Freed was quick to back step away and lands to see his targets weren't priests, "Awww~! No priests? I was really hoping to kill some today! And all I get were a bunch of shitty devils instead, but who cares I guess this will compensate!"

"Freed!" Michael shouted.

"Michael-kun!" Freed smirked.

"Freed!" Kiba shouted.

"Pretty Boy!" Freed sneered.

"Koneko-chan!" Michael shouted.

"…Michael-senpai…" Koneko said.

"Kiba?" Saji said with a confused look.

"Michael-kun?" Kiba questioned.

"Saji-kun!" Freed smirked.

"Fre-wait, how do you even know me?" Saji gasped with wide eyes.

"I see you've returned to me, Michael-kun! Oh, how weird fate is? Are you more worthy to kill now, huh? Has your Dragon Power increased to the point where you can actually stand a chance huh? Hey, why the hell am I asking you when I can just see it!" Freed lunged at Michael with the intent to kill, but not before…

***GIN!***

Kiba jumped ahead and clashed blades with Freed.

"Your opponent is me!" Kiba grunts.

"Oh, you again? Wow, you must really like me or is it you're taken with my Excalibur-chan huh? Well too bad because its job is to cut down shitty devils like yourselves!" Freed smirked as a battle of speed now commenced between the two, "Devils meet Excalibur Rapidly and Excalibur Rapidly prepare to meet the soft disgusting flesh of these damned devils!"

***KACHIN!***

***GIN!***

***SHIN!***

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

"Alright time to boost up." Michael summoned his Boosted Gear and points it at Kiba who was locked in a speed fight against Freed that made Michael lose his sight of the teen.

**[Dragon Booster]**

**[Boost!]**

At the rate the battle is going, Michael could tell the fastest out of the two was Freed with his Excalibur as Kiba's Knight Speed was looking a little slow compared to the Priest.

"That Excalibur is giving him super speed?" Saji clenched his fist.

"Yeah, and I can't send Kiba power if he doesn't hold still." Michael growled.

**[Boost!]**

"Kiba, do you need a power up right now!?" Michael shouted.

"No! I can handle this on my own!" Kiba grunts as he continued to clash blades with Freed.

"…Too fast." Koneko said as she looked at the fight intently.

"I know I can't even see where Kiba especially with Freed's speed getting in my way, I need some way to stop him." Michael spat.

**[Boost!]**

"A way to stop him, huh? Well then let me handle it then." Saji stretched out his hand and said, "Time to Line Up!" Suddenly a black aura surrounds Saji's left arm as a deformed chameleon was place on his hand, "Now go!"

***SWISH!***

Suddenly a radiating line shot itself out of the chameleon's mouth and wrapped itself around Freed's leg.

"What the hell?" Freed grunts as he fell down then turns to see the line, "Chi! Such a pain!" Freed tried to cut the line with his Excalibur, "What the hell is this one of those stupid Dragon Sacred Gears?"

"Wait, you have a dragon Sacred Gear?" Michael asked.

**[Boost!]**

"Yeah, it's rather convenient right?" Saji chuckled, "It's called  **Absorption Line** and with it I can absorb the power and strength from my enemies whenever I attach the line to them."

"So wait, you used that during the dodge ball game?" Michael gasped as he realized the mystery behind Saji getting that much power before.

**[Boost!]**

"Sure did, but enough about that concentrate on giving Kiba power." Saji grunts as he restrains Freed.

"Right." Michael nodded then looked up at the roof, "How do I get up there?"

Suddenly getting picked up by with her Rook Strength, Koneko said, "…Like this."

"W-Wait, no I just remembered I could fl-AAAAAA!" Michael was then flung at Kiba as he screamed, "Dammit Koneko-chaaaaaaaaan!"

"Huh?" Kiba looks up to Michael in confusion, "Michael-kun?"

"Kiba here's my power now take as I increase your assets!" Michael shouted as he raised his hand up.

"That sounded a bit weird, Michael-kun." Kiba commented.

"Just take the damn power Pretty Boy!" Michael smacked Kiba's shoulder as he gave him all of his boosted power.

**[Transfer!]**

Now radiating a strong aura of the dragon power Kiba stood over Freed and shouted, "It'd be rude if I don't use the power given to me!  **Sword Birth!"**

A blue magic circle appeared over Kiba before he stabs his sword in the ground and…

***ZAN!***

Coming from the ground many demonic swords were coming towards Freed in many directions.

"Shit! Damn! Fuck!" Freed cursed as he stood up and knocked away the demonic swords with his Holy Sword.

Suddenly coming from within the abandoned building was a voice who said, "Sword Birth? Hmmm? I believe that's a sacred gear which could create an infinite amount of powers based on the user am I correct?"

"Whose there?" Kiba asked as he broke his concentration to see the figure coming out of the shadows to reveal a very old guy who looks like a pedophile in priest's clothing.

"…Balba Galilei!" Kiba growled and gave the man the most hateful glare Michael could ever see him make.

"The one and only." The old man admitted then turned back to look at Freed, "Freed. What are you doing?"

"Old man! I can't run away because of this asshole's stupid lizard tongue!" Freed whined like a baby.

"I see you still can't use the holy sword properly well here's a hint use the element more wisely and gather into the blade so it can be easier to cut it." Balba explained.

"Really!? I can do that!? Well Here I go~!" Freed's sword then grew bright with holy aura then was swung to cut the absorption line, "Haha! It worked!"

"No, he's going to escape with the pedophile old man!" Michael gasped.

"Pedo-what?" Balba asked then shook his head, "Never mind that we'll be leaving now Freed."

"Alright so bye-bye~! Shitty Devils!" They would have escaped if not for a rushing Xenovia who clashes blades with Freed!

***GIN!***

"You will not escape!"

"Michael-kun, you idiot you forgot to call!" Irina jumped into the fray also.

"Irina?" Michael gasped.

"Michael-ku-!" Irina began until Saji shouted,

"No, you two. We're not doing that joke again!"

"Awww...Fine…" Michael and Irina sighed.

"Freed Zelzan. Balba Galilei. Rebels. I will cut you both down in the name of God!"

"Ha! Don't say the name of the hateful God that I hate! You bitch!"

Freed and Xenovia exchanged swords, but he took something out. It was a ball of light. That was!? The item used for escaping!

"Old-man Balba! We are escaping! We are going to report to the boss, Kokabiel!"

"There's no other way."

"See ya! Alliance of Church Followers and Devils!"

Freed threw down the ball of light on the ground.

***FLASH***

"Ah! My eyes its like seeing Ddraig naked in the shower!" Michael shouted.

**[Well technically I don't wear clothes.]**

"…..AAAAAAAAH!" Michael's screaming picked up after hearing that.

"We are going after them Irina." Xenovia said.

"Okay!" Irina nodded.

Xenovia and Irina nodded at each other and sprinted from here.

"I'm going after them too! I won't let you escape Balba Galilei!"

Kiba also sprinted after the escaped enemies.

"Yo! Wait up guys!" Michael called out and began running as he looked back to see no one was following him, "What's up with you two we need to help Kiba!?" Both Koneko and Saji looked ahead in fear.

_'Wait...I sense a disturbance…' Michael thought as he turns back to see a terrifying sight which makes his hairs stand on end, 'Oh crap…'_

"How troublesome." Sona said in a serious face.

"Indeed, Michael would you care to explain this?" Rias said in a serious face also.

"Okay, before we begin I'd just like to say…Ddraig made me do it." Michael grinned.

Both Rias and Sona gave Michael a stern glare which causes Michael to sweatdrop.

**[That won't work here, kid.]**

15 Minutes of Explaining Later!

"So you were destroying Excalibur. You two…" Rias said with an unpleasant face and put a single hand on her forehead.

Sitting in the Seiza Positions were Michael, Koneko and Saji as they were getting scolded by their masters.

"Saji. For you to do something like this without my notice? I am heavily disappointed in you and even after I gave you a day off no less." Sona said with a cold/disappointed expression.

"F-Forgive me, Kaichou…" Saji looked down in shame as he tried to avoid eye contact with his master.

_'Sorry dude.' Michael thought with a guilty expression._

So Yuuto went after this Balba character?" Rias asked.

"Yeah. That Pedophile is getting his ass chased by Kiba, Irina and Xenovia I think he said he would call when something happened so we shouldn't worry." Michael explained.

"Michael…" Rias sighed, "Kiba is an avenger do you seriously believe he would call us if anything were to happen to him at all?"

"Well maybe he could of...huh..." Michael's face froze as he couldn't come up with a retort and said, "Wow I seriously did not think this through did I?"

"No. No, you didn't." Rias shook her then looked to Koneko, "And Koneko."

"…Yes Buchou." Koneko answered.

"I would understand Michael doing something so reckless." Rias said, "But why you, I'd expected more from you than to do this."

_'Wait so she puts more expectations on my junior than me?' Michael slumped down in sadness._

"…I don't want Yuuto-senpai to go away…" Koneko said what's true to her heart.

"Yeah, Buchou I didn't want Kiba to die, so I had to do what my mind told me to do." Michael stood with determination.

"I-I also didn't want to watch my friend's comrade disappear either." Saji muttered to himself while looking off to the side.

"What was that?" Sona asked with a commanding tone.

"N-Nothing."

"…Saying what you want now won't change what has happened you two must realize that your actions could affect the Devil world okay?" Rias scolded.

"Yeah."

"…Yes."

Michael and Koneko nodded as they apologized soon after,

"I'm sorry, Buchou."

"…I'm sorry, Buchou."

***SPANK!* *SPANK!***

Looking to the side of heaving slapping, Michael could see a crying Saji getting spanked by his master, Sona.

"I agree with your actions to support your own kin. But secretive behavior must be punished." Sona said as she raised her hand.

"Aaaaaaaaack! I already apologized! I'm sorry Kaichou, I really aaaaaam!" Saji cried.

"Not yet you still have a 1000 spankings." Sona said as she brought her magic imbued hand down to spank Saji once more.

***SPANK!* *SPANK!***

_'Is that going to happen to me?' Michael gulped then looked back to Rias who approached him and Koneko, 'Oh no it is!'_

"You mustn't worry about Yuuto, I already sent my familiar to search for him. Let's regroup with the other club members and meet with him when found and from there we will decide on what to do, okay?"

"Yes." Michael gulped and nodded as Koneko simply nodded,

"…Yes."

HUG

Being pulled into a hug both Michael and Koneko were surprised as their master said, "Such reckless children. Making me worry so much…."

_'Wait that's right I forgot Buchou is a kind master so that means I'm scott free woohoo~!' Michael cheered._

"Not fair, why am I the only one getting punished while they hug it out?" Saji cried.

"They are them and we are us." Sona continued spanking Saji while using magic.

_'Haha suck it Saji! No spankings for me, woooooooh!' Michael grinned then heard the opposite of what he wanted to hear._

"Now bend over, Michael and show me your bottom." Rias smiled while her hand was covered by a crimson aura.

… …

"Huh!? But I thought you forgave us?" Michael gasped as he shrinks back in fear and crawls back while extending his hand at Rias to futilely get some distance

"I did, but as your master I can't lag behind so get ready!" Rias was about to begin as Michael cried.

"W-Wait stop!" Michael cried until…

"…Wait just a moment, Buchou, Michael-senpai is not the only person at fault here please I think I should be punished as well with half of his spankings." Koneko bent over and said.

"Koneko?" Rias said surprised.

Michael seeing this shook his head and got on a knee, "No, Let me get all the spankings Koneko-chan."

"…Michael-senpai wasn't the only one at fault so I should also-" Koneko sat up but was cut off by Michael patting her head.

"As your senpai let me take responsibility for my own mistake, you shouldn't suffer for my unfortunate plan and I kind of caused you more trouble lately so let me do this." Michael smiled as Koneko was shown to be lightly blushing but she still was hesitant to let Michael take the whole punishment.

"Wait, what if I smiled through the entire spankings would it make you happy?" Michael grinned as Koneko looked surprised at that option, "Come on, me smiling through it will prove that everything is okay, so what do you say?"

"…O-Okay." Koneko nodded slightly as Michael bent over and said,

"Alright bring it on The Great Hanamura is ready!" Michael chuckled.

"Right I see how it is then." Rias smiled at Michael's kindness to Koneko and raised her hand to begin, "Now Michael here are you 1000 spankings!"

And that day Michael's ass died, but even through all the pain he smiled. May he be remembered for his courage to sacrifice something so important. As Koneko watched her senpai's spanking with a slight grateful smile.

**R.I.P**

**Michael Hanamura's Ass**

**1998 – 2015**

Walking back home with Rias, Michael was walking very bowl legged as he had teary eyes but still kept his smile,

"Hah, that was nothing." Michael chuckled with a little sniffle.

"If it wasn't then would you like some more?" Rias asked with a smile as more crimson aura surrounded her hand.

"N-No ma'am!" Michael shook his head in fright as they climbed up the stairs to the front door of Michael's apartment.

***GACHA!***

"Welcome back, Michael-san and Buchou!" Asia opens the door while wearing OH MY LORD!

_'Is she just wearing an apron!?' Michael gasped._

"You must be tired working so late. I'll start getting dinner ready right away." Asia smiled.

"Whoa! Whoa! Asia?" Michael looked at the white apron then back to the blonde girl's face.

"Yes, Michael-san?" Asia leaned it which caused her breasts to lean up to press up against the apron.

"Where did you get those clothes?" Michael asked.

"Um, my friend, Kiryuu Aika, said that when men get tired they need clothes like this to refresh them after a long hard working day." Asia lifted up the hem of her apron like a dress.

_Michael bit his lip which bled as he growled, 'Damn you, Aika you always find a way to make my day so frustrating as it is! First the Holy Swords! Now the White Dragon and now I have to try and keep Asia innocent from her lecherous four eyes!'_

Smiling herself, Rias walks in and rather pleased and says, "I see. There was that method too, huh?"

"Wait what method?" Michael asked but Rias simply winked before walking past Asia, "Asia, you're going to become a wicked and sexy female devil one day."

"Eh? But I didn't do this to be a sexy devil." Asia gasped.

"If that's the case then hurry and put back some clothes will ya?" Michael rushed then remembered, "Wait, where's Ray-chan?"

"Oh Raynare-san is…" Asia began but…

"Right here, Michael-sama~." Raynare cooed as she was leaning against the frame of Michael's bedroom door as she wore nothing but a red apron. Approaching Raynare gave Michael a seductive smile

"Not you too…" Michael gulped as he stepped back.

"I also took up Aika-san's advice and wanted to refresh you today, so what do you think Michael-sama do I look good in this apron?" Raynare teased.

"Errr…" Michael looked away as his face turned red as he nods and exclaims, "Yes, the two of you look good in them."

Seeing this Rias gave Ranare a challenging stare as Raynare shot back a stare of her own.

"Is there something the matter, Rias-san?" Raynare smirked as she wrapped her arms around Michael's arm and pressed herself against him.

"Hmph. Not at all now if you will excuse me I will change as well." Rias began walking to the kitchen but not before whispering to Asia, "And Asia, you should be proud you were able to get the first move on me."

"You're too kind." Asia smiled happily.

"Seriously can someone tell me what's going on cause I am confused." Michael said with wide eyes.

"Michael-san?"

"Yeah?" Michael looked up to see Asia was worried,

"If my clothes are an issue for you then I could-"

"She is correct Michael-sama, if you want then we could always take them off if you want." Raynare said while pressing her bust up against Michael's arm even more.

Michael groaned and shook his head,

"No, wait you two I didn't mean to be rude, actually you two look good in those to be honest." Michael smiled sincerely, "And I guess you've refreshed me."

_'In more ways than one.' Michael sighed in frustration._

"Really?" Asia gasped happily then hugged Michael's other arm, "Thank you…"

"No problem, I'll always tell you the truth since we are going to be together forever, right?" Michael smiled as Asia excitedly nods to that.

"Together forever?" Raynare repeated which made Michael look down at Raynare's somewhat saddened face as he said, "Ray-chan, are you okay?"

"Oh? Yeah, I am don't worry." Raynare gave a smile and nodded.

_'Hm?' Michael thought._

"Well you two don't have to worry about anything if that's going through your minds." Michael said as both Raynare and Asia look up to see Michael giving them a grin,

"Because whether it be the Church or anyone else I promise to protect you all with all my might. So I'll basically be your night light whenever you feel scared of something all right?"

"Michael-san, I don't regret becoming a devil." Asia said with a grateful expression.

"Huh?" Michael was shocked to hear that,  _'Wait she is, but I thought she loved the church more though?'_

"I can't forget my faith, but now, I have something even more important than my feelings towards God. Buchou, the club members, friends for school, Raynare-san…and you." Asia smiled as she said the many things she is grateful for, "Every one of you is precious to me so I want to be with everyone forever and ever."

Suddenly Asia grew teary eyed and wrapped her arms around Michael and hugged him tightly, "I don't want to be alone again!"

"Asia…" Michael looked at Asia with a sad expression and could sympathize with Asia's feelings completely.

"I too, do not wish to separate from everyone." Raynare said also with teary eyes from out of nowhere.

"Ray-chan, why are you-?" Michael was surprised as Raynare hugged Michael tightly as she cried and dug her head into his chest,

"I don't ever want to be taken away from Michael-sama's side again! I want to stay here."

Seeing that both girls are crying Michael simply shrugged and hugged the two back absent mindedly as he grabbed behind their backs and hugged them tightly,

"Don't worry you two, I will make sure that you'll never get separated from me by anyone against your will while I'm around." Michael said unaware of the blushes Asia and Raynare are forming as he could hear a slight moan coming from Asia.

"M-Michael-san?" Asia moaned.

"Huh?" Michael questioned then heard Raynare moan,

"Michael-sama, are you so happy with our looks that you want to start showing your appreciation already?" Raynare's voice was rather tempting as Michael was still unaware of what they mean until he felt something soft in his hands and he of course looked down to see what it was and guess what? He was actually grabbing both the Bishoujo's asses.

_'Shit! I forgot they aren't wearing anything underneath the aprons!' Michael gulped, 'But why do their butts feel so soft all of a sudden in my hands?' Michael palmed both the girl's butts once more out of curiosity as he heard them moan his name once more under his strong grasp._

_'So soft...' Michael's curiosity was getting the best of him as he wanted to continue but-_

"Michael!" Rias called as she exits the kitchen to reveal herself wearing a tight fitting purple apron with a heart on top as she was completely naked underneath as the apron looked more erotic than Raynare and Asia's put together.

"So how is it?" Rias curtsied in front of Michael

Suddenly Michael was overcome by the variety of beautiful bodies that his face turned red and steam came out of his ears as he quickly said, "You look amazing B-Buchou…now if you'll excuse me I'm going to be in the bathroom."

Michael quickly rushed over in the bathroom as the three girls watched in curiosity before Rias states while flipping her hair back, "I guess there really isn't anything wrong now right, Raynare-san?"

"Grrr! That was just a fluke Rias-san because very soon I'll get the upperhand." Raynare declared.

"Don't forget about me too, I also wish to gain Michael-san's attention as well." Asia said while pouting and having teary eyes.

The three girls stared at each other as sparks clashed between the three as Michael stayed in the bathroom with his knees tucked under his arms.

Later dinner was actually even more distracting as Michael had to try and distract himself with an old manga of Dragon Ball to calm himself down as he diverts the attention away from the half-naked girls who were now cooking for him. Before in his regular life he would have never thought that women would come and live in his home and cook homemade meals for him.

Later that night, Michael, Rias, Asia and Raynare slept together in bed peacefully after dinner until a large threatening pressure that had never been felt before was nearby as Michael and Rias were quick to get up from bed as Raynare and Asia followed in suit as everyone looked down in the mirror to see a very disturbing sight, Freed Zelzan giving them a demented smirk.

"That turkey is back!" Michael growled.

"I sense the presence belongs to a Fallen Angel." Rias snapped her fingers to conjure up her uniform as Raynare and Asia were quick to change to their clothes as well as for Michael he still kept his black shirt and gray shorts on as they went outside to confront the crazy priest.

"Yahoo! How's it been Michael-kun. Asia-tan and oh my look at this if it isn't my old bitch of a boss Ray-tan as well! How've you been doing since the last time I met you? Oh dear don't tell me I interrupted you all having sex, please forgive me but not reading the atmosphere is my charming point." Freed said in a strange was as usual.

_'Seriously what is up with this guy's head?' Michael thought then said,_

"Look what do you want ya Turkey because if you came to kill us all then-!" Michael growled then thrusts his fist forward,

**[Dragon Booster!]**

"I'll take you out here and now!" Michael declared.

"Whoa! Whoa! Don't get all mad with me, kid, I'm just the messenger." Freed waved his hands in front of him in a defensive manner.

"Messenger then that must mean the pressure being given off is from-!" Raynare looks up in the night sky along with Rias who glared at a young man wearing a black robe with detailed accessories as he had about 10 Black Angel Wings!

"A Fallen Angel?" Michael said to himself as Asia hid behind him in fear of the Fallen Angel.

"Ah, so we finally meet daughter of the house of Gremory. Your crimson hair is rather beautiful. It's so sickening that it reminds me of your brother it actually makes me want to vomit as we speak." The fallen angel said.

After hearing that, Rias gave Kokabiel a cold glare which even terrified Michael a little as she says, "Nice to meet you one of the leaders of the Fallen-Angels, Kokabiel. And my name is Rias Gremory. I will also add one more thing. We and the house of Gremory are a being who are closest to the Maou, and also the furthest from it. If you are here to discuss about politics with me, then it's no use." Rias said with a cold tone.

_'Kokabiel you mean one of the leaders of the Grigori! Man this is strange why was someone famous in the bible here of all places and wait…he's holding something no someone don't tell me that's!' Michael's eyes widened._

"Oh, I forgot about this here. I have no need for something broken." Kokabiel tossed the person to Michael who was quick and cautious to catch her. Looking closely to see who is Michael gasped as he said, "I-Irina?"

In his arms, was his old childhood friend Irina Shidou who was covered in blood and wounds as her clothing was in tatters.

"Irina!" Michael screamed in worry as he shook her, "Oi! Wake up, are you alright?"

Laughing his head off, Kokabiel said, "It was her misfortune to enter my base. So I decided to give her an old fashioned welcome. As for the other two meh… they escaped."

Michael quickly turned to Asia and said, "Come on, Asia, I need your help with this."

Quickly rushing to Michael's side Asia used her twilight healing to begin healing Irina's wounds as the girl started to breathe even more gently than before.

_'Wait her Excalibur where is it?' Michael gasped as he knew Irina wasn't so dumb to lose such a weapon and even knew that she wasn't weak to not get it taken without a fight."_

"Hmph! Talking with a Maou what a joke. Well if I commit a crime such as raping and killing the kid sister of Sirzechs then his anger would be pointed towards me. I guess that won't be so bad in fact it'd be thrilling." Kokabiel spouted hateful words which caused Rias to give him a furious glare.

"What is your motive in contacting me?" Rias questioned.

"I will be rampaging in this town using your base, Kuou Academy, as the starting point. Then Sirzechs will also appear, right?" Kokabiel was quick to answer with happiness.

"E-Excuse me?" Rias was having trouble understanding the man's reason due to how insane it was, "If you do that then the war between the three factions will begin once more you know that right?"

"Yes, that's what I'm hoping for. I thought that Michael would start a War if I steal the Excalibur... But what he sent were grunt Exorcists and two holy-sword wielders. It's boring. I'm really bored indeed! That's why I'm going to go on rampage at Sirzech's litter sister's base. See? Doesn't it sound fun, right?"

"But Kokabiel-sama such a thing is against Azazel-sama's methods!" Raynare chimed in as Kokabiel looked down at her with a disgusted look.

"I do not wish to hear that coming from an exiled one such as you, you might as well be garbage at this point traitor." Kokabiel sneered as Raynare was visibly conflicted by that insult, "I don't gve a damn about Azazel pulling out of the war because our numbers were dwindling all I cared about was that we were winning that's all that matter!"

"…You, Battle-Freak." Rias said in hatred.

"Hahahahaha!" Yes, and I'm not ashamed of it too because once the war ended it got so boring between the three sides! Azazel and Shamza weren't that keen on the next war. So they then started to collect boring things like the Sacred Gear and started to do some weird research. Something useless like that won't be of any use to us! …Well, it's a different story if it's a "Boosted Gear" like the one the brat over there has… But it's not something you can find so easily." Kokabiel focused his attention at Michael who kept his head down as the man kept prattling on.

"Don't tell me you all are after Michael-sama's sacred gear now?" Raynare said defensively.

"Well I'm not interested in such a thing, but Azazel might be. His collection hobby is sure crazy." Kokabiel spat then laughed,

"Either way, I'm going to be starting a battle involving the holy-swords, Rias Gremory. For starting a war! A school where both little sisters of [Sirzech's], [Leviathan's] and the [Monkey of Destruction's] go to. It must be filled with demonic-powers so that I can enjoy the chaos! It's also the best place to release the real power of Excaliburs! It's a good place for the battlefield."

_'Shishou?' Michael thought then heard Freed laugh as he revealed 4 of 7 excaliburs in all as two were in his hands and the last ones were stashed in his coat._

"Isn't my boss the best? His craziness suits someone like the best you know. Hyahahaha! Also for being good and eager he even gave me these treats!" Freed laughed,

"The one on the right is "Excalibur Rapidly". The one on the left is "Excalibur Nightmare". The one on my hip is "Excalibur Transparent". I also received "Excalibur Mimic" from the girl over there! I also feel like getting "Excalibur Destruction" that the other girl has. Hyaa! Am I the first person in the World to be in possession of this many Excaliburs? I also received an element from the geezer Balba that allows me to wield holy-swords. Right now I'm in a hyper mode that allows me to wield all of them, you know? I'm invincible! I'm wonderful! I'm the strongest! Hyahahahahahahahaha!"

"More like being OP if you ask me." Michael commented.

"Shut your tongue brat, before I rip it off!" Freed laughed maniacally.

"Balba's holy-sword research. It's the real deal if it shows this much result. To tell the truth, it seemed suspicious when he joined my plan." Kokabiel laughed as he openly admitted to being together with Balba, the Pedophile Archbishop (Nickname courtesy of The Great Michael Hanamura).

"Wait, what do you plan to do with the Excaliburs!?" Rias asked him as Kokabiel readied his 10 Black Wings and turned to the direction of the school and said, "Hahaha! Let's have a War! Little sister of Sirzech Lucifer, Rias Gremory!"

Before Kokabiel could leave he saw someone standing up glaring at him as he crossed his arms, it was Michael.

"You hurt my friend then you insult my other friends." Michael started to grow a large amount of red and white aura at the same time, "Then you threaten to destroy my school, my home, my friends and now you want to start a war just because you're freaking bored?"

Kokabiel looked at Michael in interest and said, "Yeah, I believe I can. So what are you gonna do about it, Sekiryuutei Brat?"

"BREAK YOU IN HALF!" Michael's loud voice echoed through the neighborhood.

"HmhmhmhmHahahahahahaha! That's what I love about starting a war it's always these little brats making it entertaining and fun to fight as they let their anger get the best of them!" Kokabiel then smirked, "So if your willing to break me, kid, then you know where to find me."

"You heard the boss, Shitty Devil Brat, so you'd best get dolled up for it'll be the last night you'll ever get to see!" Freed pulled out a ball and threw it to the ground which emitted a bright,

***FLASH!***

As soon as everyone's sight is back they saw that both Freed and Kokabiel are gone!

"Michael! Quick we have to go to the school!" Rias exclaimed.

"Right!" Michael nodded and looked to the direction of his school and back to Irina who was being healed by Asia still as he goes back to hold her hand tightly and said, "Don't worry Irina, I'll give him a big ol' wallop in the face for doing this to you."

He thought,  _'Kokabiel, I will make you pay for hurting my friends!'_

* * *

**Next Chapter- The Gremory Family vs. Kokabiel Pt.1: Our Bonds will guide us together!**


	18. The Gremory Family vs. Kokabiel Pt.1: Our Bonds will guide us together!

**The Gremory Family vs. Kokabiel Pt.1: Our Bonds will guide us together!**

* * *

Gathered in front of the Kuoh Academy was the Occult Research Club including Raynare and excluding Kiba, who still hasn't contacted anyone about his well-being. The entire Student Council arrived and was informed of Kokabiel's presence in the school and his vague, but dangerous plan to bring about war to the three factions once more. Recovering from her would be fatal injuries, Irina was being treated at Sona Sitri's Home, she would not have made it if not for Asia's healing. Now the two devil groups are explaining their course of action for the upcoming battle as the barrier used to protect the outside world was now covering Kuoh Academy.

"Rias-senpai. We were able covered the school with a large barrier. Unless something disastrous happens, there will be no damage outside." Saji reported then turned to Michael and said, "We'll do our best to maintain it while you guys handle the fight."

"Thanks, dude." Michael nodded.

"But remember, this will only be able to keep the damage to the outside to at least a minimum as anything disastrous would destroy the barrier and considering how Kokabiel's power is tremendous when serious, he could literally destroy the entire region itself." Sona explained.

_'W-Wow, he's that strong?' Michael was stunned in surprise._

"My servants and I will continue to place the barrier to reduce the damages. I want to minimize the damages as much as possible…It's hard to prevent having our precious school getting damaged. But it looks like we have no choice too, since it's the leader of the Fallen-Angels we're dealing with." Sona said to Rias as he eyes turned sharp with hatred towards Kokabiel at the thought of her school getting destroyed by the man.

"I appreciate your support Sona; we'll handle things from here." Rias said.

"Wait, Rias. Our enemy is a monster with strength above ours. It's still not too late for us to get more backup. We should get your Onii-sama…"

Rias shook her head and said,

"If things have taken such a tragic turn of events then why not call your Onee-sama or Onii-sama?"

"Nii-sama was able to answer my call as soon I got to him, he said he'll arrive after finishing his business, which is why I believe you should call your brother as well so the standings would be in our favor." Sona explained then turned pale and began to sweat a little, "And if he were left alone to handle such a threat like Kokabiel then there won't be anything left of the Academy that can be restored."

"Now I see why you want my brother to also take part now." Rias nodded in agreement as she can see a Battle Maniac such as Sona's Brother over doing something like that, "But if that's the case then why not contact your sister?"

Suddenly Sona's face grew even paler than before as she said, "N-No...Nii-sama may be difficult to understand especially his personal methods, but he knows when to spare my feelings because my Onee-sama is... It's just that I believe both our Brothers can handle the threat easily..." Sona said while looking off to the side.

"Wait, who is Sona-senpai's older brother and sister?" Michael asked Saji.

"The Kaichou is the younger sister of the current Maou, Serafall Leviathan the strongest Female Devil in the Underworld." Saji explained.

"Whoa! I didn't know she was also a sibling to a Maou like Buchou..." Michael gasped in awe.

"Saji-kun, if I may ask, who is Sona-senpai's older brother?" Raynare asked.

"Hm?" Saji crossed his arms and blinked, "You don't know, but I heard from Kaichou that he already met with you all when meeting the Phoenix Family member and that time when you went training in the mountains remember you said something about having this guy train you there?"

"Yeah? Wait, we met him on that day, but the only ones I remember were Grayfia, The stupid Prick Yakitori and...Oh, no freaking way." Michael's eyes widened as he remembered the faces he met on that day that even Raynare remembered also.

"So y-you mean to say that-?" Raynare began.

"Yup, the man you met, Son Kai is actually the husband to the current Leviathan, and via makes him the Brother-in-Law to the Kaichou." Saji smiled and nodded.

"Seriously!?" Michael and Raynare screamed in sync.

**_[You learn something new every day.]_ **

"So Shishou, the man who trained me, is actually the Kaichou's older brother?" Michael asked.

"Yup."

"Wow, I guess there's more to that guy than I thought." Michael said.

Suddenly walking up and speaking in a tone to overlap Rias' and Sona's was Akeno who said, "I have already informed Sirzechs-sama."

"Akeno, you did such a thing without my knowing!?"

Rias criticized her queen. But Akeno-san had an angry expression which was strange since she was always seen with her usual lady like smile,

"Rias. I know that you don't want to hinder Sirzechs-sama. It may have happened in your territory. In your own base. And it happened after the Engagement Issue. But it's a different story if one of the leaders of the enemy appears. It is a problem that surpasses the level that you can solve alone. We have to make use of the power of the Maou!"

Seeing this Rias was taken aback then sighed as she complied with Akeno and said,

"...Fine, I get it."

"Thank you for understanding the situation, Buchou. Sona-sama, Sirzechs-sama's reinforcement will be here in about an hour."

"One hour… I understand. In that time, we, the student council, will vow to continue to place the barriers in the name of Sitri."

"Okay then that means that will put us on the offensive, our job is to rush in and act as distractions towards Kokabiel." Rias explained.

"I'll do more than that," Michael stepped up and growled, "For hurting my old friend, for threatening my home, for speaking ill to Buchou and Ray-chan. I'll make sure to knock him out with all I got!"

Everyone in the ORC looked at Michael who grew with determination as it started to get a hold on them as well too.

"Yes, we will blow him away with all our strength!" Rias nodded and declared, "But remember this isn't like the Battle against the Phoenix Family this will be an all-out war! Remember Death isn't an option for any of you I will make sure that none of you will die understood! I swear to you all that we'll continue our school lives and live on!"

"RIGHT!" The ORC club and Raynare nodded in agreement

"Mike, I'm counting on you to help protect our treasured school alright?" Saji placed a hand on Michael's shoulder.

"Meh…I don't really care that much for the school at all." Michael said with a non-caring look, "I mean all I ever did there was get punished for not doing homework, failing tests and receiving homework."

"Mike…" Saji said with a serious tone.

"But even if that place is such a drag, I'll still do my best to protect the place that gave me the friends I have now." Michael chuckled and rubbed his head,

"And you too, man, make sure not to slack off too or else you may get your ass kicked by Sona-senpai again." Michael said until Saji broke down and gripped his head in pain as he remembered the painful spankings.

"Oh god! Why did you have to remind me of that and just when I was so close to erasing it from my mind!" Saji cried.

"Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad I mean I handled it and I'm fine." Michael chuckled.

"Wait a minute where's Kiba?" Saji asked as Michael grew a serious face and looked down.

"I guess he's still searching for the Holy Swords alone." Michael said.

"But I can't believe he would do something like that in the middle of this crisis." Saji sighed.

"Yeah, but I think Pretty Boy is okay doing whatever he wants, so let's forget about him and focus on the battle ahead!" Michael grinned.

"Right the fight right now is more important!" Saji nodded.

"See you on the other side, dude!" Michael and Saji fist bumped as they went to their own positions.

**[It seems we're dealing with a Big One this time Partner make sure to be prepared before going all out.]**

"Yeah, I will and I'll make sure to show that Coke Head not to ever mess with the Great Hanamura!" Michael roared as he raised his green glowing hand.

**[Remember this though I may have faced the leaders of the Devils and God exclusively but I was able to catch glimpses of this causing havoc in the Great War. And since he's a veteran he's still proven to be as strong as his prime.]**

"So if that's the case then we'll just have to use Balance Breaker to boost up past his prime then." Michael grinned.

**[Remember you can only stay in that form for only 35 Minutes as your strict morning trainings were able to raise the time limit to a higher Count. But always remember the Dragon Power within you is unstable meaning you have to be very careful when deciding on how many boosts you need.]**

"Roger that Ddraig, then I'll just have to focus on using my own power before resorting to Balance Breaker then." Michael nodded then looked towards the barrier covered school and growled, "Kokabiel I'm coming for you!"

Entering through the main gates the Group went in the direction of the Sports Field to where Kokabiel was present.

"Michael promote to Queen to even out our standings." Rias ordered.

"Right Promotion: Queen." Michael suddenly felt a surge of power envelop him as his power was almost on par with Akeno's, but due to being a devil recently, he still has a long way to go before reaching her in terms of experience.

Arriving on the sports field everyone saw a strange magic circle in the middle of the field with 4 swords in the middle of it as they released extreme lights which visibly irritated the devils.

"A-Aren't those the?" Asia began.

"Excaliburs?" Michael gasped as he remembered Freed carrying those blades.

Looking closely, Michael was able to make out a figure standing in the middle of the circle as it was revealed to be the image of an old man. An old man he was very familiar with…

"The Pedophile Archbishop, Balba Galiliei…"

Giving a rather creepy smirk, Balba said, "Now it's time to make the four Excaliburs into one."

"Balba. How much longer will it take for the Excaliburs to merge?"

There was a voice from up in the sky! When all of the club members looked up, there was Kokabiel, who had the moon as a background. He was sitting on a chair up in the sky while looking down on us. He was crossing his legs confidently!

_'Dammit this guy!' Michael growled._

**_[Yes, he's looking down on us, Partner remember to keep your cool.]_ **

_'No, it's just his chair.' Michael growled._

**_[What about it?]_ **

_'That chair looks so awesome! And it's really hard to stay mad at him just by looking at it!' Michael trembled in awe at the floating overly designed throne._

**_[He hunted and injured your friend, Irina, and tossed her aside like trash.] Ddraig reminded the teen._ **

_'Ah…aaaand here it comes.' Michael thought_

Michael roared and pointed at Kokabiel, "Kokabiiiiiiieeel!"

Kokabiel smirked at Michael's anger in amusement but also in confidence that he was no threat to him.

"It won't even take 5 minutes, Kokabiel."

"Is that so." Kokabiel looked down upon the Club members with a smirk as he continues, "Then I will leave it to you then."

"So who will be coming Sirzechs, Serafall or Son Kai? Or did you want to surprise me by inviting the  **"Dawn**   **Lucifer"**  to handle me, eh? It would be quite fun to toss that man around after dealing with the original in the war." Kokabiel said with excitement at the potential strong enemies which will be coming. He sounded like a child meeting a group of his heroes but instead of heroes he admires these are enemies he wants to mutilate.

_'Wait "Dawn" Lucifer but I thought Buchou's brother was the "Crimson" Lucifer?' Michael blinked then looked back to Rias who stepped forward._

"In their place, we will handle you ourselves!" Rias exclaimed.

"Tch! Really? How boring." Kokabiel raised his hand then waved it towards the gym as he fired a large Light Spear towards the Gym!

***BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNG!***

As the dust settles after the explosion the sight to where the gym once stood was gone as a huge crate took its place. Not even a trace of it was left after the attack!

"Well considering how diverse you all are with power, I believe this could be entertaining." Kokabiel sneered.

"Incredible…" Asia was in awe.

"Even I can't make a Light Spear of that size if I used all my power." Raynare trembled at the sight of her former leader's strength.

Everyone's reactions were rather normal as Michael's was somewhat weird as he started laughing,

"Hmhmhmhmhm!" Michael began to laugh, "Hahahahahahahaha!"

"Michael?" Rias said with a face of question.

"What is this? Has the Sekiryuutei brat lost his mind?" Kokabiel said in wonder.

"Hahahaha…You think that was enough to scare us you bastard?" Michael pointed at Kokabiel, "Because if you're asking me then I'll just say that you're trying to compensate for something by showing off that light spear. I, the Great Hanamura can take you on with one arm behind my back!"

Listening to the insult, Kokabiel spat, "If you keep talking like that then I'll just have to rip that tongue right out of your mouth, brat…" The enraged Kokabiel released a massive yellow aura with killing intent directed at Michael.

**[Dragon Booster!]**

"Pffft! Bring it you, Fallen Bitch! I can handle you any day!" Michael smirked as he summoned the Boosted Gear. Michael's plan of fighting would be to enrage the opponent so they could lose their train of thought then exploit their many openings just like with his battle with Riser as he learned this from his training with Kai.

**[Partner, your plan of enraging him will prove to be a double edged sword against you. This man is recorded in the bible to have faced God and the past Maou and survive.]**

_'Fine.' Michael sighed, 'But that means I'll have to use every bit of my strength to take out this guy.'_

**_[That seems to be the best course of action as I will do everything in my power to support you in battle even if I must turn your whole body into a Dragon itself. The damage you give to him may disable him for a while so in case if the situation worsens just let the Maou handle it.]_ **

"Right. But I'm going to be a Maou too, so if I beat him all by myself then I'll be able to prove that I'm Maou material!" Michael grinned, "Okay, that settles it! Now I'm so pumped to kick this guy's ass!"

"Kokabiel-sama! Please I ask of you to reconsider this before things get any worse!" Raynare pleaded.

"Hmph! I have already said I don't need traitorous trash such as you to tell me what to do and besides what's makes you think I'm making things worse?" Kokabiel smirked and snapped his fingers as darkness from the depths of the ground summoned a 10 meter tall Dog like creature with 3 heads. It was a Cerberus!

***ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

The howl coming from the three dog heads was so loud it shook the ground literally!

"…Cerberus!?" Rias said with surprise and disgust, "You would bring such a creature from the gates of the Underworld to the Human world?"

"I believe it's fair to let my pets come outside for a breath of fresh air for once. Even let them chase a couple of devils around before they go back home to rest." Kokabiel said that rather normally as if treating it like a normal dog.

"Michael this is an issue that must be taken care of before handling Kokabiel. Let's blow them away!" Rias commanded.

"Alright, Buchou! Come at me Ol' Yeller it's about time for me to put you down!" Michael faced down the Cerberus.

**[Boost!]**

Suddenly grabbing his shoulder, Rias said, "Michael. For now you'll act as a Support Type."

"Huh?" Michael grew a blank face and listened.

"I want you to boost up your power to a certain degree before transferring it to us. Your Boosted Gear is a great asset to us in this fight so we'll need you to increase the power of your comrades in a team battle understood?" Rias explained.

"*Sigh!* Right." Michael nodded in disappointment, he had really wanted to get some action in but now he has to stay in the back and avoid getting hit and avoid hitting something. But at least he could keep a close eye on Asia by doing this.

"So tell me, how many power ups can you handle in all?" Rias asked.

"Well the number of transfer I was able to gain after the Rating Game is about 5 to 6 times with my maximum boost. But I might lose my energy to fight if I use it over 4 times and I've been planning to save up enough power to use my Balance Breaker." Michael explained.

"I see. I can understand your plan so we can't waste the time and power we have left. So how long can you remain in your Balance Breaker form?" Rias asked.

"Well depending on the amount of power I use Transfer with; I shave 5 minutes off the time I use Scale Mail in." Michael said, "But if I were to sacrifice my body part to the dragon within me then I could gain five more min…" Michael was interrupted as Rias placed a hand on his cheek and looked rather strict,

"No."

"But Buchou-" Michael tried to argue, but couldn't help but feel bad for bringing up that information as he looked to see Rias' somewhat sad face.

"We'll be careful so that won't ever happen again; I don't want to see you sacrifice yourself for anything else." Rias said with a determined tone, "We will win without sacrificing anything, understood?"

Michael stared at Rias for a second and nodded with a smile,

"Right."

Turning back to Akeno and Raynare, Rias said, "Akeno! Raynare! Let's handle this!"

"Hai!" Both Females nodded as they followed Rias in the air.

Buchou and Akeno released their devil wings as Raynare released her black angel ones as they took flight.

***GAAAAAARUUUUUUUUUUUU! ***

Cerberus pounced after them while making a growl as it breathed in…

***FWOOOOOOSH!***

One of the heads looked towards Rias and breathed out gouts of fire!

_'Whoa, that's so cool! I want one!' Michael thought as his eyes glittered in excitement._

**_[Michael remember your current role.]_ **

_'*Sigh!* Fine.'_

**[Boost!]**

"How naïve." Akeno used ice magic to freeze the flames before they even reached Rias.

"Take this!" Rias flew in front of Akeno and fired a block of demonic power which was imbued with the power of destruction.

***FWOOOOOOSH!***

The Cerberus fired another ball of flames which clashed with Rias' attack violently as the other dog head fired another ball of flames which clashed with Rias' attack pushing it back a little more than before. As the last head prepared to fire another ball, Michael gasped,

"Oh no, if that one combines with the others then the attack will hit Buchou!" Michael gasped.

"I don't think so!"

Flying from behind the Cerberus was Raynare who created two light spears in hand, "You left yourself open you, mutt!"

***DOON!* *DOON!***

Raynare fired both light spears which stabbed into the Cerberus' chest which caused it to cough up tons of blood as even the light spear of a Fallen Angel could greatly damage a demonic monster such as this.

"…Your way too open." Appearing out of nowhere Koneko jumped at the beast's head and landed a strong double kick which sent it reeling back in pain.

"And here's a follow up." Akeno pointed her finger up in the air and brought down lightning which she directed at the Cerberus.

***FLASH!***

The flash of power was able to surround and damage the monster's stomach as black blood started oozing itself out. Even when adding more power Akeno was still not able to terminate the creature.

"It's not dead yet?" Michael growled.

**[Boost!]**

* **GARUUUUUUUU.***

Hearing some growling Michael slowly looked back to the sight of another Cerberus behind him and Asia.

"There's more of them!?" Michael gasped.

***GAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOO!***

The creature howled loudly and pounced Michael and Asia. The girl was stunned in fear that she couldn't react but thankfully Michael could as he was quick to pick her up and jump out of the creatures attack.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked.

"Yes, thank you." Asia nodded as Michael puts her down.

**[Boost!]**

"Man, why does not fighting this thing have to be hard!" Michael grunts, "I can't hit back! I can't get hit! I can't even do anything without just running away!"

"Michael-san…" Asia stared at Michael in worry.

"Don't worry Asia I'll be fine and hey can I borrow Rael real quick?" Michael asked.

"O-Okay sure, but why?" Asia began to summon her Familiar.

"Because I have an idea." Michael winked as the Blue sprite Dragon appeared and hopped into Michael's arms happily.

"Alright, let's do this!" Michael ran towards the Cerberus and held out Rael and said, "Rael use Thunderbolt!"

***ZAAAAP!***

The Cerberus flinched in pain as it grew enraged and chased after Michael.

"Yeah, that's right you mangy asshole it's not fun when you're the one being attacked now is it!?" Michael laughed loudly as he ran away from the now charging Cerberus.

"Now use ElectroBall!" Michael roared as Rael flew out of Michael's arms and fired a sphere of condensed lightning at the Cerberus.

***ZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTT!***

The monster dog was instantly stunned by the attack as it was visibly disabled by the electricity.

"Alright a critical hit and it was very effective!" Michael nodded then gasped, "Wait, since it's weakened that means I have to catch it!"

"Michael-san?" Asia walked up to the boy and looked at Rael in confusion as the Sprite Dragon shrugged and watched.

Snapping on his goggles, Michael roars, "Alright, Cerberus prepare to become my new Familiar!"

Hearing this Rias gasped, "Michael wait don't do it! Cerberus are an untamable creature!"

Unable to hear the words of his master, Michael continued, "Now Cerberus I'll name you Michael Jr. and I choose you! Respond to the feelings of your new master, The Great Hanamu-!"

***SLASH!***

"I have come to back you up." Xenovia said as she cut off one of the heads belonging to the Cerberus which turned to dust once detached. Continuing her attack she continued slashing at the Cerberus' torso as the beast cried in pain once it's head was severed.

"No, stop! I was going to make it my Familiar!" Michael cried.

As the Cerberus was greatly weakened, Xenovia ignored Michael and continued to finish it off, "The strike of the holy sword. It gives critical amounts of damage to creatures like this."

***STAB!***

Xenovia thrust her sword deep into the Cerberus' chest and killed the beast as it turned to dust.

"There it seems I paid half of my debt." Xenovia looked back towards Michael was on his knees over the dust of the Cerberus while crying hysterically.

"No! You Blue Haired Idiot! How could you do that to him! I was making him my familiar!" Michael then picked up a handful of dust, "Michael Jr! Don't walk into the light! Oh wait, your already dust…! Noooo! You can't die you were supposed to be my bestest familiar buddy ever!"

Looking angry, Rael flew towards Michael and opened his mouth.

***ZAP!***

"Hu-Gagagagagagaga!"

Michael turned back to the Sprite Dragon to only get electrocuted severely, "Ugh.." Michael fell face down onto the floor unconsciously.

"Rael, no, that's bad you shouldn't hurt Papa Michael like that." Asia scolded as Rael huffed and looked the other way.

"I do not understand what's happening, but I believe this means that I still have to do more to repay you." Xenovia blinked in confusion before rushing to destroy another Cerberus.

"Darn her, and I was so close to." Michael sat up on a knee and growled.

**[Boost!]**

Suddenly the gauntlet flashed.

"What is it now? I haven't boosted enough yet?" Michael wondered.

**[It's telling you that it has reached the stage where the Cerberus can be defeated if you transfer it to Rias Gremory, Himejima Akeno, or the Fallen Angel, Raynare.]**

"Wow, when can it do that?" Michael asked.

**[It means your both evolving day by day. It updates itself to your desires and tells you the specific amount of boosts you need to take care of any certain enemy.]**

_'Wait this thing can get updates that's so awesome!' Michael cheered._

"Yo! Ladies! I have enough power so come get some!" Michael ran towards the three beautiful girls who nodded and flew towards him as they raised their hands,

"Michael!"

"Michael-kun!"

"Michael-sama!"

"Here ya go, Boosted Gear Gift!"

**[Transfer!]**

Michael roared as he hopped in the air and high fived the three girls as he released his collected power into them.

***THUMP!* *THUMP!***

An enormous amount of power entered Rias, Akeno and Raynare together through Michael's Boosted Gear. As their aura and power increased to a huge degree but strangely they all moaned while receiving Michael's power within them.

"…We can do this." The three girls nodded as they faced off against the remaining Cerberus with daring smiles.

"Thunder! Resound and Roar!" Akeno fired a large strike of thunder towards the Cerberus who begins to run as it almost detects to where the thunder will come.

***FLASH!***

_'Well it is an animal and animals can predict things like this I guess.' Michael thought._

"To think Michael-sama's power could feel so wonderful inside of me!" Raynare raised her hand and created a large light spear near the size of the one Kokabiel shot. She fired it through the Cerberus' back and pinned it into the ground with one throw as the thunder above finally fired down on the spear like a electrical rod and eliminated the Cerberus with a loud…

***DOOOON!***

***RUUUUUMBLEEEEEEE!***

The Cerberus was turned into nothingness by the fused power of Raynare and Akeno.

Suddenly a scream from afar was heard and it belonged to-

"Asia!" Michael gasped as he saw one more lurking Cerberus about to pounce on the defenseless girl. Michael cursed himself for losing focus as he separated himself from Asia. But suddenly a large blue magic circle appeared beneath the beast and!

***STAB!***

Many demonic swords pierced through the monster's limbs and stomach as it was impaled to death.

"I won't let you touch my comrades." Kiba jumped in front of Asia at just the right moment as he summoned Sword Birth.

"Yuuto!" Rias gasped happily.

Michael growled and said, "Damn you, Kiba, you saved Asia before I could get to her and then you made an entrance like that to show how cool you are! Damn you to hell!" Michael huffed then breathed in and out as he said, "Nice to have you back, pal."

"Hm…I suppose that wasn't too terrible." Kokabiel commented which stirred Rias' ire to where she glared at the man and began her attack on him.

"Well then I hope this isn't too terrible for you! Kokabiel!" Rias fired a massive demonic-power shot at Kokabiel who simply sits there and smirks as he stretches out his hand to grab the attack.

"Holy shit that's huge!" Michael said in awe at the enormous block of power.

"Hmph!"

***BAAAAAAANG!***

Kokabiel was able to block the attack with just one hand as he stopped it and threw it back at Rias who was quick to dodge as the blast crashed into the School's Tennis Courts.

***BOOOOOM!***

The blast was able to create a giant crater as the courts turned into nothingness.

"I see. Very Interesting." Kokabiel stood up and laughed, "So you can summon this amount of power because of the Sekiryuutei. This is very interesting. In fact it even gives me an idea. Kukuku..."

"…It is complete." Balba said as he continued to fuse the 4 Excaliburs which were releasing a huge amount of light, "Now the Excaliburs will become one!"

The magic circle started giving out a divine light that spread throughout the school field. Because of its brightness, everyone covered their eyes. But when they stared at the center of the school field, They saw that the four Excaliburs were put on top of each other before fusing into one original Excalibur. As the single blade was floating in place it gave off a bluish white aura.

"Because of the light created by the Excalibur when it turned into one, the spell on the ground is also complete. This town will collapse within 20 minutes. The only way to dispel it is by beating Kokabiel." Balba explained something which stopped everyone from breathing for more than a second. So they had to beat a Cadre- Classed Fallen Angel by themselves in just less than 20 minutes?

"What the crap! You're just going to kill innocent people in town because of some stupid sword!?" Michael growled.

"If you wish to protect your home then you must defeat me. What will you do…" Kokabiel flew off his throne and unfurls his 10 Black Angel wings, "Rias Gremory!"

"Isn't that obvious!" Rias flies at Kokabiel and fires a large block of demonic power at Kokabiel.

***DOON!***

"That all?" Kokabiel grabbed the power in his hand.

"Don't get too comfortable!"

***FLASH!***

Akeno fired a blast of thunder at the Fallen Angel Leader who only catches the attack in the other hand.

"Heh!" Kokabiel smirked as he fused both gathered attacks together into one enormous orb of destructive power before, "Die you Fools!" Kokabiel then throws the attack at both Rias and Akeno who lost their breath.

"No! Rias-san! Akeno-san!"

***CRAAASH!***

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Raynare appeared before the two and created a barrier only to have it destroyed and lessen the blow of the attack which was still able to leave a large amount of damage against them.

"Everyone!" Michael screamed.

"Akeno!" Rias stutters as she recovers from the attack.

"Akeno-san!" Raynare cried out as she too was able to recover quickly.

Falling towards the ground headfirst, Akeno was in danger!

"Don't worry Akeno-senpai, I'mma coming!" Michael called out as he jumps in the air and catches the woman in the bridal style position.

"Michael-kun?" Akeno stirs awake and sees a grinning Michael holding her closely.

"Are you alright, senpai?" Michael asked.

Her cheeks tinting pink a little, Akeno said, "I'm sorry, you wasted your power on me when I was supposed to…"

"Nah! Its fine don't worry about." Michael chuckled then turned serious and turns back to glare at Kokabiel and Balba with Freed, "Oi! You bastards are gonna pay for hurting my senpai like this ya hear? Now the Great Hanamura will kick your asses 5 times over!"

_'Michael-kun you're…' Akeno lightly blushed as she saw just how manly Michael could be up close, 'truly a man after all.'_

"Asia, please heal her." Michael placed Akeno next to Asia.

"Hai! Leave it to me Michael-san." Asia rushed to heal Akeno as Rias and Raynare came to their side to receive healing.

"Alright, I'm off to handle these turkeys!" Michael began walking towards the main fight as Kokabiel watched the teen finally step up to fight for once,

"Now things are getting very interesting from here. Freed!" Kokabiel called.

"What's up, Boss?" Freed appeared while giving his twisted smirk.

"Freed? Why do you always show up at the most unneeded times!?" Raynare screamed.

"Or show up in general." Michael commented.

"Shut the fuck up you, brats!" Freed cursed as he walked towards Balba.

"Use the Excalibur that was forged and become the last entertainment for me." Kokabiel said.

"Fine. Fine. Geez. Can you believe my reckless boss? But who can complain when I can slaughter you devils with my Excalibur-chan which makes this even more enjoyable! So who wants to go first!? Hey what the hell am I doing I'll just kill you all my treat so what do you saaaay!?"

Freed had an insane smile while holding the Excalibur as he closed in on everyone.

Standing tall in front of Freed Kiba prepared himself as Xenovia walked to his side and said,

"Rias Gremory's "Knight". If the cooperation is still valid, let's destroy that Excalibur together."

"Is such a thing okay?" Kiba asked.

"At worst it would be an issue if the Excalibur was destroyed with their cores so it would be best to collect them and since a man such as Freed Zelzan is wielding it that blade is no longer a Holy Sword but an abomination." Xenovia said in disgust.

"Kukuku…"

Someone was laughing at the duo's conversation. It was Balba.

"Balba Galilei. I am a survivor of the "Holy-sword Project". No, I am the one who was killed by you to be more precise. I have continued living by being reincarnated into a Devil."

Kiba said calmly to Balba. But his eyes were filled with flames of hatred. Depending on Balba's answer it might become an explosive situation.

"Oh, The survivor of that project. How unfortunate for me to meet you in a far east country like this. I feel like fate is trying to toy with me. Fufufu."

"Hey you, Pedophile Archbishop! Stop laughing like that!" Michael growled as he felt that he and everyone was being made a fool of.

"You damn kid! Why do you keep calling me that!?" Balba shouted as he heard Michael call him that many times only to piss him off.

"Because look at you, man, you're the clear definition of a pedo." Michael scratched his head.

"Just because I look like one doesn't mean I am one!"

"I'll get back to you on that continue." Michael nodded.

**_[Michael what are you doing?]_ **

_'Trying to prove a point, Ddraig. Trying to prove a point…' Michael thought._

"You see. I liked the holy-swords. I admired them so much that they come out in my dreams. Possibly because my heart was fascinated by the legend of Excalibur since I was a child. That's why when I found out that I can't use Excalibur I fell into despair."

"Are we really going to listen about this Pedo's life story?" Michael groaned.

**[I believe so.]**

Balba suddenly started talking about his life,

"I held admiration for those who can wield it because I couldn't. That feeling became so powerful that I started an experiment to create those who can use them. Then it was complete. It's thanks to you and the others."

"What? Complete? You disposed of us after finding saw us to as failures."

Kiba lifted his eyebrows in doubt.

"I realized that there was an essential factor needed to wield holy-swords. So I used the numerical value of the "factors" to investigate its capability. Most of the test subjects had the "elements" but they didn't have the numerical value needed to wield the Excalibur. Then I reached a conclusion. Is there a way to take out the elements and gather them?."

"I see. I understand now. The thing that is put inside the holy-sword wielders when they received a blessing is…"

Xenovia seemed like she learned the truth and grit her teeth hatefully. Wh…what did she mean? I was in doubt and Balba continued to talk,

"That's right holy-sword wielder girl. We take out the holy-elements from those who have them and crystallize them. Just like this."

Balba took out an orb that was giving out light. It was a shiny orb. It has the so-called holy aura in it.

"With this, the research on holy-sword wielders improved. Even so, those fools from the Church banished me for heresy and took away my reports on the research. By looking at you, I see that the project was succeeded by someone. That Michael…" Galiliei said in disgust

"Yes." Michael blinked.

"No, I mean the Seraphim, Michael." Balba continued, "He made me look like a criminal and this is the result? Well it's that Angel we are talking about. Even if he takes the elements out from the test subjects, he wouldn't go as far as to kill them. That part only would make him more human than me. Kukukuku." Balba laughed until Michael shouted,

"See, I knew it! You were a Pedophile!"

"How?" Balba sneered.

"You just admitted that you kidnapped and stole the innocence of children!" Michael roared.

"…" Balba froze in thought then said, "So…"

"So we're going to sue your ass for molestation!" Michael growled.

"Haha! Not if you die first." Balba laughed.

"Nuh-uh! Then you'll be charged with murder!" Michael growled.

"…You killed my comrades just for the elements needed for the Holy Swords the whole time?" Kiba said with a tone full of killing intent.

"Of course. This orb is from back then. I have used three of them on Freed though. And now this is the last one." Balba smirked.

Suddenly Freed laughed, "Hyahahahahahaha! Other guys besides me died because they couldn't handle the synchronization with the elements! But not me! Hmmmmmm. If I think about it I guess I'm more special than you, Playboy!"

_'I wished he died.' Michael thought._

"You were probably wondering that you wished I died didn't you Michael-kun? But too bad because I'm still breathing in the beautiful air and musk of devil blood~!"

"Dammit! Stop reading my mind you, shitty priest!"

"Never~!"

"…Balba Galilei. How many lives have you sacrificed for your greed and experiments…"

Kiba's hands were shaking and there was an aura of anger coming out of his body. What an incredible intensity.

"Hm. If you say that, then I will give this orb to you." Balba tossed the orb at Kiba's feet and let it roll towards him, "My research has reached the stage to where it's possible to mass produce them in the right environment. First of all, I will destroy this town with Kokabiel. Next I will gather the legendary holy-swords stored around the world. Then I will mass produce holy-sword wielders and start a war against Michael and the Vatican with the combined Excaliburs. I'm going to show the result of my research to those foolish Angels and their followers who have convicted me."

"You bastard, you're so obsessed for revenge that you'll kill others to do it?" Michael growled as the Boosted Gear started to blink as it began its countdown to initiate Balance Breaker.

"Kill others no…you see all these people are just materials or obstacles needed to make my dream a reality as they play their parts. For you see all of you are necessary for my plans to come into fruition as the materials I need from you are your lives!" Balba cackled.

"You're sick!" Michael growled and took a step forward only to be stopped by Asia holding him back.

"Kukukukuku! Call me what you want but at least I won't be the one dying here?" Balba cackled.

"…Everyone…" Kiba leaned down to pick up the orb as he slowly began to cry as he was a mixture of sadness and anger, "I wasn't able to…"

***GLEAM!***

Suddenly the orb started to glow a shallow light as wisps of light start to surround Kiba as they started to take form of many boys and girls.

"What's going on? And who are those people?" Michael asked.

"Through the various powers in the battlefield the spirits within the orb began to appear." Akeno explained.

"S-So you mean?" Michael's eyes widened as his eyes grew watery, "Those are the lives Balba took to create that orb?"

Catching sight of this Kiba wore a dear expression as he said, "Everyone! I…!"

Kiba then said, "I had always thought that-that I wasn't supposed to be the one that lived. Out of everyone, there were so many others who dreamed more than me. There was more who wanted to live more than me. I just can't accept that I of all of you lived a peaceful life while you didn't." Kiba began as his true feelings came out,

"W-Was it alright for me to have lived instead of dying?" Kiba cried to himself as the spirits of the boys and girls gave Kiba the answer he needed.

[Don't worry about us anymore. You being alive is what matters to us most.]

Suddenly the souls of the boys and girls started to sing a song which was soothing a rather foreign to Michael's ears.

"…The sacred song." Asia mumbled through her teary eyes.

The bodies of the souls began to glow brighter as they surrounded Kiba with their warm light.

[Alone, we were weak.]

[We didn't have enough of the elements to wield the Holy Swords. But-]

[If we all work together then it will definitely work.]

"Together?" Kiba muttered as he looked at the surrounding souls of his fallen comrades.

[You have to accept the holy-sword.]

[It's not scary.]

[Even if God isn't watching.]

[Our hearts will always be…]

[ONE.]

Kiba smiled as he said the last word to himself as the spirits flew into the air and combined into a big light which enveloped Kiba.

**[Partner. The Knight he has reached it.]**

"You mean he reached-?" Michael asked.

**[A Sacred Gear can change and evolve while using the feelings of its master as a key. But a certain territory is needed to reach it. As the feelings and wishes of the possessor does a dramatic change that affects the shift of the world.]**

"Then I guess I'm not the only one who can do it anymore, well it sucks but I can't say that I'm not happy." Michael chuckled and wiped his tears away as he and Ddraig said.

"He finally unlocked his,"

"Balance Breaker."

**[Balance Breaker]**

Standing tall with resolution in his eyes Kiba stood in front of Balba with a new determination in his eyes which were finally clear after many years.

"My comrades never wished for me to avenge their deaths." Kiba started walking forward as he summons a demonic sword, "No, that's not what they wanted at all, but it was because of that desire to destroy the evil before me so that I could prevent another event leading to more people ending up like us."

Kiba points his blade towards Balba and said, "Prepare yourself."

Balba was in fear for his life as he suddenly called, "Freed!"

"Coming!" Freed jumps over to protect Balba and faces Kiba with his new holy aura covered sword.

"Hmph, what a fool, you, who has been used past its value should just be disposed of." Balba smirked.

"Don't go calling my Best Friend an "it" Pedophile Priest!" A voice shouted.

"Michael-kun?" Kiba's eyes widened as he looked back to Michael who punched his open palm and grinned.

"Kiba show him what the "Knight" of the Gremory Group can do by first cutting down that shitty Freed and those stupid Excaliburs!" Michael called out, "Don't let the souls of your friends be in vain! Fight till you can't fight anymore! Show them that you won't succumb to the dark past as you keep moving forward!"

"M-Michael-kun…you still call me a friend even after I said those terrible things to you and even getting punished by our master because of my foolishness and yet you still…" Kiba said in a grateful tone, "Think of me as your friend?"

"Yuuto! Do it! You have to finish this yourself! Surpass Excalibur! You are the servant of I, Rias Gremory! My "Knight" will not lose to a mere Excalibur!"

"Yuuto-kun! I believe in you!"

Kiba smiled as he received cheers from Rias and Akeno.

"Buchou, Akeno-san…"

"…Yuuto-senpai!" Koneko cheered.

"Koneko-chan…"

"Please do your best, Kiba-san!" Asia cheered.

"Yes strike down that sick bastard for all of us, Kiba-kun!" Raynare cheered.

"Asia-san, Raynare-san. Everyone." Kiba grew some tears before wiping them off and saying seriously, "No, the time to cry will come later because now I have to be a sword for my comrades."

Suddenly a surge of black aura started to cover Kiba's blade as it showed his demonic power, "I will no longer be a sword of vengeance."

***DING!***

Next a bright flash engulfed the blade as a white aura covered Kiba's sword.

"What is this?" Balba gasped, "Could this be a Holy Aura enveloping his sword?"

"What the shit a holy auraaaaaaaa!? How can this shitty Playboy Devil conjure something like this! It's not fair since he has two powers on his side!" Freed roared in anger.

"My reason to live isn't for revenge!" Kiba focused fusing the demonic and holy aura into one focused point, "My reason to live is to fight for Buchou and the comrades I have right in front of me! I will use these feelings to create my new pledge to them and those who have given their lives for me to be standing right here! Right now!"

Kiba raised his blade in the air and shouted,  **"Sword-Biiiiiiiiirttttth!"**

"The two fusion of two auras began to mesh together into one as a single sword appeared in Kiba's hand as the fusion was complete as a black/white blade leaking a Holy Light and ominous demonic aura appeared in Kiba's hand.

"Now witness the awakened power of me and my fallen comrades,  **Balance-Breaker "Sword of the Betrayer"** I will cut you down with the powers of Holy and Demonic power!" Kiba charged at Freed with his impressive speed.

Shocked by Kiba's sudden burst of speed Freed was unable to react on time as Kiba was able cut through Freed's shoulder at least once as he appears behind him.

***SLASH!***

"Guuuuagh!" Freed yowls in pain as his shoulder releases a sharp torrent of blood, he soon turns back to give Kiba a death glare, "D-Damn you, you shitty devil!" Freed used the power of Excalibur Rapidly to catch up with Kiba who simply stands in place and simply guards the incoming attack of the Excalibur with his single blade.

***SHIIIIIIIIIIIIING!***

"What?" Freed gasped as his blade was stopped.

"Your sword will not destroy the blade forged from the combined feelings of my friends!" Kiba roars as he pushes both blades back as he lunges at Freed and begins attacking with strong strikes against Freed's sword.

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

"Chi! Then let's see how you handle this!" Freed thrusts his blade out as it stretches out into 4 individual small blades themselves towards Kiba.

"This won't stop me." Kiba with a single wave of his sword cuts the blades shattering them until they reverted back into a single blade itself.

"Damn not even this works!?" Freed growled then said impatiently, "Why!? Why isn't it hitting!? You are supposed to be the unrivalled holy-sword-sama, aren't you!? Weren't you supposed to have lots of legends of being the ultimate sword!?"

Walking up to Kiba's side was Xenovia who stabbed Excalibur Destruction into the ground as she says, "If we intend to finish this then we'd better do it together then." Xenovia's words confused Freed as she raised her hand into the air and chanted,

"Saint Peter. Saint Basil the Great. Saint Denis and the blessed Holy-mother Mary. Please hear my prayers!" Opening Xenovia was a dimensional gap which slowly released a heavily chained blue broadsword with gold bladed edges. Reaching for said blade Xenovia says,

"In the name of the saint living inside this blade…I set you free!"

***CHING!***

The chains restraining the blade disappeared as Xenovia holds her blade ready to engage Freed in combat, "Holy Sword Durandal!"

"A holy sword?" Kiba said.

"Whoa, dude that thing looks so cool!" Michael said in awe.

"A sword on par with Excalibur to cut down everything in this world." Xenovia explained.

"Impossible. My research didn't go into how to use the Durandal yet." Balba growled.

"That's because I'm a natural born user of it." Xenovia smiled.

"A perfectly suitable owner, Then you're a true holy sword user?" Balba gasped.

"This sword is a wild child who cuts and destroys whatever he touches. He may not listen me but besides that he's very dangerous to keep outside so that is why I keep him in another dimension." Xenovia said as her two handed grip tightens around the blade's handle.

"Is there even such a thing?" Freed used Excalibur mimic to fire out 4 thin blades to impale Xenovia.

"Not good enough."

***BREAK!***

Xenovia swings Durandal once and shatters the mini blades which revert back to s ingle blade in Freed's hand.

"And here we have a super dramatic plot twist!" Freed commented angrily.

Lunging at Freed, Xenovia takes the initiative and swings Durandal forward, "The weapon you wield is just a broken holy sword. Without the other pieces it's no match for my Durandal!"

***SHING!***

"You piece of Shiiiiiiiiit!" Freed blocked the attack with trouble as he was being overwhelmed by Durandal's destructive power. Using Excalibur Rapidly allowed him to escape getting cut by the blade,

"You're all getting on my nerves!" Freed was losing his cool as he was just enraged at this point as he jumped high in the air.

"That sword must be destroyed!" Kiba roared as his speed allowed him to appear behind Freed. The two commenced a battle in the air as their swords began to clash with enough strength that everyone below could hear the chilling sounds of the two weapons clashing.

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

"Crap! Crap! Shit!" Freed panted as Kiba was getting the edge in speed and strength.

"Your sword is not enough to ever sever our hopes!" Kiba shouted then used all his might to strike Freed's blade with enough force that it caused a slight crack to make itself appear.

"Damn you!" Freed quickly backed away and landed on the ground as Kiba still pursued the man with the intention to finish things as the voice from his fellow 2nd year began to encourage him even more!

"Go Kiba, you can do it! Break the Excalibur with the hopes that your old and new comrades have given you! Kiba you are the Knight of Rias Gremory your blade can cut anything! Even the MOON!" Michael roared.

_'Michael-kun!' Kiba's blade started to glow more brightly with the fused auras as he raises the blade over his and roars,_

"Huuuuuuuuuuaaaaahhhh!"

"I won't lose to low devil scuuuum!" Freed prepared Excalibur to block the attack but as soon as Kiba's Holy Demonic Sword met his own blade.

***BREAAAK!***

The excalibur's blade broke in half!

"It broke!" Freed cried in surprise but was unaware of Kiba's intention of continuing his attack as his sword went past the broken Excalibur and into Freed's right arm, "Gugh!"

"You will pay for hurting my comrades, Freed!" Kiba shouted, "I'll make sure you'll never hurt anyone again!"

***SWIPE!***

In one swift motion, Kiba swipes his sword through Freed and appears behind him while giving a serious expression as Freed stood there as the effects of Kiba's attack sunk in.

"Fall." Kiba whispered.

***SNAP!***

***THUD!***

Falling off to the side Freed's arm fell off as the man's late reaction resulted in a painful scream,

"Uuuuuuuuuuuarrrrrgh!" Freed screamed in pain as it was not just the lost arm he was screaming about but also the two large gashes on his chest two which Kiba made along with cutting off his arm.

Falling over, Freed lost consciousness from the sheer pain of losing his entire right arm along with receiving extra damage too.

"Now you will never harm anyone with a Holy Sword ever again!" Kiba exhaled then proclaimed, "Can you see it our power was able to surpass Excalibur!"

"I-Impossible…How can a Holy and Demonic Sword fuse in theory it's just not p-possib-*Gasp!*" Balba fell back as Kiba turned to him and gave the man a fierce death glare.

"Balba Galilei…" Kiba continued to stare down the terrible old man with the intention to kill. The thoughts of revenge once covered his mind as he remembered the painful expressions of his comrades dying and after knowing the truth of the old man's intentions for them he couldn't forgive him at all, he really wanted to cut down the man who stood in front of him but…

"Kiba!" Michael called out as he ran towards the blonde teen while waving his hand.

"Michael-kun." Kiba turned back and smiled then looked back at Balba with a serious look, "I want to kill you with all of my being Galilei Balba, but I see no use in killing you if they won't come back here no they are here within me always. Killing you here." Kiba lowered his sword and turned away as he walked back to everyone else, "Won't ever bring me the true satisfaction I want."

Looking at Kiba walk off, Balba could only focus on the blade the man who gave pity on him had as he didn't care about those children he disposed of but the Holy Swords. It was always about the swords and now he has within sight of him a Holy-Demonic Sword.

"…I see! Yes, I finally understand now! Holy and demonic powers fusing it all makes sense. It will be an explanation, if the beings that represent the two become unbalanced! Then not only the Maou but the God has also…"

***STAB!***

Turning back to see the sight, Kiba looks to see the death of the man he just pitied as his body fazes away into dust by the power of the light spear which was stabbed through him.

"What?" Rias gasped.

"Balba, you really were very talented. Your aptitude to gain such a conclusion is interesting but not even I needed to your help to realize that." Kokabiel slowly flew down.

"Did you just kill your own friend?" Michael growled.

"Friend? Hah! Me friends with a lowly human what do you take me for child?" Kokabiel laughed then said, "He was nothing more than a tool that I needed to gain what I truly want. But now since he's gone I need another diversion or else I'll grow bored." Kokabiel looked at Michael, "You, brat."

_'Seriously why do people keep calling me that?' Michael thought as he just figured out that most of his enemies called him by that name._

"What do you want?" Michael spat.

"Whoa, take it easy you should be happy that I'm even giving you my attention." Kokabiel teased as he then snapped his fingers, "Now listen, how about you power up with the Red Dragon Emperor's Boosted Gear and transfer it to someone."

"!" Michael's eyes widened as he wondered why Kokabiel would give him that idea.

"Are you saying you're giving us a chance?" Rias was angered by the Fallen Angel Leader's advice as she wanted to win without any pity whatsoever, "Don't be ridiculous."

"A battle maniac through the end, Kokabiel-sa- no Kokabiel is a man who will even give his enemy an advantage just to make a battle more "interesting" for him." Raynare bit her under lip in irritation.

"You're the ones being ridiculous if you actually believe you can defeat me." Kokabiel laughed.

Rias was infuriated by the man's words until a hand grasped her own, she looked to her side to see it was Michael who grabbed it.

"Michael?" Rias' eyes widened in confusion.

"Forgive me, Buchou but I don't want anyone I care for to suffer any longer." Michael said with a serious yet hopeful tone, "So let's do it, I'll give you my power."

**[Boost!]**

"Michael…" Rias' chest grew warm at Michael's words.

"I want to protect everyone even you, Buchou. And I want to do it quickly before we run out of time!" Michael declared as his hand tightened around Rias'.

Rias who changed her expression of surprise to determination nodded, "Yes, we have to hurry, and with your power I…will defeat him." Rias' hand tightened around Michael's.

"Yeah." Michael nodded.

The two looked up ahead at the smirking Kokabiel and began walking forward as Michael began his power ups.

**[Boost!]**

"So you decided to take up my offer?" Kokabiel chuckled lightly to himself.

**[Boost!]**

_'Come on! I need more power it's not enough for her.' Michael thought._

**[Boost!]**

_'It's still not enough we need to protect everybody or else…we'll lose everything!' Michael's serious face grew even more focused as he clenched his boosted gear clad hand,_

**[Boost!]**

(From afar outside the outskirts of town)

"It seems their fight is just now getting started should we go?" The man who Michael met a few days near the vending machines asked a shadowed out figure who leaned back up against a tree with his arms crossed.

"No, not yet let me see how much he can handle before I come running in to do my job." The shadowed out figure opened his eyelids to reveal a pair of blue eyes which glow under the shade of the tree, "Because once I barge in that stupid moron will just start to yammer on and on about me stealing his "precious" stage light."

* * *

**Next Chapter- The Gremory Family vs. Kokabiel Pt.2 The Great Hanamura truly Enraged? A savage battle between The Devils and the Fallen Angel Leader comes to a Conclusion!**


	19. The Gremory Family vs. Kokabiel Pt.2 The Great Hanamura truly Enraged? A savage battle between The Devils and the Fallen Angel Leader comes to a Conclusion!

**The Gremory Family vs. Kokabiel Pt.2 The Great Hanamura truly Enraged? A savage battle between The Devils and the Fallen Angel Leader comes to a Conclusion!**

* * *

Staring down the threat in front of them both, Michael and Rias walked hand in hand towards Kokabiel to settle the battle once and for all. Boosting his power, Michael was prepared to transfer it to Rias after it went to a certain degree to where she can handle the Fallen Angel Leader. Everyone stood and watched as the pair exuded a strong amount of determination and trust.

**[Boost!]**

_'_ _Not enough.' Michael thought._

**[Boost!]**

_'_ _Not yet I still need more.' Michael's hand tightened around Rias'._

**[Boost!]**

Suddenly the Boosted Gear flashed indicating it was ready.

 _'_ _No, it's still not enough I need more power to give her!' Michael thought as he raised his Boosted Gear and placed it across his chest as he closed his eyes, 'Please I need to give Buchou more power!'_

**[Boost!]**

"Almost…" Michael whispered as a fierce red aura exudes out of his body after the collected power he is storing.

Staring at Michael's growing power, Kokabiel smirked,

"Kukuku! Interesting, he has this much power after just this many boosts?"

**[Boost!]**

_'_ _This is all I can give since we don't have enough time, crap I wish I could've boosted up more for her but with this I know that she can do it.'_

**[Boost!]**

Michael opened his eyes and said,

"Buchou, it's ready. I'm sorry, I couldn't get enough power."

"Don't worry, Michael, I trust you." Rias focused her attention on the enemy in front of her but still kept her strong grip on Michael's hand.

"Right, I'll give you everything at once!" Michael nodded as his gauntlet began to glow, "Boosted Gear Gift!"

**[Transfer!]**

Suddenly the sudden rise of energy Michael was exuding transferred over to Rias through their interlocked hands as her red aura spiked to a large amount to where she moaned upon receiving the power.

Looking at Rias in amusement Kokabiel excitedly smirked as he simply claps at the marvel in front of him, "Well done the both of you…"

Rias glared at Kokabiel and released a huge surge of demonic power covering her entire body as it was able to push back Michael a few feet as he had to cover his eyes to see his master stand in front of him.

"Whoa! I did this? But I thought it wasn't enough!" Michael gasped.

"A-Amazing!" Asia said in awe.

"I know it feels like her powers in a greater level than a High-Class Devil's!" Raynare's eyes were filled with amazement.

Even from a distance the look on Kiba and Xenovia's faces could prove that Rias' power waves can visibly reach them.

"Fuahahahahahahaha! That power signature! The enormous volume of power! They're both so great!" Kokabiel cackled, "Fuahahaha! Good! Good! This flow of demonic power! I can feel it's on a level of that of an ultimate-class devil! It's seems to be at almost the level of your older brother's Sirzechs, Rias Gremory! Looks like you have been blessed with talent equal to that of your brother's!"

 _'_ _How come he looks so happy about that!?' Michael thought as he was slowly being pushed back by Rias' intense aura._

**_[Remember he survived through the Great War against God and the Four Original Devil Kings, meaning anything insignificance such as an Ultimate-Class Devil is nothing more than a game to him.]_ **

_'_ _Crap, then that means-!' Michael grunts as he sees Rias creating two huge orbs of demonic power imbued with the power of destruction._

"Disappeeeeaaaaar!" Rias creates a massive block of demonic power and fires it at Kokabiel as the attack itself visibly shook the ground with a huge-

***GOOOOOOOOOON!***

"Whoa, that's bigger than what she usually fires!" Michael gasped.

"How fun!"

***DOOOOOOOON!***

Kokabiel laughed as he used both his hands to deflect the attack as he was somewhat struggling with pushing it back, "Now this is entertaining such a blast to make me struggle this much!"

 _'_ _She's doing it?' Michael looked past Kokabiel happiness and saw the large effects of the blast pushing Kokabiel back little by little but then looks back at Rias to see her struggling to maintain the attack for very long._

"Ngh! Nuuuuuun! Ngh!" Rias panted and groaned in exhaustion as she could visibly feel all the power she gained from Michael slowly disappear as she continues her attack,  _'No, not yet with Michael's power I have to at least-!'_

"Haaaaaah!"

***GOOOOOOOOON!***

Rias increased the output of demonic power she was firing at Kokabiel.

 _'_ _No, all the power I gave her is disappearing!' Michael gasped._

"Interesting! Very Interesting! Interesting indeed! Little sister of Sirzechs your putting on quite a display!" Kokabiel laughed as he started to add his own pressure into blocking the attack which pushed Rias back to where she had to struggle to at least fire the shot but…

"Aaaah *Pant!* Urh…!"

Her strength to maintain the attack as a whole vanished as she falls back waiting to hit the ground until.

"Buchou!" Michael rushes over to catch the falling woman in his hands, "Are you alright?"

Looking up at Michael, Rias smiles gratefully and says, "Yes, I'm fine thank you."

"No problem." Michael nodded but they turned their attention to Kokabiel who revealed his steaming injured hands,

"Hmhmhmhm!"

Kokabiel who was still floating in the air now had his hands covered in blood as his black robed clothing was in tatters, but these were the only things which received damage…as he took no damage to the main body whatsoever!

"Impressive, but I believe 3rd time's the charm if you want another go." Kokabiel mocked.

"You-!" Rias growled as Michael sat her up.

Back with Akeno and Raynare both girls looked at each other and nodded as they unfurled their wings and took to the skies after Kokabiel.

Turning her view back into the skies, Rias sees a terrifying sight,

"No don't! Akeno! Raynare-san!"

"Raynare-san! Together!" Akeno shouted.

"Right, Akeno-san!" Raynare said in agreement.

Akeno and Raynare flew to different sides of Kokabiel and prepared to bombard the man with a combination of their attacks.

"Thunder!" Akeno sent down a furious strike of thunder and aimed it at Kokabiel.

***FLASH!***

"Die!" Raynare summoned a purple magic circle and fired a barrage of large light spears at Kokabiel.

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

"It's no use!" Kokabiel used his 10 wings to shield himself from both the continuous attacks.

"Will you stand in my way!? The one who inherited her power from Barakiel!?" Kokabiel shouted.

"Don't you dare lump me together with that thing! I am nothing like it!" Akeno's expression turned unpleasant and furious as the force of her attack increased.

***FLAAAASH!***

"Chi! Pathetic." Kokabiel then turned back to Raynare and smirked,

"Hey you, traitor! These light spears have a certain irritating burning sensation that even my wings can feel. Could you be somewhat related to the "Nightmare Flame" Raymond!?"

"!" Raynare's expression was that of Akeno's, but her's wasn't full of anger like Akeno but filled with dread instead,

"Gugh! No…please don't speak of his name…"

Raynare's assault of light spears stopped as soon as Kokabiel said those words, was her will to fight suddenly taken from her?

Raynare floated down to the ground and fell on her knees and trembled with an expression of fear.

"Raynare-san!" Asia and Koneko rushed over to the Fallen Angel to aid her.

"What's going on with Akeno-senpai and Ray-chan? And who are Barakiel and Raymond?" Michael was in a loop as to what was happening.

"Those two are Fallen Angel leaders belonging to the Grigori, Barakiel is known as the "Holy-Lightning" his basis of power is to that of a viceroy as he can use both the power of Lightning and Thunder." Rias explained.

"Yeah, I think I remembered that during training, but what about this Raymond-guy?" Michael asked.

"That Fallen Angel is rather one of the newest leaders in the Grigori as he is the youngest and most talented as his title "Nightmare Flame" stems from his dark red light spears which are capable of engulfing and destroying the physical and mental state of a skilled fighter to near death or sheer insanity." Rias explained.

"So that means Senpai and Ray-chan is related to these two people!?" Michael gasped.

Running out of strength to continue her attack Akeno was breathing heavily as he killing intent towards Kokabiel still hasn't changed. But Kokabiel simply laughed at the situation in front of him,

"Hahahahaha! For you two to side with devils! Hahaha! You both really have fallen haven't you!" Kokabiel laughed and mocked both Raynare and Akeno, "You have pleasant servants, Rias Gremory! The Sekiryuutei Brat! The discarded victim of the Holy-sword project who reached Balance-Breaker! And the Fallen daughter of Barakiel! And you were even able to steal away the useless relative of Raymond too! You have such weird taste, but I guess I should've known that since you're a sibling with that brother of yours, Sirzechs!"

"For real? Akeno-senpai is a Fallen Angel too?" Michael gasped as he looked up at Akeno who averted her eyes from him.

"And Ray-chan your related to this "Nightmare Flame" guy?" Michael turned to Raynare, who was quick to shake her head and cover her ears as she cried,

"S-Stop! Don't say his name! Please Stop! Stoooop!" Raynare cried in fear as Asia got close and tried comforting her.

"Raynare-san, please you must calm down."

"N-No more, please do not say his name…" Raynare whispered to herself.

Infuriated Rias stood up and shouted, "Your insulting words towards my brother, the Maou will not be tolerated! But for even stooping to insult my servants you will pay the ultimate price and die!"

In a black blur, Kokabiel crashes into the ground below and puts back his wings as he confronts everyone with a confident smile, "Then by all means try and kill me if you can! Crimson Haired Ruin Princess! Sekiryuutei Brat! Remember this you are facing the arch enemy of devils so you should try and take advantage of this opportunity and try and take my head for it may be your last chance!"

"Are you done talking?" Michael said as he stepped forward and walked towards Kokabiel.

"M-Michael-san?" Asia gasped.

"You talked badly about Buchou, Akeno-senpai and even Ray-chan for that I'm going to kick the shit out of you." Michael cracked his knuckles and stood in front of Kokabiel.

"You must be a fool if you seriously think you can defeat me." Kokabiel laughed as he creates a sword of light.

"Well guess what you freaky Bird-Man Genotype! Because this Fool's gonna well I don't know…kick your ASS!" Michael roared as he released a moderate amount of Touki around his body, "Buchou?"

Rias crossed her arms and nodded.

"Great!" Michael clenched his fist,

 _'_ _Ddraig start the Countdown!' Michael called._

**_[Understood.]_ **

"Hou? So you're going first?" Kokabiel stepped forward.

"Isn't that obvious?" Michael grunts as he runs at Kokabiel and cocks back his fist.

"Michael-sama be careful!" Raynare cried as she broke out her fearing stupor.

"Make sure to keep me entertained kid!" Kokabiel laughed as he swings his sword down at Michael.

"Grr!" Michael side steps to dodge the attack and lunges at Kokabiel and swings a punch at him, "Oryaaah!"

But Kokabiel was able to raise his open hand and catch the hit, "Is that all?"

"Ngh!" Michael was able to resort to raising his leg to kick Kokabiel who simply stomps his foot on Michael's toes so hard that a small crater was formed underneath it!

***BANG!***

"Aaaargh!" Michael screamed in pain as he felt a few of his toes were smashed under the pressure.

"Hm? You're not that amusing say why not use your Boosted Gear to make this even more fun? Because this is rather pathetic" Kokabiel suggested with a bored expression.

 _'_ _I can't let him find out about my Scale Mail!' Michael grunts as he stares up at Kokabiel with a glare_

"Shut up your pathetic *Hacks!* Ptooo!"

***Splat!***

Michael spat in Kokabiel's eye causing the man to stagger back.

"Aaargh!" Kokabiel winced at that.

"Now!" Michael slammed his forehead against Kokabiel pushing the man away from him, "How'd you like that? If you wanted I could have made a bigger snot shot than that."

"…Gross." Koneko said with half lidded eyes.

"Gaah! You rotten, little shit!" Kokabiel was quick to rub his eye as he thrusts his blade at Michael.

"Hehe! Got you!" Michael chuckles as he grabs Kokabiel's arm as he begins to try and flip the man over his shoulder, "You're not coordinated anymore with just one eye!"

"Then I guess I'll have to use two swords then!" Kokabiel summoned another light sword and swings it at Michael who was quick to let go of Kokabiel's arm and cross his arms in the x position as he blocks the attack.

"Guuuargh!" Michael grunts as the blow of the sword sent him tumbling back in pain.

"Michael!" Rias called out.

Picking himself up, Michael looks to his right arm to see that there was barely move then just a cut on his arm due to him focusing his Touki into his arms, "That was close." Michael rubbed his burning arm in pain as the cut was still a light based attack which was deadly to his body.

"That was clever boy, but not clever enough." Kokabiel cackled.

"Tch!" Michael hopped up and was prepared to go at Kokabiel once more but the sight of Kiba and Xenovia running past him to deal with the Fallen Angel made him confused.

"What are you two doing?" Michael asked.

"Just leave him to us!" Xenovia shouted.

"Yeah, Buchou already told us what your planning so just focus until the count is over!" Kiba shouted as both he and Xenovia engaged Kokabiel.

"Let's attack at the same time." Xenovia rushed ahead and executed a slash against Kokabiel who used his single light sword to block it with little difficulty.

"Hmph! Durandal huh? Unlike the Excalibur that was already broken once, that light is the real thing! Buuuuut!" Kokabiel used his strength to overwhelm Xenovia as he swings his blade and…

"…!"

***BOOOOOOM!***

Created emitted an air wave from his other hand and made Xenovia's body float.

***BAM!***

Then Kokabiel kicked Xenovia's stomach.

"Gaa!"

Xenovia flew back with an anguished cry.

"But for a wielder, you still can't control such a weapon. Compared to the previous wielder who had unrivaled strength your still out of my league to take me on alone!" Kokabiel explained.

"Not even the Holy Sword Durandal can get him?" Akeno questioned.

"Haaaaaaaaah!" Kiba rushed forward and struck at Kokabiel's other light sword with all his strength.

***CLANG!***

"And look who came to the party! The Holy-Demonic Sword how exciting!" Kokabiel smiled excitedly as he was holding back Kiba now.

Occupied with Kiba, Kokabiel was unaware of the falling Koneko about to perform a double axe kick against his back,

"…There." Koneko readied her attack.

But Kokabiel simply smirked and said,

"Heh! You truly believe I would leave such an opening out for you little devils!?"

Suddenly turning into sharp blades the wings of Kokabiel and stabbed into Koneko multiple times before sending her flying in deep cuts as blood covered her body.

"Koneko-chan!" Michael cried as he rushes up and jumps in the air to catch the fallen girl.

"B-Baka-senpai…" Koneko weakly looked up at Michael.

"Don't worry, you'll be alright." Michael looked up to see Asia rushing over to them right now.

"No!" Kiba grunts losing focus from Kokabiel who dug his knee into the young man's gut thus sending him back on his heels.

"Now come on, we just barely started everyone!" Kokabiel laughed as he saw the weakening condition of his opponents, he was just toying with them!

"Now since you all attacked I believe it's my turn!" Kokabiel fired off a large shockwave with his light swords which was able to push back both Kiba and Xenovia as the brunt of the attack was getting aimed at Asia.

"No!" Michael carried Koneko and jumped in front of Asia to protect her from the attack with his own body!

"Promotion: Rook!"

***DON!***

"Urgh!" Michael grunts in pain as he used his Rook Defense and Touki power to guard most of the fatal attacks completely.

"Are you okay Asia?" Michael asked.

"Yes, I'm fine but what about Kiba-san and Xenovia-san?" Asia said in worry as she looks back at the two exhausted swordsman.

"It's okay they'll be fine but first you have to heal Koneko-chan alright?" Michael placed Koneko down.

"Right." Asia nodded and proceeded to heal her junior right away.

"This is not the end, Kokabiiiel!" Kiba roared as he forced himself to use most of his strength to stand and charge at Kokabiel,  **"Sword Birth!"**

Suddenly many Holy-Demonic Blades circled around Kokabiel and fired themselves at the man.

"You think that you've captured me with this?"

All of Kokabiel's 10 Black wings, started to become strong like steel swords and began breaking them around with ease.

"Ku!" Kiba grits his teeth and continued forward slashing at Kokabiel, nut the Fallen Angel didn't flinch at all, and he stopped Kiba's Holy-demonic sword with just two fingers, "Not yet!"

Kiba summoned another Holy-Demonic Sword and swings it at Kokabiel who catches the blade as well.

"Haha! Did you honestly believe that would work?" Kokabiel laughed.

Kiba simply raises his head and smirks, "No, but have you ever read One Piece before?"

"What the hell is that?"

"Good, I was hoping for that reaction!"

***SHIING!***

Kiba opened his mouth and created a Holy Demonic Sword in it as he does a swift cut against Kokabiel's cheek.

"Ergh!" Kokabiel flinches back as he covered his bleeding cheek, "You worm! You cut me!"

Kokabiel then proceeded to pay back the tired Knight by firing a large sphere of light at him.

***ZAN!***

"Damn! Come on... Move!" Kiba grunts as he tries to pick himself up.

"Don't worry, I have your back!"

***DOOOON!***

Xenovia rushes in front of Kiba and raised her Durandal to block out the Light Sphere's attack with great force, "Haaaaaah!"

***SWIIISH!***

Xenovia cut through the attack and began breathing heavily as she began running low on stamina.

Watching the struggling opponents Kokabiel said, "Seeing that even after losing the masters that you serve, you devils and followers of God amaze me. I'm still surprised you can still fight because it's really exciting yet extremely pitiful!"

Everyone was shocked as they heard those words.

"…What do you mean?"

Rias asked with doubt as Kokabiel started laughing aloud as if he found it truly amusing.

"Whoops! It's nothing I guess it slipped right out." Kokabiel said with a secretive but joyful tone, "Just forget I said anything."

"Kokabiel spit it out right now what do you mean that I lost my master!?" Xenovia demanded.

Starting to laugh Kokabiel started, "Fuhaha, fuhahahahahahahahahaha! That's right! I totally forgot! The truth wasn't revealed to you lower guys! Also since I'm starting a war, I guess there's no point in keeping it a secret. Because in the war between the three sides, not only the 4 Great Maous but also God himself died!"

"…!" Everyone's eyes widened at the revelation that was just told.

 _'_ _God is dead?' Michael's thought, 'I-Is that true, D-Ddraig?'_

**_[…I'm afraid he is correct, Michael.]_ **

_'_ _Wow, that's really hard to swallow...' Michael started to sweat a little._

"N-No, that can't be true." Asia whimpered as she finished healing Koneko.

"Wait... God really is dead? T-This must be a joke..." Raynare's face was paled in fear.

"It's normal for you guys to not know about it. Who can say that God has died? Humans are an incompetent bunch. Without God, they cannot control their hearts and obey the laws, you know? Even us, the fallen-angels, and devils couldn't tell this to those below us. You won't know where the information about God will be leaked from. Even among the three-powers, only the people at the top and certain people know about it. Though it seems Balba noticed it earlier."

Kokabiel laughed.

"N-No, that can't be it…" Rias was at a loss of words.

"After the War, what were left were the angels who had lost their God, the devils that lost their Maou and the majority of high-class devils and the fallen-angels who lost most of the fallen-angels apart from the leaders. So it wasn't a mere exhausted state. All of the factions fell so low, that they had to rely on humans to continue their generations. Especially the angels and fallen-angels that could only continue their generation by mating with humans. Fallen-angels can increase if the angels fall. But pure-angels can't increase their numbers after losing God. Even pure-devils are rare, right?"

 _'_ _Yeah…Buchou was almost married to Riser because of that happening to Pure Blooded Devils.' Michael remembered his fight with Riser, he wasn't focused on the disappearance of God but focused on what his friend's will do upon hearing it._

"Y-You're lying…It's all lies…It can't be true…" Xenovia who fell to her knees, she lost her will to even stand.

"The truth is that another big war wouldn't happen unless you do it on purpose. It means that all three-sides went through hell in the past war. Everyone decided that it was meaningless to continue having a war if the start of it all, God and the Maou, were dead. Even that bastard Azazel declared that "there is no second war" after losing the majority of his men in the war! It's hard to bear! It truly is hard to bear! To lower your gun once you already shot it!? What the Fuck! If we continued on from there, we could have won! Even so, he...! Is there any value in fallen-angels who can only live by inviting humans who possess Sacred Gears!?" Kokabiel said completely enraged.

"Shut up!" Michael shouted, "If more people had died then no one would have won!"

"You shut your tongue, boy! It doesn't matter who died or not! All that mattered was to prove that our race was superior against yours!" Kokabiel shouted, "Lives don't matter in war, the only thing that does is victory and defeat and we should've been victors! But that damn Azazel ruined everythiiiiiiing!"

 _'_ _You just wanted to prove your better by killing others?' Michael growled as he stared at Kokabiel with a furious stare, 'Are you freaking insane!'_

In the corner of his eye, Michael could see a trembling Asia standing trying to say her part in the middle of this madness with a terror filled/mind wrecking expression,

"God doesn't exist anymore? Then what about the love he's been giving us?"

"Asia…" Michael looked to see tears forming in the blonde girl's eyes.

"Heh! It seems The Leader of the Seraphim, Michael is doing a good job. Once God died he's been doing his best as a sit in as the old bastard's replacement by keeping the humans and angels together." Kokabiel explained.

"!" Michael could see Asia starting to lose the color in her face.

"Shut up!" Michael exclaimed quietly as his hair covered his eyes,  _'Asia was a sister of the church, hearing anymore of this will break her!'_

"Archangel Michael is acting as God's agent?" Xenovia questioned as her face grew even paler as she slowly begins to realize the truth was evident, "Then we've…"

"As long as the system works, prayers and even exorcisms will operate to a certain extent."

Having heard such a maddening explanation, Asia fainted and was caught by Koneko.

"Asia!" Michael screamed and rushed back to the two girls as he shook Asia to wake up, "Come on, you got to snap out of it! Asia, please! Asia!"

"That's a natural reaction. I'm surprised that I can still stay sane at a time like this." Xenovia was internally conflicted after hearing such words also.

"However the number of believers in God has fallen drastically since there was no one to manage the balance between good and evil. So an occurrence such as the Holy Demonic sword is not that strange if you know the truth. But it's still hard to expect both good and evil to mix like that."

Everybody grew a look of defeat even though the fight wasn't over. Could it be that they bit a little more than they could chew?

But arousing them from the downed stupor was Kokabiel who raised his hand at Michael, Koneko and Asia while creating a growing sphere of light.

"Wait, what are you!?" Rias gasped.

"From here on out, I will start a war! I will take your heads gifts! Even if I have to do it myself, With this I'll prove to Sirzechs and Michael that the Fallen Angels are a superior race! So I will continue from where we left off by killing the Sekiryuutei and you precious servants!" Kokabiel laughed as he fired the sphere without warning at the three Devils.

"No! Michael, Koneko, Asia!" Rias screamed.

Koneko was stunned in fear couldn't nothing but stand in place as the incoming attack approaches but stirring her out of her fear was a hand to her shoulder.

"…Senpai?" Koneko looked up at Michael whose eyes were covered by his hair.

"Run back to Buchou and the others." Michael said with a serious, cold tone as he turns back towards the attack walks towards it.

"Michael-senpai?" Koneko called out.

"Kill my comrades?" Michael questioned as he raised his face to look straight at the attack ahead, "Kill other people for war?" Michael raised a fist as Touki seeps out of his body, "Destroy my home?" Suddenly the touki increases to a great volume as it overflows out of Michael's body uncontrolled.

"I will never forgive you…" Michael then opens the palm of his hand and grabs the Light Sphere with great struggle as he was slowly being pushed back.

"Michael!" Everyone screamed.

"Hahaha! I see the brat's finally cracked after all!" Kokabiel laughed at Michael's foolish attempt to grab his attack, "It seems after knowing of God's death that he's become suicidal!"

"Suicidal? No it's not that I'm just naturally like this." Michael dug his back foot into the ground and stayed in place as the Light Sphere was still trying to push him back. There seemed to be Dragon Power escaping his body as well also as it started to merge with his touki.

"Hm?" Kokabiel looked confused.

"And you say that God's death will make me lose the will to go on? Bullshit…" Michael growled as his grip on the Light sphere was strong enough to hold it in place as he stared up at Kokabiel and coldly said, "I don't care if he's gone or not because guess what asshole…"

"!" Kokabiel gasped as he noticed a change in Michael's eyes as they changed from their usual brown color to a dark shade of red.

"I'm a devil and a dragon!" Michael growled deeply as his hair started to look unruly and somewhat wild along with the sudden growth in the incisors of his teeth, "As if I would care whether God is alive or not anymore because I won't let you kill my friends and destroy my home because you're freaking bored! No! Hell no! I won't be alone again! I don't ever want to go through that again!"

***PRAANG!***

Michael's hand crushed the light sphere much to Kokabiel shock,

"What?" Kokabiel then thought,

 _'_ _What's going on with this kid? He's acting different, wait, no, it's not that... Something familiar is going on here especially with those eyes!' Kokabiel began to sweat a little as Michael continued to stare down the man._

"Something like this could never kill me…" Michael grinded his teeth.

"Don't get too full of yourself, boy!" Kokabiel fired a pair of light spears at Michael.

"Stop fucking with me." Michael raised a single fist and covered it with touki as he punches both incoming light spears and brushed them aside with some difficulty but the look on Michael's pissed off expression didn't change at all as he said, "You're the only one getting full of yourself, bastard."

"!" Everyone gasped at Michael's sudden change of character as he suddenly grew dead serious.

**[Partner its ready!]**

"For making Asia cry! For hurting Irina! For messing with my bud, Kiba! For insulting Buchou, Akeno-senpai and Ray-chan! And for even injuring my favorite Kouhai! Kokabiel, I will never forgive yoooooouuuuuuuuuuuuu!" Michael began shouted at the top of his lungs.

As soon as Michael thrusts his Boosted Gear suddenly…!

***FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!***

***FWOOOOOOOSH!***

Surrounding Michael was a ring of wild Red flames as his Boosted Gear's jewel glows brightly as it illuminated the entire area.

"Michael-sama?" Raynare gasped.

"This power, what is it?" Kiba's eyes widened unfamiliar with what's going on.

"He's doing his Balance Breaker, but this is different from last time. I sense something else within this power!" Rias shouted as she was able to tell the physical change of Michael's appearance and aura.

Within the ring of fire, Michael's concealing contact suddenly dissolved to show his now red dragon eye as he continues to stare down Kokabiel.

"This is it Kokabiiiiiiiiiiel!" Michael roared.

Suddenly a strong male's voice which wasn't Ddraig's shouted out for Michael to hear loud and clearly through the Boosted Gear,

**[That's right shout it out…with a Rumbling Roar!]**

Michael didn't know who the voice was and why it was encouraging him but he didn't care because he was now focusing on the goal right in front of him! Kicking Kokabiel's ass!

"Uuuuaoooooh! Welsh Dragon Balance Breeeeaaakeeeeer!"

**[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]**

***GOOOOOOOON!***

Suddenly erupting out of Michael was his Dragon Power which shook and crumbled the ground under him as it began take form of a large version of the Scale Mail itself crossing its arms intimidatingly as stood over Michael as it released a loud roar similar to that of a dragon's,

***ROOOOOOAR!***

"Give me power!" Michael raised his fist in the air as the large version of the Scale Mail opened its arms and pointed its hands at Michael as a large red aura engulfs his entire body as a sudden pulse of power picks up dust to surround Michael's body until a sudden!

***GLEAM!***

Suddenly a pair of red eyes gleamed through the dust before!

***FLAP!***

***SWOOSH!***

Dragon wings appeared behind the dust and knocked it away to reveal Michael donning Boosted Gear's Scale Mail now with a pair of Dragon Wings as a mixture of dragon power and touki surrounded the Red armor as the mask's eyes now shined red instead of green.

"So this is Michael-kun's Balance Breaker?" Akeno stared in admiration.

"Michael Hanamura had such a power all along?" Xenovia said while staring at the tall standing Michael in question.

Turning back, Michael looks at Koneko who was staring at him in surprise as he said, "Koneko-chan, I said go back to Buchou!"

"…But Michael-senpai…"

"I said go back to her while I still have control over my anger!" Michael scolded.

"B-But...!" This was the first time, Koneko felt so intimidated by Michael.

"Koneko-chan, who should you go to right now!?" Michael's anger was rising with each second he was talking to Koneko.

"B-Buchou..." Koneko stuttered.

"TO BUCHOU!" Michael shouted, "Now go already dammit!"

"…O-Okay…" Koneko nodded timidly under Michael's stern stare as she rushed back to Rias and the others as Michael focused his glare back at Kokabiel.

"Things may have gotten a little more interesting but tell me boy who exactly are you?" Kokabiel asked as Michael simply takes a step forward and vanishes with top speed.

 _'_ _What, where did he-?' Kokabiel thought as he comfortably looks around for the boy who vanished._

***BAM!***

"Guuuagh!" Kokabiel vomits up a moderate amount of blood as he slumps over Michael's shoulder as the teen appeared in front of him to deliver a strong punch to the gut.

"My name is Michael Hanamura, the guy who'll kick your ass!" Michael growled deeply before gripping onto Kokabiel's robes and lifting him over his head and chucking the man into the air.

"Rrgh!" Kokabiel stopped himself from being thrown by unfurling his wings. Kokabiel wiped his lips as he growled in irritation, "Incredible just by angering the Red Dragon Emperor, he can bring out this much pow-?" Before Kokabiel could finish his sentence Michael used the boosters of his Armor to propel himself at Kokabiel. He's not playing around, Michael was dead serious as he rushed the Fallen Angel.

"Kokabiel!" Michael roared as he raised his hand in front of him and began creating a softball sized mass of demonic power.

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

**"** **Dragon Shot!"** Michael fired a large red beam at Kokabiel who evades the powerful attack by flying to the side of it and goes in for the kill as he summons a light sword and thrusts it at Michael.

"Die, you filthy devil scum!"

***CLANG!***

Making contact with the armor the light sword did no apparent damage, as the large shielding of touki blocked the sword's attack before the armor itself could do anything to defend.

"What?" Kokabiel gasped.

GRAB

"You're a Fallen Angel! Fall to the ground where you belong damn you!"

Using both arms, Michael grabbed Kokabiel's occupied one and flipped him over his shoulder and used his strength to send Kokabiel crashing into the ground below.

***CRASH!***

"This can't be happening I am a Cadre-classed Fallen Angel! I won't allow such a devil to-!" Kokabiel picked himself out of the crater his body created as he was actually gaining some bruises from Michael's attacks.

"Shut uuuuuup!" Michael screamed as he covered himself in a Dragon Aura and crashes down upon Kokabiel with a loud-

***BOOOOOOM!***

The impact of the attack shook the ground as the image shown after the dust settles was both Michael and Kokabiel interlocking hands while they try to push back one another by strength.

"Chi! I guess holding back against you won't do me any good brat, so I guess underestimating you all will just have to end right-!"

***BAM!***

Slamming his armored forehead at Kokabiel's face, Michael knocked back the Fallen Angel, who grabbed his now bleeding nose in pain,

"Agh! Will you let me finish a god damn senten-!"

***BAM!* *BAM!* *WHAM!* *THUD!***

Mercilessly beating Kokabiel Michael executes a direct punch to the man's face followed by an elbow to his gut and lastly a swift kick to Kokabiel's sides. The fallen angel was staggering back in pain as Michael simply shouts,

"No! Shut your freaking face and just fight already!" Michael growled as he lunges at Kokabiel with no intention to stop his assault.

"Tch! Fine, that's what I've been wanting this whole time anyways." Kokabiel wiped the blood off his nose and lunged back at Michael as he cocked back his fist.

***BAM!***

Both the two's fists collided as they engaged a hand to hand battle close up as both their blows collided with loud.

***THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!***

Focusing his attacks to one point Kokabiel was able to punch a single hole into Michael's armor with the help of his light imbued fists.

"Auugh! Auugh! Oryaaaaaaaaah!" Michael who was coughing blood with each blow he took still hitting Kokabiel back with strong blows Kokabiel himself couldn't dodge at a close range.

"Haaaaaa!" Michael cocked back one fist and clenched it tightly!

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Collecting in his hands was an increase of thick dragon power as he cocks it back and shouts "Suck it!"

***BAAAM!***

"Ouuurgh!" Kokabiel started vomiting large amounts of blood as Michael's red aura clad fist met his face for the 7th time but apart from the other ones this one really hurt, "Grrr! Damn you! For low-class scum to reach my face!"

"Keh! Bring it, I'm still gonna crush you!" Michael's fist was now badly injured after he used too much power that his body could handle as he still leaned into Kokabiel's attacks recklessly.

**[Michael, you have to calm down your inflicting too much damage upon yourself that your injuries may prove permanent if you continue!]**

Michael ignored Ddraig's and continued attack Kokabiel with his somewhat broken fist.

Kokabiel's moves were experienced compared to Michael's as each of his blows were starting to actually make a dent through his armor even with his Touki defending him. But what Kokabiel lacked compared to Michael was his intensity to keep fighting harder each time he gets hit especially when Kokabiel focuses on one point to attack in.

Separating after their close hand-to-hand battle, Kokabiel grew tired of the close combat and flew up in the air and shouted,

"That's it, I'm going to seriously kill you, brat!" Kokabiel raised his arms over his head and created a large Light Spear about the size of the entire Academy building as a whole before throwing it down upon Michael, "Now perish!"

"I'm going to break you…" Michael soared in the air directly at the Light Spear and cocked his fist back as he begins to summon up all of his power.

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

**[Michael wait with that much energy you'll seriously cause too much damage to your arm that it will be difficult to heal again!]**

_'_ _I don't care!' Michael thought._

"Ryaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Michael roared

**[Magnum!]**

***PRAAAANG!***

Emitting a dangerously large and thick dragon aura, Michael's half-broken fist shot forward and collided with the Large Light Spear with great force to where the entire Light Spear dispersed upon coming in contact with him.

***SNAAP!***

Falling limply to his side, Michael's now broken arm remained useless after using too much power in one attack but he still kept charging at Kokabiel high up in the air.

**[JET!]**

"Kokabieeeeeeeeeel!" Michael raised his right not broken arm at Kokabiel and shouted.

"I-Impossible!" Kokabiel was stunned by the teen's apparent strength to break one of his strongest attacks but seeing the charging boy was good enough for him to try and escape but sadly for him.

***BAM!***

A quick sucker punch to Kokabiel's gut caused the man to vomit up both his lunch and blood but not before…

GRAB

"There's no escape for you here, bastard!" Michael leaned forward and used all the strength in his one good arm to throw the fallen angel into the ground below.

***CRAAAAAASH!***

In a huge crater, Kokabiel laid down in it on his back as he stared up at the Red Dragon Emperor in the sky looking down upon him with a cold, furious stare.

 _'_ _Those eyes!' Kokabiel grunts as he tried to pick himself up, but couldn't because of the paralyzing effects of being knocked around and thrown into the ground like a rag doll, 'I remember them now, they're similar too-!' Suddenly Kokabiel remembered a vague image of a man wearing white robes standing in the middle of a black void as a pair of red sharp eyes stabbed fear into him._

"Now to finish this!" Michael grunts as he raises his other right hand and clenches it as he clads it with a thick amount of touki, "This will be enough."

**[JET!]**

Propelling himself down upon Kokabiel, Michael cocks back his fist to deal the final blow as Kokabiel mutters.

"T-That's right, those eyes... They look exactly like that c-creature's eyes…" Kokabiel's shuddering painful breaths.

 **"** **Crushing Dragon-!"** Michael came down upon Kokabiel as he his fist was just inches away from Kokabiel's face as the Fallen Angel Leader weakly says with disgust,

" **The Hunter**."

**"** **FIST!"**

***BAAAAAAANG!***

The blow of the attack caused the ground to shake to a high degree of magnitude as the ground shattered and sent a powerful shockwave to push back the others, who were watching.

"Gyaaaaaa!"

"Kyaaaaaaa!"

Both the males and girls screamed as the strong took them off their feet.

***SHIIIIIING!***

Coming up from the ground was the Earth Breaker spell which went up in the air and disappeared upon Kokabiel's defeat.

After recovering, they look down at the crater to see Kokabiel covered in blood and injuries not moving an inch.

"He did it?" Xenovia blinked.

"Yes, it looks that way." Kiba smiled.

"A-Amazing, Michael-sama." Raynare gave a bright smile as well.

"This is all good and all, but where exactly is Michael?" Rias looked from side to side in search for her Pawn.

"…Help… Anybody~? Please, I can't really move with this armor on! Its too heavy! Please, man down~!" Michael cried pitifully as he was lying flat on the side of the crater with his Scale Mail on. And it seemed his strange eyes and change in appearance went back to normal too.

"Michael!" Rias rushed to the downed boy and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm more than alright because we won, yahoo~!" Michael weakly laughed then grunts, "Ouch! Laughing hurts, bad idea! Bad idea!"

Rias leaned in and asked, "Why are you still in the armor if you can't move?"

"I don't know it just won't go away and I used too much power that I literally can't move even a finger because it's too heavy!" Michael cried out loud until his Scale Mail suddenly disappeared upon the count ending, "Oh, see it worked nothing to worry about…"

Michael then looked to see the faces of not just Rias, but also everyone else who gathered around him as they saw the sight of his now busted up arm which was basically bleeding and broken as all of his fingers were bent in many wrong directions.

"Oh my, goodness…" Rias covered her mouth.

"No, don't worry, it's fine. I've been through much worse than this." Michael chuckled as he spoke the truth.

"But Michael-kun your arm is…" Akeno frowned.

"It'll be fine. I'll just have Asia heal it and-." Michael then stopped and looked at the air as he feels an anxious feeling all of a sudden, "Wait, what's going on?"

"How pitiful, you're already down?" A voice chuckled lightly.

***PRAAAAAAAAAANG!***

Sensing an overwhelming power coming through the now destroyed barrier, both Rias and Akeno look up to see a figure clad in white plated armor as there were jewels across various locations on it. As it also had a mask to hide the person's identity as eight wings of light growing from the back were giving out a divine glow in the dark night.. It had a different shape and color, but it was similar… It was identical to the  **"Boosted Gear Scale-mail."**

"…The Vanishing Dragon." Kiba muttered after putting two and two together.

"*Gulp!* Is that really him?" Michael who was in a weak state to fight gulped as he sees his eternal rival face to face.

**_[Yes, and since he too is in a Balance Breaker, I'm afraid that you're destined to fight any time soon. Which is why you should run for now and rest because your current condition won't last against him.]_ **

Everyone was rather overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of the possessor, who slowly floats down to the ground and lands near the fallen Kokabiel and stares down at him and did a rather strange action,

WHISTLE

Everyone was taken aback by the whistle as the man wearing the White Scale Mail picked up Kokabiel and said, "I guess you really were able to do it without me interfering impressive but it's not good enough, Ddraig."

"What?" Michael picked his head up and grunted in anger and said, "Who are you?"

"I am Albion the Vanishing Dragon. I possess the sacred gear " **Divine Dividing"** which divides the power every 10 seconds. You're still not strong enough or best suited to face me. *Sigh!* But I guess you'll just have to do." Albion sighed in disappointment.

"Wait, the way you're talking... It sounds almost familiar…" Michael grunts as he tries to sit up.

"Maybe it is or maybe you're just imagining it, either way, I believe my business is done here." Albion began to turn back as he said, "Raymond have you acquired the Stray Priest?"

"!" Everyone's eyes widened as they snapped their heads back to see the young man holding the unconscious priest in one hand.

"Yes, I've already began to inject my flames into him." Raymond raised a single which created a single wisp of black shaded red flames into Freed's forehead.

Doing this made Freed slowly open his eyes which still lost their light.

"Now he will answer all our questions while he stays in a terrifying nightmare time loop until we are done with him." Raymond explained as he held Freed under his shoulder.

"He's-!" Xenovia raised her Durandal and pointed it at Raymond.

"Yes, the color of those flames proved it he truly is the "Nightmare Flame" Raymond." Akeno narrowed her eyes at the Fallen Angel as she released a large killing intent towards him along with the others who prepared to fight.

"Put down your weapons, I have no orders to fight you all. My only ones were to assist the White Dragon Emperor in picking up these two. If you commence an attack then I won't hesitate to defend myself." Raymond said with a serious tone.

And by the judge of his eyes, he wasn't playing around either as everyone dropped the stances and watched the two men pick up the Fallen Angel Leader and Stray Priest.

"Wait a minute…" Michael blinked as he suddenly realized something, "You're that dude, I met while training in the morning!"

"It's nice to meet you again, Sekiryuutei and…" Raymond turned to look at everyone with a stoic expression as his sight stops upon Raynare.

"…Y-You!" Raynare staggered back in fear of the man and tossed him a hate filled/terrified expression.

"Others." Raymond commented before walking back towards Albion.

 _'_ _Ray-chan?' Michael noticed the trembling Raynare and looked at her in question._

"So why are you two here? You looking for a fight just like Kokabiel!?" Michael growled as he forced himself to stand up, "Because the Great Hanamura will not allow that at all!"

Albion shook his head and sighed,

"No, we did not come to fight so stop your obnoxious shouting. And either way if I were serious to ending your life I would have done so already since the way you are now will do nothing, but bore me if we get into a serious fight now." Albion shook his head before saying, "But I must thank you for subduing, Kokabiel, Azazel has been keeping an eye on him and wanted me to put him down before he starts any trouble."

"Ngh!" Michael grew a tick mark on his head as he growled, "This guy is really pissing me off, but I can't help but get this feeling that I've been mad like this before by someone."

"Azazel-sama?" Raynare blinked.

"Now if you'll excuse us." Albion turned away with Raymond by his side as the Fallen Angel unfurls a set of 10 wings in all.

**[So you're ignoring me, White-One?] Ddraig said out loud for all to hear.**

"The Red Dragon Emperor?" Rias said in question.

**(So you reawakened, Red-one?) The Wings of Divine Dividing glow as it could only mean that Albion himself was talking to Ddraig as well.**

**[We finally meet again, but it seems our situations caused us to cross paths once more.] Ddraig gave a bitter chuckle.**

**(Indeed, it is strangely nostalgic.) Albion also gave a bitter chuckle.**

_'_ _Wait, meet again? What do you mean by that, Ddraig?' Michael blinked as he looks at the jewel of his boosted gear._

**(But even if this is a coincidence our fated fight will still come, for it is our destiny.)**

**[Yes, you don't have to remind me of something I already for it is our destiny to settle things.] Ddraig answered back but said,**

**[But White-One. Even after seeing each other twice like this I still can't sense any hostility from you like before.]**

**(Red-One. Your hostility is incredibly low as well.)**

**[Looks like both of us have things that interest us more than fighting.]**

**(Indeed. We should enjoy the time we have with our hosts until it lasts. It's not bad to enjoy such things this, right? So let's meet again, Ddraig.)**

**[Yes, that would be fun, See you then, Albion.]**

Both the Dragon Sacred Gear users stared at each other intently before one of them starts to initiate a loud comment, and you all know who that was,

"Hey you, White-Asshole just who are you!?" Michael pointed his finger at Albion and shouted, "First you sounded way too sure that you can beat me, next you started saying complicated things that pissed me off and now you're making my brain hurt by thinking of why you're so familiar, so tell me just who in the hell are you!"

"You need strength to realize the truth, and if you truly wish to peak my interest in a fight then grow stronger…" Albion turned and looked away as he chuckled, "You hopeless loser…"

"What did you call me?" Michael's eyes widened as he remembered those exact words said to him before as a sudden flashback regarding Michael's old childhood photo popped up in his head, "Wait, don't tell me your-!"

"Farewell." Raymond looked back at the entire group before following after Albion and grows ready to fly as a dark red aura covers his body.

***ZAAN!***

***FWOOOSH!***

Ascending in the air in a white light was Albion while Raymond followed right after he flew into the night sky like a red twinkle.

Everyone became speechless at the outcome no one had predicted. The magic circle of destruction that Kokabiel spread had already disappeared.

"Rias."

Turning back, Rias saw the entire Student council just now arriving to the field as Sona called out to Rias.

"Sona?" Rias blinked.

"I can't believe that the White Dragon just bursted in like that."

"But the town was saved thanks to him."

"That's true." Sona nodded then turned to Tsubaki, "Well then, Tsubaki let's begin repairs to the school immediately. If we start now then we should somehow be able to manage during classes tomorrow."

"If that's the case then let us help…"

"No, taking care of the school is a job solely for the Student Council." Sona smiled and fixed her glasses.

Looking at his Holy Demonic sword with a faraway look, Kiba said, "It's over. No, my fight is never over as long as that man's research has been taken over by another it will never be over."

Slinging an arm around Kiba's shoulder, Michael smiles and said, "Yosh! We did it man!"

"Michael-kun!" Kiba gasped in surprise, "What about your injuries?"

"Oh, me? I'm fine, but enough about me! Let's focus on that kickass sword of yours, I mean look at it! LOOK at it, it's design is so cool~!" Michael looked at the Black/white blade in excitement.

Looking away ashamed of his past actions Kiba said, "Michael-kun I…"

"Yo man, enough with the sad works okay?" Michael chuckled then looked up with a smile, "Your back as our friend and that's all that matters and if I were you I wouldn't get so sad."

"Huh?" Kiba blinked.

"Because aren't you going to enjoy life for each one of them?" Michael looked back at Kiba and grinned.

Catching notice of an approaching, Asia who woke up from passing out, she said, "…Kiba-san. We can do club activities together again, right?"

"Asia-san!" Kiba said with a sad look as he realized he even made Asia worry for him

 _'_ _Asia, I'm sorry that you were scared like that. I promise to do better, so that you'll never have to go through that again.' Michael looked at Asia with a serious expression._

Walking closer to Kiba was Koneko and Raynare who were also happy to see the boy was alright too,

"It's nice to have you back, Kiba-kun." Raynare smiled happily as Koneko nodded in agreement.

"Raynare-san…Koneko-chan… even you worried about me?" Kiba said as his eyes began to get teary.

"Aww~! It seems Kiba-kun is about to cry." Raynare teased.

"T-That's not true." Kiba wiped his eyes.

"Then what were those wet tear drops I just saw?" Raynare teased as Koneko had a slight smile as well.

 _'_ _Ray-chan when you saw that guy, Raymond why was it you were trembling?' Michael then saw Raynare giggling and smiling with the others as he smiled, 'Meh! I shouldn't worry about that for now because my head is starting to seriously hurt especially after I got mad.'_

**_[Indeed, you should avoid killing your sufficient amount of brain cells while you still can. If you do I believe they will survive until next week.]_ **

_'_ _Oi! Why are you so mad all of a sudden?' Michael growled._

**_[Because you ignored my warnings and now you are severely damaged.]_ **

_'_ _Look I'm sorry, but I got so angry that I couldn't even think for myself. In fact I don't even remember that much after seeing Asia faint like that.' Michael looked at his busted up arm intently._

**[Hm? I believe there's something more to this than I think then.]**

_'_ _Say Ddraig there was also another thing I remembered when I got mad.'_

**_[Yeah, what is it?]_ **

_'_ _I heard the voice of some guy instead of yours while doing Balance Breaker and it seemed to increase my spirit to fight than what it was before, do you know what's that all about?' Michael scratched the back of his head._

**_[A voice? Hm? I guess we'll never know…kukukuku.] Ddraig said with a sneaky laugh._ **

_'_ _Wait what's that supposed to mean?' Michael asked._

**_[Nothing you should worry about Partner you'll soon know about 'Him' in due time.]_ **

_'_ _Him?' Michael blinked in confusion as his Partner was making no sense at all._

Yuuto."

Rias called Kiba's name and welcomed him with a smile.

"Yuuto, I'm glad you returned. Also for you to reach Balance-Breaker like Michael. As your master, I can't be any more proud."

"…Buchou. I… To everyone in the club… Most of all, I betrayed you who saved my life once… I can't find the words to express my apology…" Kiba suddenly bowed as he said this with an ashamed expression.

Rias patted Kiba's cheek and comforted him,

"But you came back and that's enough for me. So make sure not to waste the feelings of your comrades alright?"

"Buchou… I will promise you once again. I, Kiba Yuuto, will protect you and my comrades for the rest of my life as the "Knight" of Rias Gremory's group." Kiba pledged.

"Ufufufufu! Thank you, but you should really think of how you say things because…" Rias nudged her head to point at a ticked off Michael.

"Damn you, Kiba showing off and acting cool even while you're ashamed! But guess what I'll do something better which topples your good looks, gentleman behavior, and etc. for good!" Michael huffed and looked away with a smile, "But you better keep that pledge as a knight or else your no swordsman at all 'kay?"

"Yes. I know thank you Michael-kun." Kiba smiled.

"M-Michael-san!" Asia rushed over to Michael while her eyes were teary, "Your arm!"

"Huh? Oh yeah, it's no biggie for the Great Hanamu-Yeowch!" Michael cried in pain as Raynare and Koneko pulled both his ears.

"Your injury is nothing to laugh at Michael-sama!" Raynare scolded.

"…Asia-senpai, please heal Baka-senpai." Koneko said as her grip on Michael's ear was too strong!

"H-Hai!" Asia nodded quickly and began covering Michael's broken arm with a warm healing green light.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Look why am I still getting hurt after I beat the bad guy? Haven't I been through enough today?" Michael sniffled.

"No." Raynare and Koneko said with half lidded eyes.

"Now Yuuto…" Rias smiled as she raised her hand.

"Yes, Buchou?" Kiba said unaware of what will happen.

***GLARE!***

"SAJI!" Michael cried out.

"Line go!" From afar Saji used Absorption Line to wrap up Kiba before he could escape.

***VOOOM!***

Buchou's hand was covered in a red aura making a dangerous sound.

"What's going on?" Kiba blinked.

"Yuuto. This is punishment for moving on your own. 1000 spankings."

"W-What!?" Kiba looked distressed as Michael and Saji were heard laughing in the background.

"Kick his ass!" Michael laughed.

"This is for abandoning us as we had to get spanked you, bastard!" Saji laughed loudly too as he made sure to tighten the restraints on Kiba really tightly before saying, "Oh and I guess it's nice having you back….Now get your ass spanked you, Casanova bitch!"

"Yeah, get rekt!" Michael shouted.

"M-Michael-kun…Saji-kun…" Kiba gulped as Rias approached him.

Reinforcements from the Maou soon came after 30 minutes as Michael and Saji were laughing and pointing at Kiba who was receiving many butt killing spanks.

(From afar in the air)

Sitting on Stratus was a smiling, Kai, who was also laughing at the Gremory Knight's predicament down below.

"Shishishishishi! The pain of others never bore me." Kai rubbed a tear out of his eye.

Without anyone knowing, he was actually watching the entire fight between the Gremory Family and Kokabiel unfold ever since the very beginning after Sona called him.

"But laughter aside." Kai looked at Michael seriously and said, "That boy didn't listen to my warning about handling the Dragon's Power with care meaning I get to punish him~!"

"Is there a reason why you called me to the Human World all of a sudden you, Monkey?" A dignified male's voice said behind Kai.

"Oh come on, you were interested in the fight as much as me so why do you have to be like that, Zethyr?" Kai looked over his shoulder and grinned.

Floating behind Kai was a handsome man who appears to be in his mid-twenties as he has dark silver hair with a long pony tail as he has gold eyes with a pair of open framed glasses along with a black suit and yellow/black tie with a sun image on it as one side was shaded yellow while the other was shaded black as he his body was more toned and defined like Kai's. Also behind his back grew about 10 Devil Wings in total

"And what made you believe I was so captivated with the Red Dragon Emperor?" Zethyr sighed as he continued to read through a small book.

"The Red Dragon Emperor really is something you know he may be reckless, but he has a strong spirit that many others take years to gain." Kai chuckled, "But one day, I hope he becomes strong so I can fight him with all of my strength! Shishishishi! I just can't wait until he matures into someone worth fighting." Kai said as his eyes sparkled and with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"You, Battle Maniac…" Zethyr shook his head and turned his back to Kai, "If that is all then I will leave. For Maou's sake you interrupted me from a meeting with Ajuka Beelzebub for a talk then dragged me down here you really are a strange one, Son Kai."

"Well to be clear, I was the one observing Michael-san and since I was able to sense the White Dragon Emperor. I knew I did a good job in bringing you here." Kai explained.

"…" Zethyr floated in place quietly.

"So I brought you along so you can tell me your opinion on the Vanishing Dragon himself so... what do you think?" Kai chuckled as Zethyr did not find it so funny as the man simply said,

"…Farewell."

Taking off into the night sky Zethyr left alone a smiling Kai.

"I guess that failed to work." Kai then brought out a form of paper and sighed tiredly, "But who cares it's time for me to report something to Sera-chan like she requested me to since Sona's school 3rd school year started…" On the form the Title  **Parent's Day**  was said.

"So until then Michael-san relax because when we see each other again you're going to need it." Kai groaned, "In fact, I guess I'll need to relax if we see each other again too *Sigh!*."

***ZOOOM!***

Flying through the night sky, Kai left the area in a hurry before anyone would spot him in the air.

* * *

**Next Chapter- I get a New Friend and meet the Fallen Angel Governor!**


	20. I get a New Friend and meet the Fallen Angel Governor!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone I just wanted to put in an Opening Song since I've always wanted to do one, but found it hard to type out the correct things to fit with the song, so I just ignored that feeling and did it anyways! So here it is please give me a review on it and whether I should continue doing things like this or just forget about it completely. Well, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> High School DxD: The Tale of the Gutsy Sekiryuutei!
> 
> Song: Smile Bomb (Yu Yu Hakusho)
> 
> Singer: Mawatari Matsuko
> 
> A scene opens to where the revealance of a laying down Michael was looking down at the area known as Kuoh Town while he gave a serious expression.
> 
> -Machi no hitogomi kata ga butsukatte hitoribocchi- Portraying Michael's thoughts was a side image of the Vanishing Dragon's Balance Breaker's Scale Mail Mask.
> 
> -Hatenai sougen kaze ga BYUNBYUN to hitoribocchi- Shaking his head to toss away the worry Michael shakes his head and realizes that the entire Occult Research Club: Rias, Asia, Akeno, Raynare, Kiba and Xenovia were standing right in front of him smiling. Grinning himself Michael starts to run towards everyone before stopping as he sees a giant white flash behind him.
> 
> -Docchi darou!?- Opening his eyes and turning around he looks to see *Albion* wearing his Scale Mail standing with his arms crossed as two shadow like figures behind them releasing pressure crushing auras as the sky grows dark.
> 
> -Nakitakunaru basho wa- Giving a serious expression Michael thrusts fist forward and summoned his Boosted Gear and stood in front of the females of the ORC group as Kiba and surprisingly Saji stood by his side to help.
> 
> -Futatsu MARU wo tsukete choppiri OTONA sa- Then a sudden explosion separated everyone as they all showcased their abilities and techniques against the upcoming threats.
> 
> -MECHAMECHA kurushii kabe datte fui ni naze ka buchikowasu yuuki to power waite kuru no wa- Rushing at one of the figures was Kiba who summons a Holy Demonic Sword to fend of one of the blade wielded shadows while roaring.
> 
> As the next scene was Saji who was getting blasted by intense green flames before jumping out of them covered in burns to fire out his Absorption Line out at them.
> 
> As the last scene was of Michael and *Albion* staring each other down before Michael raised his Sacred Gear in the air and surrounded his body in a green light.
> 
> -MECHAMECHA kibishii hito-tachi ga fui ni miseta-
> 
> Strong figures such as Sirzechs, Grayfia, Serafall, Kai, Zephyr, Seraphim Michael, Gabriel and even Azazel and Raymond appeared smiling at the camera.
> 
> -Yasashisa no sei dattari suru n darou ne!- Appearing was a pair of goggles falling to the ground between an image of an 11 year old Michael laughing while sitting on a grassy field beside a smirking 11 year old silver haired boy. But as the goggles crash onto the ground and shatter a torn slash breaks the image and replaces it with a sharp toothed Michael growling as he was growing sharp, dark shaded eyes while tears streamed down his face.
> 
> -ARIGATOUGOZAI mas!- The next scene plays out as Michael and everyone approached a half opened door with tape coming off of it with the words "Keep Out". As a pair of red eyes gleamed from behind it and stared at the approaching Michael. Smiling, Michael stops in front of it and squats down to see as a trembling pale hand reach out to him hesitantly before he quickly catches it. As the camera focuses up on the smiling Michael and Rias kneeling as all of their friends stood behind him them smiling as well.

**I get a New Friend and meet the Fallen Angel Governor!**

* * *

About 2 days after the fight against Fallen Angel Leader, Kokabiel, Michael and friends were able to recover from the battle and resumed their normal school lives, but not without pain though. Michael's left arm despite being healed by Asia was completely unusable after his misuse of power in Balance Breaker as the damage was so great that he needs to wear a cast to keep it up as it recovers more naturally. But now since the incident involving the Holy Swords and Kokabiel were over the ORC group was happy to welcome back the Knight Kiba Yuuto.

Happy that his friend was back, Michael began to grow lax but each time he does he still remembers his meeting with the White Dragon Emperor, Albion. Ever since the two met Michael has been feeling rather strange and not just the anxious feeling because of their powers reacting but something strange to where the person he met was somewhat familiar.

But before he can think more of these events a sudden new appearance made itself known as he entered the clubroom along with Asia and Raynare…

"What the hell?" Michael's eyebrow twitched as he looked at the exorcist, Xenovia wearing the Kuoh Academy uniform.

"Hello, Sekiryuutei." Xenovia greeted.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" Michael shouted and pointed at Xenovia.

"The exorcist is here?" Raynare said with a face of confusion.

"Um…Xenovia-san if I may ask why are you here?" Asia blinked.

"Why she's here because she's my new servant of course." Rias smiled.

"What?" Michael blinked.

"Yes, she's Xenovia, a new knight of the Gremory Family." Rias explained, "So all be friends with her alright, and Michael try to at least get along."

"Wait, seriously!?" Michael gasped.

***PA!***

Suddenly out of nowhere a pair of devil wings grew out of Xenovia's back and furled back in.

"Wait those wings…don't tell me you're a-!" Michael gasped.

"Correct, I am a devil now. Once I learned of God's death I turned to Rias Gremory who turned me into a "Knight"." Xenovia explained, "It seems I only needed one piece to be reborn since I alone without Durandal am not that great."

"But what about the church aren't they concerned about their Exorcist just leaving to join the devil's?" Michael scratched his cheek.

"No since I learned information of God's disappearance I was immediately labeled a heretic by them." Xenovia shook her head, "I guess even if it's a Holy Sword wielder they will still cast them off as threats."

"I see, I'm sorry for that." Michael sighed.

_'Yeah, Asia was casted out for just healing a devil so I guess something like God's death won't be an exception at all.' Michael thought._

"But besides from that from this point on I will be attending your school as a second year student and fellow Occult Research Club member. So please get along with me, Michael-kun." Xenovia said the last part with a cute voice, which would have worked if she would have at least smiled.

"Oi! What's up with your face at least try to show the expression of what you're saying." Michael growled, annoyed at the girl's change of tone.

"It seems trying to imitate Irina will be harder than I thought." Xenovia said while looking away in thought.

_'For someone like you, I doubt you can ever try to pull an Irina anytime soon.' Michael thought._

"Buchou, why her?" Michael looked over Xenovia's shoulder to look at a smiling Rias who sat behind her desk to explain as his eyes were half closed.

"With this we have two knights who will take our left and right flanks. And I believe that having the Durandal wielder as an ally to our side is really reassuring." Rias said.

"Yes, I'm a devil now. I can't go back. No, maybe this was a good thing. Hmmm, and since God is gone, my life as a follower is a failure. But serving under a devil that was once my enemy is…. Even if she is a sister of a Maou… but did I really do the right thing?" Xenovia was lost in her troubled thoughts as she held down her head then folded her hands together and said,

"Tell me, O Lor-Uwa!" Xenovia grabbed her head in pain after praying.

"…Deja vu." Koneko said while sitting on the couch.

"What an odd girl." Raynare commented as Michael nodded in agreement before saying,

"So, Irina, how is she?" Michael asked in worry for his childhood friend.

Picking herself up, Xenovia answered, "She returned to headquarters after retrieving the 5 Excaliburs or 4 of their cores as the one I returned was still intact and the remains of Balba's dead body. Our mis-No now it's her mission that's completed."

"Wait, wasn't he turned to dust?" Michael questioned.

"Yes, but it was managed to collected and put inside an urn." Xenovia explained, "So the mission of retrieving it was accomplished. Since the cores were still in good condition, they can use alchemy to make the holy-swords whole again."

"Wait you gave back your Excalibur why that seems to be a waste to me." Michael sighed in disappointment,  _'If she didn't want it then she could have at least given it to me then I could be the better cool guy in the group who can use swords.'_

_Michael imagined himself holding Excalibur Destruction in his hand as he stood over a pile of defeated enemies as Kiba was seen on a knee covered in bruises by the pile._

_"Yes, now I am the superior one! Who's laughing now Pretty Boy! Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Michael laughed._

_"…I admit defeat." Kiba grunted._

_"Michael's the best! Michael's the best! Michael's the best!" A crowd of people were cheering Michael who glorified himself in the moment._

_"Finally now the Great Hanamura is known!" Michael smiled as tears streamed down his face._

"Michael-san?" Asia shook Michael out of his imaginary plain and into reality.

"Oh right, thanks." Michael nodded then turned back to Xenovia, "So yeah why did you give that awesome sword back?"

"I had to give it back just in case. So I believe Durandal is fine for now. And I believe there are other capable wielders of it out there besides me." Xenovia explained.

"*Sigh!* And just when I had a great plan of being famous too…" Michael groaned and slumped down, "I guess the Great Hanamura and the Excalibur of Destruction will have to be a fantasy now."

"…Baka-senpai, you're a devil so you wouldn't even be able hold one." Koneko said with half lidded eyes.

"Irina was lucky. Even if she wasn't in the battle, she ended up not knowing the truth. She has a stronger belief than me. If she were to find out about God's death, then I don't know what would have become of her." Xenovia explained.

"Yeah." Michael nodded,  _'Irina was always so happy when praying or worshipping God but if she were to hear of his death then she would be devastated like Asia was...'_

"So what was her reaction to you becoming a devil?" Michael asked.

"She was really disappointed that I traded sides so easily with no explanation why. So the next time we meet we'll be enemies."

"Enemies?" Michael blinked then sighed and looked down in realization, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

He had just remembered that his old friend was an exorcist and he was a devil and since those two elements don't mix then they'll eventually be enemies to one another in the upcoming future.

"The Church made contact with us devils or more precisely, the Maou about the incident. They said, "We would like to contact you because of unclear and dishonest actions of the fallen-angels even though we feel unsatisfactory about this." With this they also apologized about Balba because it was their mistake for letting him escape in the past." Rias explained.

"Ara ara, it may not be to their liking but I believe the apology is satisfying despite all that's happened." Akeno smiled.

"Yes, and even though Michael handled Kokabiel, the "Vanishing Dragon" and the "Nightmare Flame" Raymond were able to detain him once clearing any suspicions that any other leaders apart of the Grigori really had no idea of Kokabiel's plan for war." Rias explained more information to everyone,

"Once taken back Kokabiel was unluckily interrogated for his actions by the "Nightmare Flame" Raymond then sent to Cocytus to pay for his crimes in a frozen state for eternity."

"Really that's great." Michael sighed in relief.

_'Frozen for eternity is good for me, at least we never have to see his face ever again!' Michael grinned and folded his arms behind his head._

"If I may how was Kokabiel unlucky when he was interrogated by the Fallen Angel Raymond?" Kiba asked.

Suddenly speaking up a nervous Raynare rubbed her arm and said, "B-Because he's a cruel sadist."

Everyone averted their attention to Raynare and looked at the girl with surprise as they just now remembered that she was actually Raymond's little sister.

"He enjoys doing things the hard way and gets pleasure from the resistance of his victims until they submit but once that happens he'll just kick them aside and treat them like trash for ruining his fun. His methods are inhumane and deadly as he continuously applies more pain to the poor person until they beg for their life to end; he is truly a cruel monster." Raynare said while looking down.

"Ray-chan?" Michael questioned.

"I'm sorry, I just let things out without thinking please don't mind me." Raynare apologized and bowed.

"There's no need to apologize it's fine but what you said still has truth to for there has been evidence from past devils who were captured by him from previous skirmishes to have been released from him a few days later with various missing limbs and organs." Rias rubbed her chin.

Everyone gasped at this revelation regarding the Nightmare Flame as his inhumane acts lead to try and ascertain if Raynare really is related to such a man.

"That sounds terrible." Asia's eyes turned watery for a bit.

"It may but that's not it." Rias shook her head as Akeno continued where she left off,

"There have also been reports of the released devils losing their sense of humanity and outlook of reality as a percentage of about 67% of these devils committed suicide or strayed away from their past masters and began to rampage anywhere they wandered."

"!" Everyone in the room was silent at the even more shocking revelation.

_'This guy sounds like real trouble I hope I don't have to see him again.' Michael gulped as he knew how demented and sick Stray Devils and to think behind someone demented there was someone even more demented, 'I just can't believe Ray-chan is related to this guy.' Michael looks over to a frowning Raynare who was growing a large disliking towards the certain topic._

Not being the only one to catch it, Rias said, "Alright so let's talk about another visitor we had during the battle, The Vanishing Dragon."

Michael suddenly stiffened a little nervously as he listened intently.

"As you may know Azazel is collecting a wide array of Sacred Gear users who have Longinus. With such power it's unthinkable of what he can do but I know it won't be something pleasant. Among his top fighters the Vanishing Dragon is ranked among their top strongest people. I heard out of all the Grigori's people including leaders he is the fourth strongest as Raymond is easily their fifth." Rias turns to Michael and gives him a worrying look, "Even though you may have unlocked Balance Breaker to rival his, I still believe he may be stronger than you."

"Stronger, huh?" Michael clenched his fist and jabbed his thumb into his chest as he then declared, "Whatever I don't care if he's stronger than me because I won't lose to him since I am the Great Hanamura!"

Everyone in the room felt reassured that Michael was okay with the knowledge of his rival being a little powerful than him as even Akeno and Rias laughed by the boy's optimism. But…

**_[Partner, just now I felt some uncertainty within you that I haven't felt before is there something wrong?]_ **

_'No, you must be imagining things man, I'm fine Ddraig don't worry I definitely won't lose to the White Guy no matter what.' Michael thought in a chuckle, 'Besides I have to get psyched if I ever want to beat that guy up!'_

**_[… …Yeah your right I guess there's nothing to worry about then…for now.]_ **

_'Huh?' Michael raised an eyebrow at that then shrugged as he turned his focus to Xenovia who was walking towards Asia._

Turning to Asia, Xenovia bowed and said, "Asia Argento, please forgive me for my past actions since God didn't exist, then his love and help didn't as well. If it will make you feel any better than you can hit me."

"…No, I have no intent to hit you, Xenovia-san. Right now I'm enjoying my current lifestyle as a devil and because of that I was able to meet people who have become important to me as I continue live on with them." Asia said with a beautiful smile.

"…. So only you and I are the only followers that found out about the absence of God. It seems I won't be able to say something like a divine punishment to you now. Who'd knew a holy sword user who was once admired, be a heretic huh. I can't forget about how their eyes and attitudes changed when they saw me." Xenovia had a glint of sadness in her eyes.

_'I would have taken the offer to hit the Blue Haired Weirdo myself but…since Asia's being nice to her after all she did then maybe I could too.' Michael scratched his head and approached Xenovia and placed his hand on her shoulder._

"Yes?" Xenovia looked towards Michael who gave the girl a thumbs up and a grin.

"Look we get it you were left behind by the church because of that God business, but you shouldn't worry now because you're with all of us now and even the Great Hanamura is with you and has your back since we're now friends!" Michael chuckled.

"Michael-kun?" Xenovia blinked in confusion.

"Hey enough of that Michael-kun business just call me Michael or Mike either way is fine or if you want to then call me the Great Hanamura." Michael smiled.

Giggling to herself, Xenovia gave Michael what seemed to be a relaxed smile, "Okay then Michael, I'll just call you that instead and thank you." Xenovia suddenly felt lifted up by Michael's cheerfulness for the first time after being reborn into a devil.

_'Knew she wouldn't take the third option.' Michael thought in disappointment._

"No problem." Michael smiled and jabbed his thumb into his chest, "If you're feeling down just come get help from the Great Michael Hanamura!"

"…Your too loud." Koneko covered her ears in annoyance.

"Right I will." Xenovia nodded then turned to Raynare and said, "And Raynare I hope we could get along as well."

"R-Really me too?" Raynare was confused, "But I'm a fallen angel like the one who stole the excaliburs."

"Yes, that may be true but you fought back against your old superior to help and so I see no reason not to have trust in you." Xenovia bowed.

"Wow…Really thanks and I hope we can get along too." Raynare bowed with a bright smile.

_'Everyone's coming together so happily and I'm glad.' Michael smiled._

"And I'd like to ask a favor of you two later." Xenovia smiled to both Raynare and Asia.

"Us?" Raynare and Asia blinked.

"Could you give me a tour of the school sometime?" Xenovia smiled.

"Sure."

"We'd love to."

Both the girls replied happily.

Turning to Kiba, Xenovia says, "Also as a user of the Holy Sword Durandal I wish to cross blades with the Holy-Demonic sword user over there if you don't mind."

"I'd be happy to. But I won't lose." Kiba smiled.

"Xenovia-san on the next weekend I'm going out with everyone to have fun. Would you like to join?" Asia asked.

"I'm sorry, but that will have to be next time. I'm still rather busy adjusting to things as they are now. But next time I'd be happy to join." Xenovia smiled but rejected the offer.

"Okay." Asia nodded, "I'll look forward to it."

"Say Ray-chan I forgot to invite you too, do you want to hang with us during the weekend?" Michael asked Raynare.

Raynare placed a finger on her chin as she smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry Michael-sama, but I have to say no as well, I'm rather busy this weekend as well."

"Really? Like what?"

"Oh…you know just some old business…" Raynare smiled nervously as she turned to look away from Michael and silently whispered with a sad/serious expression, "I hope it'll just be just business."

"Hm?" Michael blinked.

"Nothing, don't mind me just have fun, okay?" Raynare turned back and smiled.

"Well okay then I promise to invite you next time, alright?" Michael scratched his head then turned to the other club members while grinning.

***CLAP!***

Clapping her hands, Rias got everyone's attention,

"Now we've got a new member so let's go ahead and get the Occult Research Club ready to go."

"Hai, Buchou!" Everyone said with an energetic voice.

(3 days later)

"Let's grasp it~ Dragon ball~ !"

Singing the theme song of Dragon Ball were Matsuda and Motohama who were horribly off key but had fun just singing as Michael, Asia, Kiba, Kiryuu and even Saji were there also enjoying their day off in the Karaoke Bar. Michael actually had to do a little convincing with Sona to allow Saji to have the day off since she wouldn't allow him to play and mess around with the opposite sex from reason, under normal circumstances it wouldn't have worked but due to Michael saving the town and academy from Kokabiel's attack he was able to get a definite okay for the moment.

They all went out for bowling earlier but were kicked out in less than 2 hours well…not all of them were kicked out,

_(Flashback: 3 hours ago)_

_"No, back off!" Michael screamed as he was hefting a large trophy in his one good arm as he was surrounded by a group of the alley's employees. Everyone else_

_"Sir, we're going to have to ask you to give that back." One of the employees asked._

_"Why should I? I won this fair and square!" Michael cried._

_"Sir, that trophy is for someone who made the world record for 20 consecutive strikes in a row.'_

_"So I made 30 today so just label me, Michael Hanamura as the person who broke the record and let me walk away with the trophy!" Michael stepped back as the employees approached him._

_"Sir, we can't do that we need actual proof that you did it." The employees stepped after Michael who panicked._

_"No…Stop…Get back!" Michael whimpered as he was trapped in a corner._

_"Shouldn't we do something to help, Michael-kun?" Kiba asked Saji as he was about to roll his bowling ball down the alley._

_"Nah! He got himself into that mess and now he can get himself out of it." Saji shook his head as Matsuda and Motohama nodded in agreement._

_"Geez! Asia your boyfriend is really a trouble maker are you sure you're interested in hi-?" Kiryuu teased Asia until the blonde girl covered her mouth and cried._

_"Kiryuu-san, please stop!" Asia blushed._

_"Dammit, Michael why you!" Motohama cried in jealousy._

_"I hope you die horribly one day you, bastard!" Matsuda also cried in envy._

_'It's his fault for even getting himself into that mess by trying to pass off his supposed 30 strikes as an achievement. Also it's not an achievement if you kept using your magic on the ball each time.' Saji's eye twitched as he initiated his turn to roll down his bowling ball towards the bowling pins._

_"Look sir if you won't put back the trophy then we'll have to use force." The employee warned._

_"Try it ya, pushovers. I bet none of you can even stop me!" Michael grinned._

_"You brought this upon yourself, call her over!" The employee shouted._

_"Hah! "Her?" what so you're calling a girl what's she going to do harm me with her perfectly tipped long fingernails? Or even beat me up? Yeah I'd like to see that even happen. I'm even able to take on a girl with just one arm with my cast on! Heh, those girly pushovers can't beat me up!" Michael gloated._

_Suddenly walking right up in front of Michael was Koneko who was giving the boy a cold half eye lidded glare,_

_"…Baka-senpai is being stupid again…"_

_"Except her cause she's really scary and strong." Michael grew pale and squeaked._

_Koneko simply walked up to Michael and grabbed him by the ear with great strength._

_"Ow! Ow! I give! I give!" Michael cried._

_"…Drop it…now." Koneko said with a stern voice._

_"Okay, I will see!?" Michael dropped the trophy and raised his hands._

_"Thank you, Miss Toujo." The employees retrieved the trophy and walked away._

_"Okay, I gave them back the trophy now can I go?" Michael asked._

_"…No." Koneko shook her head._

_"Huh?" Michael blinked._

_"…Now Baka-senpai has to buy my snacks." Koneko said._

_"What, but I barely have any money left for me!" Michael whined._

_PULL!_

_Koneko put more strength in pulling Michael's ear as the teen cried,_

_"Fine! I'll do it. I'll buy you anything you want so please let go of me!" Michael waved his arms around and cried desperately, "I'll do anything for my favorite kouhai so please let go!"_

_Koneko looked away and quietly said to herself, "Favorite?"_

_"Yes! So please Koneko-chan let me go!" Michael cried as he grabbed the girl's hand and tried to pull himself out of her death grip._

_"…" Koneko agreed to this and released the pitiful boy's ear go as he would soon later pay for many snacks which soon emptied out his entire wallet._

_(Present)_

Kiba and Koneko were persuaded with a little effort as Michael had to actually force Kiba to come as the handsome teen was reluctant at first but went along with it. As for Koneko she denied all of his proposals until he brought up the topic of food being there to which caught her attention to join the group for karaoke.

While the Perverted Duo were singing, Asia was enjoying herself with just being with everyone while happily listening to them sing while Michael and Koneko were eating the pizza and ice cream diligently as both just focused on eating. Kiryuu was searching for a song herself as Kiba was drinking coffee elegantly. Oh and Saji was crying because…

"I can't believe I had to pay for the whole day…" Saji slumped down against his seat with a deadpanned expression.

"Hey, it was only fair since I invited you here." Michael said as he finished eating.

"So? You invited Kiba and Koneko as well why not make them pay too?" Saji growled.

"Because this is payback for that café incident you bastard!" Michael shouted.

"Hey look I already apologized what more do you want from me?" Saji groaned.

"Nothing you can do or say can ever make me forget what you did!" Michael growled with a dark tone then gasped, "Wow I have issues."

"Yes, yes you do." Saji nodded then smiled, "Well either way thanks for getting the Kaichou to let me have the day off."

"No prob bob." Michael said as he reached for some more pizza only to have it snatched away from Koneko sitting next to him.

"Hey that was mine!" Michael growled.

"…Too slow." Koneko commented.

"Why I outta!" Michael growled then sighed, "Fine, you can have it…"

"Well considering what you've done before I'm surprised if you can persuade the Kaichou like that anymore so good job." Saji smiled and whispered the last part while around Kiryuu and the Perverted Trio.

Michael seemed happy about the sudden praise but then envisioned the White Dragon Emperor, Albion in his head again before saying,

"Yeah…thanks." Michael frowned while smiling,  _'There's been something bugging me about this Albion person I met and it won't leave me alone…' Michael was internally troubled by his thoughts._

"What, no gloating this time?" Saji tilts his head.

"I'm sorry, I was thinking of something." Michael shook his head and grinned, "So let's talk about something else okay?"

"So where is Rias-senpai, Akeno-senpai and Raynare-san didn't they want to come?" Saji asked.

"Well Ray-chan was busy with something so she wouldn't come. And Buchou with Akeno-senpai said they didn't want to come because their busy shopping for swimsuits." Michael answered.

"Swimsuits? I know its summer but we're still in school before break so why now?"

"It may have to do with us cleaning the pool next week, Sona-senpai did give us permission to swim in it after we're done."

"Really, she did? Man, that sounds awesome you get to be in the pool with your Onee-san's while I'm stuck doing devil work or maintenance for the school." Saji showed a saddened/envious expression.

"Yeah I guess so but like you said before I was the one who did do something amazing so I guess the Great Hanamura will get more fun things to do while you get stuck doing boring things! Hehehe!" Michael laughed.

"And there it is…man I should remind myself never to praise you again." Saji groaned.

"And remind me to always take every chance I get when you're so stupid to do it anyways." Michael chuckled and reached out for a slice of pizza only to touch Saji's hand who was trying to get it also in the process.

"Oh you do not want to do this." Michael gave a challenging smirk.

"Try me, bitch." Saji smirked as both boy clenched their fists.

"M-Michael-san? Saji-san?" Asia panicked as both boy's raised their fists.

"It seems it has begun." Kiba said as he sipped his coffee.

Watching this unfold Koneko nodded.

"You bastard that pizza belongs to me!" Michael roared.

"I don't see your name on it idiot!" Saji roared as both of them shot their fists forward.

"No please stop violence isn't needed!" Asia shook her head and had teary eyes.

But there was no need for her to be worried as both boys simply pulled back their fists and chanted,

"Rock, Paper, Scissors! Shoot!"

Both boys pulled out scissors.

"Damn a tie." Michael bit his thumb.

"Then let's go again." Saji said.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors! Shoot!"

Both used Rock.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors! Shoot!"

Both used Paper.

"Uh…never mind then." Asia blinked and confused at how the sudden intensity they both set off was suddenly gone as she watched the game continue.

(At the clothing store)

Looking through a variety of swimsuits were Rias and Akeno who were careful in choosing the type Michael will really like.

"I wonder which one Michael will like?" Rias smiled then turned to Akeno, "What do you think, Akeno?"

"I wonder." Akeno pulled out a purple string bikini and smiled to herself.

Looking rather surprised Rias said, "That's a rather vague answer don't you think?"

_'Michael-kun seems to be the type to like this swimsuit.' Akeno thought as she couldn't wait herself to show it to Michael himself and see his reaction._

Looking concerned Rias said, "Hey, you've been acting kind of strange since the recent battle are you okay?"

"Ara ara, I'm fine Rias it's just all a part of your imagination." Akeno giggled.

"A-Alright then." Rias blinked.

In the changing rooms Rias and Akeno changed into their swimsuits as both Onee-sans gained an idea as Rias mischievously smiled while flipping back her hair, "I wonder how Michael would react if I send him a selfie?"

"Ufufu." Akeno crossed her arms under her chest and thought,  _'Me too.'_

(Back in the Karaoke Bar)

The perilous Rock, Paper, Scissors battle has been decided and the winner you've all been waiting for was…Michael! Who won and earned the pizza in the end but sadly he didn't get to eat pizza because Koneko took it while he was busy rubbing his victory in Saji's face.

Sitting down in a slump were Michael and Saji who were still forced to listen to Matsuda and Motohama's singing. Seriouslly how long can they sing before they crack their voices!?

Michael turned to Asia and said,

"Hey Asia why don't you go next and sing a song I'm interested to know how you sound it probably sounds a lot more better than these two."

"Y-You are? Well if you want me to sing then allow me to recite some prayer hymns." Asia blushed.

Michael sighed as he embraced himself for the pain from the "prayer" hymns,  _'Should have seen this coming.'_

***Beep!* *Beep!***

"Hey a text from Buchou speak of the…devil WINK!" Michael made a pun as Saji, Koneko and Kiba shook their heads as Asia gave a bitter smile.

"You suck."

"…Terrible pun."

"It could've been better."

Saji, Koneko and Kiba gave their hurtful but true input about the joke.

"Can't I ever get at least one from you guys?" Michael sulked and pouted.

"It's fine Michael-san I-I thought it was f-funny." Asia rubbed the teen's back and gave a sad smile,  _'Oh, Lor-guh! Please forgive me for lying to Michael-san.'_

"Thanks Asia you're the best." Michael sighed and went back to look at his phone's new text message as Asia took this chance to shake her head at the terrible joke then simply goes back to rub Michael's back.

Hearing his phone receive a text message, Michael pulled it out of his pocket to see it was from Rias, The message read,

[Currently picking a swimsuit. I'll choose one that you'll love.]

_'Huh…Wonder what that could mean…Oh my Lucifer!'_

_Michael lifted up his glass of juice and took one gulp before pressing the insert photos with it as he saw something really surprising! It was a photo of Rias wearing a white string bikini while doing a erotic pose but that wasn't all as a photo from Akeno was present as well as she was wearing a purple string bikini which revealed more skin._

_'This is too much!' Michael's eyes widened as he stopped breathing at the sight but he will realize he will soon regret that,_

"Hmmmprh!" Michael's mouthful of juice got caught in his throat causing him to cough as his face was red as he started coughing uncontrollably.

"Michael-kun are you okay?" Kiba asked as he patted Michael's back.

"*Cough!* No! *Cough!* No I'm not *Cough!* *Cough!*!" Michael coughed and shook his head as his face remained red.

"…Michael-senpai had perverted images in his head didn't he?" Koneko said with an irritated tone as her stare towards him was filled with neutrality.

Looking to his left he saw a teary eyed Asia looking at him, "Was it Buchou?"

"No, that's not *Cough!* it you guys I'm*Cough!* innocent *Cough!* I swear!" Michael coughed and stood up.

"If so? Then why do I sense the size of your crotch growing then?" Kiryuu adjusted her glasses to measure Michael's manhood.

"Screw you, Kiryuu *Cough!* that isn't it *Cough!*"

"Screw me you say? Sorry, but today I'm actually a little tired why not ask another time? I'd be glad to accept." Kiryuu teased.

"W-What *Cough!* the hell!?" Michael coughed as he grew teary eyed, "Forget this! Air! *Cough!* I need *Cough!* Air!" Michael rushed out the room and headed towards the bathroom.

(5 minutes later…)

"Man, I thought I'd never stop coughing…" Michael sighed and walked back towards the room where everyone was until he stops to see Kiba sitting just outside of it.

"Oi, why are you here?" Michael asked.

"Michael-kun are you better now?" Kiba asked in concern.

"Of course I am, something that weak can't take the Great Hanamura down, bet on it." Michael grinned and leaned on the wall next to Kiba's chair,

"But enough about me why are you out here Pretty Boy?" Michael asked.

Looking straight forward with a straight face Kiba said, "Michael-kun I want to thank you for what you did for me up till now since I haven't had the chance. So thank you."

Michael looked at Kiba with a serious face then looked off to the side and said, "You bastard I don't need your thanks."

Kiba looked at Michael in confusion as the teen continued,

"You may have already been forgiven by Buchou and everyone else but you still don't have sympathy from me yet." Michael said as he could feel Kiba growing a frown,

"But that could change if you promise me one thing." Michael grinned.

"What is it?"

"Promise you won't betray your comrades anymore for something selfish, I want a truthful promise from the Knight of Rias Gremory himself or I'll never accept your thanks or apologies again." Michael looked down at Kiba and smiled.

Nodding with a truthful glint in his eyes, Kiba stood up and said, "Yes, I as the Knight of Rias Gremory promise to never abandon his comrades again."

Michael smiled at Kiba then scratched his head and said, "Good, but you do know what this promise will mean right?" Michael stood up and gave a thumbs up, "It means you can't make the same mistake and if you do then the Great Hanamura wil kick your ass 'til you remember got it?"

Kiba nodded, "Right."

"Good." Michael grinned.

***Beep!* Beep!***

"What is it now?" Michael groaned and picked up his phone to see a text message from someone familiar, "Really right now and on my day off too…"

"You got a text from a client?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah, it's some perverted Old Man I used to know no biggie." Michael sighed and put away his phone.

"It must be rough to have a job on the weekend." Kiba said.

"It may sound like a hassle but honestly I'm kind of happy to go this time." Michael put away his phone and began walking down the hall, "Well see you later and tell everyone that I had something special to do for me okay pal?"

"Alright." Kiba nodded as he looked at Michael leaving only to call out, "Hey Michael-kun?"

"Yeah?" Michael folded his arms and looked back.

"We're best friends now, right?" Kiba asked remembering the trident haired boy call him that during the battle with Kokabiel.

"Well you're placed in rank 3 of my Best Friends list." Michael said.

"Y-You have ranks?" Kiba was surprised by that.

"Of course and the one before you is Saji of course." Michael explained.

"Really, so he is in first place." Kiba asked.

"Well…maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it though." Michael shrugged then began to leave, "Well see you."

"Right." Kiba nodded in thought, "So I'm in third place so that must mean I have to raise myself in the ranks to become Michael-kun's highly ranked best friend."

***Gacha!***

"Good Maou their singing sucks!" Saji rushed out the room as the singing voices of Matsuda and Motohama were reaching a painful pitch as their spirit to sing just grew bigger.

"Saji-kun?" Kiba looked over to Saji who waved,

"Yo, what's been going on and where is Mike?" Saji asked.

"Nothing, and Michael-kun had to leave because of some devil business." Kiba explained.

"On the weekend too man that must suck but better him than me." Saji shrugged then turned to enter the room, "Well I wish him the best of luck."

Clasping his hand onto his shoulder Kiba said, "Saji-kun."

Looking back Saji said, "Yeah, what is it?"

"You may be ahead of me today, but soon I'll surpass you." Kiba smiled with a hint of a challenge in them.

"What are you talking about?" Saji raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, it's nothing but just remember this." Kiba's hand grew tighter on Saji's shoulder,

"I WILL bury you, understood."

"…!" Saji's face turned pale as he thought,  _'Holy crap! What just happened?' Saji then gritted his teeth and growled, 'Damn it, it must have been you Michael you probably caused this to happen you, bastard!'_

(In the park)

Sitting on table benches were both Michael and the Ero-Ossan who were portable games together since the client didn't have anyone to play with. Michael was annoyed because that was the reason he was called but he still went along with it because the guy was one of his regular clients as they would play video games, go out to fish or the guy would even send Michael out to get him groceries.

"Hehe! Interesting seems to me that your quite good at this game." Ero-Ossan laughed loudly as his character was winning against Michael's, "But you're still not match enough for me."

"Shut your face I can still win!" Michael growled as he kept mashing buttons to try and gain the advantage but with no luck as his character was trying to keep up with his opponents but proved to be no use as Ero-Ossan's fighter was moving in hyper speed effectively dishing out powerful attacks as Michael's fighter was suddenly defeated without giving so much as a single point of damage as the letters "K.O" was placed on the screen.

"You were saying?" Ero-Ossan chuckled.

"Grrrr! That's it another round this time I'll beat you for sure!" Michael stood up and pointed at the man with a furious face.

"Again? But we've played for about 15 times and you still haven't gotten closer to my skill yet."

"I don't care, I have to win no matter how long it takes so get your game system ready because this time I'll make my scoring rate 1-15!" Michael shouted, "We'll do this all day if we have to until I win!"

"Whoa! Whoa! All day? I don't think I have that kind of time to spend that long with you kid so here." Ero-Ossan pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Michael.

"Huh, what the heck is this?" Michael looked at the sheet and saw many specific button instructions for the game he just played as a huge title above said CHEAT CODES.

"What!? You used cheats!?" Michael threw down the paper and growled at the man.

"Of course I did, how do you expect me to learn how to master a game I just recently bought." Ero-Ossan shrugged as his words hold truth in them.

"But that's not fair!" Michael cried.

"It may not be fair, but it was your fault for not noticing it from the start. I say your simple thick headed skull forced you to just focus on winning than focus on your opponent." Ero-Ossan crossed his arms in the sleeves of his yukata.

"Dammit, I should have known better not to play with a cheater." Michael twitched in anger as an angry tick mark was placed upon his clenched fist.

Catching sight of Michael's cast Ero-Ossan said, "

"Say brat what's with your arm did you fall down the stairs or something?"

"Huh, you mean this no it's nothing to worry about I just was busy and got this through an accident is all." Michael chuckled nervously and rubbed his cast.

"You were busy huh?" Ero-Ossan said suspiciously.

"Yeah, of course I was, so you shouldn't worry." Michael scratched his head as some sweat beaded from his face.

Turning away while smirking Ero-Ossan laughed,

"Like I would worry over a brat like you, you're too hard to be put down kind of like a cockroach. In fact, you're so much like a pest that I should worry about myself for once since you keep bringing trouble wherever you go."

"I can't tell if you're being nice or being an asshole." Michael growled.

"I'll leave up to you to see how you will take it but enough about that let's take a walk around this place." Ero-Ossan stood up and walked ahead.

"Oi, wait a walk but I still haven't beaten you at this game yet!" Michael ran after the man.

"Don't worry we'll play again later so come on." Ero-Ossan gestured a wave to follow him as Michael begrudgingly agreed. Taking a stroll down the park both Michael and Ero-Ossan had a peaceful walk as they both had a one sided argument the whole time as Michael would be the one losing while the Ero-Ossan would somehow win in the end. Michael however frustrated but strangely happy to talk to someone older than him that he once knew before.

Strangely the entire park was empty since there were no traces of anyone even in the area but for some reason Michael didn't focus on that as he simply followed the Ero-Ossan through the park.

"Yo, why are we walking?" Michael asked.

"Huh, you mean you don't remember this area?" Ero-Ossan questioned with a surprised look.

"Remember?" Michael asked.

"Hmmm…I guess you have to wait and see then."

"See what I don't understand what you're talking about." Michael raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly the Ero-Ossan laughed much to Michael's annoyance as he started to lead Michael to a nearby playground.

"Huh? Is this it?" Michael raised an eyebrow.

"Well not exactly do remember that place?" Ero-Ossan pointed towards the monkey bars.

"Actually, I don't why?" Michael squinted his eyes then started to remember something important,  _'Wait a minute this place does seem familiar!'_

"*Sigh!* And here I thought you'd remember of one of the first stupid things you've done to yourself here." Ero-Ossan sighed in disappointment but the looks up to see Michael walking towards the monkey bars.

"It may seem weird that I suddenly remembered but I somehow do because this was the place I first met you right?" Michael scratched his head in confusion.

Ero-Ossan nodded and smiled, "Bingo."

"Yeah, it's all coming back to me now." Michael touched the side of the monkey bars and started to remember the occurrence which took place here.

_(Flashback)_

_6 years ago, in the same park there stood a small crowd of children standing around the monkey bars as they looked up to see a young 11 year old Michael standing on top of it with his arms crossed._

_"Hahahahaha! Welcome and behold for it is I, The Amazing Michael here to show you all something amazing!" Michael laughed giddily as he received all of the children's attention._

_"Yeah, like what!?" One of the kid's rudely shouted._

_"Well my friend watch as I hang from upside down these monkey bars and land while doing a front flip to amaze you." Michael laughed as he began to sit on the side of the monkey bars as the crowd below looked up at the boy with half lidded eyes uninterested._

_"Liar! You can't do that!"_

_"Yeah, you'll just fall!"_

_"You're not amazing just get off the monkey bars you faker!"_

_"Hey, I am not a faker!" Michael screamed._

_"Faker! Faker! Faker! Faker! Faker!"_

_The negative comments and chants from the children angered Michael as he lost his cool and began to wave his arms around in frustration as he slowly loses balance and falls forward,_

_"You guys just watch, I'll prove that I'm great right no-whoa!"_

**_*SMACK!*_ **

_Landing on the hard cement below Michael trembled in pain and sadly cried, "O-Ouch."_

_"See, told you he wouldn't do it."_

_"Yeah, let's get out of here."_

_The children then scattered as they left a struggling Michael alone as he picks his now bleeding forehead up to see the leaving children._

_"Darn it…" Michael weakly said as he lowered his in defeat as his lip quivered, "I'm not a Faker…"_

_From afar watched a man with_ _black hair with golden bangs as he wore a black suit._

_Later that evening, Michael was seen sitting on the benches looking down depressed as his bleeding forehead was never taken care of since he didn't know how to apply bandages or medicine himself._

_Suddenly the cry of a nearby little girl were heard as Michael looks to the side to see that the girl tripped while running and is now being treated by her mother quickly._

_"Don't worry dear, I'll take care of that right away." The mother gave her daughter a comforting smile_

_"T-Thank you *Sniff!* M-Mommy…" The little girl sniveled._

_Looking back down, Michael simply sighed but picked his head up as a shadow loomed over him as he sees the man who was watching him from earlier smile at him._

_"Hey, kid, mind if I sit here?" the man asked._

_"No, not at all." Michael shook his head._

_"Well that's good because I was going to do so either way." The man sat down next to Michael who showed an annoyed expression._

_'If you were going to do that anyways then why ask me?' Michael grinded his teeth._

_"I saw what you did back there kid." The man looked at Michael with a smirk._

_Michael sighed, "You did?"_

_"Yep, and I have to say what you did was pretty stupid for a regular person, hell maybe even reckless." The man crossed his arms._

_"…" Michael simply blinked and suddenly stood up to walk away._

_"Hey, wait I didn't come here to put you down all I wanted to do was talk to you." The man said._

_"You do?" Michael turned back rather curious as to why an adult stranger wanted to talk to him._

_"Of course." The man nodded._

_"But I don't know you and my teacher always says that adults you met that aren't your parents usually are dangerous and you should call out Stranger Danger whenever one approaches you." Michael looked away._

_"Yeah, but wouldn't that mean you'd be calling more strangers to help you, sounds kind of redundant if you ask me?" Ero-Ossan quipped._

_"Hm? I guess…" Michael rubbed his chin in thought, "But my teacher said it will help thought but you said it was bad while she says it's good for emergencies…" Suddenly steam came out of Michael's ears as he cried, "Gah! My brain hurts!"_

_Laughing at Michael's antics the Ero-Ossan gave an amused smile,_

_"Hahahahaha! You sure are a weird one kid!"_

_"Hey watch who your calling weird I'm the Amazing Michael and if you continue to call me names then I'll mess you up!" Michael growled._

_"Amazing Michael, huh?" Ero-Ossan said seriously then laughed, "Nah! I'll just call you runt, kid."_

_"Runt!?" Michael screamed in anger._

_Standing up Ero-Ossan placed his hands in his pocket and said, "Well of course you were rejected by that group of kids earlier so I guess runt is a good name on ya."_

_"Grr! Shut up, I am not a runt!" Michael shouted._

_"Pfft! Yeah, whatever you say kid." Ero-Ossan shrugged then approached Michael and patted the boy's head._

_Michael was shocked by this but simply looked away while trying to play it off that he didn't enjoy the head pat, since it was the first one anyone has ever given him._

_"Now let's see about getting that head of yours taken care of." The man pulled out a roll of bandages._

_Michael looked up at the man and gasped, "You're going to help me?"_

_"Of course I am because if you don't get it fixed then you're brain will fall out, brat." The man joked._

_Suddenly hearing this Michael's face turned pale as he cried and panicked, "Waaaaaaaaaaah! I don't want my brain to fall out!"_

_Laughing to this the man said, "Ahahahaha! You're such a gullible, runt!"_

(Present)

"This is the place where I first met you after you bandaged my forehead." Michael scratched his head.

"It seems you do remember I guess your thick empty skull was able to remember anyways." Ero-Ossan laughed.

Michael grinded his teeth and thought,  _'Can't he just stop making fun of me every second?'_

Michael turns around to look at the Monkey Bars and smiled,

"But anyways this park was kind of a place where I first met you and from there you also showed me to that asshole." Michael folded his arms behind his head, "But man that was a long time ago."

Ero-Ossan smirked,

"Yeah, and a lot has happened since then since the once Amazing Runt is now the Great Devil-kun or should I say Red Dragon Emperor?"

"…!" Michael's eyes widened.

… A moment of silence filled the atmosphere.

"What did you say?" Michael slowly turned around.

"What's wrong? I mean I didn't mess up your name right or do you prefer to be called the Sekiryuutei instead, they're both the same, but I guess since your Japanese I can-"

"That's not what I mean; I want to know how you know about that." Michael asked suspiciously of the man.

"Well it's not that hard to tell since I've pretty much known of your Sacred Gear since the beginning. Also your little "accident" you had before was no surprise for me since I know you can barely use that Dragon's power without inflicting pain upon yourself but I guess an arm is fair to give away especially since you had an opponent such as Kokabiel." Ero-Ossan explained.

"Kokabiel? Wait, you know him how?" Michael was still confused by the man's way of talking.

"Because..."

Unfurling from behind his back were a total of 12 jet black angel wings,

"As Governor of the Grigori I, Azazel should know all of the actions my subordinates do or else I can't be called governor now can I?"

"Governor!?" Michael's eyes widened,  _'So the Ero-Ossan is actually the boss of the Fallen Angels what the hell?'_

**_[Remember what I said before strong forces can come from people you may already know.] Ddraig reminded._ **

_'Crap you actually were right.' Michael clenched his fist._

"I just wanted to walk around here and thank you for taking care of Kokabiel for me." Azazel began and said, "I knew Kokabiel was plotting something behind my back so I came back to this town to keep a close eye on him, also I came back to see your Boosted Gear as well to find out if it has gone through any special changes while I was absent."

"Changes?" Michael looked at his right arm and remembered,  _'Oh yeah, that douchebag, Kokabiel said something about the governor having an interest in sacred gears.'_

"It seems you were able to handle the job of taking care of Kokabiel himself, I guess giving the job to Vali and Raymond to act when things got too hairy was a little miscalculation considering you're the new Red Dragon Emperor who can now achieve Balance Breaker." Azazel commented.

_'Wait, he knows about my Balance Breaker too how and…did he just say Vali?' Michael's eyes widened._

"I couldn't get directly involved in this issue so I had those two take care of things but seeing as to how you were handling Kokabiel I'd say they were left with cleaning up after you."

"Hold on a minute, Ero-Ossan, did you just say Vali?" Michael looked serious.

"Hey, I introduced my name to Azazel so you can quit it with the "Ero-Ossan" nickname." Azazel scratched his head.

"I need you to answer me Ero-Ossan, I'm being serious." Michael growled.

Looking at Michael, Azazel said with a confused expression,

"Of course, why didn't you know it was him?"

"Know who was him I never saw that bastard's face after the battle with Kokabiel."

"Really you didn't see his face or hear him use his name? Well I guess he does have a habit of hiding his true identity while using his dragon's name." Azazel rubbed his chin.

"His dragon's name what the?" Michael sweated then gasped, "Wait a minute so you mean…!"

Suddenly the image of Albion popped up in his mind.

_'That bastard, Vali, was the one wearing the Divine Dividing Sacred Gear?' Michael gulped._

"It seems those gears in your head are finally grinding." Azazel laughed.

"Getting Raymond to accept the job was rather easy as the ordeal involved his little sister while Vali was strangely accepting about the matter in the first place. In my mind I thought that guy would just settle things right then and there and defeat Kokabiel but instead he actually followed directions and watched your fight closely." Azazel rubbed his goatee.

"You're not screwing with me are you? Because if you are then I'll mess you up…" Michael clenched his fist.

"Of course, I'm not and you know that too." Azazel pointed at Michael and smiled.

_'He's right the way that guy spoke down on me and called me a loser are all familiar now and to think that bastard, Vali is the White Dragon Emperor, this may sound cheesy but could this be fate?'_

**_[If so then it means you two who are destined to fight must also be a part of that fate as well.]_ **

_'Yeah, I guess so…'_

Michael grabbed his goggles and laughed to himself.

"Is something funny?" Azazel asked as he sees a trembling Michael.

"No, that's not it, I'm just really excited now." Michael chuckled as his eyes were full of rising fire as an image of one boy passing the goggles Michael now wore to another popped up into his mind.

"Hm?" Azazel raised an eyebrow as Michael pulled off his goggles.

"Because now I can finally settle the score with Vali and prove that I truly am Great." Michael grinned and stared at his goggles intently, "Since this just made the playing field fairer now since we are now  **Eternal Rivals**!"

* * *

**Next Chapter- Poolside Fun and Mating Call Runs! The opposing sides of Red and White reunite to finally settle things!**


	21. Poolside Fun and Mating Call Runs! The opposing sides of Red and White reunite to finally settle things!

**Poolside Fun and Mating Call Runs! The opposing sides of Red and White reunite to finally settle things!**

* * *

After the sudden reveal of Michael's old caretaker to be the Fallen Angel's Main leader, Azazel, Michael returned back to everyone in the club the next day to report on their meeting and how they knew each other. Being comforted by Rias he was given a lap pillow to comfort him as this both comforted him and helped him think but as for her…

"This is unforgivable!" Rias exclaimed with anger, "For the Governor-general of the Fallen Angels to infiltrate my territory and interfere with my business and to top it all off he makes advances towards my adorable Michael. He deserves a thousand deaths!"

"Its fine, Buchou, he didn't really do anything to hurt me." Michael looked up with a smile, "The Ero-Ossan may do some pranks here and there but he wouldn't do anything to start any real trouble."

"But Michael are you sure, he's an entrepreneur with Sacred Gears and might want to possess your Boosted Gear." Rias looked at Michael with worry.

"No, its fine he really doesn't seem that interested in it." Michael looked at his right arm.

"I still can't believe that you met with the Governor-General of Fallen Angels." Kiba said with a astonished face.

"I know me too but after knowing it was the Ero-Ossan, I somehow got disappointed that the fearsome Fallen Angel Leader was just some perverted old guy ya know." Michael sighed with a smile.

"But for you to know Azazel-sama since you were a kid... That was really surprising." Raynare who was trying to push back her jealously of seeing Michael lying on Rias' lap commented.

"Meh! It's not that great I mean I knew the guy for almost 2 years and I never seen anything amazing from him. He only played bad pranks and cheated at games to um...which I beat him at every time…" Michael sweats after saying those last words.

**_[It's not good to lie it will only come back to bite you in the ass.]_ **

_'_ _Quiet you, I don't tell you how to live your life!'_

**_[I'm not alive.]_ **

_'_ _I know.'_

**_[…I walked into that one didn't I?]_ **

_'_ _Yeah, you sure did.'_

**_[Shouldn't you be asking your master about the extra information the Governor-General said.]_ **

_'_ _Oh yeah, I do have to ask that don't I?' Michael thought._

"Um…Buchou?" Michael looked up, "Yesterday the Ero-Ossan told me about something involving a meeting with the three faction leaders in town is it true?"

"!?" Everyone in the room was shocked at hearing that information, everyone except for Rias.

"Yes, I received information about it earlier, too. All the leaders are meeting to discuss what will happen in the future." Rias explained.

"It must pertain to the battle with Kokabiel." Xenovia said, "It seems to have affected the relationship between devils, angels, and fallen angels."

"If all three leaders meet in this town then the situation will only further to get complicated." Rias sighed, "I wonder if I should trust your words, Michael."

"About what?" Michael asked.

"Azazel." Rias said.

Michael turned his head up towards Rias and grinned, "Its fine, Buchou, when it comes to trusting my gut the Great Hanamura greatly excels in it!"

Smiling Rias pats Michael's head and said, "I guess I can believe that but remember no matter what happens I will definitely protect you."

"T-Thank you, Buchou I appreciate it."

_'_ _But wait isn't that what a guy is supposed to say to a girl?'_

Michael blushed and enjoyed being patted instead of being hit for once. But the latter may happen if not for the dangerous auras arising from Raynare and Asia who stared at him with teary eyes.

"Michael-kun." Walking up and putting on a passionate face was now Kiba who said, "I too will protect you."

"Wait, what the hell did you say?" Michael exclaimed and sat up with urgency much to Rias' disappointment.

"I'm saying that I will protect you." Kiba repeated.

"I know you said that, but it's the way you said it though…why?" Michael's face was contorted in confusion, he knew Kiba acted strange after the Kokabiel event but now it's gotten to the point to where the change is hard to miss.

"Isn't it obvious that I say something like that? It's because you saved me and that your my precious comrade. If I can't save a comrade from danger then I can't call myself a Knight of the Gremory household now can I?"

"I know, but what your saying isn't natural!" Michael's face turned pale as Kiba's tone turned more passionate by the second,  _'This shouldn't be said to another dude but to a girl, man!'_

"But if there were a crisis to ever come our way we needn't worry since both our sacred gears attained Balance Breaker, if we combine the two then there would be nothing we couldn't handle …Fufu, I never knew I was the type to say such things before. After coming back to you all, my view towards my comrades have changed. I can't tell why but this sensation feels good…it's so good that it's making my chest hot." Kiba placed a hand on his chest and warmly smiled.

"Okay Pretty Boy, I'm gonna need you to stay about 10 feet away from me." Michael shook his head then started to leave the room.

"But Michael-kun I-" Kiba tried to grab Michael's shoulder but the teen reflexively swerved around the man and cried, "Don't touch me!"

"B-But Michael-kun.." Kiba looked at Michael with the puppy dog eyes but what crept Michael out the most about it was that he was actually pulling it off!

"No leave me alone you're freaking me out just don't come near me!" Michael cried and covered his ears.

"N-No way, Michael-kun…" Kiba still persisted and took a step forward after Michael.

"I said stop dammit!" Michael shouted while running out of the clubroom.

"Well that escalated more than it should." Raynare sweatdropped.

"Oh, Raynare-san how was your day off yesterday?" Asia asked.

"Oh, me? Well you know I was just busy showing a foreigner around is all." Raynare's tone was nervous.

"You were helping someone?" Asia tilts her head.

"Y-Yeah…" Raynare nodded.

"That's so wonderfully nice of you Raynare-san."

"Really, it was nothing to be so happy about…" Raynare sighed then said to herself, "It was basicaly torture for me the whole day…"

"Um…did you say something?" Asia asked.

"N-No, it was nothing you should worry about." Raynare shook her head frantically as Asia tilts her head in confusion.

(The next day)

Walking to school together Michael, Rias, Raynare and Asia pass by an apartment to be met by a smiling Xenovia who began walking with them,

"Morning."

"Good Morning, Xenovia-san." Asia greeted.

"Good Morning." Raynare waved.

"Morning, Xenovia." Rias greeted

"Morning! How have you been since moving into the country?" Michael asked.

"Fine, the apartment that Buchou prepared for me is easy to live in."

"There shouldn't be any trouble for her since the building is supported by devils so it's pretty safe for her to live here." Rias explained.

En route to school a conversation between Asia, Xenovia and Raynare commenced behind Michael and Rias.

"Were you two able to finish last night's homework?" Xenovia asked.

"Sure it was pretty much easy when we did it together." Raynare answered.

"What about you, Xenovia-san?" Asia asked.

"Well, my knowledge on the things in Japan are very limited. Would you mind tutoring me about them later?"

"Of course, leave it to me, but I might need some help from Raynare-san because she can write her Kanji real good compared to mine." Asia compliment caused Raynare to fluster and wave her hand back and forth,

"N-No, Asia-san you shouldn't count yourself out just yet your still improving and it takes time." Raynare being the one with ability to assist others with homework while Michael lazes around ignoring sees how easily Asia is progressing with her studies ever since she started school as Asia was doing way better than once she joined the academy as a new face.

"Amazing Raynare, your able to jot down everything so fast and you are a foreigner like us no less." Xenovia's eyes widened.

"Oh no, it was nothing I just was able to learn things steadily about the country before coming here." Raynare giggled.

"I still find that rather incredible, but trying to learn how to use these complex characters are what pique my interest about Japan's major economic power." Xenovia rubbed her chin then smiled, 'This must be the Lord's Guidance telling me to keep trying."

"Yes." Asia nods excitedly, "It must be his guidance."

Clasping their hands in a prayer position both Asia and Xenovia prayed, "Ame-Ow!"

"A-Are you two okay, hehe..."

The two received damage from the prayer as Raynare gave a bitter smile at the two girl's antics.

"Gah! Even I felt that!" Michael felt a sharp pain go through his head, "What the hell are you two doing back there!?"

"Sorry." Both girls apologized while holding their heads in pain.

"Man, seriously you guys should at least tray and warn a guy when you start praying like that…" Michael groaned.

"Well then, you all. It will be the opening of the restricted use pool." Rias giggled in a low voice.

"Sweet! Now I can show everyone my awesome swimming skills!" Michael laughed excitedly to himself.

"Hey, Michael?" Rias called.

"Yes, Buchou?" Michael blinked.

"Have you chosen your swimsuit, yet?" Rias asked.

"Yeah, why?" Michael asked.

"Oh nothing, I just can't wait to see you in yours is all, but…" Rias walked closer to Michael and whispered into his ear teasingly, "I'm really excited to show you how I look in mine so make sure you get to see me in my swimsuit once we're done with the pool okay?"

"Huh?!" Michael's eyes bulged out his head as his face went red as he remembered the swimsuit picture Rias sent him along with Akeno's too.

Laughing to herself, Rias walks ahead of the well teased boy who continued to look down at the ground.

_'_ _Buchou wants me to see her in her swimsuit? That sounds great because I really wanted to see her wearing one in person since she sent me the photo that I made my new Wallpaper might I add.' Michael gulped, 'But for some reason I can't help but feel a little too excited about it…'_

PUUUULLL!

From both sides of Michael's face his cheeks were being pulled by Raynare and Asia who had closed eyes and stern faces on.

"Michael-sama it's not good to daydream of such things."

"Yes, Michael-san its unhealthy."

"Okay! Okay! I understand so please let me go!" Michael comically cried.

(In Kuoh Academy)

Near the old Pool were the entire club and Raynare looking down at the pool which turned to a dark shade of green as many leaves and other unidentified objects filled the surface and probably the bottom as well.

"Ew! This thing is really filthy!" Michael said disgustedly as he kneels near the pool's edge.

"Ufufu. It hasn't been used since last year." Akeno explained.

"I can't believe we have to clean all this up." Michael sighed.

"Why does the Occult Research Club have to clean the pool again?" Xenovia asked.

"It's actually the Student council's job but as thanks for helping us with Kokabiel I decided to help them with this task. In return we can have the pools all to ourselves after we finish." Rias said.

"That seems like a fair trade." Kiba said.

"Of course, it is we get to be the first ones to swim in the pool before anyone else!" Michael chuckled excitedly stands up with a grin.

"In the name of the Occult Research Club let's surprise the student council with how clean the pool is!" Rias said with an encouraging tone as everyone nodded,

"Yes ma'am!"

In the male changing rooms were Michael and Kiba changing into their jerseys to clean the pool as they placed their swimsuits into their lockers.

"I can't wait until we get to swim!" Michael chuckled.

"Me too, but what about your cast are you sure you can swim with it on?" Kiba asked.

"Oh this? Well don't worry because I got a waterproof cover to go on top of i-Argh!" Michael fell on his knee as a sudden strong pulse went through his right arm.

"Michael-kun!" Kiba rushed over to Michael's side.

"Crap, not this again." Michael looked at his dragon arm back to its original shape.

"Don't worry, I'll get Buchou and Akeno-san as quickly as possible." Kiba rushed out the changing room leaving a wincing Michael to sit on one of the benches and look at his dragon arm in confusion.

"How did this happen I thought senpai sucked out all the power from it?"

**[Remember what I said about staying cautious of Strong Powers?]**

"Ddraig? Well yeah…" Michael trailed off.

**[By coming in contact with the Governor-General your power will react to the point where occurrences like this won't be a surprise. Power calls Power.]**

"Hey Ddraig, was it also because of Vali too?" Michael asked.

**[Yes, but what pushed your dragon power to resurface now was your meeting with the Fallen Angel Boss, Azazel.]**

"So the Ero-Ossan and Vali caused this, huh?" Michael looked at his dragon hand and opened and closed it,

"Ddraig there's something that's been bothering me."

**[What is it?]**

"When Vali showed up during the battle with Kokabiel, you and Albion were talking like you met each other before." Michael said.

**[Well of course you moron we have been destined to fight for many generations through our hosts what would you expect.]**

"No, that's not it what I mean is that you sounded like you two saw each other recently not too long ago while I was still alive." Michael said.

**[... …]**

"And I've been trying to wrack my brains over the possibility that you two were talking about your past hosts, but that wasn't the case because Albion said something about you reawakening? But you were awakened when I fought Dohnaseek…" Michael scratched his head in pain, "Man, all of this thinking is starting to get to me, sorry if I'm getting a little talkative it must be pissing you off."

**[Kukukuku…] Ddraig lightly chuckled.**

"Huh, what's so funny?" Michael asked.

**[It seems you really have been thinking a lot lately haven't you?]**

"Yeah, why is it obvious?" Michael questioned.

**[It's not hard to tell because you've been in a rather different mood ever since that fight. But to think you were thinking of this I'm greatly impressed maybe you're not such a weak minded host after all.]**

_'_ _Okay, now he's starting to piss me off!' Michael grew an angry tick on his forehead._

"So did you guys meet each other when I was alive or not?" Michael exhaled in annoyance.

**[That is a question I will answer as soon as you're alone…]**

_'_ "Alone? I'm alone right now why not just say it?"

***GACHA!***

Entering the room were Rias and Akeno quickly followed by Kiba.

"Michael, are you okay?" Rias rushed over to the teen with a look of worry on her face.

_**[Later, Partner.] Ddraig cuts off the conversation's connection.** _

_'_ _Dammit…fine.' Michael sighed as Rias was quick to inspect his arm._

"Don't worry, Buchou it's just my arm going all dragon again." Michael chuckled.

"Then it can't be helped." Rias stood up and crossed her arms, "Have Akeno suck the dragon power out from your arm."

Hearing this Michael's cheeks immediately turned red as he remembered his last session with his senpai, "R-Really? You're okay with it?"

Stepping forward, Akeno smiled, "Of course, if it's for my dear underclassman. Ufufufu.."

"Then we'll go ahead and start cleaning the pool just focus on returning your arm back to normal." Rias said.

"I'm sorry for this suddenly happening. Thank you, Akeno-senpai." Michael smiled gratefully.

"Ufufufufu…" Akeno let out another laugh much to Rias' suspicion.

_'_ _Something doesn't seem right.' Rias frowned at this as she and Kiba left the changing room._

"Now shall we begin?" Akeno kneels down in front of Michael.

"R-Right." Michael gulped and nervously stuck out his right hand rather quickly.

"Ara ara, Michael-kun you seem to be really eager about this." Akeno pulls up Michael's index finger and gave a teasing smile.

"E-Eager me? But I was just-!" Michael was shut up once Akeno placed his finger into her mouth

***SUCK!***

"Mmmmngh!" Michael winced back and grew red as Akeno began the session.

"Hn~…"

"Fu~…"

"Haa~…"

Akeno took more of the finger into her mouth up to the 3rd knuckle then pulled back to open her mouth wide and rolled his finger around with her tongue. These actions may be erotic but it was actually working since the bulky dragon arm started to look like Michael's regular one.

"Hn…"

***LICK!***

"Gya~!" Michael groaned.

***DRIP!***

Akeno then twists the finger sideways and licks up before sucking it back in and letting it go as saliva trails from the tip of Michael's finger to Akeno's lips as she finishes the draining.

"Ara ara, if you make such innocent reactions then my bully instinct will only want me to continue." Akeno teased and rolled around Michael's finger with hers.

"A-Akeno-senpai y-you're a Bully?" Michael gasped as he tried to recover from the service.

Slowly getting up Akeno smiles, "Michael-kun would you like to try something with me?"

"What is it?" Michael gulped as he starts to feel his face heat up.

Already straddling his waist Akeno moved her face closer to Michael's, He could smell the aroma of the girl's hair as they grew closer. It took Michael a while to realize as he starts to go red a little.

_'_ _She sure is close but you don't see me complaining.' Michael blinked._

"Would you like to have an affair with me?" Akeno asked.

"Eh?" Michael gasped as he repeats, "A-Afair?"

"Please don't tell Buchou or the others about what is about to happen." Akeno placed her hands on Michael's cheeks and slowly places him down on the bench, "A secret between us sounds exciting doesn't it and the experience of being tied together by a young man in lust. Ufufufu! I also have a masochistic side you know so I don't mind you taking the lead while  **inside**  of me." Akeno pressed her breasts up against Michael's chest.

"Um….!" Michael winces back as his entire head turns red, "But I don't even know what to do though…"

Hearing that Akeno laughed as her face grew closer to Michael's, "Silly boy, if you don't know then we'll learn together."

"W-What?" Michael squeaked.

_'_ _Akeno-senpai's really close now and she's even saying stuff about learning stuff together could it be that she's a virgin too?' Michael thought as Akeno's lips were only inches away from Michael's, 'But I can't have sex with senpai it wouldn't seem right but if I bail now then how can I prove that I'm really Great?' Michael closed his eyes as he repeatedly cried, 'What do I do? What do I do? WhatdoIdoWhatdoIdoWhat doIdo!?'_

"What. do I..." Michael breathily whispered as Akeno's lips were about to touch his own but a sudden disturbance interrupted the atmosphere as Michael's spine felt chills as a large demonic aura filled the entire room.

"Just what is the meaning of this?" Rias said with an angry half eyed stare.

"B-Buchou!" Michael gasped as he sat up with Akeno.

"Ufufu. I was just sucking out the dragon power remember?" Akeno laughed as she stood up.

"I know that, but it looked as if you were doing something more from that." Rias put her hands on her hips.

"Ara ara you don't think I was planning to do go all the way do you?" Akeno used her lady like smile which didn't sit well with Rias.

_'_ _I don't feel safe here…' Michael slowly crawled out towards the exit, 'Maybe if I stay quiet and slowly leave out of their sight then I won't be noticed.'_

"That may be it, but there is limit that I still haven't…" Rias looked off to the side and blushed.

"If we go by the book then how do you expect to catch up when you're actually handicapping yourself?" Akeno retorted.

***STARE!***

The two 3rd years initiated a stare down while Michael slowly crawls away but quickly glancing down at Michael, Rias was quick to walk over to him and say, "Michael…"

"!"

PUUUUUUULL!

Michael jumped in fear and turned around to see a hand shot out at him to grab at his cheek as he cried,

"Yeooowch!" Michael cried in pain,  _'Why does it hurt so much when Buchou pinches me? Just her pinch alone is strong enough to match or even surpass the ones Asia and Raynare give me!'_

"Were you getting to know your Akeno-neesama to a deeper level?" Rias showed an unpleasant face towards the poor boy.

"P-Pwease….Bushou my sheeks bwey h-hurt!" Michael cried pitifully under the pinch.

"…" Rias looked at Michael then turned away and left the room, "Fine do as you want."

"Buchou wait let me explain!" Michael reached out.

***SLAM!***

Rias slammed the door.

_'_ _She didn't even wait…I hope she isn't that mad…' Michael sniffled._

"Ara ara, how cute she's jealous." Akeno smiled, "Michael-kun?"

"Yeah?" Michael turned to Akeno while rubbing his red cheek.

"Our relationship is getting better steadily, isn't it?" Akeno giggled.

_'_ _What relationship?' Michael gave a dumfounded look._

**_[At the rate things are going for you, you'll soon find out.]_ **

_'_ _Huh?' Michael blinked._

After getting his arm fixed, Michael and Akeno helped cleaned the pool with the others as they finished and changed into their swimwear as Akeno prepared to fill the new clean pool with water.

"Ha!"

***SPLAAAASH!***

Akeno raised her hand in the air and summoned a large Magic Circle which poured down tons of water which filled the pool completely.

"Damn, that's awesome!" Michael was in awe as he wore black swimming trunks with flame like designs on as he wore his goggles around his neck. Michael's figure has grown more defined since his training in the mountains as his abdominal and arm muscles were more toned.

"Now everyone, swim to your heart's content." Rias walked towards the group while donning her new swimsuit which was a white bikini which showed a lot of her skin.

"Hai, Buchou!" Everyone nodded.

"Hey, Michael…" Rias showed herself to Michael, "I promised I'd show you so what do you think of me wearing it?"

"Um…" Michael grinned and scratched his head as his cheek go red, "You really look good in it Buchou, it looks like it was made for you, hehehe…"

"Really, thank you I appreciate th-" Rias looked very happy with those words but…

Walking to confront Rias was Akeno who said, "Ara ara, you're getting very into it, Buchou. You must really want to show it to Michael-kun." Akeno was wearing a purple string bikini which was showing even more skin than Rias' which caused Michael to fluster as he can almost literally see everything.

"What about you, Akeno?" Rias said with a challenging stare, "Are you just wearing yours just for yourself?"

"Who knows?" Akeno shrugged then turned towards Michael and said, "Hey, Michael-kun, how does mine look?"

"Er…" Michael gulped then said, "Y-Your swimsuit looks amazing senpai."

"Ufufu, hearing that makes me happy that I chose this kind of swimsuit now." Akeno smiled and placed a hand on her cheek. Turning back to look at Rias the two girls stared each other down while a dangerous amount of red aura (Rias) and gold aura (Akeno) covered them both.

_'_ _Wow, they both look good wearing those, but why are they looking at each other like that?' Michael wondered._

"Michael-sama." A hand tapped Michael's shoulder.

"Yeah?" Michael turned around to see a seductively smiling Raynare wearing a blue bikini with white floral patterns with a blue pareo wrapped around her hips.

"So what do you think?" Raynare raised her arms over her head and posed.

"Wow, you look awesome wearing that, Ray-chan!" Michael grinned and gave a thumbs up.

"Thanks Michael-sama that makes me so happy!" Raynare giggled then looked at Michael's body closely, "But I think you also look good in your swimming trunks as well."

"Really? I guess my awesomeness must be rubbing off on this thing. I thought it was stupid to wear, but even something stupid can make me look even cooler." Michael grinned and revealed his blue cast cover.

"T-That's not what I'm talking about, but…okay."

Raynare noticed how long she was staring at Michael's body and turned as some drool started to form on her lip.

"M-Michael-san I've changed into my swimsuit, too." Asia walked up to the grinning fool wearing a blue school swimsuit with her name 'ASIA' written on the breasts.

"Asia, you look absolutely adorable." Michael chuckled.

"It makes me so happy to hear that!" Asia grew a smile radiating absolute happiness.

Catching sight of Koneko next to Asia, he saw her wearing her school swimsuit as well as her name 'KONEKO' was written on the breasts as well but had a white swimming cap. She was facing away from him but looked over her shoulder straight at him as her cheeks tinged a little in pink, "…"

***STARE!***

Her sight towards Michael didn't waver it looks like she wanted him to comment on her swimsuit also.

"Whoa, Koneko-chan, you actually look really cute wearing that, well it's only natural since you're the school mascot." Michael crossed his arms and laughed.

"…Cute…I feel both conflicted if whether I should take the compliment from the moron seriously or not…" Koneko muttered to herself as her cheeks turned from pink to red. She walked away from Michael looking satisfied with his compliment.

Michael was oblivious to this and growled, "Is that how you say thanks when I tried to compliment you!?"

Patting Michael's shoulder was Kiba who gave a brief smile. He was wearing blue swimming briefs,

"Now, now let's calm down."

"Fine, anyways the only one missing is Xenovia where is she?" Michael looked around for the blue haired girl.

"Oh, s-she was having trouble putting on her swimsuit and told me to come first." Asia said.

"Trouble? But it's just a swimsuit."

"Yeah, but she had trouble with the concept of putting it on correctly." Raynare gave a bitter smile.

"Well okay I guess it doesn't matter and besides it's pool time and I've been preparing myself to test my stamina!" Michael chuckled.

"Test your stamina?" Raynare repeated.

"Yeah, by showcasing my amazing swimming skills in a race against Kiba!" Michael points at Kiba challengingly.

"I'll be happy to accept that challenge, Michael-kun." Kiba smiled.

"Sweet! Let's get started!" Michael pumped his fist in the air.

"Wait, Michael." Rias placed her hand on his shoulder.

"What is it, Buchou?" Michael asked.

"Can you maybe hold off on your race and do me a favor?" Rias placed her hands on Koneko's shoulders.

"Okay with what?" Michael asked.

…

"Okay that's it Koneko-chan just follow the tempo, 1, 2, 1, 2." Michael held Koneko's hand as she pedaled her feet through the water. Koneko didn't really know how to swim so Rias ordered Michael to do so.

"*Puwa!*" Koneko tried her best and made cute sounds while swimming.

"You can do it, Koneko-chan!" Asia cheered for her kouhai.

"Don't forget, Asia, you're next, so get ready, all right?" Michael laughed.

"Yes, Michael-san!" Asia nodded excitedly.

"*Puwa!* Sorry…Baka-senpai for making you help me…" Koneko apologized.

"For what? This is fun too, I never actually taught a girl how to swim before, so this is new and exciting!" Michael grinned then looked down at Koneko, "And besides I really want to help you for once instead of bringing you trouble."

"…!" Koneko blushed and continued to swim with a little more eagerness.

Michael asked Raynare if she needed to learn to swim, but she already knew how to do it so she was just swimming laps around the pool with Kiba who was swimming underwater.

_'_ _Well it might not be as exciting as a race, but at least I'm teaching a girl how to swim never thought I'd ever do this before well I never thought I would be a devil in my life in general.' Michael thought._

**_[I honestly never would have thought I would be partners with such a weak devil before.]_ **

_'_ _Yeah, and I…hey wait a minute what the hell do you mean by that!?' Michael thought in anger._

**_[It's obvious but if you think it's complex then you're just more of a moron than I thought.]_ **

_'_ _Hey, don't get lippy do you know who you're talking too?' Michael growled._

**_[Yes and?]_ **

_'_ _Grrr! If you have time to make snarky remarks while I'm thinking then at least continue where you left off.'_

**_[Okay, but after this.]_ **

_'_ _After what?' Michael lost focus and hit his back against the pool end._

"Whoops!"

_'_ _Dammit...how does he keep doing that.' Michael groaned._

Michael gasped as Koneko's kicking grew faster and made them collide against one another. Michael quickly grabbed Koneko to lessen the impact for her as he said, "Are you okay, Koneko-chan?"

"…Michael-senpai, you're so gentle and kind…" Koneko said as her cheeks turned red.

"Huh?" Michael tilts his head.

"…It must be because you're a complete idiot." Koneko noticed what she said and closed her eyes in annoyance.

"Look I can't tell if your being nice or mean, but…" Michael patted Koneko's head gently and said, "I guess I am nice because I want people to be nice to me and hopefully I wish you'd be nice to me too."

Koneko's cheeks turned a little redder while receiving the head petting.

"I may cause trouble for you, but it's unintentional so I just really want to help you because of that." Michael chuckled, "So make sure to go easy on me from time to time okay?"

Koneko looked up at Michael before closing her eyes in annoyance again, "No promises..."

"Knew you'd say that." Michael groaned and sweatdropped but missed Koneko giving the faintest of smiles towards him.

***SPLASH!***

Turning his head, Michael looks to see Rias and Akeno swimming elegantly which looked to be a race.

"Ooh!" Michael looked over at the race intently.

_'_ _To put it simply a strong rival has appeared.'_

_'_ _There's no stopping a heart in love.'_

_'_ _Just because we are best friends won't mean I'll lose to you, Akeno.'_

_'_ _Let's do this fair and square, Rias.'_

These thoughts raced through the two Onee-san's minds as they raced through the pool.

"That's so cool!" Michael smiled as his eyes shined.

Poking Michael's shoulder, Koneko said, "…Isn't Asia-senpai next to swim?"

"Auuu…."

Asia had teary eyes.

Shaking his head, Michael said, "Oops! My bad okay Asia let's do it!" Michael looked up at the blonde with a grin.

"H-Hai! Michael-san I will be in your care!" Asia eagerly nodded.

Once he finished teaching Koneko how to swim Michael then taught Asia who was more than happy to receive swim help from the boy. Michael then raced Kiba around the pool about 15 times, but this led him to grow exhausted as he couldn't keep up with the Knight's speed in water. After he was done Michael played a joke upon Raynare by:

Suddenly wrapping his arms around the Fallen Angel's hips, Michael lifted her up and shouted with a mischievous smile, "German Suplex time~!"

"M-Michael-sama, no! Please N-!"

***SPLASH!***

Raynare cried in fear as Michael dunked her back in the water backwards, the prank seemed a little too much that Raynare actually passed out for two reasons. One: Michael held her by the wait and pressed her back to his chest. Two: Michael almost slammed her headfirst into the bottom of the pool.

Now sitting beside a sleeping Asia and Koneko on a vinyl sheet with a Conked out Raynare laid out near them.

"Z…ZZZ…Z.." All three girls were passed out after exerting their strength with swimming.

"How sad everyone seems to be tired already, but not me because my endurance is supreme!" Michael laughed then lazily yawned, "O-Okay that proves nothing."

_'_ _And where the hell is Xenovia she practically missed half the time we played out here.' Michael looked around for his new friend._

"Michael."

Rias called while lying forward on a vinyl sheet as her bikini top was untied.

"Y-Yes, Buchou?" Michael sat up and tried to look away but kept focusing his attention on his master's half naked form.

"Can you rub suntan lotion on me?" Rias asked.

"M-Me?" Michael points at himself and looks around.

"Is there any other Michael, silly?" Rias giggled.

"No, but I don't really have both hands ready to do that sort of stuff, ya know?" Michael waved his casted arm.

"It's fine even if it's just one hand, I'd still allow you to touch me." Rias beckoned Michael over with her hand, "So come here and please help me."

"If you say so." Michael gulped and crawled over to Rias.

"Here you go." Rias hands Michael the small bottle of suntan lotion.

"Thanks." Michael pushed some lotion on his right hand while looking away flustered.

_'_ _I feel like I should be cautious.' Michael looked over to the sleeping Asia and Raynare laid out on the vinyl sheets, 'They might wake up and get angry at me for doing this.'_

"Is something wrong?" Rias asked while looking back.

"N-No nothing I was just *Gulp!* preparing myself." Michael sweatdropped.

"Well you can keep preparing yourself, but please hurry because I don't think I can wait another moment without your hands on me." Looking at Michael with a seductive and pleading stare Rias smiled to herself as the boy's face turned even redder.

"R-Right, forgive me, Buchou let me start now." Being coerced to begin by Rias' words Michael placed his hand on her back and began rubbing the oil onto her back.

_'_ _Buchou's skin is really soft and smooth, hehe… I wonder what Matsuda and Motohama will say when I rub this in their faces hmmmm… probably cry and curse my death but I wonder about Saji has he gotten to do this to his master yet? Nah, I don't think Sona-senpai is that allowing especially since after the Holy Sword thing happened.'_

Lost in thought, Michael was unaware of where his hands were rubbing suntan lotion as he secretly slipped his hand beneath Rias and groped her breasts

"Michael?" Rias gasped as her cheeks flushed.

"Huh?" Michael got out of thought and saw his position,

_'_ _Oh crap, not again!' Michael panicked._

"Sorry Buchou, I wasn't focusing I'll make sure to be careful next time."

Michael tried to pull his hand away from Rias' breasts but Rias stopped him and grabbed his wrist to hold him there.

"Its fine you don't have to be hesitant." Rias sat up and revealed to Michael her naked breast capped with pretty pink nipples!

"B-Buchou! Your ch-ch-chest is still naked!" Michael gulped as he looked away in embarrassment.

"Ufufufu. Why are you looking away you've already seen them in bed before so what's so different now?" Rias giggled and began to goad the boy.

"I know that, but I'm still not used to it yet, and I'm a guy so doing this kind of stuff all of a sudden kind of makes me a little too excited if you know what I mean." Michael muttered while still looking away.

_'_ _His honesty is so cute that it makes this so much fun to do this.'_

_Rias laid back down on the vinyl sheet while pulling Michael down with her so his position could be kneeling between her legs._

"Huh, what's going on?" Michael gasped in fright as Rias pulled his casted hand and pressed his naked fingers onto her untouched breast.

"Don't worry it's just that I feel like having you rub the lotion on my chest now…" Rias let go of Michael's slippery hands and let him take free reign from there.

"Rub it on your chest? But I can't...no, I mean I can, but what I'm trying to say is...ugh!" Michael was losing control of his tongue as his only viewpoint was Rias' breasts right in front of him and his hands no less.

"It's fine Michael, I don't mind and you do love a women's chest right?" Rias smiled.

"W-Well I guess I do like how they look, um…" Michael looked up and tried to beat his growing temptation.

"Then rub them to your heart's content, but make sure to carefully rub in the lotion while you do okay?" Rias' tone was a mixture of assertiveness and submission towards Michael who simply gulps and nods.

"O-Okay…" Michael lowered his head and closed his eyes shut as he began with a light squeeze to Rias' right breast which had an amazing softness and elasticity.

_'_ _This feeling!' Michael's opened his eyes as his hands grew more in contact with Rias' breast as he slowly rolled it around gently, 'It's really soft…' Michael's lotion slicked hands rolled around the breast more firm as he started to grow more curious than embarrassed._

"Mmmm…yes, like that…" Rias moaned under Michael's warm handed ministrations.

Michael made sure to spread out the lotion around her entire chest before focusing on the breasts themselves as he slathered more lotion beneath the breast. Underneath him, Rias was moaning and enjoying the boy's touches as they only grow more firm as he continues.

Using his casted arm, Michael made sure to dig his fingers into Rias' left breast more forcefully as the soft flesh kept on bouncing back into his hand. As for Michael's free hand he now shifted from rubbing the oil on the breasts to just downright palming it in his hands. But noticing something change Michael thought,

_'_ _B-Buchou's nipples look stiff now I wonder why?' Michael moved his fingers around the pink nubs topping her beautiful boobs and began to rub lotion on them with his thumb._

"M-Michael what are you…~?" Rias gasped.

_'_ _I still haven't put lotion on your entire chest yet so this is okay…right?' Michael's curiosity was starting to get the best of him as he started to say words unconsciously._

"Amazing, Buchou's oppai feel so good…" Michael intently looked over Rias' boobs with interest.

"M-Michael so you're saying you love my breasts?" Rias looked up at Michael with an affectionate smile as her cheeks flushed a little.

"Err…y-yes." Michael stopped what he was doing as he looked down at Rias while hunched over her.

"That's great, because I love the way your hands feel on them." Rias placed both her hands on Michael's shoulder and pulled him down closer to her, "There isn't a place on my body that you haven't touched now. I guess that means you can easily control my body, Michael."

"Control? Buchou if you start saying that then…" Michael's mind went blank as his face was only inches away from Rias' so were his lips.

"It's okay, go ahead and do what you like to me…" Rias whispered as her lips were about to cover Michael's but a sudden interference got in the way.

"Michael-kun~! Would you please rub some oil on my breasts too?"

***MUNYUU!***

A soft, elastic feeling was pressed against Michael's back.

"What's going on?" Michael broke away from Rias' embrace and sat up in surprise, looking over his shoulder he saw Akeno's face smiling at him as her arms wrapped him in a hug.

_'_ _Wait, what happened to her swimsuit top because I-I can feel her breasts on my baaack!' Michael panicked._

"Ara ara, I think it's unfair that Buchou is the only one getting oil applied on." Akeno said with a criticizing tone towards Rias.

"A-Akeno-senpai?" Michael blinked.

Getting up with a fierce stare directed at Akeno she also seemed a little pissed off because of her queen interrupting her time with Michael, Rias exclaimed, "H-Hey, Akeno, he wasn't finished with me yet! A-And what do you think you're doing tempting my Michael like that anyways?"

Placing her face near Michael's shoulder, Akeno whispered loud enough for even Rias to hear, "Hey Michael-kun don't you think Buchou is scary? At times like this I usually run around and get tired, so that's why I want to release my built up frustration in my cute Kouhai."

"W-What does t-that m-m-mean?" Michael's face kept the same shade of red as before.

"Ufufu. This." Akeno opened her mouth and bit down on Michael's ear.

"Kya!" Michael cutely moaned as he shivered from the erotic bite.

**_[Way to sound like a man, Partner] Ddraig groaned in disappointment._ **

_'_ _Shut up, I never been in this kind of situation before so it's hard not to react like this!'_

"You have such a cute reaction, Michael-kun. Buchou why not lend Michael to me? In the future when I stand alone under your orders I wish to take this boy with me too." Akeno hummed around Michael's ear which stimulated another moan from the boy.

"Absolutely not! This boy belongs to me! I definitely won't hand him over to you!" Rias pointed at Akeno in anger.

"But there's no other boy who can be so innocently cute as him. Then you won't mind if I at least do some erotic things with him occasionally?"

"I cannot allow that! I don't want Michael to know the taste of any woman other than me. W-Well, if it's Asia then I would understand but… But you and Raynare are dangerous threats towards him if he were to have any engagement with you two then he'll become a true beast." Rias shook her head.

"Ara ara, you make it sound extreme when it isn't. I believe boys are much better when they're beasts don't you agree? You may be getting a little less hesitant but at the rate you're going…Michael's chastity will soon belong to-"Akeno released Michael's ear and looked at the boy with a smile.

"I won't allow this! Stop playing around this isn't a joke!" Rias growled as a struggle between King and Queen commenced.

_'_ _I feel really moved that they are fighting over the Great Hanamura but I can't shake off the feeling that they are treating me like a puppy they found off the street.'_

**_[That's because they are.]_ **

"By the way, Michael-kun." Akeno spoke closer to Michael's ear as her breath hit against his skin.

_'_ _Close! Close! She's too close!' Michael gulped._

"Y-Yes?" Michael turned around to face her.

"Have you sucked Buchou's breasts yet?"

_'_ _Suck breasts? No, why would I do something like that!?' Michael shook his head._

"No, but why are you asking?" Michael asked cautiously.

"Ara ara, how sad. It seems even when Buchou spoils you, you still can't seem to take your guard down even for him." Akeno had a challenging stare.

"…" Rias' hair covered her face as a red demonic aura enveloped her.

_'_ _Oh this isn't good.' Michael sweatdropped._

"So Michael-kun how about I let you suck m-i-n-e as a replacement for hers." Akeno slowly dragged her breasts up Michael's back and whispered, "Just imagine your mouth sucking and rolling around my nipples like a kid until you grow hungrier and suck harder like an animal using their instincts. It's my first time allowing a boy to suck on my boobs so I can't imagine the feeling until it happens…" Akeno's teases grew more tempting as Michael's red head released tons of steam.

"Uwawawa…" Michael couldn't form words at this point.

***ZOOM!***

***DON!***

Passing by Michael's head was a block of demonic power which erased a diving board behind Michael and Akeno.

Snapping himself back to reality, Michael looked up to see a standing Rias looking down at Akeno with a formed demonic power block in her hand.

***ZAN!***

"Buchou?" Michael's eyes widened in fear.

"Akeno, I think you're getting a little too carried away. You should remember that you're my servant." Rias' eyes looked scary as does her the sound of her voice. Her body had an intense wave of red aura.

"Ara ara, if you're going to be like that, I'm not going to back down, either."

***Bzzzzt!***

Akeno stood up and gave a closed eyed smile while a gold aura covered her body as sparks crackled in her hand.

"I will never give you Michael. You, Vulgar priestess of Thunder."

"Why can't I dote on him for a bit? You, Selfish, Crimson Virgin Princess."

"Aren't you a virgin yourself!?"

"If you're going to say it like that then I'll make sure Michael-kun takes my virginity right away."

"No! He promised me that he would take my virginity first!"

***FLAP!***

Ascending both Rias and Akeno took their battle in the air and fired their attacks at each other without regard to the surrounding area.

***DON!***

***BANG!***

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The shocks of impact shook the pool area waking the girls up as they tried to endure the battle between King and Queen.

"Besides, Akeno, didn't you hate men! Why of all people did you have to take an interest in Michael!" Rias shouted while firing a block of demonic power at Akeno who dodges it.

_'_ _Wait is she trying to make me sound like I should be the last person to be interested in?' Michael grasped his chest as his pride shattered again._

"Your one to talk, Rias, you said you had no interest in men since they all look the same to you!" Akeno fired an attack at Rias who also dodges it.

"I don't know what's going on, but my Spider senses are tingling and they're telling me to get the hell out of here!" Michael crawled away from the destruction as the two girl's resumed their fight.

"Michael is special! He's cute and necessary for me!" Rias cried.

"So? I find Michael-kun cute too! I finally met a boy for whom I feel something for, so just lend me him for a bit and let me understand men!" Akeno cried.

Both of the attacks collided and-

***BAAAM!***

_'_ _It's not safe here I gotta Hide! Hide! Hide!' Michael panicked then looked at the door ahead leading to the locker room, 'Not there it's too obvious they'll easily find me there!' Michael then looked to his side to find a door leading to the equipment room, 'Brilliant the pool equipment room no one would ever look there but wait I'll need a distraction!'_

Looking ahead, Michael saw Kiba running towards him in concern as Michael gave a smirk of mischief, approaching the blonde knight asked, "Michael-kun are you alright what's happen-Whoa!"

"Great Hanamura Kick!"

***SPLASH!***

Sending Kiba splashing into the pool, Michael kept running with a grin on his face.

_'Mission accomplished.'_

_**[Was that really necessary?]** _

_'I still haven't forgotten about what he did to me by making me have no dinner so he deserved it.' Michael's bitterness towards Kiba resurfaced once again._

"Almost and-!"

Rushing in Michael locked the door and slumped his back against the door, "Made it."

_'_ _Geez! I wonder why they were getting all mad about, Kiba did say that the devil's family show great amounts of affection but that is just crazy.' Michael sighed then looked at his right hand, 'I can still feel it though.' Michael's hand twitched as he remembered massaging Rias' breasts, 'It was really soft…so soft…'_

"What are you doing?" Someone stepped up to Michael.

"Ah! Step off, I know kung-fu!" Michael panicked and backed away but lowered his guard as he sees it was just Xenovia who was now wearing a green two piece swimsuit which emphasized her curves.

"Oh Xenovia, I didn't see you there. Well word of advice if you wish to live longer do not go outside."

"Thank you, I will take consideration to that warning." Xenovia bowed.

Looking around in the equipment room, Michael said, "So uh… *Clicks his tongue* were you changing in the equipment room or…?"

"Yeah. It's my first swimsuit, so it took me some time to put it on. Does it look good on me?"

"Yeah, it does it really suits you. Why, is it your first time wearing one? Did the church really disallow this stuff as offensive?"

"Correct. Though before saying that, I, myself didn't have interest in stuff like this. Though the girls learning around me, the female soldiers let out their dissatisfaction at not being able to touch things like this." Xenovia looked down at herself, "But, not only did my future change, even if it's just a bit, I want to experience the entertainment befitting girls, that's how I feel. That's what I have started feeling recently."

"Wow, you must've been thinking about this stuff a lot. If I did any of that thinking I'd probably make my brain explodes." Michael laughed.

Xenovia kept a solemn expression as she said, "Hanamura, Michael. There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Hey, I said to just call me, Michael, remember?" Michael crossed his arms.

"Right, Michael, I would like to ask you something." Xenovia smiled upon the reminder but returned to her former expression.

"Shoot. I'm all ears." Michael smiled.

"Good then I will start again, would you please help me give life to a child?"

**. . .**

Michael's smile froze, "Could you please repeat that?"

"You didn't hear me? Well then I'll repeat it, won't you make a child with me, Michael?"

**. . .**

"Mmmmm-hmmm! Yes, I see now so that's what you asked." Michael rubbed his chin and nodded in a calm fashion.

"You seem rather calm about this." Xenovia said.

"Oh trust me, I'm not." Michael forced a smile and shook his head, "Because right now I want to scream out the top of my lungs and run outside."

"Then why aren't you doing that?" Xenovia asked.

Voices outside were heard,

"Hey, where is Michael-san?" Asia said.

"I don't know, but I sure hope he's okay." Raynare said.

"That's why, because if they hear me scream they will come in and see this situation, I will die. I will be the main definition of death." Michael sat down and covered his face and muffled, "So what brought this up?"

Xenovia sat next to Michael and explained.

"From childhood, while saying that, dreams and objectives, everything was entwined with God and faith. For example, defeating devils was for the sake of the Lord, and the one propagating that, the Vatican, while believing that, I've never doubted it. That's why, after becoming a devil now, you can say that my dreams and objectives have disappeared." Xenovia talked on about her childhood and original faith.

Michael simply nodded and crossed his arms, "Okay, okay, I understand now, but that doesn't answer my question…into why you want me to make babies with you!" Michael shouted the last part.

"Shh! I thought you didn't want to bring attention?" Xenovia covered Michael's mouth.

"I'm starting to actually weigh my options at this point." Michael gulped.

"While serving God I had thrown away a part of me, my happiness as a woman. I sealed away my body and heart for the sake of faith, but as you know as a devil, I can't live with such things like that anymore. I wondered what I should do, but couldn't think of anything. After asking our master, Rias-Buchou she told me [Devils are beings that possess greed, fulfill greed, award greed and desire greed. Try to live as you wish] she said."

"Oh, well... ...fuck me then…" Michael groaned.

"In a minute, once I'm done explaining."

"Wait, what?"

"So if I wanted to be free and realize my own desires I had a new dream to accomplish, giving birth to a child." Xenovia said.

"Wait so your sense of virtue in the church couldn't allow you to go through with this?" Michael asked.

"Yes, I want to bear children. For that purpose you need a man as well, but it's great, right? Children and at the same time we can get to know each other better." Xenovia nodded.

"Not what I was looking for. I need an answer now, why choose me?" Michael pointed at himself.

"Are you dissatisfied? Even if I am like this, I have a bit of confidence in my body as a woman. My breasts won't be as big Rias-Buchou's but they're bigger than Asia's? I think they're worth seeing, are they not?" Xenovia stroked her boobs right in front of Michael's face.

"That's not what I'm talking about, what I mean to say is why me specifically?" Michael sighed, "Because I know making babies is something you do when you're in love and since we're technically not dating I don't see any point of you asking." Michael crossed his arms and looked away, "And besides I never even thought of having kids, yet."

"Michael, you are an exceptional choice." Xenovia explained.

"What?" Michael gasped at the compliment.

"Yes, you may know, but your body now possesses the power of a dragon itself even your aura is starting to look like it. Also you carry within you the Red Dragon Emperor. During your battle with Kokabiel, I sensed your enormous dragon power which still increased the more you fought." Xenovia explained and placed a hand on Michael's lap, "If you were to copulate with me then our children would become strong and special with their father's genes or otherwise I want them to at least have that spirit you possess when in battle." Xenovia explained.

"Hehe! Why thank you for the compliment!" Michael scratched his head in embarrassment before stopping, "Wait, what the hell am I happy about? This isn't good at all!"

_'_ _Ddraig, is that true?' Michael asked._

**_[Yes, many past hosts have copulated and handed down dragon power like traits to their offspring_ ** _**for** _ **_many generations as they are more likely to inherit the Boosted Gear than any other individual if not then they at least gain the power of a dragon themselves.]_ **

_'_ _Whoa, so am I apart of that generation?' Michael asked._

**_[Maybe or maybe not that's something you have to figure out for yourself.]_ **

_'_ _Geez...what is with you today and being so freaking cryptic?' Michael growled._

Xenovia placed a hand to her chest as her cheeks tinged a light pink as she continued,

"When God was said to be dead, I couldn't even stand or go on, I was sure that I would die. But when you stood up against Kokabiel without letting it get to you, you gave me back my will to keep fighting and not give in to such maddening words. And also your kindness interests me because after all that I said about Asia showed hostility the first time we met but you still later accepted me as a comrade. Such traits are why I want you, Michael to be the father of my children." Xenovia trailed her hand up Michael's leg and to his chest while pushing him down.

"Hey, I didn't agree to this!" Michael panicked.

"It's best if we do this right now, the faster the better." Xenovia unties her bikini top to reveal her breasts to Michael, "Now let's get started." Xenovia straddled Michael's waist.

"Please not this again…" Michael gulped as this was the third time he had come in contact with boobs.

"I know about the birth of devils as well. It seems it's quite difficult to make kids. Especially both being pure blooded, it's difficult, but luckily both you and I are reincarnated devils. The base is human, and your sexual desire is strong as well. I expect if we do it every day, then within 10 years, I should be able to conceive. No, if it's your strong sexual desire, then within a day, a number of times should be possible? If you include that, then I think it's possible within 5 years. Aah, there's no problem from the side of the children as well. Basically I will raise them. However, if the children desire love from their father, then only at those times do I want you to play with them. After all, for the children, both father and mother are required."

"No way." Michael shook his head.

"Excuse me?" Xenovia was taken aback by Michael's answer.

"If my own kids want love from me then I won't ever leave them alone to beg for that." Michael's face turned serious, "Also if you were the mother of my children then I wouldn't leave you alone to take care of them." Michael remembered a time where he was all alone by himself in his old dirty apartment with no one to talk to or interact with, "I don't want anyone especially my own kids to be lonely."

Xenovia smiled and lowered herself to cling onto Michael's body as her breasts pressed against his chest, "Good answer…I believe you'll make a wonderful father for our children…"

"No, wait, I was saying 'were' meaning I don't want to do this!" Michael sat up and held Xenovia on his lap.

"So what you were say was a lie then?" Xenovia raised an eyebrow.

"No, that's not it. What I mean is-"

"Then you don't have anything to object to right? So let's start."

***CHU!***

Xenovia leaned forward and pressed her lips against Michael's.

"Mmmmmmmmmm!" Michael's eyes widened as he was pushed down onto the ground while getting forcefully kissed by Xenovia. Michael tried to get up by the force of the kiss was too much that he was slowly losing the strength to move along with his ability to breathe.

_'_ _What the hell is she doing!?' Michael thought in panic._

Breaking the kiss was Xenovia who still had the same expression, but the only change was her pink blushing cheeks as she pants, "That signifies that you took my first kiss."

"First kiss? Why did you do that?" Michael was oblivious to Xenovia's reasoning at this point.

"Because if we are to engage in sexual intercourse we must at least kiss once." Xenovia explained as she grabbed both of Michael's hands and placed them onto her hips.

"Hey, wait a minute what are you?"

"…Hold me. If you do the procedure for making babies properly then I don't mind you doing it as you want?" Xenovia rolled the both of them around to where Michael was on top while she was on the bottom.

"But I can't…" Michael winced until…

***CLICK!***

"And just what is the meaning of this?" Standing in the open doorway was an exhausted Rias who forced a smile while she had her body covered in red demonic aura.

_'_ _Holy shit…!' Michael gasped._

"Ara ara, that's unfair, Xenovia-chan. It was already planned that I would take Michael's chastity?" Akeno may have been smiling but a terrifying aura surrounded her.

"Ufufufu! Michael-sama, you're being really, really naughty~!" Raynare gave a cold smile as her body was covered in a chilling pink aura. The look in her eyes looked similar to that of a dead fish, no light.

"Michael-san…you're so cruel… If you had asked me then…" Asia was fidgeting while trying to say something even she was mad.

"…I change my mind; Baka-senpai is truly the worst." Koneko gave Michael a scary glare as her eyes gleamed to match that of a cat's for some odd reason. It may seem out of place right now but Michael could tell that this was kind of out of character for the girl.

Sitting up, both Michael and Xenovia looked at the angry girls while waiting for one of them to respond.

_'_ _NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOO! NOOOOOO!' Michel grasped his head and shook it in fear as the inevitable of his imminent death was arriving, 'I'm gonna die! How the hell did they find me?'_

Walking past them from outside was Kiba who was toweling off his hair, "Did you find him?"

"Yes, thank you, Yuuto." Rias kept her sight on Michael and Xenovia.

"It was a pleasure to help." Kiba nodded and went off to get changed.

_'…_ _That's it! I'm going to kill him if I get out of this! I swear to Maou, I'll kill him till he dies!' Michael growled, 'But not now I have to find a way to get out of this, so if I want to at least have a chance to live I must avoid saying what was the real reason we're here…'_

"What's wrong? Michael, let's make kids." Xenovia bluntly said, "Or do you want me to kiss you again and begin where we last left off."

"You idiot! Your even blunter than I am! Can't you read the situation right now!?" Michael screamed.

"Make…"

"A…"

"Baby…"

The girls repeated with shocked expressions as their killing intent increased and directed itself at Michael as Rias and Akeno grabbed both Michael's arms and dragged him off.

"Oi! Wait, where are we going?" Michael looked to both his seniors in fear.

"Somewhere that I won't take my eyes off of you. I knew a boy your age would have a high sexual drive, but I never knew it would succumb to this. So we're going to have a chat about why you were even thinking about making babies in the first place." Rias gave Michael a scary smile.

"Allow me to join too? I'm also curious about a man's heart about the subject of making babies." Akeno may have had her usual smile but her intensity with it was really terrifying.

"…Taking the Dead Man." Koneko lifted Michael up by his feet.

"No, wait, I'm innocent you have to believe!" Michael cried as Michael was carried off by the girls.

"I see now, First, I have to win against Buchou, Fuka-Buchou, Raynare and Asia. This is a very difficult task. However, if you have more rivals, then you burn more." Xenovia said to herself before calling out, "Michael, if there is a chance to make children please remember to call for me and prepare okay?"

"Xenoviaaaaaaaaaa! Stooooop TALKING!" Michael cried.

In the evening, everyone returned to the Clubroom room where a crying Michael grabbed Kiba by the collar and shook him crazily. Michael was visibly crying in pain as he was heavily interrogated by Rias and Akeno, tortured by Raynare, and beaten to a pulp by Koneko.

"You sneaky, son of a bitch, you did this on purpose this time, didn't you?" Michael growled as his eyes shined red.

"Like I already said before Michael-kun, I didn't see Xenovia-san enter the equipment room after you." Kiba explained.

"I don't care because of you, I went through horrible things again!" Michael cried and quickens his shaking, "You handsome bastard, someday I'll make you pay for this!"

"Michael. Sit." Rias ordered as she leaned against her desk with her arms closed. Based by her expression she was not at all happy at the way things happened at the pool, because once after the fight was over they had to repair and clean everything up...again. But that's not all even the fact that her [Pawn] was getting teased and potentially sexed by the other girls made her feel very unpleasant.

"Yes, ma'am."

Michael immediately stopped his shaking as he sat in the seiza position and lowered his head in shame.

"My goodness, why must you bring so much trouble, Michael." Rias sighed.

"He didn't bring trouble; he was just trying to make a baby with me…" Xenovia said once again bluntly.

"Things are already worse as it is so keep your lips zipped!" Michael shouted.

"Haha. Things seem very lively around here." A voice chuckled.

_'_ _Huh who was that?' Michael thought as he turns around towards the direction of the voice._

***FLASH!***

Appearing in the clubroom was a large magic circle which glows bright in the middle of the room. As the light fades there stood a crimson haired man wearing a suit smiling pleasantly. Beside him was that silver-haired maid from before, Grayfia.

"Is it some kind of special event?" The man said.

_'_ _Wait, he has crimson hair and Buchou has crimson hair which could mean only one thing.' Michael was lost in thought and rubbed his chin as everyone but Michael, Asia and Xenovia bowed in front of the man as Raynare seemed to have vanished somewhere._

"O-O-O-Onii-sama!" Rias was surprised by her brother, the Maou's arrival.

_'_ _Big Brother…wait, if Buchou has crimson hair and he has crimson then that means they are siblings!' Michael gasped then thought, 'Meaning that this guy is the Crimson Lucifer!'_

"So cool!" Michael's jaw dropped as his eyes shined like stars.

Looking to everyone kneeling down Michael scratched his head confused, "Er…were we all supposed to do that?"

_'_ _This is the Devil King, Sirzechs Lucifer?' Asia looked at Sirzechs in awe and processed her thoughts more faster than Michael, 'The President's older brother?'_

"You must be, Asia Argento." Sirzechs looks over to Asia and smiled.

"Y-Yes." Asia answered nervously.

"I've heard that you are an excellent bishop who takes good care of Rias." Sirzechs said.

"T-That's…" Asia was flustered.

"Please relax, I only came on private business." Sirzechs explained.

"Yes, sir." Asia calmed down.

"Private Business?" Rias questioned.

Filled with excitement with seeing the current Maou in front of him, Michael rushed up to Sirzechs and shook his hand rigoursly with sparkling eyes, "Amazing, so you're the Maou? This is awesome I've always wanted to meet with one of you guys!"

Everyone in the room was shocked by Michael's action, but Sirzechs simply chuckled and continued to shake

"Indeed, I am." Sirzechs nodded as he didn't mind Michael, "And you must be Michael Hanamura, The Red Dragon Emperor I presume?"

"W-Wait, you know my name?" Michael gasped then coughed, "Ahem! I mean to be expected since I am the Great Hanamura after all."

"Hahaha! You seem to be really interesting as Kai says you're to be." Sirzechs chuckled.

"Wait, you mean Shishou?" Michael's eyes widened as he stopped shaking Sirzechs' hand

"Yeah, he told me a lot about you while we watched the Phoenix Rating Game." Sirzechs laughed.

"The Rating Game?" Michael look up in thought,  _'Wait that's right so Shishou watched the match with the Devil King that day? No wonder he knew when to get me my contacts.'_

"So what did he tell you about me?" Michael asked.

"He told me that you were thick-headed, stubborn, really slow and really reckless. He even called you the Most Reckless Sekiryuutei is History so far." Sirzechs explained.

Each of those words felt like bricks falling on top of Michael's head as they piled up, "So he didn't say anything positive at all?"

"Positive?" Sirzechs blinked then smiled, "Those were the positive comments from Kai."

"WHAT!?" Michael screamed.

"Michael…"

PUUUULLLL

"Ouch! Ouch! I'm sorry, please forgive me!" Michael cried.

Pulling on his ear, Rias pulls Michael away from Sirzechs before he made even more of a fool of her.

Sirzechs looks at Michael's trident shaped hair and smiled brightly as he turned to look at Grayfia, "You were right the resemblance is so uncanny, isn't it?"

Grayfia nodded.

Sirzechs then looks over to a couch and smiles, "It's fine you do not have to hide from me, I mean to you no harm."

Peeking her head out from behind the couch was Raynare who trembled at the sight of the Maou, Lucifer himself.

"H-Hai!" Raynare gulped.

"Now, now you don't have to be so scared of me, I have no intent to harm you. In fact, I even heard of your actions of supporting my sister during the battle with Kokabiel." Sirzechs explained.

"You did?" Raynare looks over to Rias who nods approvingly.

"Yes, I also heard of the fact that you sided with the Devils now. May I ask why, though? It seems strange that a Fallen Angel would switch sides."

"Well I wanted to help my new friends and to repay, uh…" Raynare looked down and blushed as she looked over to Michael and back to the ground before he noticed.

Catching this Sirzechs' smile grew a little as he said, "I understand, you don't have to continue."

"Thank you, Maou-sama." Raynare bowed.

Walking up next was Xenovia, "Are you the Maou? Nice to meet you, I am the one called Xenovia."

"Good day to you, Xenovia. I am, Sirzechs Lucifer. I got the report from Rias. The holy sword wielder of Durandal got reincarnated as a devil, and not to mention becoming my sister's family… Truth be told, I doubted my ears when I heard it the first time." Sirzechs gave Xenovia a reassuring smile.

Xenovia then went on to talking to herself about her decision,

"I also didn't think that I would become a devil. To be reincarnated into the side I kept on killing, even if I say so myself, I sometimes regret it and that it was quite a bold move. …Yeah, that's it. Why did I become a devil? Desperation? However, at that time, truthfully, anything was fine… But, was it really fine to be a devil?"

"Hahaha, it's great that my little sister's family has a lot of interesting people. Xenovia, since you were just reincarnated you won't understand your own way, but I want you to support the Gremory household as Rias' family. I'll be counting on you." Sirzechs laughed.

"If I am asked by the Legendary Maou written in the Bible to do it, then I'll have no choice, but to do it. I don't know how much I'll be able to do, but allow me to do whatever I can in my capability." Xenovia nodded.

"Thank you." Sirzechs smiled.

"Onii-sama, w-why are you here?" Rias asked with a doubtful expression.

"What are you saying, Rias? I heard that Open House was coming soon, so I decided to participate. There was no chance that I would miss watching my little sister working hard in her studies." Sirzechs had an excited smile.

"H-How were you able to-?" Rias changes her glance towards to Grayfia and said accusingly, "Grayfia, you told Onii-sama of this didn't you?"

Grayfia simply says, "Yes, any reports from the school come directly to me as I maintain the Gremory Household schedule. Reporting matters like this is a part of my duty as Sirzechs-sama's Queen."

"Do not worry, Father will come as well." Sirzechs said.

_'_ _Father so Buchou's dad is coming?' Michael rubbed his cheek and wondered._

"But you are the Maou! You can't just leave your work like that." Rias looked off to the side as she felt she was being put above her brother's work.

"No, no this counts as work as well, Rias. Actually I was thinking about having a conference between the 3 factions in this school. So I just came over to inspect the place of meeting is all." Sirzechs explained.

"!" Everyone was shocked hearing that Devils, Angels and Fallen Angels will meet in their home town's school.

"…Here? Really?" Rias was surprised herself.

"Ah, This school somehow seems to have fate tied to it. My little sister, you, the legendary Sekiryuutei, the holy devil sword user, the holy sword Durandal's wielder and Maou Serafall Leviathan's little sister are attached to this place, Kokabiel attacked this place as the Hakuryuukou and Nightmare Flame has also made contact with this school. This is a phenomenon you can't label as coincidence. Strong powers keep mixing in, it's like wave motion. I think the person accelerating this wave of motion is Hanamura, Michael-kun, the Sekiryuutei." Sirzechs looks over to Michael.

"M-Me?" Michael points to himself.

**_[Remember what I said as a Dragon you attract Power, Power always attracts…]_ **

_'_ _Power.'_

"Now then, let's continue this discussion somewhere else. Hm, however, even though I came to the human world, it's already too late. Would a lodging institution be open right now?" Sirzechs said in thought.

"Lodging institute?" Michael looked up in thought then realized he meant a hotel, "Oh, you two need a place to stay well then why not come spend the night with us."

"Eh!?" Rias, Raynare and Asia were shocked by Michael's hospitality.

"Are you sure, I do not wish to impose on you in your own home?" Sirzechs asked.

"Of course, I'm sure! I mean, I still really want to talk to you about the things you Maou do!" Michael chucked.

"Hmm…" Sirzechs smiled, "Then I'll be more than happy to accept."

After the club everyone went home by themselves as Michael's residence was now rather lively as about six people were about to sleep in a cramped one bedroom apartment. But that was handled since both Michael and Sirzechs will be sleeping in the Living Room on Futons as the girls sleep in the bedroom.

"I see you lived here by yourself before meeting my sister? Well I hope she hasn't caused you any trouble." Sirzechs smiled as he and everyone were sitting at the table eating dinner while Raynare was cooking for dinner wearing a pink apron.

"No, Buchou's been really nice to me ever since I met her, she helped me cleaned my apartment and made me breakfast and lunch too, she's really cool and a great cook." Michael chuckled as he noticed Rias' cheeks turning a little red.

Noticing the jealous stares from Asia and Raynare, Michael said, "But I also can't say that without Asia and Ray-chan I could've made it so far too. Just like Buchou they are really good to me and nice to have around."

Both Asia and Raynare perked up at Michael's compliment and happily went back to what they were doing.

_'_ _Until they start pinching me for no apparent reason.' Michael thought as he ate his rice._

"Oh really, it almost sounds like you have 3 wives living with you." Sirzechs chuckled.

Coughing after hearing that Michael tried to catch his breath as all the girl blushed.

Rias said in cute annoyance, "Onii-sama, what are you saying so suddenly?"

"Hahaha! It was a joke Rias, relax." Sirzechs laughed as he was really enjoying himself.

Calming down, Michael sighed in relief as Rias looks over to Michael with an embarrassed face,

"Michael, why did you say he could stay at your apartment?" Rias asked.

"Well I was really excited to meet the Maou for the first time that I didn't actually think about it, sorry Buchou. And he already said he would find a hotel tomorrow." Michael chuckled nervously.

"This is so embarrassing…" Rias sighed cutely.

_'_ _Whoa, Buchou just now looked like a regular girl right now instead of the Onee-sama of the school.' Michael blinked._

Leaning over to Michael, Sirzechs says, "Hey, Hanamura, Michael-kun do you want to know a secret?"

"O-Okay, what is it?" Michael nodded.

"Do you know Grayfia?" Sirzechs asked.

"You mean the Cool Maid-san?" Michael answered.

"Yes, she is actually my wife." Sirzechs said with a smile.

"Reaaaaaaally!" Michael, Asia and Raynare gasped.

PUUUUUUULLLLLLL!

Standing beside Sirzechs was Grayfia who pinched the Maou-sama's cheeks really hard to the point to where Michael could feel it himself.

_'_ _It's like her pinches are on another level from Buchou and the other's!' Michael trembled as he could even feel the pain Sirzechs was going through._

"I am the maid, Grayfia. I apologize for my master speaking such boring jokes." Grayfia was angry as the teary eyed Lucifer was at her mercy.

_'_ _It's hard to tell if these guys are even associated with the 4 Great Maous after seeing them like this. But I guess people show their true faces when they relax and get to know others away from work.' Michael chuckled._

Once dinner was over it was now time to go to bed.

"Wh-What? Are you saying I can't sleep with Michael?" Rias who wore a purple night gown said with a sad expression as both Michael and Sirzechs stood in the single hallway leading to the Living Room.

"I would like to talk with him as we fall asleep tonight." Sirzechs explained, "Please let me borrow Hanamura, Michael just for tonight."

_'_ _I can't believe he still has a straight face after hearing that I sleep with his sister.' Michael sweatdropped, 'But I can see why Buchou is sad. Ever since she moved in she would always sleep with me regardless if I were a servant since she loves them like her own family. Akeno-senpai told me that Buchou's dependence towards me grows each day.' Michael sighed,_

_'_ _Some of the girls really like to get close to me but I always feel the urge to do something to them but try to restrain it and be respectable but how can I do something like that if they literally try to sleep naked with me?'_

**_[If you look at it from guts, you're not the Red Dragon Emperor, but the Red Virgin Emperor, Partner.]_ **

_'_ _Shaddup! I don't care if I'm a virgin now because all I want to do is become Maou, and since this guy is in the room I can finally get some pointers.' Michael thought._

"Michael…"

Giving Michael a hug, Rias said while her eyes gave off a sorrowful look, "Can you do it? Can you sleep alone without me by your side? Because I don't think I'll be able to get a wink of sleep if you're not by my side, I'll die of loneliness if I don't sleep with you!"

_'_ _R-Really? Well if so then let me try something.' Michael grabbed Rias' shoulders and tapped his forehead against hers._

"It's fine, Buchou, you can do it. I, The Great Hanamura believe you can overcome this trial with ease like you always have." Michael looked Rias dead in the eye and smiled, "So try to last until tomorrow and show me how a strong King can endure anything."

"O-Okay..."

Rias' cheeks flushed red as she nods while getting lost in Michael's brown eyes before getting taken away from Grayfia.

"Now, Ojou-sama. We must go." Grayfia said as she pulled out Rias.

"I know, Grayfia." Rias begrudgingly nodded.

"Please rest well, gentlemen." Grayfia bowed.

"Good night." Michael waved.

"Good night, Michael." Rias waved regretfully.

"Good night, Buchou remember to endure." Michael said with a worried expression.

"Michael-san." Asia walked up to Michael wearing a green night gown and a sad expression filled with regret as well.

"What's wrong, Asia?" Michael asked.

"Unfortunately, I will also sleep in a separate room tonight." Asia said.

"R-Right, sorry about that, Asia, h-have a good night." Michael waved as a feeling of guilt started to enter him.

"Good night!" Asia forced a smile and quickly retreated to Michael's occupied room.

_'_ _Man, after seeing Buchou and Asia so sad I can't wait to see how Ray-chan reacts.' Michael groaned._

But unlike Rias and Asia, Raynare who wore a white night gown simply hugged him and waved, "Good Night, Michael-sama see you tomorrow."

Michael blinked and waved, "Good Night to you too, Ray-chan."

He could have sworn he heard her say,

"I don't need it. I don't need it. I don't need it." As she passed by but ignored it.

Seeing the girl enter Michael's bedroom got him confused.

"Huh...I guess she isn't like Buchou and Asia after all." Michael yawned and turned around to face his futon until…

"I NEED  **it!"**  A voice cried.

***SLAM!***

"The deuce?" Michael looked to see a flattened Raynare pinned down by Rias and Asia.

"Michael-sama, please let me sleep with you tonight! I can't go on without sleeping right by you! I'll die of loneliness!" Raynare cried pitifully as she reached out for Michael.

"Raynare-san, you mustn't!" Asia cried.

"If I can't sleep with Michael then I won't allow you to either." Rias grunts as she and Asia started to drag Raynare back in the room by the ankles.

"Nooooo! Michael-sama!" Raynare wailed.

_'_ _So this happens when they don't sleep with me…I wonder if I should be happy about that or guilty.'_

Michael turned back to Sirzechs and apologized, "Um…sorry about that…"

"No need, I found it quite entertaining." Sirzechs laughed, "Now shall we?"

"Y-Yeah!" Michael nodded nervously as he realized everything about Sirzechs seemed to be off a higher class than him as his posture is elegant as Michael could finally feel the man's demonic aura being suppressed as he could tell that the Maou is holding back his power as no opening could be found on him at all.

Now laying in their futons, Michael and Sirzechs were both looking up at the ceiling still awake.

"S-Sorry that you had to sleep on the floor with me. I didn't really think this through when inviting you guys over." Michael apologized and turned to look at the man.

"You shouldn't apologize for such a thing like this since I actually enjoy something like this, thank you." Sirzechs said.

"Thank me for what?" Michael asked and arched an eyebrow.

"In the other world it would be unthinkable for me to be treated like a normal guest. I can't be treated like a normal person. Just being here shows that I prefer simple things other than high class service." Sirzechs gave a relaxed smile.

_'_ _Is being that famous really tiring?' Michael thought in wonder as he soon wants to be Maou and took notes of hints Sirzechs may say for future reference._

"Hanamura, Michael-kun. Take care of my sister, Rias from now on."

"Yes sir, I'll protect her with my life!" Michael nodded with a wide grin, "Because as Rias' Gremory's Pawn, I won't back down from any fight and fulfill my dream of being Maou!"

"Thank you. Oh yeah, Hanamura Michael-kun. Is it all right if I call you, Michael-kun, like my little sister does?"

"Sure, I don't mind and it'd be cool to have the Maou call me by my first name."

"I see. Then Michael-kun, won't you call me by my name? Or do you prefer Onii-san either would be fine with me."

_'_ _Onii-chan seems a little too much so how about this.' Michael thought unaware of why Sirzechs brought such a thing up._

"I think Onii-san is a little much so how about Aniki instead it's basically the same thing and easier to say?" Michael chuckled.

"Yes! I-I'm fine with that too!" Sirzechs seemed to be excited about Michael suggesting that, Michael blinked as his eyes widened once Sirzechs hastily accepted his reply.

Coughing to recompose himself, Sirzechs apologizes, "Excuse me for that, but I couldn't help but feel excited that the legendary dragon called me his Older Brother."

_'_ _Is it really that exciting?' Michael scratched his head._

"By the way Michael-kun, I heard that you met Azazel from earlier so I should ask if I should worry over you." Sirzechs turned to look at Michael.

"The Ero-Ossan?"

"Ero-Ossan?" Sirzechs repeated in question.

"Oh sorry, that's just the way I call him." Michael chuckled.

"Interesting, continue."

Michael sat up and said, "Well I did meet him, but he isn't evil like some devils said he would be. He's actually kind of cool when you meet him during the right time that is… since he's a proud pervert, cheater, liar and hoarder."

"Hahahaha. I guess hoarder is an accurate way of describing him because of his high interest in collecting Sacred Gears." Sirzechs chuckled, "Actually there is someone who holds a Longinus the same as you who has stayed by him, with such powers being gather by him not even I would know how it will affect the Heaven and the Underworld. But I do know that he unlike Kokabiel dislikes war it was because of that dislike that the Fallen Angels pulled out before the Devils and Angels."

"Oh…" Michael's eyes grew half lidded as he looked at his right arm seriously, "When you said the same Longinus user was with the Ero-Ossan did you mean the White Dragon Emperor?"

"Yes, you already know of him?" Sirzechs sat up and looked at Michael.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that." Michael's sigh was really frustration.

"Is something bothering you?" Sirzechs asked.

"N-No, I'm fine why?" Michael perked up.

"You look rather worked up after I brought up your sacred gear's counterpart." Sirzechs stated.

"Oh, I did? Well…it's just that…" Michael looked off to the side then groaned, "Um…Aniki could you keep a secret?" Michael had a look that showed his need to tell somebody something.

"You don't have to worry I promise." Sirzechs smiled, deep down he was elated that Michael was calling him "Older Brother."

"Okay then…" Michael inhaled then exhaled as he explained, "Well as you know Ero-Ossan or Azazel has the Host of the Vanishing Dragon, Albion with him."

Sirzechs nodded.

"As for me I have the Welsh Dragon, Ddraig." Michael rubbed his right arm, "Before meeting him I met the Ero-Ossan who started to play with me when I was just 11 years old. One day, he promised me that he would next time bring a friend to play with me. But actually when he brought out the kid the next day I met the Host of the Vanishing Dragon fully unaware of it. As we started off disliking each other to eventually growing to be rivals ourselves. We never looked eye to eye but somehow we got along. Just like our dragons, we're basically opposites of each other as he was so much better at everything while I couldn't compete with him but did anyways just to stick it in his face."

"I see." Sirzechs rubbed his chin.

"But no matter how much I tried I never won a single thing against the other kid." Michael scratched his head, "Though that doesn't mean I never had a tie with him over these." Michael picked up a pair his goggles and looked at them, "We both wanted it so much but couldn't find a compromise until he decided we fight for it. Through that fight we beat each other until we were blue until neither of us could go on well just me… but I was able to wear him down to where he couldn't go on." Michael put down the goggles and continued.

"So then how did you receive the goggles in the end?" Sirzechs asked.

Michael's face grew to that of anger and growled, "The bastard surrendered them to me because he didn't want to tie with some 'Loser' like me and just when I thought of myself as his equal! Chi!"

"Hahaha…so I guess you were unsatisfied with the way you won." Sirzechs gave a bitter smile

"It wasn't a win it was tie no matter how you looked at it. It was the way I won that I hate. I won't accept a half assed win because some guy didn't want to be seen as my equal." Michael crossed his arms then smiled, "Which is why I have another chance to redeem myself and beat." Michael groaned.

"Do you not believe you can win?" Sirzechs questioned.

"No, but I don't know if I'll lose either it's like my body is anxious while it's not hoping to end its anxiousness at all." Michael looked at his shaking hands as he remembers back to the Scale Mail version of Divine Dividing.

Michael looked over to Sirzechs and said, "Sorry for talking for so much, Aniki, I kind of had to get that off my chest."

"It's nothing, I'm just glad that you wish to entrust something very important to me." Sirzechs lightly laughed.

"Yeah, so please keep it between us because I really don't want everyone to know of this." Michael bowed his head.

"It's fine, Michael-kun, I already gave you my trust, I'll be sure to keep this between us."

"Haiiiih…Thanks." Michael sighed and fell back in his futon as Sirzechs followed as well.

"Say, Aniki?" Michael said drowsily.

"What is it Michael-kun?" Sirzechs asked.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure it will be fair trade since you told me your secret."

"When fighting Kokabiel I heard him say something about a  **Hunter** do you know who that is?" Michael yawned.

Sirzechs opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling seriously, "I'm sorry, Michael-kun but that's something not even I alone have permission to answer."

Michael turned his head to look at Sirzechs still looking at the ceiling seriously, but this time his eyes were cold. Michael knew he would freeze if that stare was directed at him.

"Okay, sorry for bugging you." Michael closed his eyes and went to bed as Sirzechs still kept his stare towards the ceiling before looking back at the sleeping Michael and sighing,

"I alone can't give you that answer, but Kai alone can give you it himself." Sirzechs sighed before going to bed himself.

About 3 hours later…

***CHILLS~!***

Michael gasped as he sat up and looked around his dark apartment quickly before realizing that the chills appeared because something or someone was close by to him.

"Ddraig, could that be?" Michael asked.

**[Indeed, Partner, I can sense his presence too. It appears he let himself be detected in the area.]**

"…Then let's not be rude shall we and get to him since he went through all the trouble to let himself be found." Michael stood up and went to get ready.

In the morning, it was about 6 a.m. as a uniformed Michael walked down the road to school alone. As everyone else was still asleep or just now waking up to prepare for school. The reason Michael woke up early was because he sensed something enter the area and he knew it was having a strong effect on his disguised dragon arm.

Michael left a note of telling everyone where, he went just to lessen the anger of the girls who would soon awaken.

He followed the source of power to Kuoh Academy as he held his book bag over his shoulder.

"Man, to think I came to school early this time because of some other force compelling me." Michael sighed, "I really could have used this power before if it means I can wake up before everyone and look like the star student or a just a regular tardy less student at least."

Walking onto the bridge and stopped on the left side of it as he said, "Come out you, jackass, you already revealed yourself in the area so it's pointless to hide now."

***Footsteps!***

"Hiding?" A voice said.

Turning around, Michael looked ahead to see a smirking handsome young man with dark silver hair and ice blue eyes that are often shown as to be rimmed with a light ultramarine. He is wearing a dark green V-neck shirt with a high-collared black leather jacket over it. He also wears burgundy jeans with a silver chain drooping down over them and black leather chaps with three bands encircling his right calf, and wears black shoes with black buckles.

"Now why would I hide from such a loser like you...?" The man kept his smirk as he put both of his hands in his pocket as he stood on the right side of the bridge.

"So it was you, Vali." Michael's body started to emit a strong red aura.

"Hmph." Vali started to emit a stronger white aura to surround his body.

The time these two will fight is closely approaching.

***WOOOOSH!***

A strong wind blew against both Dragon Possessors as they glared at each other.

* * *

**Next Chapter- Red vs. White Round 1 and Open House Madness!**


	22. Red vs. White Round 1, and Open House Madness!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [WARNING]: THERE HAVE BEEN SIGHTINGS OF A LEMON SCENE IN THIS CHAPTER! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

**Red vs. White Round 1, and Open House Madness!**

* * *

In front of the Academy gates stood Michael and Vali staring each other down as their auras lightly clashed against one another.

"It's been a while, Michael Hanamura or should I now call you the, Red Dragon Emperor?" Vali said.

"Yeah, it has and about 5 years too hasn't it, Vali, or should I call you, White Dragon Emperor." Michael nodded and points at himself with his thumb, "And don't forget that I'm the Great Michael Hanamura emphasis on the Great part."

Ignoring Michael's finishing sentence, Vali continued,

"Yes, those 5 years have been long, haven't they, but I can tell that during those years there have been certain changes happening, wouldn't you agree?" Vali smirked.

"Yeah, you can say that." Michael then thrusts his fist forward and grins, "Like how I've powered up since we were kids!"

Vali lightly chuckles as Michael was confused.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I can't say that your change hasn't been impressive, it's just that I believe your growth is no match against mine because," Vali crossed his arms, "You're still that little loser, who couldn't even win a single thing against me."

Michael's head grew red like a steam whistle as a visible whistle was heard coming out his ears along with smoke.

"You bastard! Stop thinking you're still better than me!" Michael growled.

"Why should I? It's the truth after all." Vali turned to the side and leaned against the side of the bridge railings.

**[Is it me, or do I feel a sudden tone shift right now?] Ddraig brought up.**

**{You noticed too.} Albion asked.**

"No, it's not and I, The Great Hanamura, will prove it to you by saying this!" Michael shouted then laughed, "We're equals now since us both can attain Balance Breaker, so that means we're not separated by a power difference at all!"

"Just because you attained Balance Breaker doesn't mean anything. When it comes to overall strength you still fail to compare with me, stupid loser." Vali groaned, "And besides…"

Michael gave Vali an annoyed look,

_'There he goes again saying stuff to piss me off!'_

"You can't even use your Balance Breaker without injuring yourself can you?"

"...!" Michael's eyes widened.

"Why are you so surprised? I can obviously tell by that cast you're wearing." Vali points at Michael's broken arm.

_'How can he…?' Michael grunts and held his cast cautiously._

"Also, the dragon aura that's radiating from it is hard to miss, you know." Vali could see Michael's broken arm releasing a large amount of unused dragon aura, "You should really take care of that, or more enemies like Kokabiel will be attracted to it, and rip you apart, but I'm just telling you on a whim. I could care less if some random threat killed you."

"What? My arm's been doing that?" Michael gasped.

"How interesting for you to be able to use Balance Breaker, and cause pain on yourself just by unleashing too much of the Dragon's Power within you. Too much of that should obviously break your body. It's amazing that you're still alive right now. Amazing indeed." Vali takes a single step forward and disappears.

"Wait, what!?" Michael gasped and looked around, "Where did he go?"

_'I can't see him at all, how fast is he?' Michael panicked._

"Why so startled? I'm standing right in front of you, Hanamura."

Michael snaps his head forward to see Vali pointing his finger only inches away from Michael's face.

"How careless, you let your guard down." Vali smirked.

"Ngh! Why you...! Ergh!"

**THUMP! THUMP!**

Michael grabbed his right arm in pain as it was reacting to something.

_'What the hell? Why is it doing that?' Michael grabbed his wrist._

**_[Partner, look at his finger. He's covering it with magic!]_ **

_'Magic?' Michael looked up at Vali's finger to see a faint amount of white aura surrounding it._

"I barely used even a third of my speed, and you weren't able to catch me walk up to you and do this? Again, how pathetic." Vali shook his head.

"Shut up!" Michael smacked away Vali's hand and jumps back.

"Haha! How boring, yet funny." Vali let out a small laugh, "To think that the same loser I came to beat time and time again would be my Eternal Riv-. No, I believe that title is a privilege for someone of a higher skill. How about Eternal Nuisance? Yes, that fits you quite nicely, Hanamura."

"Nuisance!?" Michael clenched his shaking fist in anger, "I'll have you know that I took out Kokabiel by myself you, prick!"

Vali shrugs,

"What you did back there with Kokabiel was impressive, but that was only because there was a certain atmosphere around you to draw out that power." Vali explained, "But the way that you are now, I highly doubt that you can beat even Kokabiel alone. Thus, leading us back to where we started 'you're not strong enough to beat me.' We can go on and on about this stuff, but it will only lead to this truth every time."

"Grrr!" Michael bit his lower lip in anger,  _'Well, I guess using that Kokabiel gloat won't matter now!'_

**_[Yeah, your emotions drastically determine your strength alone, but your base strength right now is nowhere to what it was back then.]_ **

_'Really…? This is just killing my mood now, but I still have something which means something.' Michael smiled and grabbed his goggles._

"You may bring up good points, but you still forgot something." Michael takes off his goggles and shows them to Vali, "This."

"And those are…?" Vali was confused by that statement.

"Don't play freaking dumb! Y You know what these are you, bastard!" Michael growled, "This is the prize we fought over when we were kids, and we had to fight with everything we got to win it, but in the end we both couldn't go on so we had a tie!"

"I still don't follow you." Vali wasn't even interested in the topic.

"Well, let me spell it out to you then!" Michael shouted, "We had a tie, so we're EQUALS, dumbass!"

Suddenly realizing something, Vali said,

"Oh, so you mean that?"

"Yeah." Michael nodded.

"…That was the first time that I admitted defeat because I lost interest, so I guess you did win something." Vali sighed as his face looked blank.

"Win something?" Michael was surprised, he never heard the guy ever say that before. Hearing this made Michael furious inside as he knew the true outcome of that fight was a draw not a win handed to him because that bastard was bored.

"Yes, I realized something as trivial as those things are not worth fighting for, so I just gave them up. You should be happy that you at least won something against me." Vali smirked.

Michael clenched his fist as he growled, "I didn't win anything! It was a tie!"

"Hm, a tie? No, why would I ever be in the same place as you? It's just ridiculous." Vali shook his head as a smirk grew on his face, as for Michael the teen was seething with anger as he clenched his fist.

"Ridiculous?" Michael growled quietly as he lunges at Vali and screams, "Screw you!"

"Oh my, look whose getting mad." Vali disappears once more as Michael's punch missed him.

"How did he-?" Michael gasped looking back and forth.

"Behind you."

Michael whips his head around to see Vali standing with his arms crossed.

_'How fast is this guy?' Michael gasped._

"What's wrong? You finally get the big picture yet, Hanamura?" Vali crossed his arms.

"Shut up you, jerkwad!" Michael spins around and jumps after Vali while firing a speedy barrage of fists.

**WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!**

Vali moves his head from left to right to dodge the attacks.

_'How is he dodging my punches? I'm hitting with all I got!' Michael growled._

"Is this all you got? Boring…" Vali said with a smirk knowing it will enrage Michael.

"Oh, yeah? Is this boring?" Michael stopped his punches to kick the silver haired teen who jumps over the kick along with Michael and lands behind him.

"Yep, still boring." Vali nodded.

"You, son of a..." Michael growled as he turns around to confront Vali once more, "Why aren't you hitting back?"

"Because I have no desire to fight with you right now because I was just sightseeing around the area." Vali explained, "Also, why should I give you the satisfaction of a fight in public?"

"So, it still doesn't mean you can't at least hit me back!" Michael shouted as he cocks his fist back.

**_[Michael, wait! If you just go in and attack him, he'll just continue to dodge your attacks. His speed compared to yours is on another level; if you want to get a hit in then you must take him off guard.]_ **

_'I know that, but that's why I'm going to try something different.' Michael covered his right fist in Touki and charged at Vali._

"You're seriously going to continue with this?" Vali sighed and prepared himself to dodge.

"Yeah you, dishrag! Now suck on this!" Michael fired his left fist forward and tried to hit Vali who jumps over Michael and smirks,

"See, still the same result." Vali then gasped as he saw Michael's upper body twist around as his touki clad right arm was about ready to attack.

_'Is that!?' Vali gasped._

**"Hanamura-!"** Michael thrusts his right palm out and fired a sharp wave of air at Vali,  **"Palm!"**

***FWOOSH!***

"..." Vali had on a serious face as his cheek received a small cut when he lands.

"Hah, I got you!" Michael grinned, "What do you think of that?"

Trickling with blood, Vali wiped his cheek clean and looked at Michael with a small smile, "How impressive. I never expected that you can use such power. Maybe I can indulge myself in fighting you for a bit."

"Finally." Michael grew ready in a stance eager to fight his rival only to find out he'll soon regret his action.

Placing his hand out, Vali fires a large white Magic Bullet at Michael.

***BANG!***

"Guh!" Michael covered his body in a medium sized cloak of Touki, the cloak was able to protect him from only half of the bullet's attack, but the damage that he received was a little too much for him.

_'Damn, that still hurts. Even with the Touki aura protecting me.' Michael grunts then takes this chance to charge at Vali and begin another assault._

**"Hanamura Rush!"**

"Oryaaaaaaaaaaah!" Michael fired another barrage of punches at Vali with his Touki clad fists.

But guarding it with his arms, Vali simply stared at Michael with an entertained smirk.

"Hanamura Rush? Really? It's such a cliché thing to call an attack after your name!" Vali snickered.

"Shut up! You don't tell me how to name my thing, and I don't tell you how to name yours!" Michael growled as he continues to pummel Vali who successfully blocks each attack with ease.

"So, you can use touki, huh? That's interesting, but far from challenging." Vali stands straight as he exhales, "Sure it may increase your overall physical abilities but by reading your aura it's way too easy to predict your next move such as..."

Vali takes a jump back to avoid Michael's final punch to the gut, "Your plan to distract me with punches to the upper body before you take advantage and hit me in the abdomen."

"Crap!" Michael growled as he was stuck in the motion to punch forward.

"Now it's my turn to attack."

***BAM!***

Vali jumps up and slams his foot against Michael's chin with unbelievable strength.

"Guargh!"

***THUD!***

Michael coughs up in pain as he was sent spiraling back to the other side of the bridge.

Rubbing his chin in pain, Michael thought,  _'That was close. If I didn't use Touki, then my jaw would have been knocked clean off!'_

"What's the matter? Are you already in pain, I thought that I held back a little. But I guess if I want to keep you unscathed, then I'll just have to play around with you a bit then you, weak loser." Vali mocked.

_'Weak loser!?' Michael growled as he stood up._

"That's it! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Michael lunges at Vali who laughs in self-enjoyment and readies his fists.

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

The two engaged in hand to hand combat as Michael was dishing out strong punches which were easily dodged by Vali with his superior speed. Vali dished out faster, strong hits against Michael with ease as Michael wasn't able to block all of them and started to grow exhausted with the close-range fighting as he was the only one receiving damage.

"What's wrong, are you getting tired?" Vali fired a punch at Michael's gut and forced the boy to cough out a small amount of blood.

"No way!" Michael shook his head and leaned into the punches while cocking his fist back.

"Have you lost your mind? I guess so because a normal person wouldn't walk into an attack like you are now." Vali continued his assault.

"Of course I'm not normal because I'm the Great Michael Hanamura!" Michael growled as he took more of the punches.

"That's not what I me-." Vali quickly dodges Michael's left fist coming at him by ducking right, "Tch! Nice try, I dodged most of your punches before. What makes you think I will get hit by-?"

***GRAB!***

Using the hand that missed, Michael grabbed Vali by the shoulder of his jacket and pulled him closer.

_'What?' Vali's eyes widened._

**_[Brilliant, you used your first attack as a distraction to get closer.]_ **

"If I can't catch you, then I'll make sure you can't run!" Michael then coats his entire fist with a large amount of Touki.

_'If I use Touki around my body and put it into my fist, then I can pay him back for all those hits!'_

"This is gonna hurt!"

***BAM!***

***BANG!***

***THUD!***

Michael goes in and gives a straight punch against Vali's face then uses the back of his fist to send Vali hurling back into the ground.

Panting to himself, Michael was just now starting to feel Vali's attacks take effect on him.

"So...? How do you like that?" Michael panted.

Sitting up, Vali looks to his bruised cheek as a trickle of blood went down his lips.

"Impressive, using your power in one point, then making sure I wouldn't dodge. You are truly making this exciting." Vali stood up.

"If you think that's impressive, then just wait as I show you everything I got!" Michael punched his open palm.

"Everything you got, huh?" Vali wiped the blood off and smirked, "That sounds exciting, but if you're going to do that, then maybe...I should at least try just a little."

Vali opens both his hands as he inhales and exhales, "...Albion."

**{Understood.}**

_'Wait, what are they doi-Holy Crap!" Michael gasped as he suddenly felt rising power from Vali._

Expelling out of Vali's body was an immense surge of dragon power which covered his entire body as white dragon like markings etched onto his face and arms.

**"Vanishing Drive."**

_'What the hell is this?' Michael gasped as he self-consciously got in a defensive stance, 'His power suddenly rose!'_

**_[It seems Albion's Host has accepted the past sins of his predecessors of the Divine Diving.] Ddraig said._ **

_'Wait, Ddraig, what does that mean?' Michael asked trying to gain more information on Vali._

**_[That technique is an ability used by Users of the Divine Dividing they can use and draw out 50% of the Dragon power used in their Balance Breaker to improve their overall status in base form.]_ **

_'Amazing, power like that can be used without Balance Breaker?' Michael gasped._

"Now let's get started again." Vali said as he suddenly vanishes from sight.

"What?" Michael exclaimed as he suddenly lost sight of Vali,  _'What the hell? I can't even sense his aura too!'_

"You should look to your right..."

A voice warned as Michael grew irritated by this.

"You bastard, come out and fight me like a m-!"

***BAM!***

"Uuurgh!"

Appearing out of nowhere, Vali executes a perfect uppercut on Michael's chin.

"What's the matter, Hanamura, you can't keep up?" Vali lightly chuckles before vanishing once more.

"How is he-!"

***BAM!***

"Aargh!"

***BAM!***

"Guagh..!"

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

***BAM!***

In the air, Michael was getting pummeled around by Vali, who was appearing and vanishing which each hit that he landed on Michael. The poor teen was sent flying in random directions like a pinball in a pinball machine.

"Come on, you have to do better than that." Vali taunted as he locked both his hands above his head.

"Damn you..." Michael growled.

***CRASH!***

Finished with the attack, Vali sent Michael crashing into the ground.

_'I swear to ass that I'm going to kick your God.' Michael thought._

"..." Michael wasn't moving at all after receiving hits like that.

"Hmph." Vali suddenly appears on the bridge railing over Michael and crossed his arms, "How disappointing. You're done already? Maybe I overestimated you loser because I barely placed any effort into attacking you."

Nudging his body around, Michael mumbled,

"..ra..n...ot."

"What was that?" Vali asked curiously.

"Dr...on...hot." Michael's mumbling was starting to grow clear.

"Maybe I hit him too hard as to where he lost the ability to form words." Vali murmured to himself.

Getting up real fast, Michael growled and raises his hand which was pointed forward to look like a gun at Vali as he growled, "I said...!"

"..!" Vali himself was amazed as he saw a softball sized sphere of demonic power floating over Michael's finger.

**"Dragon Shot!"**

***DOOOOOOON!***

Firing at Point Blank Range, Michael's large beam engulfed Vali completely and went up into the sky and vanished, he was glad that it was pointed towards the sky or it might have damaged the school. He already had issues with his own Club President as it is he didn't need another one disciplining him.

"Haha! How do you like that, huh, you bastard!" Michael panted as he shakes his partially bleeding finger in pain,  _'Using the Dragon Power to boost the kick in my Dragon Shot should've made it so that it at least made the guy roll over in pain.'_

"I'd say that was an impressive display of power you just showed, but you still missed." Vali said as he appeared behind Michael with a smug smile.

"Uh... well, that was just the tip of the iceberg you fool because the next attack I, The Great Hanamura will fire at you won't be so pleasant! It will bring terror down upon you and cause reality to fall up-!"

"You didn't expect me to dodge that, did you?"

"Um...Nooo!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..Yeah..." Michael looked down in shame before looking up and glaring at Vali, "But that still doesn't mean I'm done yet because starting right now I'll prove that I'm your equal, Boosted Gear!"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

Michael summoned the Boosted Gear and pointed it at Vali.

"How exciting are you really that serious?" Vali gave an amused laugh.

"Of course I am because nothing and I mean nothing will stop me from kicking your ass!" Michael growled.

"Hello, Michael." Rias said from behind the boy.

"Oh, hello Buchou and good morning." Michael turned back and nodded happily before turning back to Vali, "And I mean nothing will-!"

Michael looks back to Rias to see that it was actually her accompanied by everyone from the Club.

"Oh..." Michael shoulders slumped down as he could feel Rias' stern stare towards him.

"Michael-sama and Vali-sama?" Raynare said upon realization.

_'Wait, she knows Vali?' Michael gasped._

**_[She was once a part of the Grigori so it's understandable that she would know. And since you never asked it's actually your fault.]_ **

_'You're not helping.'_

**_[Who said I wanted to help?]_ **

Walking past Michael, Rias whispered, "We'll talk about you going off on your own later."

_'Oh, no! I'm in deep trouble!' Michael gulped._

"White Dragon Emperor." Rias had on a serious face when facing Vali, "What are you trying to do? If you are working with the likes of the Fallen Angels, then we won't stand for you causing trouble for us."

"Hmph! Cause trouble? You must be mistaken, I was just out for a walk before your loser servant assaulted me." Vali reverts back to normal as Michael looked at that form with interest.

_'I wonder, how he did that, and can I do that, too?' Michael thought in interest._

"Michael-san, are you okay?" Asia rushed over to Michael and healed his broken finger and bruises.

Turning his attention back to Michael, Vali said, "Hanamura as you are now how would you rank yourself?"

"Me?" Michael points at himself.

"Taking into consideration of your current Balance Breaker form, you could be between 500 to 550. No, if you were control that power you gain under some circumstances then maybe you would be higher maybe as a two-digit number." Vali contemplated.

"Two-digit number? Hah! You must be joking!" Michael laughed, "Because I'm going to reach number one as soon as I become Maou! You can bet on it!"

"To become a Maou? That's your goal, interesting. Well, Rias Gremory, I must say that he is a valuable existence wouldn't you agree?" Vali shrugged, but continued, "The Welsh Dragon and the Vanishing Dragon called the Heavenly Dragons. People involved with the Red and White Dragons in the past haven't lived the best of lives. I wonder how your life will turn out."

"You bastard, what does that mean!?" Michael shouted.

"Michael, stand down." Rias said firmly.

Michael stopped to look at Rias as she meant more business than usual.

_'She seems serious. Maybe I should just listen to what she says.' Michael backed down._

Still keeping up a serious face, Rias remained calm.

"I didn't come here to settle our destined fight." Vali walked past the Gremory Group and into town, "Not yet, but not later. Who knows maybe I'll do it when you all least expect it."

_'That bastard's just making this complicated. Wait, what was...?' Michael growled then gasped as he swore he could've noticed Vali sending him a threatening stare which could be translated to 'This isn't over'._

"Well, I'm off to do what I actually came out to do, sight see around this town." Vali sighed as he entered town, "I'm a busy person, so breaks like this are hard to come by. See you."

_'Man, the Buchou was really giving it her "A" game when she stood up to Vali. She's amazing.' Michael looked at Rias in amazement before she grabbed his hand._

"Buchou..." Michael was surprised until he noticed something, her hand was covered in sweat,  _'E-Even the Buchou was nervous, wow, maybe me holding a dragon will really attract strong people and if what Vali said was true then...'_

Later in class, Michael was laying his head down on his desk as he enjoyed his free period, After the Vali issue, Michael was healed by Asia and was given a strict disciplining from Rias which she said will continue after school. Now wearing his goggles off of his head and around his neck.

_'Geez, Buchou's really going to lay it into me after school, and since Aniki and Grayfia-san are going to their hotel and Asia with Ray-chan are going shopping later, then I can't expect an easy disciplining, now can I?' Michael groaned as his mood was turning sour,_

_'And also, that bastard Vali tried to play it off like these damn goggles don't mean anything while they do! I swear the next time that I see him, I'm going to kick his ass to prove that I'm his equal.'_

_Suddenly Vali's last comment got to Michael, 'But what he said before he left, was it true? Have I indirectly been causing so much harm to Buchou and everyone?' Michael could remember Kokabiel's big reveal about God's death towards Asia and couldn't start to feel guilty about it if it was really his fault._

Suddenly two shadows loomed over Michael.

"Hm?" Michael looked up to see both Matsuda and Motohama punching at the boy's face.

"Michael, you bastard!"

"Not now!" Michael growled in irritation as he was quick to grab their fists, "I don't have the time or the patience to mess with you guys, so would you just get straight to the point?"

"Well, Well, Well! Look who's all tired after almost having their way with the new foreign student, Xenovia." Matsuda sneered.

"Look guys if it's about another girl, I already told you it's not them it's yo-. Wait, what did you just say?" Michael said lazily before picking up his head.

"We all know how the Occult Club has Xenovia Quarta as a new member, and we also received some deets from the VVV that you went swimming with all of those beautiful Bishoujos!" Motohama adjusted his glasses in anger.

"Okay, how do you know all of this, and how do you know that I almost had my way with Xenovia?" Michael asked in shock.

"Hehe! You underestimate us, we have secret cameras installed in every possible lewd place in the school." Matsuda grinned lecherously.

"Yeah, there isn't a place you can hide from us." Motohama chuckled.

_'Wait, if they saw that footage, then wouldn't that mean they saw Buchou and Akeno-senpai fighting with their demonic power?'_

"But something strange always happens whenever we take footage of you with your club. Either the words you all say get hard to understand, or something destroys the camera right then and there." Matsuda rubbed his chin.

_'Yep, that will do it.' Michael sighed._

Suddenly popping up was Raynare, who gave Matsuda and Motohama a suspicious/scary glare,

"You idiots aren't doing anything to disturb Michael-sama are you?"

Both boys hugged each other in fear as they looked at Raynare's intimidating violet eyes.

"Everything is fine, Ray-chan, don't worry." Michael smiled and gave a reassuring wave.

"Okay, Michael-sama, I'll leave these two idiots to you then, but if they cause you any trouble make sure to call me, okay?" Raynare pulled out a metal pen and showed it to the Perverted Duo before…

***SNAP!***

She broke the pen in half like it was nothing which frightened the two boys even earning a girlish 'Kya~!' from Motohama before walking off.

_'Ray-chan sure has been protective of me ever since the Vali thing. Maybe she feels partly responsible for not telling me she knew of Vali earlier?'_

"So, tell us Michael. Have you any interest on making a move on Xenovia after what you did?" Matsuda said while leaning onto Michael's desk.

Michael remembered Xenovia's last attempt of trying to have sex with him and make babies.

_'If I ever want to avoid being a Teen Father then I must take any precaution.' Michael sweatdropped._

"No way. If you're that interested, then have at her because it's not like she wanted to have my kids or anything if that's what you're implying." Michael crossed.

"We didn't say anything about kids." The Perverted duo shook their heads clueless to what Michael was saying.

"Well good because there isn't anything involving kids!" Michael shouted.

"Michael, why are you acting strange." Motohama asked.

"That's not what your mom said last night, four-eyes!" Michael stood up and slammed his hands on the table.

"...Damn, dude. Don't you think that was a little too far?" Matsuda's eyebrows raised.

"Aw, geez, sorry! I didn't mean to." Michael looked away.

"And my mom's getting a divorce with my dad this month, too." Motohama looked away while cleaning his glasses.

"Oh, my goodness! I am so sorry." Michael covered his mouth in shame.

"Well, somebody has to." Motohama sighed.

"Michael."

***PAT!***

"Whoa, hey! Could you freaking not!"

Xenovia said while suddenly appearing behind Michael who felt an uncomfortable feeling on his bottom.

"I just came to apologize about what happened the other day."

"Well, maybe you can start by not touching my ass!" Michael growled with a red face.

"Hm? Did I not do that right, or was it you, who was supposed to do that to me when we greet each other." Xenovia placed a hand on her chin and thought.

"What are you talking abo- ? Wait, I don't want to know just tell me why you're here." Michael sighed.

"I just came to apologize for springing that up on you the other day." Xenovia said while Matsuda and Motohama looked at Michael with suspicious glares.

"Oh, that well…" Michael walked over to Xenovia and slung an arm over her shoulder and brought her close and whispered, "Let's just forget the whole thing never happened, okay?"

"Understood, which is why I suggest we talk about something else instead." Xenovia said pulling away from Michael.

"And what could that be?" Michael raised an eyebrow.

"Practice." Xenovia raised her hand and revealed a pack of no a packet of Condoms!

"It seems that we were ill prepared before which is why we should start practicing right away." Xenovia was starting to show that her bluntness was way beyond typical blunt guys like Michael as she said that out loud for almost the entire class to hear.

"WHAT!?" Michael and the Perverted Duo screamed.

"Why the hell do you have those?" Michael exclaimed.

Walking up to the group was Asia, who looked at the colorful condoms in curiosity as she said,

"Xenovia-san, what are those in your hand? They look pretty." Asia asked.

"Oh, Asia your living with Michael, so I should believe this would suffice for you, too." Xenovia handed Asia one of the wrapped items.

"Oi! Don't just say that and give it to her!" Michael could already feel the jealous stares from the guys in the classroom and the frightened stares of the females who were now scooting away from his side of the classroom.

"Huh?" Asia looked at the condom in confusion, "Thank you…very much…"

"What's that? Michael causing trouble again?" Kiryuu popped up by Asia's side out of nowhere.

"Oh no, not you right now! Go away! Scat! Shoo! Begone, witch!" Michael tried to shoo away Kiryuu who rolled her eyes and focused on Asia's question:

"Kiryuu-san, what is this?" Asia showed Kiryuu the condom.

"Oh, this is…" Kiryuu began to whisper while Michael took out one of his notebooks and began to roll them up as Kiryuu continued, "You do this and that…when you do  _that."_

Turning red, Asia gasps, "Really?"

"Mmm-hmmm, now isn't that right, Micha-?"

***PAN!***

Michael smacked Kiryuu over the head with his rolled-up notebook and said, "Your corrupting Asia's mind! Please stop."

"Geez…you really are a beast! Aren't you hitting an innocent girl for no reason." Kiryuu rubbed her head and grinned lecherously.

"Okay, first off, innocent? Don't lie from your fucking teeth, and second, hitting you just because is good enough of reason right, guys?" Michael turned back to Motohama and Matsuda who held rolled up notebooks also as they were about to hit Michael with them.

"…Yes…" The pair trailed off.

"Grrr!" Michael grew a tick mark on his forehead as he rolled up his notebook even more and-

***PAN!* *PAN!***

Sitting in the seiza position were both Matsuda and Motohama with huge bumps on their heads.

"Dammit! I can't let my guard down here, can't I?" Michael groaned.

"M-Michael-san?" Asia approached Michael with a red face and said, "Are you really interested in things like this?" Asia gave Michael a look of question and almost seriousness.

_'Crap! Now Asia's starting to take interest in this!' Michael gasped._

Placing his hands on the girl's shoulder, Michael shook his head, "Asia, you can't think like this, alright?"

"Eh?" Asia tilts her head.

_'Good, she gave a cute look of question but continuing could maybe help in the future later.' Michael thought, but before he can tell his opinion Xenovia interrupted and said,_

"So, Michael when would you like to discuss our plans for intercourse?" Xenovia revealed all her packets of condoms once more.

"Tch!" Michael gritted his teeth in annoyance, "You!"

***PAN!***

Xenovia winced in pain as Michael smacked her over the head with his notebook as he took away all her packets.

"That's enough out of you!" Michael growled as he started to walk out of the classroom as most of the students near the doorway watched Michael in fear.

"What are you looking at!?" Michael spat as he wasn't in the best of moods.

"Run the "Beast" Hanamura is pissed!" The students cried and ran away in different directions.

"Chi! How annoying! First, I have to deal with school now this crap what else is next…" Michael made a noise with his tongue before he mumbled in anger as he walks down the hallway with both his hands in his pocket.

"I wonder what crawled up his butt and died." Kiryuu crossed her arms.

"What happened here?" Raynare walked to the group while looking at the steamed Michael walk away.

"M-Michael-san left and now he's angry." Asia had teary eyes and sniffled, "Do you think it was something I did to make him mad?"

"No, Asia, you shouldn't worry! He's just being a jerk." Kiryuu placed a hand on Asia's shoulder and smiled.

"He took all of them." Xenovia sighed as she finished rubbing her head, but almost out of nowhere she pulled out another five condoms, "Which is why I'm glad I bought an entire box just in case."

"Xenovia were you hounding Michael-sama with such things again?" Raynare's hair covered her eyes as she approached the girl.

"Yes, I was hoping he would practice with me before we got serious why?"

"You…" Raynare growled before she revealed her blushing face as she asks, "Do you mind if I have at least 3 of them?"

"No, not at all. Here."

"Thanks…"

Xenovia handed Raynare the amount she wanted.

"DAMMIT MICHAEL! WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE YOU!?" Matsuda and Motohama shouted and the top of their lungs.

Outside of school, Michael was walking down the school yard with a demonic aura covering him.

_'Man, that stupid Vali, I'll show him next time while figuring out how he did that Vanishing Dri-whatever it was.' Michael growled as he looks up to see 3 members of the VVV standing there to confront him while holding many blunted weapons._

"Michael Hanamura prepare to di-!"

"Okay, look. Normally, I would run away pissing my pants, but now is not a good time so would you be so kindly as to please fuck off." Michael said with half lidded eyes.

"Hah, like we'd ever do that you idiot!" One arrogant VVV member said.

"Wait, brothers let's stop." The tall VVV member lowered his weapon.

"What why?"

"Because my fellow chastity brothers he said "please"." The Tall VVV member led the other two away.

"Oh, dear god." The silent VVV member groaned.

"I hate you so much." The arrogant VVV member spat.

"That went easier than expected." Michael looked back at the members in surprise.

***SPLAT!***

"Aaugh!"

Getting nailed in the face with something cold Michael was knocked off his feet.

"What the hell?" Michael wiped his face off with his hand to notice someone just threw a ball of…snow?

"Shishishishi!" A little snicker was heard right in front of Michael.

"Who did this?" Michael growled as he focused his sight upwards to see the culprit.

It was a boy, who looked to be about 8 years old snickering he had white skin, black spikey bed hair and Violet eyes as he wore a long sleeved black turtleneck top with black shorts and white shoes as a brown furry belt was wrapped around his waist (Michael could have sworn he saw it twitch). Around the boy's neck was a necklace with the crest of the face of a gold and silver Jack Frost from Shin Megami Tensei.

"Beh! Look at the oaf on his rear end!" The boy mocked and stuck out his tongue.

"You brat…!" Michael growled.

"What's the matter? That all you can say, maybe I shouldn't have thrown that so close to your brain. It's already having trouble functioning as it is, so throwing it so close to your ears might make you brain dead!" The boy furthered his mocking by pulling down his eyelid.

"That's it, you just bought yourself a ticket to the Great Hanamura's ass kicking Caboose, twerp!" Michael growled as he lunged at the boy.

"Too slow, you fat oaf!" The boy jumped over Michael by using his head as a trampoline.

"Gugh!" Michael lands headfirst into the dirt.

"Come on, this is boring! Try to put a little more effort in your movements, slowpoke!" The boy teased as he started to run away.

"Slowpoke?" Michael grunts as he picks himself up, "Now you've done it kid because your ass is now grass!" Michael used all the strength in his speed to try and catch the boy.

Each time Michael grew close to catching him, he'd miss or the boy would just run even faster than he would imagine!

_'Just who is this kid and what is he doing here?' Michael panted._

"Haha! You're too slow~!" The boy laughed as he rushed into the outside locker room.

***SLAM!***

"Got you now, you little-!" Michael laughed as the boy just cornered himself in the locker room.

"Michael?" Saji said as he was watering the flowers nearby.

"Saji, what are you doing here?" Michael asked.

"Just watering the pansies is all." Saji said.

"If so, then why are you still dry?" Michael held in his laugh.

"*Inhales!* Okay, I'm going to let that one pass, and ask you what you're doing." Saji groaned.

"Well, there was this kid, who threw a snowball at me, so I chased him around the school to catch the little twerp and…!"

"Wait, snow? You do know we're still about to enter the summer, right?" Saji questioned.

"I know that but that kid just used a snowball on me. Wait right here I'll be right back and get the kid to confess he did it!" Michael grabbed the doorknob to the locker room and opened it.

"Wait, Michael that's the-!" Saji shouted.

"Whoops!" Michael gasped as he looked at the many half naked girls in the room with a look of shock. And the boy was there to be found either but that was the least of Michael's problems at this point.

"KYAAAAA!" The girls tried to cover themselves.

"It's the "Beast" Michael Hanamura!" The girls cried in fear.

"Girl's Locker room." Saji sighed.

"Kill him! Kill the beast!" The girls screamed as they changed into their kendo garb and brought out their bamboo swords.

"Oi! Wait, let me explain! This wasn't on purpose I mean it was because there was this kid who threw snow at me and-!" Michael tried to explain, but the looks of the pissed of girls meant that he couldn't really talk his way out of this which is why he just booked it and ran away.

"Get him!"

"Get revenge for the Great Onee-sama's and cut off his balls!"

The girls screamed as they chased after the boy.

"You got it all wrong it wasn't at all intentional!" Michael cried.

"I don't believe that was hard to not see coming." Saji sighed, "Poor bastard won't even make it until school is over…"

Continuing with watering the flowers, Saji simply breathed in and out,  _'But somehow he was able to make his master practically adore him, maybe I should try to play a few games of chess with Kaichou to at least get her to notice me a little.' Saji sighed, 'Yes, that sounds like a lot of fun actually when you think about it a lot more fun compared to those battle maniacs who are crazy to love fighting.'_

***Chills~!***

Shuddering as a creepy feeling went down his spine, Saji says, "Whoa, I just got a chill down my spine! I wonder what that was?"

From the other side of the locker room building was a man in green looking over his shoulder to stare at Saji as his silver eyes pierced through the oblivious teen before walking off.

"Saji-senpai!" Rushing towards him was Ruruko Nimura holding a bento box in hand.

"Oh, Nimura-chan, what's up?" Saji asked putting down his watering pail.

"Senpai I-I just wanted to give t-this to you for working so hard lately." Nimura blushed while handing Saji the bento box.

"Whoa, really? Thank you, Nimura-chan, I'll be sure to eat it with gusto!" Saji grinned, "In fact, it even smells good even when I haven't even opened it yet."

"You really think so?" Ruruko gasped in happiness, "Thank you, senpai, you have no idea how happy that makes me."

Patting his Kouhai while smiling Saji thought,  _'But there's also Nimura-chan who I can easily tell likes me I wonder what will happen if I date Kaichou while she still feels this way…no I can't think like that I have to at least be in a relationship before worrying about this.'_

"Gen-chan!"

"Huh?" Saji looks to his right to see his fellow second year and devil, Momo Hanakai approach him, "Momo-san?"

"You…" Nimura gave an unpleasant face as she glared at Momo.

"Hello, Gen-chan, how are you?" Momo smiled as she was holding a bottle of water.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Saji smiled.

"That's a relief, I was sure that you would have gotten heat stroke out here, so let me check your temperature." Momo got way too close to Saji and checked his temperature.

"Er…okay?" Saji was confused by this as Momo's face was close to his as her hand placed upon his forehead.

"Yes, it seems it's normal as always." Momo nodded before stepping back and handing Saji the bottle of water, "So here, I have some water to cool you off."

"Wow, thanks." Saji grabbed the water.

"Oh, Nimura-san, you were here. I didn't notice you there." Momo giggled then focused her attention back on Saji.

Nimura growled to herself as she clenched her fist in anger.

_'What is she planning?' Nimura thought._

_'I can't believe that I forgot about Momo-san, she also seems to be interested in me as well and I can't help but wonder how I can accept their feelings while I like Kaichou…' Saji easily opened the water which grasped his attention._

"It's open?" Saji asked.

"Ara ara, it is? I'm so sorry, Gen-chan. I sort of took a small sip without noticing earlier." Momo forced a look of guilt.

_'You…wait! You're trying to attempt the forbidden indirect kiss, aren't you, you little…' Ruruko's hands trembled in anger._

"Don't worry about it. It's still cold, so I'll drink it." Saji smiled and slowly placed the tip of the water bottle on his lips.

***SLAP!***

Slapping the bottle out of his hand, Ruruko gave a dark glare towards Momo.

"Nimura-chan what are you?" Saji said in confusion.

"It's not fair, Momo-senpai you're cheating." Nimura stared her senpai down.

"So? Nimura-san, you did something just as unfair as making Gen-chan lunch, so what's wrong with me doing something like this?" Momo placed her hands on her hips and looked down at her kouhai as sparks danced between the two's stare down.

"Um…you guys…" Saji sweatdropped as he stared at the two girls.

_'It's easy to tell when two girls are fighting over you. If someone who's involved doesn't get this then they're a complete moron.' Saji shook his head._

"ACHOO! What was that?" Michael sneezed as he stopped running to wipe his nose.

"Get him!" The girl cried out as they finally caught up to him.

"Wait, no! No! No! No! No! Aaaaaaaah!" Michael cried as he was getting smacked around by the many bamboo swords.

From atop of the locker room roof was the boy who messed around with Michael.

"Shishishishi! What a joke how could he not sense that I used an illusion to trick him like that!" The boy was on his back laughing his head off.

"I know right how hilarious." A voice chuckled.

"Yeah…huh?" The boy stopped laughing to look over his shoulder to see a smiling Kai with his arms crossed.

"Well, well, well, look who's out on their own making trouble, again." Kai's smile couldn't hide the dangerous amount of aura surrounding him.

"Papa…?" The boy gulped and tried to escape, but Kai suddenly grabbed the boy by his brown belt and pulled him back.

"You left yourself open by keeping this out." Kai held up the boy by the belt which wasn't actually a belt but a Monkey Tail!

"…Urp! I can't move, Papa, that's not fair! You know that I can't move when someone grabs my tail." The boy said with half lidded eyes as his strength was sapped.

"This is only your just desserts for leaving the Hotel by yourself without your mother knowing. Now come on, she's waiting for you to go back." Kai dropped the boy and pointed towards town.

"Geez…Aren't you at least coming yourself, Papa?" The boy rubbed his bottom in pain as he stood up.

"No, I'm busy right now so go run off now." Kai waved off.

"…It would be better if you can take me back yourself." The boy gave Kai a pout which begged for attention but Kai simply patted the boy's head.

"I'm sorry, son, but right now I still have some business to take care off right now." Kai gave the boy a sincere smile, "I promise next time that I'll spend time with you."

"Really, you swear?"

"Yes, now please hurry or else your mother will freak out again." Kai nodded.

"Okay!" The boy happily smiled and began to run off before turning back to look at the sad Michael who was getting beat up, "Papa, is that your student?"

"Sadly yes, why?" Kai asked.

"He doesn't seem that strong. Do you think he's stronger than me?" The boy asked.

"Oh no, your much, much stronger than him at this point, son. No competition at all~!" Kai laughed and waved his son goodbye.

(Later in the evening)

"ACHOO!" Michael sneezed as he entered his empty apartment while rubbing his nose, "Man, I've been sneezing the entire day, maybe someone is finally acknowledging me as the Great Hanamura and can't stop talking about me?"

Michael was covered in bruises as he got his ass kicked by the Kendo Club. He could hit back because they were girls and worst of all they were human girls so he didn't want to cause any more trouble so he took his beating like a boss.

"I guess Aniki and Grayfia-san left this morning." Michael dropped his bag and headed towards the bathroom as he takes off his clothes, "I'll see them at that conference or whatever, so I guess saying goodbye won't matter. And now since school is over, I can finally relax before Buchou lays it into me."

_'I still can't believe that jerk forgot about these goggles, I swear that the next time I see him, he'll regret it.' Michael growled._

In the bathroom, Michael sat in the bath tub while looking up at the ceiling with a blank expression, "Man, it's been a while since I've heard this place become so quiet."

_'And it's also been a while since Vali showed me up too, Gah! Why did I think that?' Michael scratched his head in frustration, 'And what was it he did when we fought on the bridge it looked really cool uh… I mean he looked cool because I let him but if I were to try then he would-uh…he would- you know what screw it doesn't matter at this point.'_

"It was hard to block his attacks as he kept popping out of nowhere and attacking me." Michael leaned back and sighed, "It was strange once he started disappearing so did his presence overall so it was hard to keep track of him."

_'And also Ddraig said something about him accepting the past sins of the old users of Divine Dividing so could that be how he got that power?'_

"Man, this is really starting to mess with my head. Damn that bastard for making me be in such a foul mood today!" Michael cried pitifully then said, "But what he said to Buchou earlier about how the Two Dragons cause only dismay and trouble for the people in their lives makes me wonder…"

Michael was lost in thought as he wondered if he is the reason why all of these terrifying powers were harming his friends like the Holy Swords and Kokabiel.

_'Could I be the reason why Buchou and the others have been put in constant danger?' Michael suddenly felt guilt go through him._

"No, I can't think like this… But if it's true though, then I guess I really am causing trouble for all of them." Michael kept reasoning with himself only to end up at the same conclusion.

***GACHA!***

"So it appears this is where you were." A familiar female voice said.

"B-Buchou!?" Michael screamed as he looked to his left to see his master entering the bathroom with her long crimson hair tied back as she wore nothing but a towel.

"What are you doing here!?" Michael turned to look the other way as Rias closes the door behind her and enters the bathroom.

"Eh? Isn't it obvious? I came in here to take a bath with you." Rias said while removing her towel to reveal her naked body underneath.

"A bath with me?" Michael gasped and looked back at her only to remind himself not to look at her naked form, he quickly closes his eyes and said, "But aren't you mad at me for what I did this morning?"

"Oh, I am; don't think I forget that, but I believe that scolding you in here…"

***SPLASH!***

"Whoa!" Michael gasped as Rias enters the bath tub and sits back onto his chest in between his legs.

"Will be more effective than doing it outside." Rias smiled.

_'Whoa, she's too close must escape!' Michael gulped as he tried to scoot himself back but was denied that action as he was already too close to the wall, 'If she gets any closer then she'll feel my…' Michael couldn't deny it but he was somewhat excited with the sudden contact of skinship with his master. But if they get a little too close then Rias would feel his 'little' soldier against her back._

"What's wrong, Michael, you don't like taking a bath with me?" Rias leaned back closer to Michael's ear.

"N-No, I think it's really good, I guess…" Michael muttered while looking away.

"That's good because I really wanted to take a bath with you for a while now." Rias turns and pressed her breasts against the side of Michael's chest.

"Y-You did?" Michael gulped as his face turned red.

"Yes, and just hearing you happily say that makes me happy." Rias giggles, "So how about if we take a bath like this every day?"

"Every day, but Buchou I don't think that I can handle something like this that many times." Michael shook his head.

"You don't? How sad and I was hoping that I could train your body steadily to get used to it a little quicker, but I guess we'll have to settle for at least 3 baths per week then." Rias pushed herself back against Michael even more.

_'Not good she's getting really close to touching my...!' Michael gulped while futilely pulling back._

Smiling teasingly, Rias simply lays her back against Michael's chest and sighs,

"It seems I've been hitting all the right spots all up to now, so I'll leave this alone for now and continue with why I wanted to talk to you."

_'Phew…I'm saved…' Michael sighed._

"Now tell me, Michael…" Rias turns back to give Michael a forced smile.

"Huh?"

**PIIIINCH!**

"Ouch! Ouch!" Michael winced in pain.

Pinching Michael's naked thigh while using the hot water which was softened Michael's skin, Rias said, "For whatever reason could you suddenly leave me like that without telling me first, hm?"

Michael could see that Rias was masking her anger with the smile since the pinch started to feel like it would rip off his skin.

"But I can't it's a secre-OUCH!" Michael cried as Rias' grip grew tighter.

"That's not what I want to hear. Start explaining." Rias' face turned serious.

"B-But I…ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

**PIIIIIIIINCH!**

Michael cried as Rias started pinching both of Michael's thighs at once.

"This will only continue if you don't tell me." Rias sighed.

"Buchou, I can, ouch! Explain, really it was just-ow! Something I did without thinkin-! Please stop it's really starting to hurt!" Michael cried pitifully under Rias' tightening pinch.

"I'll only stop once you tell me everything you know about the Vanishing Dragon, and why he sounded familiar with you." Rias said with a strict tone.

Quickly spilling out all he knew, Michael retold Rias about how he met Azazel and how Azazel introduced him to Vali, who at first didn't give Michael a second glance before ignoring him until the point to where they started to at least talk to each other in an antagonizing sort of fashion. He then went on to explain how the two have always competed to one up the other but the only one getting one upped was Michael as Vali was always talented with anything they fought or competed over.

Hearing that, Rias was able to understand Michael's impulsive reaction to not get left behind by anyone surpassing him much like Yuuto, who does his devil jobs more better than Michael who usually loses one client and suddenly gain one to eventually lose again in one week.

Michael then went on to finish about how they one day fought over the goggles he know wears and how they both got a tie to which Vali couldn't accept so he just gave the win over to Michael while disregarding the idea that their tie was a symbol that meant they were equals. To this day Michael wants to fight Vali and prove to him that he is his undeniable rival whether it be because of their dragons or not.

"So that's your story with the White Dragon Emperor…" Rias rubbed her chin.

"Yeah." Michael rubbed his pained thighs with teary eyes.

"It seems like your relationship with him could really only be described as a bond of rivals through your dragons." Rias said.

"That could be it, but I think it has to be with just us hosts by ourselves." Michael said.

"Pardon?" Rias was confused.

"I mean, yeah, I've sensed an urge to suddenly challenge Vali since I obtained the Boosted Gear, but I've always felt that way since I was a kid with the guy so I think it's something more special than that." Michael strangely had a smile on his face, he didn't know why himself but something about going up against Vali in a fight made him feel anxious and excited even if it would meant him losing most of the time.

"I see…" Rias looked at Michael with a worried face, "So do you believe that you can win against someone like him?"

"Well, this time… I don't know, usually, I would get myself pumped to think I wouldn't lose, but right now I think I stand less of a chance with a guy talented like that." Michael even gave a strange chuckle acting as if he was okay with that.

"If so, then I still believe you can win against the White Dragon Emperor." Rias said with a determined look as she stares back at Michael, "And I also believe you'll make a great Maou."

"Buchou…" Michael blinked in surprise.

"You're my precious servant, Michael, I must have faith in you because…" Rias suddenly blushed and tried to hide it from him, "Because if I do, then you'll be able to do things even I can't imagine."

"You really have that much faith in me?" Michael asked.

"Of course, I do. What master would I be if I didn't support my servant?" Rias suddenly felt Michael's arms wrap around her waist as he brought her closer to his chest.

"Thank you, Buchou that boosted my day!" Michael grinned happily letting his emotions get the better of him again before he thought of his actions.

"Y-Yes, you're welcome." Rias' face was completely red as she enjoyed the embrace of Michael's strong arms around her.

_'With Buchou's words of confidence I'm starting to get a glimpse of my own victory just you wait Vali!' Michael thought excitedly, 'Because I, The Great Hanamura will always get stronger to protect the ones he loves and-!'_

_Suddenly words from Vali popped up into his head:_

_"The Welsh Dragon and the Vanishing Dragon called the Heavenly Dragon. People involved with the Red and White Dragons in the past haven't lived the best of lives. I wonder how your life will turn out?"_

_'What he said before…' Michael looked down a little depressed at that._

"Buchou?" Michael said.

"Yes, what is wrong?" Rias was still a little embarrassed by Michael's sudden hug from behind.

"Are you happy that I became your Pawn?" Michael asked.

"What?" Rias was shocked at hearing that and answered, "Yes, I truly am. Why would you even ask that?"

"Because I've been thinking about what Vali said this morning to you and…"

"…" Rias stayed silent.

"What if I've been causing so much trouble for you all like with the Holy Swords and Kokabiel? I hold within myself a dragon that is a mass of power which attracts more power towards me, so wouldn't that cause you more trouble if I'm your servant?" Michael knew that he shouldn't talk this way but felt it was the truth.

"But Michael it's not your fault and because of those occurrences, and you being there actually helped us to grow more. Yuuto was able to get over his hatred and the possibility of a second war coming was stopped abruptly thanks to you."

"I know that, and it makes me happy, too, but what if I wasn't your servant and these things never happened because of that, then wouldn't you still be…"

Rias turns back to see Michael give a sad smile,

"Happy?"

"…!"

***SPLASH!***

Splashing around in the bath, Rias turns around and wraps her arms around Michael's neck and looked him in the eye while with sad teary eyes.

"No!" Rias shook her head rapidly causing her hair's knot to come undone, "That wouldn't make me happy at all!"

"Buchou!" Michael blinked in surprise at Rias' actions.

"If you weren't here, then I wouldn't be happy at all not in the slightest, Michael! You've helped me with so much that I can't imagine moving forward without you by my side!" Rias' Onee-san mask crumbled as she started to look like a girl her age.

"But…" Michael looked away.

"But nothing!" Rias shook her head, "You promised that you'd stay by my side and make sure I'm always happy didn't you? So please stop saying these things because they're not making me happy, not even the slightest!"

Rias continued, "Because you were with me I was able to avoid marriage with a guy that I absolutely detested! Because you're here right now, you were able to save Yuuto from eventually dying for revenge! You being here was able to make me realize that I…I-I!" Rias was crying as she tried to force out the words she needed to say.

"Buchou?" Michael looked at Rias with a look of disbelief as he never would have assumed that Rias a strong, independent devil would cry and say such things to him.

***CHU!***

Leaning forward and placing her lips over Michael's, Rias gave Michael a deep kiss which made Michael's heart pound faster as the kiss only grew more deeper as she twists her head to get a better angle for the kiss.

Breaking the kiss Rias looks Michael dead in the eye and says, "I love you, Michael."

"!" Michael's eyes widened,

_'Buchou loves me? So is this a confession? A real one? I've never had anyone say that to me before so it's hard for me to process!' Michael blinked in surprise as his heart kept beating faster, 'I don't know what to say in a situation like this but I can't just say nothing! And I think I've felt the same for Buchou too for a while since she's been so nice and caring towards me even before I became her servant.'_

_Rias was looking at Michael with the expectation for him to respond as Michael grinned, 'You know what enough thinking it's only going to hold me back now! And since I am the Great Hanamura I should just come out and say it!'_

"Buchou…" Michael looked up at Rias and gave her his usual grin and says, "I think, no, I believe I feel the same way about you, too."

"…You do?" Rias put on a bright expression starting to cheer up after hearing Michael's response

"Y-Yeah." With his cheeks turning red, Michael nodded as he sits up and grabs Rias by the shoulders and pulls her closer to him as he took the chance to make the first move for once as he covered Rias' lips with his own softly while reaching behind her and pulling her closer to his chest by the waist as their kiss deepens.

After realizing each other's feelings, the two couldn't stop, but further their deep kiss into a passionate French kiss as both their tongues met in the middle and danced around each other as Michael's chest felt the soft touch of Rias' large breasts.

Pulling away from the kiss to get some air, Michael and Rias breathed heavily while looking at each other with their eyes half lidded. Rias' busty chest was heaving much heavily than Michael's chest was as she was probably excited that Michael was the one to kiss her first.

"Michael, I can't help, but feel happy that you share my mutual feelings about you!" Rias hugged Michael tightly as Michael hesitantly hugged Rias back as well.

"M-Me too, Buchou." Michael smiled nervously as he started to grow more excited by the skin to skin contact with the girl in his arms.

_'I may be new to all of this but I'll try my best to better understand for Buchou.' Michael thought._

"Oh my…" Suddenly gasping, Rias' cheeks grow a little red.

"Is something wrong, Buchou?" Michael asked with a worried tone.

"No, it's just that I can feel your excitement down there and it took me by surprise is all." Rias tightened her hug around Michael, who started to realize what she was talking about as he looks over her shoulders to see…

**[Lemon Mode!]**

His member was visibly poking out of the bath water and was a few inches away from Rias' beautiful ass as it twitched in anticipation.

_'Oh, crap! I forgot to remember about that!' Michael gasped as he looked at his growing erection, 'I got so focused on hugging Buchou and kissing her soft, cute delicious lips…Gah! Focus Michael, what are you doing? You're only getting yourself hornier by the minute!'_

_Michael shook his head while trying to push back his lustful thoughts,_

_'I know that we're in a bath and all, so it's understandable that I'm feeling this way, but can I really do this in front of Buchou right now? Especially after we just confessed our feelings to each other? Maybe I can just pass it off? No, if I did then I would hate myself for it forever if something were to happen!'_

Smiling down at the boy, seductively, Rias whispers,

"Michael, were you perhaps thinking about attacking me right here in your bathtub?"

"…!" Michael's eyes widened as he looked away embarrassed, "A little…"

Leaning closer, Rias whispered, "It's alright, you don't have to shy about it."

Pushing her hips back, Rias managed to capture Michael's soldier between her soft ass and began stroking its long length in a slow yet sensual fashion, which caused a low groan to come out of Michael's mouth.

"B-Buchou?" Michael's face turned red as he sees Rias look down at him with a nervous and cute smile.

"Its fine, don't worry. We're alone, so we won't get interrupted in the middle of the act." Rias remembered that Asia and Raynare were quite busy with some errands, "Besides, don't you think it's appropriate that we do this now since we just confessed our love to each other?"

Rias lovingly stroked his cheek.

"B-B-But Buchou is this really okay?"

Michael grunted as the pleasant feeling of having his dick massaged by Rias' ass slowly got to him. Suddenly the urge got to him as he suddenly grabbed her hips and thrusted his own upwards to greedily savor the soft crevice that enveloped his stiff soldier. He panted due to pleasurable sensation while she cutely yelped from his sudden thrusting.

"You sound hesitant, but you're already this eager aren't you, plus, you promised that you would take my virginity, remember?" Rias looked away with a nervous smile.

Reclaiming some control in her position, Rias decided to change her motions by rolling her hips back to bounce the panting pawn's dick back and forth, which was enough to stir a slight moan from him as she steadily raised his drive with her teasing motions.

At first, Michael was confused by the promise that Rias brought since he never quite made one, but the pleasure that he felt was too good for him to deny it now.

_'I don't remember that ever happening, but…'_

"Yeah, I guess I did promise that..." Michael lied to himself as he submitted to the pleasure his new lover brought to him.

"See? So, you don't have to hold back, okay? Just enjoy yourself and do what comes natural like you always do." Rias smiled, her face grew a little red. She was still quite new to doing something  **this** lewd and was embarrassed to attempt this, but if she were to back down now then she would lose another chance to get closer to Michael.

Up until now, the other girls were making their moves, so making sure to be dominant one out of them all, she made sure to take the first step and take his virginity as his first lover.

"R-Right, Buchou, I'll do my best!" Michael nodded with a mixture of embarrassment and determination written on his face.

Displeased that Michael didn't call her by name, she lightly kissed him and said, "Michael, from now on when it's just the both of us, you can call me Rias, understood?"

"Wait I can?" Michael asked as his focus was on rutting his member between Rias' ass cheeks much faster as his self-restraint was loosening, "Are you seriously okay with that?"

"Yes, I don't see any reason why we should be so reserve around each other." Rias nodded as her breasts wetly rubbed up against Michael's sweaty chest.

"C-Cool, so then, um, Bu-! Wait, I mean, Rias, I'm going to touch your breasts now… Man, this is supposed to be awesome, so why is it making me so embarrassed?"

Michael muttered that last part to himself as used one free hand to fondle Rias' breast and roll it around in his hands as he slide the other around her hips to better stanchion his thrusts which only grew more savage each second they traversed up the heavenly cheeks that engulfed his member.

The water from the bathtub was swaying, uncontrollably as it either swished back into the tub or spilt out of the side of the tub and onto the floor. Unfortunately, Michael didn't pay much attention to that at all, instead his full focus was on the beautiful crimson haired woman in his arms, who quietly moaned from his rough thrusts.

"Y-Yes… Keep going.. J-Just… Like that, no need to hold back, ngh!"

Rias moaned as Michael's hand squeezed her breasts tightly which caused her to cry out in both pain and pleasure, between his fingers Michael pinches one of her nipples which inflicted more ecstasy to rise up with Rias as she lewdly cries out,

"N-Not so hard~! They're really sensitive if you pinch them like that!"

"Rias…" Michael breathlessly whispers in front of Rias' ears as his hair covered his eyes.

"H-Huh?" Rias timidly answered Michael's call to her name as she tries to recuperate from the sudden spike in pleasure.

**Chu!**

Michael covered Rias' lips with his own to silence her moaning before he continued to quicken his pace against her breasts and ass to the point to where Michael started to feel his member start to twitch against Rias' backside which forced him to break the kiss and groan,

"I-I feel something coming!" Michael increased his pace even more as his imminent release was so close!

"What you are? Already? No, stop! You can't let it out yet!"

Rias gasped in surprise as she pulled Michael's hand away from her hips with just enough strength to stop his thrusting as she leans forward and released Michael's cock from between the soft prison of her ass.

Thanks to her leaning up, Rias sandwiched Michael's head between her slick breasts, which slowly soothed him while keeping him turned on in the process.

"R-Rias? Why did you stop me, I-I was so close, too…" Michael whined in a muffled manner between her large breast. The feeling of his cock being hardened as steel still stood tall as it poked through the water hoping for release.

Stroking his head in an affectionate manner, Rias lovingly smiled, "I want you to feel relieved, Michael, I really do, but I won't let you waste it by releasing it outside."

Rias rubbed her abdomen, gently, "Here, I want you to release everything that you have inside of me. You're very first orgasm inside, I want to feel and remember that sensation with my body."

"But if I do that then wouldn't you get pregnant?" Michael gasped as he raises his head to look through her breasts and look her eye to eye.

"Hmhmhm, Silly Boy, its fine, the gestation rate for us devils are incredibly low, so my chances of getting pregnant is rare." Rias explained.

_'Oh, right… I remember Xenovia saying that before, so I guess that is kind of useful…' Michael looked away with dull eyes._

Releasing Michael from the warm embrace of her heavenly pillows, Rias holds him by both sides of his face and goads him, "I know you really wanted to cum right now, but I really want to savor our first time doing it, so I'll make an exception and use my mouth."

_'Her mouth? Can she do that?" Michael gulped as he leans back against the wall at the end of the bathtub._

"And to be fair since it seems to be a little demanding of me to do what I please, I'll let you do whatever you want with me once you take my virginity." Rias kissed Michael's cheek.

"For real?" Michael exclaimed as the revelation shocked him.

Not answering with words, Rias scooted back so she can see Michael's pulsing cock settle down in her hands.

_'So, this was between Michael's legs… It seems rather **big,** so close up like this. I wonder if he can really fit this inside of me.' Rias gives Michael's member a few experimental pumps to test before stopping once it twitched. It earned a few groans from his as he rolled his back to restrain his built-up pleasure._

_The only hint that he was close to his breaking point was when she noticed the clear fluid of pre-cum streaming down from his tip,_

_'Is this his?'_

Licking her lips once more, Rias says, "Ara, ara, you seem to be getting excited from this aren't you, Michael?"

Gaining some understanding of Michael's erection, Rias playfully looked up at him and smirked before she proceeded to slowly lick up the trail of his pre-cum from the base of his member to the tip before sucking her lips back in.

Shivering in pleasure, Michael moaned at Rias' erotic lick.

"Urch…!" Michael threw his head back and gritted his teeth to stop himself from potentially releasing his load. He didn't want to think it, but he began to question whether Rias was experienced with this sort of thing, or that she was just naturally gifted. Either way, all he knew was that she was making it real hard for him to cum.

Each lick was short-lived as it lingered just long enough for his penis to react in kind before he could properly ejaculate. Despite her giving her permission to have some free reign over her, he could tell by the way that her eyes dangerously glew, that she was enjoying the prospect of teasing him.

"Mmmm~! You taste rather good, Michael." Rias licked her lips as she wraps her hands around Michael's large member and gave it a few more light stroke as she gazed at Michael's overwhelmed expression.

"R-Rias, I…" He tried to say something but was cut short when he felt her lightly nip at the pulled skin of his family jewels.

"And you're so big as well… I might not be so sure if I can handle something of this size, but I'm willing to try, so shall we begin?" Rias opened her mouth wide enough and engulf the cock's tip in before swirling her tongue around its shaft.

"Uuugh… Fuck it!"

"Mmmngh!"

Feeling the lewd ministrations of her tongue, Michael growled in pleasure as he surprised Rias by suddenly reaching out and grabbing her head. He couldn't take it anymore, he was finally fed up with her teasing and decided to take her up on her offer from earlier. He wanted to coax her into furthering her service within his own control to which she gladly does as she leans her head forward and begins to take his entire dick into her mouth.

"My turn…" Michael lowly groaned as he wrapped her hair around his hand.

Amused at Michael's sudden dominance, Rias goes deeper and takes the entire length of his cock into her mouth until it reached the end of her throat. Seeing her limit, Rias begins to slowly pull back, letting the tip of her tongue slide back out, but suddenly gets impaled back onto it, roughly which almost took her off guard.

"…More…" Michael imperiously looked down at her.

"Mmmm…" Submissively, Rias simply nodded as she attempts to pull out his cock before he slammed his hips into her mouth again, albeit, a little less roughly this time. The tides had changed and Rias was more than happy to comply to her boyfriend's demands by continuing this pattern in order for him to use her forcibly service himself.

"Good… Faster…!"

Relinquishing herself to Michael's hand, Rias allowed him to take full control of her bobbing until she widened her eyes upon noticing Michael's member twitching inside of her, and from there she attempted to steel herself for his release.

"R-Rias, I-I'm cumming!" Michael grunts as he pushes Rias' head all the way to his cock's base as he reached all the way to her throat and released his semen straight into her mouth.

"Mmmmmph!"

"Take it… you said you wanted it inside, right?"

Hollowing her cheeks, Rias makes sure to swallow the flow of cum entering her mouth while he still diligently humped his hips into her mouth. Looking up at Michael with a lewd expression, Rias was able to burn her desire into him by just staring as she felt his cock harden even more.

_'He's still this excited!'_

_She was rather surprised by Michael's eagerness as she slowly pulls his cock out of her mouth as a way to draw out anymore cum that he failed to fully shoot out._

_Swallowing the rest in her mouth, she took deep heavy breaths to recover. Assuming that he wasn't satisfied, Rias expectedly looks to Michael to see if he'll make the next move._

Fortunately for her, he did.

"Rias…"

Michael wrapped his arms around Rias and pulled her into a sweaty embrace as he selfishly captured her lips with his own as desires started to heighten much to Rias' own enjoyment. Now she knows that he'll be the one in charge, if his frantically roaming hands over her ass were any indication.

_'I can't hold back anymore… It's now or never!' Michael grunts in his head as he rubs his cock's underside against the hot lips of Rias' womanhood as he placed the girl straddle to his hips. He could tell that Rias was ready and desperate for penetration because of the heat that her lower lips emanated through the water._

"Wow, I'm actually going to enter and take Rias' virginity for my own." Michael grunts as he looks up at Rias with a somewhat cocky grin.

"You idiot, you don't have to say it like that…" Rias said, timidly.

"But its true, isn't it?" Michael smirked as pulled Rias into closer hug.

"I didn't say it wasn't, idiot…" Rias pouted and looked away.

Positioning the tip of his member with Rias' vagina, Michael's heart beat grew faster as the thoughts of taking Rias' virginity raced through his mind. Looking at Rias, who smiles expectantly at him, Michael grinned back and began his ascent into manhood with a powerful quickly thrust into her lips without too much regard to her hymen blocking the way as Michael finally tore through it upon entrance.

"Aaugh! Ack…!" Rias at first screamed before she lightly whimpered in pain as she placed her hands on Michael's shoulders to pause any more movement. However, she wasn't the only one getting flooded with an overwhelming sensation.

_'It's so tight and hot, and she completely squeezing too hard!' Michael grits his teeth, 'But I did it, I took Buchou's virginity!'_

With her tongue stuck out, Rias trembled in pain and delight as she gasped,

"Michael's inside of me… M-Michael's hard cock finally took my virginity..." Some tears rolled down her cheek as the pain and her emotions were getting to her, "I'm his first…"

"Are you okay?" Michael asks worried that he may have caused her severe pain.

"Yes, just allow me time to get used to it..." Rias squirmed in pain as she tried to get used to the full feeling of Michael's dick in her. The sensation of finally being Michael's first made the pain numb away as happiness instead filled her chest before she nodded in confirmation, "I'm good, you can continue now."

"Hrrmph!"

"Eh?"

Rias blinked in surprise once Michael pulled her up by the waist until only his tip remained inside of her.

_'You don't have to tell me twice.'_

Michael immediately bucks his hips against Rias' pussy and began his rough, yet controlled plunges into her. He decided to be careful at times, so Rias would begin to feel much better since the pain wasn't fully gone yet.

With each buck that she received, Rias would moan in a mixture of pain and pleasure as she clung to Michael's chest for support. Looking at the girl helplessly moan in his arms, Michael excitedly increased his thrusts to a stronger pace.

"Aaah! Aaah! Aaah! Michael, you're going! A! Little! Too! Hard!" Rias still not used to the thrusts moaned in a little pain.

"Really, the allow me to soothe your pain, Rias."

"W-Wha-?"

Michael took Rias by the chin and passionately gazed into her eyes as she gazed back in admiration before greedily overlapping her lips with his own once more, except this time, he forced his tongue to enter her mouth in order to intertwine with hers. The french kiss itself was needed to divert half of her attention to his mouth to distract her from the pain.

Bucking his hips harder, Michael tried to force his cock deeper into her, but stopped each time Rias' walls would clamp down on him and prevent any further movement, but still determined to try, Michael continued his hard thrusting. The water surrounding them made the feeling of each thrust much more enjoyable as it made the entrance to Rias' womanhood a little more relaxing with each pump that he made.

"Mmm! Mmm! Mmm! Mmmm…~!" Rias hummed painfully in between her kiss as she desperately hugged Michael, tightly. Getting used to the pain, she slowly became more relaxed even with her pussy still being tight it seemed too loosened around Michael's cock, so it would give him more access to thrust in even more.

Digging out her tongue, Michael sucked it out and playfully bit it between his teeth before sucking it back into his own mouth. Finally getting overtaken by Michael's dominance over her, Rias' eyes began to roll back in undeniable pleasure.

Sensing this, Michael broke the kiss to get a better look at her form.

Rias was a sweaty mess compared to before, her hair was disheveled and soaked with water that some strands stuck onto both of their bodies. Her cheeks were utterly red from the immense pleasure and stress placed on her, and her eyes, they were no longer clear and filled with her usual confidence. Instead, they were bleary and meek as she hopefully gazed at him.

Michael couldn't believe that the older sister Club President was now just a bumbling girl at his mercy, he couldn't help but smile at the sight as she breathed heavily.

"E-Eh, Michael…why did you…?"

Rias, however, stared at Michael with somewhat disappointment that he broke stopped their kiss, but stopped when he slowly grinded his dick into her as a way to remind her of their other current "connection".

"M-More please… Please go harder..." Rias begged.

Placing his hands on her hips, Michael pulls out until all that remained in her was his tip.

"Gladly…"

The feeling of warm water was starting to soften his dick, so he pulled Rias down while giving her a hard thrust which caused most of the water in the bathtub to spill out onto the floor.

"Aaaaaaaah!" Rias screamed as Michael was able to now insert his entire cock into her pussy as he now was able to reach her womb with ease.

"Almost there…" Michael grunted as he continues doing the same deep thrust 5 more times before he realizes he was very close to his orgasm.

"Mmmmmmph! Mmmmmph! Mmmmmmmph!" Rias moaned.

"Almost there! I can almost feel it!" Michael grunts as he focused on deeper thrusts, looking at the bouncing breasts in front of him, Michael sucked in the nipple of the left breast as rolled around the tip of the erect nipple with his tongue before trying to push it back in which had no result.

"Iyaaaan~! Please be gentle with them, they're sensitive!" Rias wrapped her arms around the back of Michael's head to encourage his breast suckling to which he happily obliged. He savored the taste and wonderful feeling of it in mouth while lightly biting to earn another moan from Rias much to her chagrin.

With each jarring buck of the hips, Michael was closing in on his climax, he knew he was about to shoot his semen into Rias' vagina unprotected, but he didn't care. Right now, all he wanted to do was release himself into Rias and mark her womb as his own.

"Rias, I'm going to do it! I'm finally going to-!" Michael roared as his hips grew rapid with each hard thrust as he visibly shook the water in the tub and Rias in his arms.

"Go ahead, do it! I want you're cum inside! I'll only ever allow you to be the one to do it, too. Yes, Michael will be the only one who can release his semen into me~!"

Rias wailed as the walls of her womanhood started to clamp down on Michael's cock as he forced the tip to penetrate the entrance to her womb, "I'm cumming! I'm going to cum with Michael's penis so close to my womb~!"

"Here it comes! Take it, Rias!"

"I love you, Michael! I love you so much! Fire it in me! Release ALL of your seed into me~! Make me pregnant from all of you're cum!"

Rias cried and clung onto Michael's chest to pull him into a deep kiss.

Grunting, he gave Rias one last thrust before pouring all of the load churning in his balls into her vulnerable pussy. Flowing out, Rias' femme cum dissipated into the water below them. For a moment, her breath stops when her pussy indulges in the feeling of Michael filling her deepest depths with seed. The feeling of his seed flowing into her caused Rias to reflexively break the kiss.

_'Hot! It's so hot and too much…!' Rias rolls her head back with her tongue._

Capturing her lips once more, Michael moaned into her mouth, "Mmm…chu, Rias…"

"M-mmmmngh…Michael…ah…" Rias cried back in response as they passionately stared into each other eyes throughout the orgasm.

After 2 minutes have passed, Michael reclined back to the bath tub wall with Rias resting on his chest. He was still inside of quim, and was too out of breath to attempt pulling it out just yet.

With her breath returned to normal, Rias looks up at Michael and says, "That was amazing…"

"U-um, yeah." Michael looked away with a nervous smile.

"What's the matter?" Rias asked.

"Oh, it's nothing, Buchou, I was just-"

**PUUUUUUUUULLL!**

Michael received a powerful pinch to the cheek as Rias cutely pouts,

"I already told you to call me by name when it's just the two of us."

"Okay! I'm sorry, I will! So please let go of me!" Michael cried.

"Not until you say my name." Rias sang.

"Okay, please, let go of me, Rias! I'm sorry!" Michael cried.

"Much better." Rias released Michael and continued to lay down on his chest with a content smile.

"Ouch…" Michael rubbed his cheek in pain before thinking,  _'So, wait, since she confessed does this mean that we're dating now or..?'_

"Is something wrong?" Rias asked.

"Oh nothing, I was just thinking about how happy I am now is all…" Michael chuckled.

"Good, to be honest. I'm doing the same…, now let's get out before the water starts to get cold." Rias attempted to pull out Michael's member entrapped between her folds only to be kept down to the base by Michael's hands on her hips.

Rias was confused, "Michael, what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, Rias, but we were not leaving yet." Michael grinned.

"Why?" Rias then felt Michael's softening cock grow hard and bigger inside of her?

"W-What you're still?" Rias gasped in surprise.

Michael hugged Rias closely and laughed, "I'm just getting started! Doing it once won't satisfy me now, and thanks to all my training in the past giving me more stamina, I think that I can withstand a little more fun with you."

"B-But I!" Rias started to panic as she was still sore from her first time doing it.

"Come on, Rias, you said that I could have my way with you if I took your virginity, so you wouldn't mind if I took over now, would you?"

Michael's attitude took a complete 360 as he started to thrust his hips into the wet flesh of Rias' lips. No longer was he her hesitant pawn, he was a lust filled, young man giving into his base urges to satisfy himself.

Just realizing it, Rias thought,  _'I created a monster…'_

"A-A-Already? But what about-?" Rias reclined her head to lie on Michael's chest for a while longer as she tried to recover any remaining strength for their continuous intercourse. Sadly, Michael wouldn't allow that as he hugged her closer and began to grind into her crotch as slowly as he could to hellishly build up her exhausted libido.

"Don't worry, once I'm done I, the Great Hanamura will help you out and put you to bed." Michael rubbed Rias' head through her beautiful, wet crimson hair.

"H-Hmph… Fine, I'll allow you to continue, but… Please be gentle. I'm still a little sore..." Rias pouted before tiredly smiling at Michael.

"Don't worry, I will, Rias."

"I love you, Michael."

"I love you too, Rias."

***Chu!***

Continuing for another 55 minutes, Michael and Rias continued their love making and had managed to finish before Raynare and Asia returned home. The couple were already asleep in bed with satisfied smiles on their faces, which confused Asia while Raynare became suspicious and decided to look into it the next day.

**[Lemon Finished]**

* * *

The next morning, it was Open House and everyone in Michael's English Class were given clay for their assignment as the parents and guardians watched their children as the instructions given by the teacher were:

"Got it, try making something you like with the PVC clay that I handed to you just now. An animal is fine as well. A person is fine as well. A house is fine as well. Whatever image you're thinking about in your mind right now, try making it into a shape. That sort of English conversation is also there."

"Yosh! Let I, The Great Hanamura show you how it's done!" Michael roared in excitement as he stood up from his seat.

"Mr. Hanamura, would please sit down today is not about you, okay?" The teacher groaned.

Michael laughed as he sat down and couldn't control his happiness any longer ever since yesterday,

_'Man, I can't believe that I had sex with Buchou the other day, at first, I thought it would be awkward, but I kind of gotten used to it after going 3 more times and the faces she made while we did it was really cute too.'_

Michael had a dopey smile on his face.

***STARE!***

Suddenly getting back on task, Michael gulped and focused on his clay as Raynare from the other side of the classroom stared at him with suspicious eyes.

_'Oh, crap! If I keep putting on faces like this, then I'll get caught!'_

_'Why is Michael-sama so happy today? Yesterday, he was really agitated, but now he's changed his mood so suddenly.' Raynare thought as she focused on her clay project once more._

The viewers in the room were usual parents as usual, but what really seemed out of place was Grayfia the Silver Haired French maid holding a camera while viewing the progress Michael and Asia were making. Michael couldn't tell if Sirzechs asked her to record them or that she insisted to herself, but he couldn't help but notice that she was diligently focusing on the task with a rather serious intent.

_'It feels nice to have an actual guardian watch over me in Open House for once but… Why is he here?' Michael sighed as he heard,_

"Useless sister…" Said a voice coming from outside the hallway.

"Huh?" Michael gasped as he saw someone he never knew would just appear.

It was Raymond taking the recordings of Raynare closely as he still had the same stoic face but the excited gleam in his eyes could say so otherwise. Michael can't help but feel that something was off since he heard Raymond was supposed to be this terrifying guy but here he is watching over his sister's work very diligently as well.

_'What is that weirdo doing here and why is he recording, Ray-chan?' Michael sweatdropped as he looked over to Raynare who was sweating bullets and having trouble with molding her clay, 'Ray-chan is really starting to get nervous, seriously what is up with these two that I don't know?'_

"10 minutes left." The teacher warned.

"Oh crap, I forgot my clay project!" Michael gasped as he realized his hands were still molding something without him knowing, "Huh, what's going on? I can't move my arms on their own."

**_[Michael, while I am glad that you've graduated into a man you must remember not to let your guard down especially since 'he' is now in the area.]_ **

_'Ddraig?' Michael thought as he realized the dragon within him was controlling his hands._

Finished molding, Michael gasped as he looked to see the clay image of the Vanishing Dragon Balance Breaker Scale Mail with wings and all.

_'…Vali!' Michael got hit upon realization about his Eternal Rival_

"Mr. Hanamura?" The teacher gasped at Michael's work of art.

"Whoa, that looks like a gundam!" Many of the male students in class grew interested in Michael's work.

"Yeah, but its design looks altered a bit."

"That's wonderful! I didn't know you had such talent, Hanamura. I always thought you were a slacker always barking about things they you never did!" The teacher was crying in rejoice.

"Uh, Yeah, I am wonderfully talented, aren't I? I mean look at what I created and just to warn you, I didn't it without even looking at the clay." Michael winked.

"Wow, amazing!" The boys in his class gasped.

"For some reason, I highly doubt that." Kiryuu adjusted her glasses.

"Hey, nobody asked you about anything, Kiryuu. Besides, it was just my genius that." Michael laughed and gave Kiryuu a glare.

"Genius? Now you're completely making this up! When have you ever been deemed smart in class?" Kiryuu smirked.

"Yeah, she does have a point."

"Why are we even talking to this bastard, anyways?"

"Hanamura, you suck!"

Many murmurs of agreement came from the guys as they lost interest in Michael who looked at Kiryuu in anger.

"One day of these days! Kiryuu Aika, one of these days!" Michael growled.

"I believe my work here is done for today." Grayfia switched off the recorder and left the classroom while looking disappointed.

_'Oi! Why is she leaving now of all times and why does she look unimpressed!?'_

**_[Michael, this shows to prove that you never gloat about something you know you never did.]_ **

_'But you're in me, so it totally counts!'_

**_[Can you look yourself in the eye and say that?]_ **

_'N-No…' Michael groaned in defeat._

**_[That's what I thought.]_ **

"I misunderstood Asia and Raynare." Xenovia said while approaching Asia's desk with Raynare.

"About what?" Raynare asked.

"I didn't know that Open House could provide such lively entertainment." Xenovia smiled, "Is this usually natural?"

Raynare shook her head as she held something in her hand, "No, no this isn't natural at all."

Noticing Raynare Asia said, "Raynare-san, what is that in your hand?"

"Hm? Oh, this? Well, I made a little clay keycharm is all." Raynare revealed a small chibi Michael who had beady eyes and the same hairstyle along with his uniform as well.

"That's so cute." Asia looked at the keycharm with sparkling eyes.

"Indeed, you must have worked hard to make it." Xenovia nodded.

"Well, I kind of used some magic to shape it since time was almost over." Raynare giggled.

"Was there something distracting you?" Xenovia asked.

"Y-You can say that." Raynare gulped as she looked back to the halfway open door to see a pair of red eyes and a camera focused on her.

Later when class was over, Michael and Saji were walking around outside by themselves. Saji was another person he knew of Michael's rival, Vali but never knew his was the Vanishing Dragon up till now.

"Man, stupid Kiryuu! One day, I'll make sure to pay her back!" Michael growled.

"The more you say it the more likely it will never happen." Saji sighed as he looked at the Scale Male clay model with interest, "I'm impressed that Ddraig was able to make this so easily even the design looks perfect with no bumpy sides of the clay left intact."

"Yeah, well, he did it to warn me about Vali and Albion, so yeah." Michael folded his arms behind his back.

"Sorry about your old Rival/Friend forgetting about that goggle challenge you did."

"No problem, I'll just kick his ass later and besides you're not going to believe what I did yesterday!" Michael sang happily.

"Oh yeah, what?" Saji asked.

"You can say that I've… Ahem! Graduated from being a virgin." Michael crossed his arms.

Saji had a look of surprise as he said, "I don't believe it, but with who?"

Michael whispered it into Saji's ear as the blonde boy gasped,

"No!"

"Yes, man." Michael nodded.

"You mean you got to do it with?"

"Yup!"

"Wow…congratulations, dude, you have taken the first step of manhood…before me." Saji grew depressed.

"Well, it's not something I'm way too happy about." Michael folded his arms behind his head, "Because now I have to think about complicated stuff about dating again and the last time I did that I nearly cracked my brain in half with all my planning and crap."

"Either way it must be nice to have your master confess to you like that. I wish Kaichou would do the same for me." Saji's shoulders slumped down.

"Hey, what kind of attitude is that, if you want her to do the same for you then you have to be willing to work super hard so don't be depressed dude!" Michael grinned and gave a nice guy pose, "Don't overthink it and just do it!"

"Easy for you to say, you're a guy who relies on instinct while I think things through from start to finish." Saji sighed.

The stampeding down towards the Gymnasium were a group of Kuoh Male students holding cameras as a familiar pair screamed within the group,

"A Magic Girl Photo shooting you say kid then lead the way!" Motohama screamed.

"Come on, you fools! As former photography club members we must record this event!" Matsuda cheered.

"Man, what are those morons up to now and it's on open house too." Saji sighed,

Looking at the one in front of them Saji said, "Is that a kid?"

"A kid?" Michael said upon realization as he remembers the boy who pranked him yesterday, "Then that must be him! Now I can finally get my revenge!" Michael rushed after the crowd of guys while screaming, "Oi! Wait up you brat!"

"Can't he ever calm down just for a second?" Saji sweatdropped before rubbing his chin, "Wait a minute, Magic Girl? Isn't that a show someone loves…?"

…

"Oh no…" Saji said with a face of horror.

Upon entering the gymnasium, Michael saw the many flashes come from the many male students as they focused their attention on the stage. As the boy from earlier sat on the edge of the stage and put on a smiling face while clapping in enjoyment as he looks up at a beautiful girl with long, black hair tied in twin tails and violet eyes as she had a child-like body while wearing a costume from  _Magical Girl Milky Spiral Seven._

"There he is and… Wait, is that Mil-tan?" Michael focused his attention on the girl dressed in a Magical Girl Mil. One of Michael's usual clients who actually like him was a body built man who would wear a magical girl costume and watch his favorite anime "Magical Girl, Mil kiss Viral 7 alternative". He had once wanted Michael to change him into a beautiful maiden since he had the heart of a girl but Michael didn't how to do it so he did the next best thing, watch anime with him and become a fellow fan of the show.

_'Impossible has that guy finally found a way to break through the barriers such as gender and if so what did he give up to gain it!?' Michael thought dramatically._

"Man to think this would happen of all places." Saji walked past Michael and pushed through the crowd, "Okay, coming through you morons!"

Saji walks up on stage next to the girl and shouts, "Okay, party's over! This is Open House so parents are visiting to look at the progress of their kids not pheromone driven dumbasses! So move along!"

"Boo! You stink!" The boy gave Saji a thumbs down.

"Yeah, what the kid said!"

"This is tyranny, Student Council!"

"What's wrong with a photo-shoot?"

"Yeah!"

"Look, just get out of here before you cause trouble!" Saji shouted, "You don't have to go to class, but you sure as hell can't stay here!"

"What the hell?"

"You suck!"

"See you later, Milky-chan!"

The males left the gym.

"Wow, Saji for the win!" Michael chuckled.

"Fun wrecker, you stink." The boy stuck his tongue out at Saji who ignored it.

"Shura-chan that's bad manners." The girl gave the boy a stern stare.

"S-Sorry, Mama." Shura apologized.

"Look, miss, I think I know who you're associated with so may I ask why you're wearing this outfit? Its inappropriate wear for visitors for the school."

"Eh, but this is my uniform!" The girl then began to do cute poses while chanting, "Mirurun miruru spiral…! Miru!"

"Uniform, but…" Saji began to sweat as he never knew such a person like this would be acting this way.

"Hey, Saj-meister! What's going who is this?" Michael walked up on stage.

"Well, if it isn't the oaf!" Shura joked and gave Michael a smirk.

"I'll deal with you later, twerp." Michael spat.

"Michael, this is serious business right now since this is the Kaichou's-"

***SLAM!***

Interrupting Saji and entering the building were Sona and by her side were Rias and Akeno.

"Kaichou?"

"Buchou and Akeno-senpai?"

"What's this? Saji, I always tell you to settle things concisely-."

The strict Sona said that, but as soon as she saw Mil Kiss, she stopped speaking.

"Sona-chan! Found you !"

After finding Kaichou, Mil Kiss happily clung to Sona.

"Huh, what's going on does she know who Sona-senpai is?" Michael blinked.

"…" Sona kept a troubled face on along with Saji who did a facepalm.

"This won't end well." Saji groaned.

"Huh?" Michael had a (?) over his head.

"Sona-chan, what's wrong?" The girl smiled and inspected Sona's face, "Your face is all red. You finally get to see your big sister again. You should be happier! You should be like 'Sister, dear!' and I'd say, 'my darling So-tan!' and then we'd hug and have some girl on girl action!"

"Is this seriously happening and did she say sister?" Michael raised an eyebrow.

Walking towards Michael, Rias said, "Michael, this one right here is Serafall Leviathan-sama."

"Wait, isn't that one of the Maou?" Michael gasped.

"Yeah…once I heard it was a magical girl issue I knew it would be her and guess what she's the Kaichou's older sister." Saji said with a tired expression.

"Oh yeah I remember hearing about that and you also said that she is married to Shishou…" Michael raised his head.

"Ara ara, it seems we've been graced with meeting the whole family today." Akeno giggled.

"The whole family?" Michael repeated.

"Hello, Rias-Oneesama." The boy from earlier walked up to the group and bowed.

"Oh hello, Shura it's nice to see you again how have you been?" Rias greeted.

"I've been fine thank you for asking." Shura replied then turned back with a frown to look back at Serafall and Sona, "But I don't know if Sona-neesama will though."

"It's this kid again." Michael growled and raised his fist in anger.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Michael-kun." Akeno giggled, "For you see he is Shura Sitri son of Serafall Leviathan-sama and Son Kai-sama right now he is the next heir of the Sitri Family after Kaichou."

"Shura is a talented young boy who can even be called a prodigy for his age." Rias explained, "Both he and my own nephew are best friends and get along very well."

"Wait, so you mean this pipsqueak is the Shishou's kid?" Michael said in disbelief.

"Yuh-huh!" The boy gave Michael a dirty smile as he knew he would get away now.

"That's cool and all, but I'm still going to hit him for what he did yesterday." Michael cracked his fingers as Shura sweatdropped in fear.

"Aren't you actually really, really happy to be able to see me?" Serafall smiled as he face grew closer to Sona's.

"It's been a long time, Serafall-sama." Rias walked up to Serafall.

"Oh, it's Rias-chan! Long time no see! How have you been?" Serafall happily greeted Rias.

"Good, thanks for asking." Rias smiled, "So did you come for Sona's Open House today?"

"Yes! But Sona was so mean! She didn't say anything about Open House at all. So that's why I asked my darling Kai-chan to tell me about it as soon as he wasn't busy." Serafall said with an adorable frown.

"Nii-sama…" Sona groaned lightly as she looked towards one exit to see someone. Michael followed her sight to see a nervously smiling Kai waving at her while wording:

"I'm so very sorry."

_'I never imagined Shishou would marry someone like this…' Michael sighed._

**_[It seems devils have strange taste in women.]_ **

_'Yeah…wait are you talking about me too?' Michael thought._

**_[What do you think?]_ **

"I was so happy about hearing Open House that I almost forgot about the shock that my So-tan didn't at least tell me about it so I almost attacked Heaven out of spite!" Serafall pointed her magic girl staff in the air while putting on a hard expression to tell if she was exaggerating or telling the truth.

"Eh?" Serafall looked over Rias' shoulder to see Michael and says, "Rias-chan, is that boy the rumored dragon Kai-chan has been telling me about, and my he does look similar, now doesn't he?"

Rias was confused at that last statement and so was Michael who thought,

_'Wait, why does everyone keep saying that about me?'_

"Y-Yes, Michael come greet her."

"Yes, ma'am!" Michael saluted and bowed, "My name is Michael Hanamura, Pawn to Rias Gremory and Future Maou! Nice to meet ya!"

"Nice to meet you. I'm the Maou, Serafall Leviathan!" Serafall greeted and spun her magical stick and pointed at Michael, "But you can call me Little Levia-tan!"

_'How am I supposed to react to this!' Michael shouted in his mind._

"Uh..yes, ma'am." Michael sweatdropped.

"Wow! Mama, you're really amazing!" Shura clapped for his mother in admiration.

"Thank you my adorable, Shura-chan!" Serafall rubbed her son's head in a loving motherly way.

"Shura, please don't encourage her any further." Sona scolded.

"O-Okay, Sona-neesama." Shura lowered his head with a frown at being scolded.

"Now…O-Onee-sama. This is my school and I am entrusted with the job of the student council president here… No matter how close relatives we are, Onee-sama's behavior is, too much… I can't approve of that sort of outfit!"

Sona had on a troubled expression as her eyebrow's twitched.

"Aw~! Sona-chan! You're making me sad, saying things like that to me!" Serafall cried, "You know that I want to be a magical girl!"

"I lost track right now. Are they talking about school clothing or about being the best magical girl ever?" Michael asked Saji.

"Right now not even I can tell what's going on." Saji pinched his temples.

"With my sparkling staff, I'll obliterate all the angels and fallen angels!" Serafall made another pose.

"Onee-sama, please be rational about this. If you even start to 'glitter' than this entire country would be destroyed 10 times, repeatedly." Sona shook her head.

_'That's scary!' Michael and Saji grew pale faces._

"Hey Saj, I have a question." Michael said.

"Shoot." Saji nodded.

"You know how when we were about to fight Kokabiel and Sona-senpai didn't want to call her sister? Was it because Serafall-sama was overprotective of Sona-senpai?" Michael asked.

"That's exactly, right." Akeno answered instead, "Serafall-sama dotes on her sister so much that if she were to find out about the situation then the situation would go out of control rather fast."

"I-If she found out her little sister had been violated by a fallen angel, she probably would've started a war then and there." Saji explained as Serafall started to pop up around the trembling Sona asking her why she had such an unpleasant face on. It seemed Sona was about to reach her limit.

"Uuh, I can't bear it!" Sona's calm composure broke as she cried and ran away with teary eyes.

"Wait! Sona-chan! Where are you going leaving your Onee-chan behind!?"

Entering the gymnasium now was Kai, who was talking with someone through a magic circle,

"Okay I'll get her right now, Katerea-chan. Yes, I know how important her work is right now, but I saw no harm in letting her come for a while."

_'Shishou?' Michael blinked._

Hearing the response, Kai responded, "Look, I know you're her advisor, but there's nothing to worry about. Everything is all fi-"

Suddenly hugging him was Sona, who cried, "Nii-sama!"

"I'll have to call you back, please make sure to tell Zethyr that I want to talk to him again and make sure to put more emphasis on the 'want' or else he'll believe its a choice."

Kai laughed and stopped his call and patted Sona on the head, "All right, what's the issue this time?"

"Onee-sama, is being too unfair by not respecting the rules I tell her as the Student Council President!" Sona was seen visibly crying into Kai's arms, the scene looked like an older brother soothing his crying younger sister.

"It's all right…don't cry just relax…" Kai patted Sona's head while keeping on his usual closed eyed smile.

"Kai-chan, that's not true! I was just trying to show my love to my precious So-tan and she was being mean and told me that I can't be a magical girl." Serafall pouted as she approached the two.

"A magical girl costume is not welcome as proper school wear!" Sona wailed as her words were muffled by her placing her head in Kai's chest.

"O-Okay, you two let's calm down now." For the first time, Michael saw Kai look actually troubled as he tried to settle down the two girls, Sona who was crying out of embarrassment and Serafall who was jealous of Kai being the first one Sona jumped to.

"Whoa, I've never seen Sona-senpai like this." Michael looked at the 3 in shock.

"Yeah, Kaichou does look cute this way…" Saji had on a blush and looked at the crying Sona blankly.

"Um, that's not what I meant, but okay…" Michael shrugged.

"Sera-chan, we have some business to handle, so let's wrap this up quick, okay?" Kai placed a hand on Serafall's shoulder.

"But Kai-chan, I did nothing wrong! Don't you trust your own wife~!" Serafall's lips quivered as she looked at Kai with the puppy dog eyes.

"N-No, that's not it. What I'm trying to say is-" Kai sweatdropped as he began to lead Serafall and Sona out the door before looking back,

"Come on, Shura, let's leave before we make more of a scene."

"Okay, Papa!" Shura ran after them before stopping and bowing, "Goodbye everyone I hope that most of you have a nice day." Shura gave Michael a raspberry and continued running after his father and mother.

_'That little son of a-!' Michael then remembered what Sirzechs said to him two days ago and called out,_

"Wait, I still have to ask you something, Shishou!" Michael shouted.

"Sorry for the rude reunion everyone, but I'll have to greet you later…" Kai groaned exhaustedly.

"Well, since that's a family matter getting resolved, I'm just going to see if any maintenance around the school is needed later." Saji waved goodbye.

"Yeah, and I should probably walk around school making sure there is stuff for you to clean up." Michael joked and began to leave.

"Haha! If you do that I'll kill you, you son of a bitch!" Saji laughed at first, then growled as he left.

"Well bye, Buchou and Akeno-senpai!" Michael waved.

"Goodbye, Michael-kun." Akeno waved.

"Wait, Michael." Rias stopped Michael.

"Huh, is something wrong?" Michael asked before being pulled into an affectionate hug by Rias, "Um…Buchou?"

"Bye, Michael." Rias' whispered.

"Yeah goodbye, Buchou." Michael whispered back and smiled as he wrapped his arms around her as the hug lasted for 2 more minutes before Rias broke it and let Michael leave.

"Ara, ara, and what was that about, Buchou?" Akeno laughed with her lady like smile on her face.

"It's nothing you should worry about, Akeno." Rias gave Akeno a challenging smile, "I was just giving my cute servant a nice hug goodbye is all."

"Ufufu! A nice hug? To me it looked like it was more than a nice hug." Akeno said as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"No, I believe that's just a part of your imagination, Akeno." Rias crossed her arms under her chest.

Hearing that, Akeno gave Rias a serious stare before going back to her usual lady like smile,

"Ara, ara, I guess you may be right but be aware Rias." Akeno said with a sneaky tone, "The first shot successfully taken leads for a much easier target."

"And whatever could that mean, Akeno?" Rias responded with half lidded eyes as red aura started to fill her half of the Gym.

"Ufufufu, who knows?" Akeno shrugged as a lightning like gold aura covered her half of the gym.

***CLASH!***

Both girls had their auras clash against one another through a strong stare down.

Exiting the building, Michael had on a relieved smile and said, "Man, after getting that hug, I feel like nothing can scare me now! Hell, I might even fight another Fallen Angel Leader."

"Sekiryuutei." A familiar voice said.

"Huh? Oh my Maou, I was just kidding!" Michael panicked as he looked at who called him.

Walking up out of nowhere to Michael was a serious, Raymond who was covered in a dangerous amount of black tinted flamed aura which threatened to harm Michael.

"I wish to speak to you  **now."** Raymond said with a dark tone.

* * *

**Next Chapter- Open House Conclusion and I get a new Vampire Kouhai! Oi, If you don't stop crying, I'll smack you upside your head!**


	23. ? ? ?

**? ? ?**

* * *

 

Inside an endless void an endless voice was the sound of gliding and wings flapping.

***WHOOOSH!***

***FLAP!***

***SOAR!***

Walking across a ground covered in huge red scales were a pair of black boots.

***Step!* *Step!* *Step!* *Step!***

Each step visibly shook the ground as a pale strong white aura tinted with a terrifying hue of blackness surrounded the body of the figure, who's clothing was getting blown everywhere because of the rough winds.

Coming into view, the figure had a dual-edged claymore strapped to the back of his hip. The sword had an ominous dark scarlet blade the very handguard itself resembled the symbol of the anti-Christ. A ghastly onyx aura surrounded it and gave off a feeling that should a human ever touch then they would be cursed to death a hundred fold.

***Step!* *Step!* *Step!* *Step!* *Step!***

***Fwooosh~!***

Walking more closely to the light, the figure's clothing was able to 5 white robe with black accents written across the sleeves lifted up to reveal a black sleeveless undershirt revealing the figure's pale white skin on his regular muscular arm which had a variety of scars littered over the top half of the arm as the bottom bellow to the elbow and hands was wrapped with many metal bandages, brown baggy pants held up tightly by 3 black belts and had it's legs tucked into the large black boots. Even the figure's height looked to be strange as it stood up at about 6 feet.

***Step!* *Step!* *Step!***

Finally reaching their destination, the figure stood in place and took a deep breathe.

 

Slowly reaching up to reveal the figure's face the camera made sure to follow with the character's hand which went up to scratch at his head.

" ***** **YAAAAAWN~!*** " The man's face lazily yawned as he tipped back the bill of his poorly wrapped turban cap as he revealed his facial features such as the 3 jagged scars that trailed down across his right eye, the locks of his unruly, spiky white hair and his youthful yet tired eyes. The man looked quite young as he looked to be in his mid to early twenties.

"Waiting is such a bore..." The man yawned with teary eyes as he  reopened them to reveal a pair of bloody-red eyes, staring out into the void. The sight of these even made the camera freeze for a few seconds before it continued to show the man rub his eyes in tiredness as he yawned, "Nothing interesting ever happens around here..."

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!~***

Another strong gust of wind blows against the man as he nonchalantly stands on the head of a massive red Western Dragon about 100 meters in size performing somersaults, incredible dives in a vast void. As harsh winds blew against it's back and onto the man, he simply stood through the cyclone of winds without looking even the bit phased. There is no human alive, who can pull off a feat like this, no regular human currently in Human realm at least.

Taking a seat on the dragon's head and yawning, the man placed his sheathed weapon on his shoulder, and looked out into the nothingness of the void with a tired expression,

"Nothing interesting whatsoever..." The man propped his head up with his hand as he still sat through the rough winds that the large dragon made as it continuously did sets of flying maneuvers that were just out of this world.

* * *

**Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed this small segment, and if your wondering who this is, well, don't worry. He's pretty much insignificant... Or is he? Meh, but thanks for reading and I hope you have a safe day. Bye-Bye~!**


	24. Open House Conclusion and I get a new Vampire Kouhai! Oi! If you don't stop crying I'll smack you upside your head!

**Open House Conclusion and I get a new Vampire Kouhai! Oi! If you don't stop crying I'll smack you upside your head!**

* * *

Walking through the hallways of the Academy, Michael had a wide eyed look on his face, he just encountered Raymond the older brother of Raynare and had a very strange encounter with the man.

"Okay, I never thought that would happen so suddenly." Michael muttered to himself.

**[Yeah, it even surprised me how easily you were frightened when he walked up to you like that.]**

"Well, well, well… Look whose back, you here to keep being cryptic and shizz like usual?" Michael said with half lidded eyes.

**[Maybe, but that's for another time, I'm just here to talk to you about your meeting with that Fallen Angel.]**

"Well if you wanted a hello your too late he left as soon as he was done telling me what he wanted." Michael sighed.

_'But seriously that really scared the pants off of me the way he showed up but as he explained things I've sort of come to somewhat understand the guy feared as a monster.'_

* * *

_(Flashback)_

* * *

_Walking through the grounds of the school, Michael carefully followed Raymond to a lone tree in case the man would pull any moves on him. The aura that Michael sensed from the Fallen Angel was mysteriously dangerous, he could feel it's terrifying influence make his spine chill out of fear. But thankfully it didn't feel hostile at the slightest so he wasn't too paranoid but cautious to a point._

_Leaning against the tree, Raymond looked at Michael while crossing his arms while he still emitted the dangerous aura._

_'What's going on? Why is this guy suddenly interested in me?' Michael gulped nervous to say anything, 'I hope he's not doing this because Ray-chan is staying with me, a devil, instead of him, a Fallen Angel.'_

_"Hm? Is something the matter?" Raymond asked with a normal tone._

_"U-Um…" Michael scratched his cheek._

_"You don't have to be scared. You can say what's on your mind, I just simply want to talk to you." Raymond shrugged as his aura started to flare up even more._

_'If you do then why does your aura look so restless?' Michael had a hysterically thought as he sweatdropped._

_"Is something ailing your ability to speak? Hmm, this is quite strange, according to Azazel-sama's instructions he told me that if I were to give you the chance to talk then you'd do it without hesitation because you were a… What was it called… A Great Loud Mouth?"_

_'Man, Ero-Ossan sure knows how to give people the wrong impression of me!' Michael growled as he hated himself inside for knowing that was somewhat true, 'Oh well, I guess I better tell the guy why…"_

_"E-Err…Your aura is…making it hard to relax." Michael said with a nervous voice._

_"Hou? I didn't notice." Raymond suddenly suppressed his aura to where it couldn't affect anyone, "I guess that does explain why the many people I walked past today were stunned in fear. Forgive my lack of consideration."_

_"N-No, it was nothing." Michael shook his head then thought,_

_'Seriously, he was walking around the campus like that and didn't notice? This guy's rep as a monster must be real if he caused a lot of people to be that scared of him.'_

_"So why did you call me here?" Michael said the question which confused him and frightened him._

_"I just came to talk to you about some pieces of information that I received over these past months." Raymond said._

_"Months? About what?" Michael asked._

_"About my sister, Raynare and the events which occurred around her." Raymond said with a strict older brother tone._

_Michael's eyes widened at that as he looked up avoiding eye contact and said, "R-Really now?"_

_"Affirmative." Raymond nodded and continued, "In the past, I was told by some reports that she was tasked to observe you by orders of Azazel-sama."_

_"Wait, observe me? Why would the Ero-Ossan ask for that?"_

_"Because no matter what, a human with a Sacred Gear preferably one of the dragon variety always goes out of control under certain situations." Raymond explained, "But tell me this, has my sister in anyway tried to kill you during her observation?"_

_"No, she didn't kill me as you can see." Michael answered immediately._

_"I'm not asking about whether she did it or not that's obvious. What I'm asking is if she had that intention from the start?" Raymond said as his tone grew more serious and demanding._

_"I don't know." Michael shook his head._

_"Are you sure because she had an immense hatred for humans and wouldn't hesitate to kill one she was involved with?" Raymond said._

_"I'm sure and even if I wasn't sure it wouldn't change the fact that Ray-chan is my friend." Michael stood defensively._

_"But what if she was pretending to be your friend to someday kill you…" Raymond asked._

_"I don't like 'what ifs' and I certainly don't like your accusations. She's my friend and I don't intend to start doubt her." Michael grew angry at Raymond's accusations._

_"Don't worry, I believe you. After all, she saw the error of her mistake and decided to assist you against Mid-Class Fallen Angel, Dohnaseek, who held her captive and went along with her original plan to extract the Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing from Asia Argento, a former Sister of the church and now Bishop to Rias Gremory, who is a devil and your master."_

_Raymond just now had tons of information about the past events._

_'What the hell? He knows that much about what happened?' Michael was visibly scared since he never knew anyone but the people who were there had such thorough information._

_"You must now be wondering why I know this much about that conflict. That's because my useless sister's friends tried to report it to the other higher ups but failed because a personal note from the person responsible confessed to her actions thus nullifying their pleas." Raymond explained, "Also, I keep a very close eye on someone as useless as Ray-Ray on my spare time."_

_'Useless? I don't like the way that he said it, but I think he means it in some affectionate way. I don't know why he says it like that but they're siblings at the end of the day.' Michael was conflicted by the way Raymond talked._

_"Dohnaseek has been taken care of so you mustn't worry." Raymond covered his mouth with his hand and gave Michael a dark stare._

_"Taken care of?"_

_"Yes, I made sure that he learnt the consequences of his actions by scarring his brain with a nightmare which will surely teach him to know his place." Raymond said._

_"And that nightmare would be?"_

_Raymond looked at Michael and gave him a stoic look, "The nightmare of losing to a human in an eternal loop. Thanks to you, he's experiencing a more horrid dream because it already happened in reality."_

_'You mean I'm the main source of the nightmare?' Michael gulped as he does remember beating that douche to a pulp but nothing like this._

_"Now moving on, next we have my former Senior or senpai as you Japanese say it, Kokabiel."_

_Michael's back straightened at that, he remembered that guy all too well and always jumped in anxiousness to fight._

_"He gathered the fragments of Excalibur and tried to initiate a war with the Church and devils by killing and raping the little sisters of Maou." Raymond explained, "Anyone dying would have inevitable, but no one important died from that incident."_

_"But what about that Priest and Balba, the Pedo-Ossan?"_

_"Like I said, no one of important value died, well, at least in my case." Raymond scratched his head._

_'Wow, that's messed up but really hilarious!' Michael laughed in his ass off in his mind._

_"After retrieving him after your 'smack down' I made sure to teach my senpai how wrong it is to act out of line by demoting him to a lowly low class by ripping out all 6 pairs of his wings." Raymond said with a reminiscing smile, "It was so fun seeing such a prideful leader such as him beg and cry for mercy at the hands of his own subordinate."_

_'Ahhhhhhh! He really does have an S-side just like Akeno-senpai!' Michael panicked in his head._

_"Although it was quite enjoyable it still doesn't excuse the lives he almost took." Raymond's smile disappeared as he looked at Michael with a threatening stare which made the latter yelp, "Out of all of those lives, my sister would have been one of them and that doesn't excuse the pain she would have gone through had you not stop, Dohnaseek. These painful experiences occurred because you were involved that is why you, a dragon, who lures more power to himself must receive something coming to you."_

_"!"_

_'This doesn't sound good is he really going to fight me because of that? Well, I did cause trouble for Ray-chan but still!'_

_Michael gulped and grew ready to fight as Raymond approached Michael while raising his hand._

_"Thank you." Raymond had his hand up to shake Michael's._

_"Eh?" Michael broke out of his fight stance to tilts his head in confusion, "You're not going to kill me or torture me?"_

_"Why would I do that?" Raymond questioned._

_"Because you just literally said that I caused trouble and near death to your sister, twice." Michael repeated._

_"I know but you prevented that from happening any further that is why I must thank you." Raymond urged to shake Michael's hand._

_"What you be talking, Raymond?" Michael crossed his arms and used a Black Man's typical voice._

_"I expected things to go downhill once she decided to stay here with you, but as time grew on she became happier and safe in your presence. I can see that you all have taken great care of her and will continue to do so." Raymond explained._

_"So you're not going to put me in a horrible nightmare?" Michael asked cautiously._

_"No." Raymond shook his head._

_"Then no problem, pal, it's my duty as the Great Hanamura to be Ray-chan's friend and protect her." Michael happily shook Raymond's hand._

_'I'm so glad that I'm off the hook from getting tortured!' Michael cheered in his head._

_Done with the handshake, Raymond said, "In fact, I must ask for your forgiveness in return."_

_"Huh?"_

_"I was the one, who instilled the hatred of Humans into her heart to begin with, all in a matter to protect her from any danger I'd suspect a human would do because of the twisted things they've done to others and their own kind."_

_'Well, to be honest that does make sense due to all the wars and stuff humans did.' Michael thought._

_"So I created nightmares which depicted the sins of mankind into her every night since we were children to ingrain disdain and hatred towards humans of any kind." Raymond then looked at Michael, "But I guess humans of any kind don't meet up with any Sacred Gear wielder."_

_"In the end, a human saved her from danger and certain death...kukukukukuku… I guess not even I could see something so ironic ever happening. I guess this proves how pitiful I am." Raymond gave himself a bitter chuckle._

_"It's fine, you don't need to apologize to me." Michael folded his arms behind his head, "And besides to be honest even if you didn't do that, I and Ray-chan would still be friends so no need to beat yourself over it."_

_Smiling at Michael, Raymond said, "I wonder about that but still… Thank you, Sekiryuutei."_

_"No call me, Michael or Mike, either is fine." Michael grinned._

_"Well then Michael, I leave my sister in your care from now on." Raymond walked past Michael._

_"Wait, me? Aren't you going to take care of her too?" Michael asked._

_Raymond stopped walking._

_"I mean she is your sister and if you wanted couldn't you take her back into the Grigori?" Michael asked._

_Turning back Raymond shook his head, "No she's affiliated with the devils as a traitor so any hopes of her returning at this point are slim and the nightmares that I placed in her dreams were forced which instilled her fear of me as a monster in her eyes."_

_"But if you told her that, then maybe she can-"_

_"I wouldn't have an issue like that, but tell me what were her exact words when she told you all about me?" Raymond still looked forward away from Michael._

_"Well, she…" Michael remembered the way Raynare talked of Raymond like some creature who wouldn't show emotion, but now after meeting the guy for a while he now learns that he's really a nice guy and if Raynare wasn't able to see that in the first place then that must mean she really sees him as nothing but a monster from the start._

_"Don't worry about me. Its fine I'd rather watch over her from a distance and relax knowing you're protecting her." Raymond raised his hand and walked off, "The Meeting of the Three Factions will begin soon and I must prepare. Speaking with you has been rather enlightening, Michael Hanamura."_

_"Yeah…" Suddenly a question popped up into Michael's head, "Oi! I have another question!"_

_"Yes?" Raymond stopped and turned around with a stoic expression._

_"Just now why were you so riled up releasing that much aura and why did you even come today?"_

_"Because today was a day where relatives could view and observe their young ones so I didn't hesitate to watch over Ray-Ray today and forgive me once again I was busy going through my footage of her that I got a little excited." Raymond coughed in a fit._

_"Wait, what?" Michael blinked a little dumbfounded to hear Raymond say such a thing._

_"No, it was nothing. Pretend that you didn't hear any of that." Raymond quickly turned around and began walking away._

_Michael could swear he saw the man's face going a little red but it must have been his imagination._

_'Excited? Does that mean he really likes Ray-chan as a sister so he's some sort of bro-con?' Michael thought._

_"Well, until our next meeting goodbye." Raymond left the area leaving Michael alone._

_"Whoa, that was strange." Michael sighed in relief finally happy that the moment passed, "Now what was I going to do before being interrupted...?"_

_Michael rubbed his chin as he walks over to a nearby wall, "Oh yeah, I remember!"_

**_*SPRAAAAY!*_ **

_Michael pulled out a bottle of spray paint and sprayed the wall with a blue color vandalizing school property but labeling the words 'Saji wuz here' all over it._

_"Yeah, vandalism… I did promise Saji I'd make a mess for him." Michael laughed and dropped the bottle and walked away whistling._

* * *

 

_Present_

* * *

 

"Yeah, that was a strange dude but he seemed cool." Michael said as he walks through the hallway leading into the school's main hall.

**_[Yes, even if it was a little restrained power, I could still sense that Raymond guy can still be a stronger challenge for you in the future.]_ **

_'Future? Nuh-Uh! No! Non! Negativo! Never gonna happen! That guy's power is freaking scary, man! He doesn't even need to fight you, all that happens with a battle against him is being burned by his flames and being put in a horrific nightmare!' Michael shouted in his head, 'In fact, I'm going to do my best to stay on his good side or else I'll end up like Dohnaseek and Kokabiel. For once I'm starting to pity the bastards hat I beat up.'_

**_[Really, even Riser?]_ **

_'Hell no. Screw, Riser, I freaking hate him. Unless he redeems himself in my book, the next time I see him I'm going to kick him in the nads." Michael thought._

**_[That sounds a little harsh, but anyways I didn't come here to discuss Vanishing Drive to you.]_ **

_'Finally, so what do you got on it?' Michael asked excitedly ready to know how to beat Vali's power and somehow learn how to use his own version of that power also._

**_[First is this, Vanishing Drive is an ability learned by Divine Dividing hosts with exceptional strength to use at least 50% of Albion's raw power in their base form.]_ **

_'Base power? You mean without Balance Breaker?'_

**_[Correct, Vanishing Drive allows the user to raise their base strength, speed and power to the next level. But an extra perk to the power is that whoever uses it will be able to disappear without a trace and hide their power and even their very presence to attack their enemy. It's a dangerous technique which shouldn't be looked down upon.]_ **

_'Incredible, so that's why it's called Vanishing Drive, it's kind of ironic how the Vanishing Dragon and the way Vali popped in and out kind of coincide when you think about it.' Michael chuckled, 'So Ddraig do you think I can-?'_

**_[No, the way you are now isn't enough to handle that kind of power.]_ **

_'Aw, come! I can use Balance Breaker so that must mean that I can at least use power like that!' Michael growled and clenched his fist._

**_[You mean the Balance Breaker that hurts not only your opponent but yourself whenever you boost up in strength.]_ **

_'W-Well, it doesn't matter because I can still use it.' Michael looked off to the side._

**_[Just because you can use it doesn't make you all the stronger, Partner. Sure your body has grown to accommodate that power to allow the use of Scale Mail but you're still too weak to tap into any more power beyond that.]_ **

_'That's being unfair I can do it if I put my mind to it! Don't underestimate the Great Hanamura!'_

**_[Then you won't mind if I tell you about your complete control of my power to show you what I mean.]_ **

_'Go on, do it! I bet it's not even that bad.'_

**_[You can control about 7.5% of my power in just your base state nothing more or less you are basically using a teaspoon out from a huge barrel of sugar. No your using less than that, it's basically half a teaspoon.]_ **

_'7.5 is half a teaspoon in power!? There must be a mistake because I can use more than that when I use Scale Ma-!'_

**_[Like I told you because you forced more of my power out before you were ready, now you can cause massive damage to yourself rather than to your opponent. And if you're rival can use it that means he can already use about 55% at least or more considering how he easily used it before.]_ **

_'55% but…so what your saying is that I can't use your power to even the playing field against Vali at all not even if I sacrifice any part of my body to you?'_

**_[I'm afraid that's just it partner, I'm afraid to tell you that even if you turned your entire body into a Dragon that your odds of winning will still be slim.]_ **

_Michael stopped walking to close his eyes in frustration he knew there was a gap between him and Vali but he never knew it was that huge,_

_'Dammit, why am I so weak? I gained power but it's still not enough to even match Vali's at all. And if I can't even get stronger than I already I am then how can I protect my friends and everyone when things go bad again.'_

**_[Don't beat yourself up it takes time to develop your body to handle such power but even if you could there may be low chances of you even reaching Welsh Drive.]_ **

_'What do you mean?'_

**_[Welsh Drive and Vanishing Drive requires the user to be acknowledged by a past possessor residing in their Sacred Gear, the remnants of their consciousness remains even after death. It's like passing on their sins onto you to unlock the power but to do that you must at least gain attention first.]_ **

_'So I have to get some dead person's approval to get that power man this is really complicated and how the hell should I even do that?'_

**_[I wouldn't worry about that part yet you've already succeeded in getting someone's attention already. He hasn't been impressed yet but the fact that you've got his attention out of the other past possessors means that you can attain the power once you've attained a stronger body.]_ **

_'Really? Whose?" Michael asked a little interested._

**_[It's no one you should worry about at the moment, besides you should worry about counteracting Vanishing Drive alone and training yourself to handle more of the dragon power within your still ineligible body.]_ **

_'So basically all I got to do is train, train, train! Right?' Michael grinned._

**_[That is correct.]_ **

_'Then no sweat! The Great Michael Hanamura will train his body till broke to gain that power and protect the people he loves! Yeah I have a new goal in mind now: Unlock Welsh Drive and kick Vali's ass but if I can find a way past his Vanishing Drive before that then I can just skip get Welsh Drive and kick his ass! Hahahahaha!'_

**_[Yeah, Partner, go for it. I will cheer for you as you get pummeled to a bloody pulp.]_ **

_'Oi! Oi! That isn't helpful at all it sounds like your pitying me!' Michael would give the Dragon inside him a dirty glare if he were actually staring at him._

**_[Just remember this final tip of advice while you train to counteract your rival's technique, Albion's Vanishing Drive exceeds in speed to better increase his user's chances to land a hit in a fight. So when he vanishes along with his presence make sure to be observant and react when the time is right. That is all.] Ddraig cut off the connection._ **

_'Reaction and Observation, huh?' Michael rubbed his chin as he now entered the main school hall,_

_'I guess I have to improve these two things to get the upper hand. But when I think about it Vali can use Balance Breaker too so wouldn't his power also increase while he uses Vanishing Drive? Man this is so complicated but annoying that Vali has this much more power than me.'_

***WHIIISTLE!***

_Michael crossed his arms and had his eyes swirl around in a mixture of anger and confusion as steam blows out his ears._

"I heard you had to deal with an issue involving your family again Kai." A familiar voice popped up.

"Wait, Aniki?" Michael blinked as he looks towards his right to see a group of people he knew very well it was Sirzechs, Kai, Grayfia, Rias, and a handsome man with crimson hair and a goatee, wearing white fancy suit.

_'Aniki, Shishou, Grayfia-san, Buchou are here and who is that with them wait crimson hair is that Buchou's dad?' Michael gasped._

"Yes but it's handled now after I calmed down Sona I sicked Katerea-chan on Sera-chan while I allowed Shura to go with them so it would be a load off my shoulders." Kai tiredly scratched his head while as he pocketed one of his hands, "Shura is still doing pranks without me knowing so it's hard to stay focus on my own business without finding him overdoing things to get my attention.

"Children can become a hand full at times but you learn to handle it very well as you grow older with them." Rias' father smiled, "Right, Rias?"

"Otou-sama, just what do you mean by that?" Rias' face looked embarrassed.

"Also, I did warn you about Serafall overdoing it once she found out about Open House." Sirzechs gave Kai a bitter smile.

"Yeah, you did, but I believe things are much fun this way." Kai rubbed his chin, "It may be exhausting but somewhat fun."

"It seems anything will gain your attention as long as it entertains you in the end, huh?" Sirzechs gave a slight chuckle.

"Anything that entertains me gets to live while other things that bore me deserve the right to disappear." Kai laughed then noticed Michael at the corner of his eye, "Michael-san?"

_'He noticed me?' Michael's eyes widened as he felt stupid for not walking over to them, earlier._

"Don't be shy~! Come over here." Kai beckoned Michael over with a wave of his hand.

"A-Alright?"

Walking up to the group, Michael had a nervous expression as he waved, "Um, hello, everybody. What's going on here?"

"Oh, Michael-kun, it's nice to see you again. I was worried something had happened to you yesterday morning." Sirzechs smiled.

"Nope, I'm fine. Thanks for worrying about me though, Aniki." Michael chuckled, nervously.

"Aniki?" Kai's eyebrows rose in shock as he looked towards Sirzechs, who simply chuckled with a warm smile in response, but Kai didn't look all too happy about it so he decided let it slide, for now.

"Michael, did you just now call Onii-sama, Aniki?" Rias approached Michael as her eyes widened in shock as her face turned red.

"Yeah, he said it was okay after he offered me to call him Big Brother." Michael crossed his arms.

"But don't you think that's a bit weird?"

"How so?"

"Because that means…" Rias stopped herself from continuing as her hair covered her eyes once her red face almost matched her crimson hair.

"Huh? Buchou?" Michael tilts his head in question, "What's wrong? Are you sick or something?"

"So you're Hanamura, Michael?" Rias' Father walked up to Michael and extended his hand to him.

"Y-Yes sir!" Michael stuttered.

"I'm Rias' father, It seems you've been taking care of my daughter, thank you."

"Oh it's nothing as Buchou's Pawn of course I have to protect her with all my might." Michael hesitantly shook Rias' father's hand while right by his side Rias was now shown smiling as her red face was dulled down to a slight blush.

"It's nice seeing you again, Michael-san. How have you been?" Kai smiled.

"Oh, I'm fine, Shishou. Thanks for asking." Michael bowed to Kai.

"That's good to hear, and how have you been enjoying your gifts so far?" Kai asked.

"They're so cool and really helpful! Thanks for giving them to me, Shishou." Michael chuckled.

"You deserved it for overcoming a trial against the Phoenix, Riser-san. So don't just be thankful to me." Kai patted Michael's head.

"O-Okay." Michael nodded.

Opening his eyes, Kai looked at Michael with an interested smirk and said, "You've gotten stronger since my absence."

"Yeah, I faced Kokabiel and kicked his ass." Michael grinned.

"Yes, I heard. Good job, but I also heard that you injured your arm while doing so, too." Kai pointed at Michael's cast.

"I-It's fine, it'll finish healing soon so…"

"You broke your agreement with me when you promised not to overdo it. So now I'll have to punish you later for it."

"W-W-W-What?" Michael's face turned pale.

"Is what I would say, if I wasn't so busy. Besides, you have a lot of things on your mind that you want to unload, so I'll talk to you about it later."

_'My mind? Wait, does Shishou know about Vali already how?' Michael thought._

Kai excused himself and bowed, "Sirzechs, Lord Gremory, Rias-sama and Grayfia-san if you'll excuse me I still have to check on Sona-chan before returning to Sera-chan and Shura."

Walking past Michael, Kai whispered, "We'll begin your training tonight at midnight."

"Right." Michael whispered back thankful that he would get some more practice in.

"Kai-san, seems to have a rough time handling the Sitri family by himself these days." Rias' Father said.

"Yeah, but with him there, the Sitri household seems to be more fun right, Ria-tan?" Sirzechs smiled towards his little sister.

"Onii-sama, don't add a 'tan' to my pet name and call me that please…" Rias looked away in embarrassment.

_'_ _Whoa, Ria-tan? So Buchou was called that back then?' Michael lightly blushed, 'It sounds cute, wonder if she'll let me call her that in private since we confessed to each other.'_

"No way…Ria-tan. Even though in the past you followed me every-time while saying 'Onii-sama Onii-sama'… It's the rebellious age, huh…" Sirzechs seemed to be shocked by Rias' rejection.

"Geez! Onii-sama! Why must you bring up my childhood?"

***FLASH!***

Rias' Father took Rias' picture when she was angrily pouting.

"That's a nice face, Rias. It's good, to raise you so splendidly… I will fill your mother's share of enthusiasm as she was sadly unable to attend today."

"Otou-sama! Geez!" Rias was getting more embarrassed and frustrated by the minute.

**PUUUULLLLL!**

"Can you two please behave yourself in public, you're starting to trouble, Lady Rias." Grayfia pulled both Sirzechs and Rias' Father by the cheek.

"It huwts Grayfia! It huwts!" Sirzechs had teary eyes.

"Fwogwive me fwor being twoo excited and unpwofessional, I pwomise to behavhe fwom now on!" Rias' father also had teary eyes.

_'_ _This seems familiar.' Michael sweatdropped._

"Thank you, Grayfia." Rias sighed in relief.

"You're welcome, Lady Rias." Grayfia released the two men and bowed.

"Michael-kun." Sirzechs picked himself up and rubbed his red cheek.

"Y-Yes?"

"If it is alright with you. Could we spend the evening in your home to watch our collected videos?" Sirzechs asked.

Michael was surprised by that and wondered why the Maou-sama wanted to stay at his place instead of a better more spacious hotel.

"I find it more relaxing and comfortable in your home to do such things, so if you would?"

"No it's totally fine, you can all come over if you want." Michael chuckled but stopped once he felt a strong pinch pull at the skin of his arm, "Ouch…"

Michael looked to his side to see Rias blushing while looking at him in annoyance.

_'_ _Oh that's right I did it again, didn't I?' Michael thought, 'Well at least things can't get any worse.'_

"Michael! You, son of bitch!" Saji roared as he was seen rushing the teen.

"Well, that's my cue to leave! Bye!" Michael saluted goodbye to everyone before running away from Saji who shook a bottle of spray paint.

"Why did you spray my name in Graffiti? If the Kaichou found this before I did, then she would have killed me!" Saji shouted.

"It's not my fault! I warned you that I would do something like this!" Michael shouted.

"Hahahahaha! He seems to be a lively one it seems you'll have your hands full with this one, Rias." Rias' father laughed.

"Yes, I know." Rias sighed in exhaustion.

* * *

Once Open House ended, Michael and everyone returned to his home to enjoy another evening filled with visitors as Rias' Father, Sirzechs and Grayfia were watching videos they recorded.

"This is splendid." Rias' father sat in front of a nice spread of delicious food cooked by Asia and Raynare.

"Yes, it looks quite delicious." Sirzechs said in agreement.

"T-Thank you."

"It means a lot to hear that from Rias-san's father and the Maou-sama."

Raynare and Asia were happy with the compliments so they continued making more dishes of food to satisfy their guests.

Taking a few plates from them, Michael had on a frown, "Sorry that I did this too you guys again."

"It's no problem, Michael-san, I really enjoy helping and the company that comes with it is nice."

"I don't mind this at the slightest too Michael-sama if it's to help you in any way I'll do it without hesitation."

Asia and Raynare happily replied.

"Thanks, you two, I appreciate this and Ray-chan?" Michael put down one plate as he remembered his discussion with Raymond today.

"Yes, Michael-sama?"

Michael strongly placed a hand on Raynare's shoulder as his face grew closer to hers.

"I'll do my best to protect you from anything dangerous from now on." Michael showed a determined face.

"U-Uum…thank you, M-Michael-sama that means a lot to me." Raynare blushed and stuttered, "W-What b-brought this on?"

"Nothing, it's just that I needed to say that for once." Taking notice of the jealous pouting Asia, Michael pats her head and grins,

"Don't worry, Asia, I'll always keep you safe and by my side from now on, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you, Michael-san, I'll do my best to always be by your side as well." Asia nodded.

Taking the plates to their table and heading back to sit with Rias, Michael noticed the embarrassed expression on Rias' face grew as the adults began watching the open house videos for all to see.

"Asia-san, you look great here." Sirzechs complimented.

"That's so embarrassing…" Asia had on a timid face while blushing.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad." Michael chuckled, "You don't see me all embarrassed."

"Here is when Michael-sama was hounded by his fellow classmates on how he created a perfect sculpture of what they referred to as a 'Gundam'." Grayfia commentated on the video.

"Shit just got real!" Michael gritted his teeth and clenched his fist,  _'I was wrong things are getting worse!'_

"Impressive! Hanamura, Michael is popular in class." Rias' father smiled.

"And now here we have Michael-sama's classmates fleeing from him like the plague after a girl wearing glasses appeared." Grayfia concluded.

_'_ _Okay, that was embarrassing.' Michael slumped down in his seat and facepalmed himself._

"Now let's begin Rias next!" Rias' father smiles as he begins Rias' video next.

"Once we're done with part 1, let's watch part two and leave part 3 for later, so Mother could watch it with us." Sirzechs took a sip of his drink.

_'_ _Wait they made a 3 part video about Buchou isn't that a bit overkill?'_

**_[Well, you know what they say, Michael.]_ **

_'_ _Yeah, there ain't no kill like overkill.' Michael nodded._

"This is a hell, the likes of which hasn't been seen before...…"

"B-Buchou?" Michael rubbed Rias' back in order to soothe her, but…

Rias was still shaking her whole body while blushing to the maximum limit!

"Hahaha! It's a father's job to pay attention to his lovely daughter."

"Please look! Our Ria-tan is raising her hand and answering the Sensei's question!"

"I can't bear it! Onii-sama you, idiot!" Rias finally broke and ran off into the hallway.

***PAAAN!***

Sirzechs-sama is knocked down by Grayfia-san's paper fan!

"Buchou!" Michael ran after her.

After calming down just a little, Rias retreated to Michael's room as she sat on his bed with her cheeks puffed out in displeasure. Sitting right beside her, Michael who was looking up at the ceiling was brainstorming for something to talk about, which was already hard considering that the ceiling won't give him the topic he needed.

"Are you okay, Buchou?" Michael asked still looking up at the ceiling.

"…" Rias remained silent.

_'_ _That bad, huh?' Michael thought, 'Right, I forgot when we're alone I should call her by name maybe that can cheer her up.'_

"Everyone's having fun and I'm glad that your Father likes me, but if you ask me... I think he kind of over did it." Michael chuckled.

"…Yes, but like you said the fact that my father likes you does dash my worries." Rias responded.

_'_ _Good a sentence that's a steady start.' Michael sighed in relief._

"Hey, Michael." Rias mumbled.

"Yes?" Michael looked to his right to see Rias' complicated expression.

"Are you happy that you met me?" Rias asked.

"…" Michael remained quiet.

"I know that we confessed to each other just the other day and I answered a question for you similar to this yesterday, but I still have this urge to ask you. I'm grateful that I met you, a life without you is impossible for me to even imagine anymore. You hold a special place in my heart." Rias placed hand on her chest while still looking troubled.

"Rias…" Michael whispers as he leaned

"!"

Chu!

Still a little jumpy from hearing Michael call her by name, Rias turns to face the boy, and right on time too as Michael overlapped her lips with his own. Eyes wide open, Rias was taken aback by Michael suddenly kissing her. Losing focus, she fell flat on her back on the bed with Michael laying on top of her, his chest over her soft breasts.

Breaking the kiss, Michael grins, "I already said that I loved you, so of course I'm happy to have met you."

Rias blushed.

"I'm glad that I met you, Rias because if it weren't for you, then I probably wouldn't be here with so many friends that I care about. Just hearing you say that your glad you know me is something I really enjoy listening to. Making my chance of meeting you, all the more better." Michael chuckled as his face grew red without his awareness, "I'm glad that I met you and I'm glad to say this, I love you, Rias Gremory."

"Michael…" Rias cried as tears streamed down her cheeks, "You don't know how happy I am to hear this, thank you, and I love you too."

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Rias pulls Michael into another kiss, but this time it was deeper and filled with the love that they professed to each other. Slipping in some tongue into his mouth, Rias rolled her's around the interior of Michael's mouth, urging him to play back and roll his tongue in retaliation a bit faster.

The two tongues fought for dominance while getting a taste of each other into their mouths.

Running out of oxygen, Michael broke the kiss to look at the beautiful girl in his arms panting for air just like him. A strand of clear saliva was the the only thing connecting the two's lips together save for their passionate gaze.

"Michael…take me..." Rias pants as she grabbed Michael's hand and placed it on her breast.

"B-But Rias…" Michael gasped.

_'_ _Right now! But there are guests literally in the next room it would be awkward if we were to do it again and-…why do I smell death?' Michael blinked as an encroaching feeling of imminent pain was approaching him. He can feel it…_

***GRAAAB!***

Reaching out to grab something a hand tugged strongly behind the collar of Michael's shirt.

"Graack!" Michael choked as the collar of his shirt was pulled back so much that it cut off his ability to breathe.

"I knew there was something going on, but I never expected this…" Raynare the cause of Michael's suffocation said with an irked expression as she doesn't relent with choking Michael.

_'_ _Oh no she found me out!' Michael's face was turning blue as the back of his head was pressed into Raynare's chest._

"Rias-san, just what do you think you're doing with Michael-sama? Kissing him like this is unfair..." Raynare looked at Rias with a half lidded angered stare as a demonic aura covered her visage, it almost seems like she was about to attack Rias.

"Me kiss him? No, no, no, you must be mistaken, Raynare. I was the one who was getting kissed by him." Rias sat up and giggled knowing her current superiority over the Fallen Angel, "He took the first move without me even knowing, so wouldn't this be fair if that happens?"

"You…" Raynare grit her teeth as her grip on Michael's collar tightens.

_'_ _Losing air fast! I'm dying you know, Ray-chan!' Michael grew limp as he slipped out of Raynare's grip and fell forward head first into Rias' bust._

"This confession confirms my first blow was super effective." Rias hugged Michael's head close to her chest and patted him.

"Grr….! That still doesn't mean you've won yet." Raynare glared at Rias.

"You think so because him taking my virginity is quite a victory, don't you agree?" Rias gave a mischievous smile.

"He took your WHAT?" Raynare said in a dark tone as her hair covered her eyes.

_'_ _And here it comes…' Michael winced as his face was still in betwixt Rias' breasts._

"Oh, I'm sorry it just seemed like the right time to bring it up." Rias had a challenging smile on her face.

"…" Raynare stayed quiet.

"Ara ara, it seems you're too late, Raynare-san. My first blow has already been decided this battle might as well be over." Rias proclaimed her victory; she had expected Raynare to give up but the reaction she gained confused her as Raynare was now,

"Ufufufufufufufu!"

Laughing?

"What could be so funny, Raynare-san?" Rias asked suspiciously.

"You just said that Michael-sama took your virginity, right?" Raynare giggled, "This may have ruined my plans to be his first but now that I see it this way, it's actually great for me now!"

"And how is that so great?" Rias wasn't comfortable with how things were going.

"Don't you understand, Rias-san? Since Michael-sama also lost his virginity with you, it means…" Raynare gave a challenging stare and surprising lecherous grin and said, "He'll be less awkward and easy-going now because when I push myself onto him, he'll start to lose resistance and get easily tempted."

Finally realizing what this means, Rias gasped, "No…"

"Yes, Rias-san, what you did just made things a lot easier for me and everyone!" Raynare pulled Michael out from betwixt Rias' breasts and placed his head into her breasts now, "Now come here, Michael-sama, I'll make sure that you'll get real acquainted with my breasts next…"

_'_ _I'm never going to breathe again, am I?' Michael sweatdropped as he was trapped in marshmallow hell devoid of hearing anything but his lack of breathe._

"No, so this is what Akeno meant." Rias had on a face of regret as she clenched her hand.

"Hey, Michael-sama…" Raynare whispered as her cheeks started to flush, "If you want you can have my virginity as well, I don't mind if it's you and if that still doesn't satisfy you, then maybe I can give you my first kiss as well, yes, I wouldn't mind giving you everything that I can offer, Michael-sama."

Although Raynare was whispering sweet promises into his ear, Michael was still unable to hear anything as he was screaming for help.

"Mmmmmmmmph!" Michael screamed from within the soft suffocating trap known as Raynare's breasts.

"Raynare-san." Now leaking a demonic aura of her own Rias glared at Raynare, "I would very appreciate it if you would release Michael right now."

"Hou?" Raynare smirked and released her demonic aura back out again, "What's wrong Rias-san just a few moments ago you just said that your first blow decided the battle, so won't you be so lenient as to let Michael-sama have his way with me?"

"No, he's still not done with me yet, he has yet to know my body completely before tasting other women." Rias crossed her arms.

"Me too so if you would be so kind as to leave the room and let me and Michael-sama begin." Raynare hugged Michael closer to her chest.

"I won't say this again, Raynare.  **Back off."** Rias put extra emphasis in her words.

"Oh, really? Then Rias-san my response would have to be is  **make me."** Raynare smirked.

The two Bishoujos had their frightening demonic auras clashed against one another as a battle was sure to engage.

_'_ _Okay, I have no idea what's going on, but I'm seriously about to die so could someone please help me!' Michael was close to seeing the light._

Suddenly getting pulled out from Raynare's grasp, Michael was free to breathe again but was suffocated once more all thanks to a teary eyed Asia holding him back by the neck with her arm.

_'_ _Oh come on!' Michael cried as he finally gave in and suffocated._

"Please let go of Michael-san." Asia pouted.

"Asia. let go of Michael right now! It's already difficult trying to find the right time for opportunities like this with you, Raynare and Akeno around."

"Asia-san, just let me have Michael-sama for only about 2 hours and I'll make sure to lend him to you afterwards!" Raynare pleaded.

"I already told you that won't happen!" Rias glared at Raynare.

"Why be selfish, Rias-san? I believe that I deserve a turn with Michael-sama too!" Raynare growled, "And besides you're not the boss of me."

Both Rias and Raynare were annoyed having another interruption get in their way while arguing with each other.

"It's not fair that Michael-san gets to be with just Buchou and Raynare-san. I too want to be alone with Michael-san and if I have to d-do something like that too, then s-so be it!" Asia's face turned red as she tried to force those words out.

Dropped the limp Michael, Asia engaged in an argument with Rias and Raynare.

"You two, fighting isn't good. I think especially in front of Michael-sama, it's unwise."

"That's true, fighting isn't good."

Stopping the three girls from fighting was Grayfia and Sirzechs who entered the room.

"Onii-sama?"

"Sirzechs-sama?"

Everyone blinked out of surprise.

"I slipped out for a bit. There's something that I needed to talk with you about again, Rias." Sirzechs smiled.

"What is it?" Rias asked.

"Why not release your other bishop soon?" Sirzechs said.

"*Cough!* Wait, there's another bishop besides Asia?" Michael picks himself up after regaining consciousness.

"Yes, but his ability were too dangerous for me to control and was sealed away." Rias explained.

"Dangerous?" Asia asked.

"I thought you were the one who decided that?" Rias was curious why her brother would want something so sudden.

"That's right, but after your battle with Phoenix and Kokabiel. I began to change my mind." Sirzechs said the past events to better suit the future in case of any threats.

"So…"

"You've expanded your family and strengthened your forces. I think you are capable of handling him now. Release him, Rias."

"If my brother, no, if the Great Satan, Lucifer-sama, commands it…" Rias bowed.

"Wait, where has the Bishop been this whole time?" Michael asked.

"Inside the Old School Building." Rias said.

"Wait, really? But all the rooms in the Building never had a person like that well except that room with the Do Not Cross Police tape." Michael shrugged, he's explored the entire building but nothing through that restrained room.

"It's needed that no one ever release that seal or something dangerous of what the likes of no one has ever seen would happen." Rias warned.

"Dangerous, hmmm…" Michael rubbed his chin then checked the time, "Oh would you look at the time I promised Shishou that I have something to do at that place in midnight…" Michael slowly back out of the room.

"But Michael-san, it's only 10:30." Asia said the time.

"Yeah, but I'm really getting so geared up that I can't wait to improve my skills so bye everyone, Yoink!" Michael laughed excitedly as he rushed out his apartment.

"I don't think that he was excited for training do you?" Raynare asked Asia and Rias.

"Nuh-uh." Both girls shook their heads as they wondered what the 17 year old was doing.

* * *

At night, inside of the Old School Building, Michael and Saji who were holding flashlights ventured through the ground floor of the building.

Saji was once again dragged into another one of Michael's skirmishes against his will. He didn't want to forcefully enter the ORC's main base yet alone do it in the dark when things look especially creepy.

"Dude, what are we doing here at night?" Saji's face was full of fright as he used his flashlight to survey the area in case anything would pop up on him.

"We're here to see Buchou's old Bishop, who was locked up in the room that we're about to enter, she said that he's dangerous and no one has ever witness that danger before so…" Michael grinned and laughed, "That's why I must seek out this danger for myself and make the name Hanamura legendary!"

"You idiot that sounds like a terrible idea, and just look at this place it's giving me the creeps! Can't we just go home!" Saji pleaded.

"No way this is an adventure and as men, we must seek it!" Michael clenched his fist.

"Adventure? No man don't bring that up again! Remember the last time you wanted to go on an adventure?" Saji whined.

_(Flashback: 2 year ago)_

_Walking through the housing district of town were 15 year olds Michael and Saji looking for a perfect house to commit a B/E a Breaking and Entering. Michael wanted to up his not so great reputation and needed a wingman which is why he needed Saji's help in case things go wrong._

_"_ _Mike, this is a bad idea we should stop before we get a little ahead of ourselves." Saji tried to deter Michael's goal._

_"_ _No, this is the ultimate risk to make the Great Hanamura legendary!" Michael clenched his fist, "If I do this then people will finally take me serious."_

_"_ _But Mike this is still going to result in us getting arrested and it will get on our records and No! Please no we can't do this we just c-can't!" Saji was started to lose it._

_"_ _Look don't bail on me man if you do then this freaking friendship is over forever!" Michael pointed at Saji and exaggerated his words, "I will not even talk to you in the next life!"_

_"_ _F-Fine, just chooses the house you want so we can get this stupid thing over with." Saji agreed but had a backup plan to run away when things got hairy and since he's been hanging out with Michael for years he knows things will be terrible._

_"_ _That's the one…" Michael pointed to a two story home._

_Walking up the stairs, Michael and Saji stood in front of the door and started grow nervous and scared mostly Michael the one who wanted to something like this._

_"_ _H-Here we are…" Michael began._

_"_ _Yup." Saji nodded._

_"_ _In front of the door…"_

_"_ _Yup."_

_"_ _Your more scared than me aren't you…?"_

_"_ _I'm trying not to throw up…"_

_… … … …_

_No one made a move at all and kept quiet._

_"_ _So are you going to do it?" Saji's face turned pale._

_"_ _H-Huh? Oh, y-yeah I did say I would do that, didn't I? Hehe!" Michael nervously laughed as he walked up to the front door and started to wiggle his finger in anxiousness as his heart started to beat quickly, 'Okay 1…2…3… and-!" Michael stopped himself to think,_

_'_ _Wait, I don't think I can do th-! Wait, of course I can!'_

_"_ _Wablam!"_

**_*BAM!*_ **

**_*THUD!*_ **

_Michael kicked down the door and threw it off of its hinges and slid into the darkness of that home._

_"_ _Holy shit you actually did it…" Saji was amazed and shocked._

_Breathing heavily, Michael nodded and said, "Yeah and that felt really good~!"_

_"_ _I bet it did pal, so what are you stealing?" Saji asked._

_"_ _Steal?" Michael turned around to have a face of question._

_"_ _Yeah, I mean you broke into the house so aren't you going to steal something?" Saji asked._

_"…"_ _Michael blinked before turning back, he had the rush to B/E from the start but suddenly after he kicked down the door he felt like he accomplished something and the thought of him doing anything further made him bored. Meaning only one thing which drove Michael to do this…_

_"_ _What's wrong?" Saji asked._

_"_ _Dude…I think that I just wanted to kick down a door…" Michael whispered._

_"…"_ _Saji gave a dark glare towards Michael._

_"_ _Huh? Saji?" Michael tilts his head until Saji grabbed him by the Collar and shouted,_

_"_ _EEEEH!? Are you nuts you just wanted to kick down a FREAKING DOOR!"_

_"_ _Y-Yeah but since that's it shouldn't you be happy that we won't steal anything?" Michael whistled while looking away._

_"_ _Why you I'm gonna gut you like a fi-!" Saji growled._

_"_ _Who the hell is there!" A man appeared from out the darkness and appeared himself to be a tall built body builder about 6 foot 8._

_"_ _Well…shit…" Michael's eyes widened along with Saji's. The man was half their size and his muscles was about the same size as their heads put together. And it made things worse since the man had a pissed off look on his face Uh-Oh!_

_"_ _So we have a little of shit-stained brats trying to steal from me eh?" The man cracked his knuckles, the sound was so loud that it made Michael and Saji grow a shiver down their spines, "It seems I better get rid of you two before you do any more damage."_

_'_ _We're going to die unless we do something come on Saji think! Think! Think!' Saji shut his eyes closed for a miracle of an idea to pop up luckily it did, 'Brain Blast!'_

_"_ _Forgive us sir we were just in the neighborhood and wanted to prank you by kicking your door repeatedly." Saji explained, 'Really is this the best I can come up with?"_

_"_ _Oh really now?" The man approached the two being unmoved by Saji's words._

_"_ _Yes and if you'd be so kind if to let us walk free and-" Saji stopped when the man grabbed a nearby lamp and bended it with no trouble._

_"_ _No." The man growled and dropped the bent lamp._

_"_ _Oh I see…" Saji gulped._

_"_ _So which one of you will go first?" The man cracked his knuckles again meaning business, either both of them get their asses handed to them or one of them will get their heads busted. Saji was trembling in fear as Michael crossed his arms in anger._

_"_ _You know what that's it I'm not going to be afraid of you!" Michael pointed at the man, he knew it was his decision to do this and he didn't want to back down now, "Because I'm going to take you down oaf!"_

_"_ _Ohohoho! So you are brat? Then show me how you can beat someone like me!" The man flexed his muscles._

_"_ _Oho, you're going to get it pal…" Michael nodded._

_"_ _Mike, what are you doing? You can't beat him, his muscles can literally pop our heads off their necks!" Saji whispered loudly._

_"_ _Trust me, I got this one." Michael gave a thumbs up and approached the man._

_"_ _Just to be fair, I'll let you hit first since I want to report that you two actually tried to fight back." The man opened his arms and left himself open._

_"_ _Okay, but you may want to prepare yourself." Michael warned._

_"_ _Please a pipsqueak like you will never hurt me, so just go ahead." The man smirked._

_"_ _Oooookay!"_

**_*BONG!*_ **

_Michael shrugged then swings his leg back then strongly kicks it up between the man's legs._

_"_ _Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" The man cried in pain as he grabbed his balls in pain._

_"_ _Critical hit!" Michael cheered._

_"_ _Oi! Don't you think that was a bit too hard?" Saji sweatdropped._

_"_ _He asked for it." Michael shrugged._

_"_ _Y-Yeah, I guess you're right." Saji nodded._

_"_ _Damn you…" The man cried as he falls over in pain._

_"_ _Hahahahaha! That's what you get for messing with me, The Great Hanamura!" Michael cheered and placed his foot on the man's upraised butt like a pedestal._

_"_ _Okay, since he's down let's get out of here." Saji looked outside to see a few nearby houses start to light up._

_"_ _Wait, before we go I have to do one more thing." Michael looked to his right and saw a closet, "Booyah!"_

**_*SMASH!*_ **

_Michael kicked down the closet door with ease._

_"_ _Okay, I'm done." Michael grinned._

_"_ _What is wrong with you!?" Saji shouted._

_(Present)_

"Okay, it got out of hand, but we still had fun." Michael chuckled.

"Yeah, it was but do you know what's not funny?" Saji said with a serious face.

"Teachers trying to be funny." Michael said in disgust.

"No, when you have to take longer routes to school because some muscle beefed man is searching to kill you!" Saji shouted.

"Get over it you still get here on time." Michael whistled.

"You really don't care for anyone but yourself huh?" Saji groaned.

"Shhh! Shut up I found the door." Michael approached a door with many Police "Do not cross" tapes, "So this is it. It won't open." Michael tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge.

"It seems to be sealed by some magic." Saji rubbed his chin.

"Really then can you unseal it?" Michael asked.

"Yeah but I think if something is sealed it should remain sealed, you know just saying." Saji was passive and knew Michael would keep pushing him into doing it. Raising both his hands Saji started to undo the seal but with minor results as the seal seemed too tough to break.

"I don't know if I can do this man this seems pretty durable." Saji grunts.

"Oh come on let me try." Michael did the same and started to use magic to break the seal but it did no effect, "Your right it didn't."

"Yeah and if we want to at least leave a crack in it we have to stay like this for at least another 10 hours." Saji explained.

"What 10 hours I can't do this for 10 hours I still have things to do!" Michael stopped his attempt and scratched his head it seems this adventure will have to be postponed for now.

"So can we go home now?" Saji stopped and started walking ahead.

"Yeah let's bounce." Michael slumped down and walked out the hallway.

Unknown to them a single bat flew past over their heads silently.

Leaving the School Building, Michael called his magical floating cloud Sirus to help him get to Kai's recommended spot of training. Finally able to track Kai Michael lands in the forest near the school to where a clearing with the man standing in it was visibly seen. Getting straight to business Kai began Michael's training regimen after being told of Michael's current knowledge on the opponent's strength and ability.

"So Michael-san, you finally met the White One so how was it?" Kai asked.

"I lost…" Michael kicked a nearby rock.

"How bad?" Kai asked.

"…" Michael remained quiet.

"That bad, huh?" Kai commented.

"Well, it would have been fair if I could do the Welsh Drive too." Michael growled.

**[But you can't yet remember patience.] Ddraig reminded.**

"Fine." Michael groaned.

"Yeah, I know but what how was it knowing that your old friend, Vali was your eternal rival?" Kai asked.

"Well, it was weird at first, but you get used to i- Wait Shishou how do you even know about Vali at all?" Michael questioned.

"Remember, Michael-san, I know everything." Kai crossed his arms.

"Whoa, really?" Michael gasped in amazement.

"Nah, I just heard the report on it from, Rias-sama." Kai chuckled.

"Figures…" Michael looked to the side.

"So now let's begin your training." Kai said then went on to explain, "You said that Vali can use this Vanishing Drive ability to hide his presence and disappear before attacking right?"

"Yeah, it was hard to tell what he would do each time he'd disappear like that." Michael nodded with a look of frustration, "He's too fast for me to catch."

"That may be the case, or it might be that your eyes are just too slow to detect him." Kai rubbed his chin.

"My eyes? What about them, Shishou?"

"Michael-san, in a battle, you tend to always rely on your sight to focus on the opponent in front of you, but right now your opponent is someone who won't be a close range fighter that can be detected by eye sight alone. He will use your sight against you and attack any blind spots that you keep unguarded." Kai explained.

"So what you're saying is that I have to use something other than my eyes to find Vali?" Michael asked.

"Correct." Kai nodded.

"But how am I supposed to do that?" Michael wondered.

"Well, first before we start, we need another part of your training to be done. Ahem, Shura!" Kai snapped his fingers and created a gold magic circle.

"Wait, you mean that brat's coming here?" Michael was irritated with the kid ever since he met him.

Suddenly appearing from a magic circle was the young boy, who was excited to see his father.

"Hello, Papa! Did you call for me!" Shura waved.

"Yes, today, I want you to help work with Michael-san." Kai smirked.

"Awwww~! But he's an oaf, it will be a waste of time helping him." Shura pouted, "And besides, I don't want to help him I just want to play with you like you promised."

_'_ _This kid is getting on my nerves.' Michael thought._

"Shura, I already told you that I would play with you when I'm not busy and if you do this I promise to play with you later, okay?" Kai smiled.

"But you said that last time." Shura turned around and crossed his arms, "And I don't have to help if I don't want to."

_'_ _Wow, this kid is really talking to Shishou like that, he must be really brave.' Michael gasped._

"Shura." Kai said with a serious expression, no, it wasn't that it was the expression of a father about to lay down some punishment as an angry aura enveloped Kai loomed Shura, "If you don't this I will spank you in front of Michael-san right now."

"Y-Yes Papa f-f-forgive me." Shura shivered in fear bowed his head with a frown on his face.

_'_ _Whoa Shishou just scolded his son, it feels weird to see something like that happen but I guess I wouldn't know how that feels since I don't necessarily have a dad myself.' Michael scratched the back of his neck and looked down._

Then Michael looked up and noticed something off about Shura did he had that monkey tail before or was it…?

"Now Michael-san, I want you to wear this." Kai ties a blindfold around Michael's eyes.

"Hey, why am I blinded?" Michael asked as he walked forward and tripped over on his own feet, "Ouch!"

"Shishishishi!" Michael could hear laughter, but it was from Shura whose voice was more childish than Kai's.

It seems that laugh was an inherited trait after all.

"Shut up! That was just because my shoes were untied." Michael shouted in defense.

"This exercise is to help you develop your hidden sense and ability to react when the time is crucial." Kai explained, "Shura, will do everything in his power to cripple you by throwing huge balls of hardened ice at you."

"C-Cripple?" Michael stuttered in fear.

"Well, I could say kill, but Shura is too young for that sort of thing. Sera-chan prefers it if he didn't copy my mannerisms because they seem to be quiet ruthless." Kai looked back at Shura and smiled, "Now Shura make sure to only break a few bones when needed to. Remember, anything to the head, chest, and below the torso must not be fatal but they can still be hit, understood?"

"Oi, you're making this sound like a game Shishou…" Michael's face turned pale.

"Okay, Papa!" Shura gasped happily as opens his palm to create a chunk of ice the shape of a baseball, "Yaaaaaaay! This is going to be fun"

_'_ _You know, I just remembered Rias saying something about this kid being a prodigy. Meaning I'm totally screwed.' Michael began to sweat._

"Oh, and Michael-kun let me see your broken arm." Kai smiled.

"Oh, sure." Michael stuck his arm out the wrong way.

"I'm over here." Kai called.

"Oh, right sorry." Michael stuck his arm out while still facing away from Kai.

"You really do need this training, don't you?" Kai shook his head and simply walked over to Michael as he grabbed the young man's casted arm.

"Oooh! That's where you were!" Michael said upon realization.

"Now let me just progress the rate of healing your hand needs." Kai flows a calming wave of aura which felt different from the types Michael has seen or made before as Michael started to gain more feeling of his left arm, "There done."

"Whoa…" Michael took off his cast and flexed his arm, "Shishou, what was that?"

"Hmhmhm. It's a Sage Art or usually named  **Senjutsu** it's a power similar to your Touki it allows the user to control and read Ki. This technique allows the user to even control both time and space after mastering it." Kai explained and folded his arms behind his back.

"That's awesome! Can you teach me that?" Michael smiled excitedly.

"No." Kai rejected.

"Huh, but w-why?" Michael whined.

"It's dangerous in the wrong hands."

"But I'm no stranger to danger."

"I know, but I don't trust this technique to be put in  **your**  hands." Kai shook his head.

"Now that's just hurtful…" Michael dropped his head in shame.

"But I can do it too, Papa, you taught me." Shura raised his hand and smirked at Michael.

"What you little…" Michael growled if he wasn't blind he would kick the little guy's butt.

"And besides even if I wanted to teach you, you'd at least have to be a Youkai or a hybrid of one to learn this." Kai scratched his head.

"A youkai, you mean Japanese monsters?" Michael gasped.

"Yes, they exist. I thought you'd have known by now since you do go to school with one, wait no, I detect more than one but they must belong with someone else in that school to be that many present." Kai muttered to himself.

_'_ _I go to school with youkai creatures?' Michael thought, 'I guess they are under some disguise to keep hidden.'_

"So wait if you two can do it then that means you're a-" Michael gasped.

"Correct, I was a Monkey Youkai before being turned into a Reincarnated devil." Kai nodded and revealed a monkey tail from behind his back. The tail just suddenly grew out of nowhere as Michael was stunned by the revelation.

"Oh my Maou!" Michael shouted in surprise, "You're just like Son Goku, but instead you're not aliens and are actual monkeys!"

"Well, you're not completely wrong because Son Goku before that anime you call Dragon Ball came out was from  _Journey to the West_  as his actual name is referred as Sun Wukong the 'First Generation Monkey King while I am the Third Generation Monkey King after my mother." Kai explained as he summoned his staff and twirled it around his head.

"M-Mother? Wait, that means Shishou's mom is!" Michael gasped.

"Correct again, my mother is the only daughter of 'The Great Victorious Fighting Buddha' Sun Wukong and I'm his grandson, Kai Sun Wukong." Kai gave a V sign.

"Oh my god-ow! I think I might faint!" Michael trembled about to fall over until he caught himself wanting to know before, "So Shishou are you actually Sun Wukong's relative even this pipsqueak?"

"Yes, but Shura is only a Hybrid, so it's possible for him to learn senjutsu." Kai explained as Shura puffed out his chest in pride as his monkey tail waved back in forth.

"Mmmhmmmm! So now don't you understand that you'll never attain such power me and Papa can use you oaf?" Shura mocked while sticking out his tongue.

"As soon as this blindfold comes off, I'm so going to kick your face in brat!"

"Try it, Oaf!"

***CLASH!***

Both Michael and Shura butted heads together and growled.

"Now now, Shura remember you're still struggling learning how to use this technique because you're a Halfling so as a novice when handling this technique you still have a long way to go and you Michael your ability to use Touki without learning of Senjutsu is something good enough for you since your body is developing to handle and control your life force and in fact this training regime gives me an idea put out both your arms.

"What for?" Michael did the action.

"Ha!" Kai used a hand sign to create a pair of golden cuffs to surround Michael's arms and ankles.

"What the hell?" Michael blinked then suddenly felt something pulling at his arms.

***CHNNNNG!***

"Tch!" Michael suddenly felt the cuffs tighten and enclose his legs and arms together decreasing his mobility, "Shishou what are these things?"

"Michael-san, I have created for you Spirit Cuffs these are to help you in your training to increase your Touki output. As of lately, I noticed that your output increased to a somewhat below average than before meaning your progression is slowly working but it's time to increase it even higher." Kai explained.

Kai looks to see Michael struggling to move his arms and legs with no avail.

"To move, you must cover your entire body with Touki to stabilize movement." Kai gestured with his hand and rolled his wrist.

"Use my Touki?" Michael grunts as he concentrates and begins to draw out white aura which surrounds his arms then legs until his body was covered in the pure white aura of his life force, the actions were able to help him move again as his arms and legs that were still cuffed were released from the tight pressure of being forced together.

_'_ _I did it, but using this much is going to tire me out after 5 minutes.' Michael used his concentration to keep up with the aura cascading across his body but doing this would be difficult if any longer than it needs to be._

"Good, now you must stay like this after dodging about 50 of Shura's attacks." Kai said as Shura conjured about 50 piles of ice chunks the size of baseballs.

"Wait, I'm supposed to stay like this the entire time?" Michael freaked out as he could already feel himself lose grip of his concentration.

"Yes, and don't get all scared and worn out now. If you do then those cuffs will go back to restraining you, this will help increase your output of power and stamina making it easier for you to stay longer in Balance Breaker and somewhat be able to use its power without any backlashes." Kai poked Michael's forehead.

"So I have to fight blinded and restrained?" Michael asked, "But this is only going to make it harder for me to train!"

"Training was never easy, if it was then everyone would be a high-class devil or fallen angel." Kai said.

"Touché." Michael sighed in defeat before roaring, "Alright, I'm ready let's do this!"

Michael readied himself and faced Shura with a grin, "I, the Great Hanamura won't fail and by passing this I can finally show that arrogant prick Vali that I'm his rival!"

"That's the spirit, Michael-san, now Shura, are you ready?" Kai asked Shura.

"Hmm!" Shura nodded while picking up to chunks of hard ice.

"Good, now let's beg-"

"Wait!" Michael shouted.

"What is it, Michael-san?" Kai looked at Michael in confusion.

"There's something I want to ask you about." Michael raised his hand.

"Go on." Kai nodded.

"I want to ask you about someone called  **The Hunter."** Michael smiled.

"…!" Kai's was shocked after hearing that then grew an unexpected smile,

"Tell you what, I'll tell you about it on one condition: Dodge about 100 of Shura's attacks consecutively without getting hit and do it in this single night only then will I tell you about it." Kai explained.

"Really, then I accept!" Michael grinned, "All right, kid, show me what you got I can take it and dodge it in no time flat!"

"Are you sure?" Shura snickered as he juggled one ice ball in hand.

"Yeah, I'm ready so do it and I'll dodge it!" Michael readied himself.

"Ooookay~!" Shura sang as he cocked his arm back.

_'_ _Wait, this seems very familiar!' Michael gulped._

"Here's the pitch!"

***BONG!***

"Duuuuuuuuuuuah!"

Shura tossed the ice ball with incredible strength that it was hard for Michael to even try to detect as it hit him in the nuts.

"My keys!" Michael cried as he grabbed in between his legs.

**[That must hurt.]**

"It does!" Michael squeaked but stood up straight once more, "But I can't give up now I have to keep trying!"

"That's the Michael-san I know now begin!" Kai slammed the bottom of his staff into the ground.

"Here take this, fat oaf!"

***SWISH!* *SWISH!* *SWISH!* SWISH!* *SWISH!* *SWISH!***

Shura begins tossing the ice balls with great strength and speed as he would always get another batch and throw them at Michael.

"Whoa! Yikes! Ouch! Quit it!" Michael cried as he ran away from the assault of ice projectiles into the thick woods.

_'_ _Okay, got to stay moving this will help me stay focus and-ouch!' Michael suddenly gets an ice ball to the back of the head._

"Haha! Your it you, fat oaf!" Shura laughed as he then vanished from behind Michael and reappeared before Michael holding huge ice projectiles the size of basketballs. Is he having fun doing this!?

"What the?" Michael gasped as he sensed someone ahead of him.

"Take this!" Shura chucked the Ice-Orbs with great force.

"Not good!" Michael cried because he suddenly lost concentration on his Touki making the cuffs activate and restrain his movement.

***DON!* *DON!***

The two orbs hit the ground and created medium sized craters.

"Aw~! They missed!" Shura cried.

"Damn it, I got so startled that I lost control of my Touki. Ngh!" Michael struggled to get up and forced out more Touki to surround his body thus disengaging the effects of the Spirit cuffs on his wrists and ankles.

"Hah!" Throwing down a huge ice projectile the size a of beach ball Shura almost crushed Michael who rolled out the way just in time.

***THUD!***

The projectile created a huge crater.

"That was close." Michael gulped then shook his head,  _'I'm starting to get tired after forcing this much Touki out of my body! It's hard for me to see if I can take on and dodge about 10 at a-all.' Michael picked himself up on all fours before remembering Rias and everyone else, he realized thinking like this won't help at all, 'What the hell am I doing this isn't going to help me it'll bring me down and it won't help me beat Vali!'_

_Suddenly the words of that guy ran through Michael's head._

_-Hm a tie? No, why would I ever be in the same place as you it's just ridiculous. -_

_'I'll show him that I'm strong enough to take him on! I'll show him that I'm more than capable of being his rival! I'll show him just how Great I am!'_

"Rooooaaaaaaaaar!" Michael picks himself up and roars, "Let's do this!" He starts running again, his breathes were heavy it seems using this much Touki to move again exhausted him out.

"Come on, you're still running?" Shura laughed as he was pursuing the teen to his left with no trouble easily matching Michael's speed. It seems by the look of cockiness in Shura's face that he can keep this pace up without getting tired hell it may be that his speed even surpassed Michael's by a margin itself.

_'_ _This kid's fast so this is the prodigy known as Shishou's son?' Michael bitterly smiled._

"Bring it!" Michael shouted.

"Consider it brought!" Shura thrusts his hand forward and created a light blue magic circle which fired upon thousands of blocks of ice at Michael.

"Guuuuuagh!" Michael crossed his arms and took the attack head on,  _'Crap this hurts!'_

Michael gets pushed back into a tree, panting hard as his bruises started to effect his mind's concentration.

"Try to dodge this!" Shura fired two golf ball sized ice chunks which with enough force can pierce through a body like bullets.

_'_ _Uh-Oh is he attacking I can't tell with this stupid blindfold on!' Michael thought in frustration as his mind couldn't keep under control._

"Remember, make your mind clear." Kai exclaimed up in the air as he ride on his floating red cloud, Stratus. He was surveying the fight from overhead to get a better sight of the training, "The less distractions you have the more easily it is for you to picture the next attack!"

"Clear my mind?" Michael panted, "Yeah, he's right clear my mind…How do that!?" Michael panicked as he ducked out of the way to avoid the ice chunks which dug into the tree and caused it to fall over.

***THUMP!***

"Darn missed again!" Shura stamped his foot on the ground.

"Okay, okay, clear your mind, Hanamura." Michael exhaled then inhaled, "Clear it…"

_'_ _Clear your thoughts…' Michael made his mind go blank after a few more calming breaths, 'Clear. Your. Mind.'_

"If you're done running then prepare to get pummeled!" Shura fired another barrage of ice orbs at Michael who stood there motionless without moving a single inch.

"Relax and clear my mind…" Michael whispered as he felt something strange in his head it felt as if he was seeing an image of what is coming after him. It didn't feel safe it was like it wanted to cause him pain so he instinctively dodged by swaying his head to the right as the first Ice chunk then raised his leg to dodge another soon after Michael started to use the images in his head to dodge the 20 projectiles shot at him.

"How the-?" Shura gasped.

"Now this is getting interesting." Kai chuckled as he sat down on Stratus.

"Don't think that was me trying, so try taking this you, big moron!"

Shura jumped high in the air and created a large magic circle which rained down a heavy barrage of ice orbs the size of basketballs.

_'_ _I can see it!' Michael saw many images in his mind allowing for his body to react and move instinctively._

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

As the projectiles rained down on the teen, Shura smiled to himself knowing no one can handle that many attacks and think about dodging them.

"W-What?"

Well, he was wrong.

"…" Michael swayed his body to dodge each of those fired projectiles.

"H-He dodged all of them?" Shura started to sweat as he lands.

"No." Michael shook his head as he felt some blood trickle down his cheeks and arms, "I was only grazed by them I wasn't able to dodge them completely."

_'_ _This isn't good enough, I have to be able to dodge them without getting hit at all or it will be useless.' Michael strained his right arm for his arms to be kept apart as his concentration was starting to run low, 'And I better do this before the cuffs finally get to me.'_

"This time I won't miss." Shura's body becomes enveloped in an ice blue aura.

"Come on." Michael beckoned his hand at Shura, "I know how to feel and react on time now this time I'm ready now let me show you how this is done!"

**[5 Hours of dodging later.]**

_'_ _Why are you doing this still?'_

**[Because I have nothing to do!]**

About 5 hours later, Michael was under a pile of ice blocks as his progressive training abruptly stopped once his concentration to use Touki on his body started to simmer down and lock his limbs together. Michael was only able to dodge the projectiles at least about 50 times at least about 5 sets consecutively.

Standing near the ice covered teen was a chuckling Kai and a yawning Shura.

"Papa *Yawn!* I'm…tired." Shura rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Yeah, I guess making you help train Michael-san was a little rough on you. Sorry." Kai rubbed Shura's head, "Make sure to go back to your mother she'll take care of you."

"But I want to…go back with *Yawn!* you~!" Shura whined lazily.

"Sorry, Shura but I'm still a little busy with work I promise next time." Kai started throwing empty promises again; he created a magic circle underneath Shura to transport him back home to rest. He knew Shura was growing tired of this but there was no other way to say this nicely due to always being occupied with work (Mainly things that entertain him).

"Papa, you always say that though~!" Shura yawned/cried as he teleported back home to rest.

"Forgive me, Shura, but I still have something to talk about with Michael-san." Kai raised his staff and used his demonic power to melt the ice with fire.

"Blblblbbbh!" Michael shook his head as the spirit cuffs forced his wrists and ankles together.

"You did well so far, Michael-san." Kai sat next to the laid back Michael.

"Thank you, Shishou, I'd give it to you face to face but I currently can't move and I'm still blinded." Michael's body was auto-resting as he looked up in the early morning sky with his blindfold on.

Kai pulled off the blindfold, "Better."

"Almost, but it's a start." Michael groaned.

"For your attempts of dodging, you were successful and met the original requirement." Kai smiled.

"So does that mean you'll tell me about the  **Hunter** now?" Michael asked.

"No because I said 'original' not new you were able to dodge about 50 attacks blinded not 100, you successfully fulfilled the requirement for this training but we'll still continue on with something different later this night." Kai explained.

"Darn it, I couldn't do it and I really wanted to know who the guy was too…" Michael said in exhaustion.

**[But you were able to gain some more time in your Balance Breaker state because of it.] Ddraig complimented, [But you're still not able to handle too many boosts in it though.]**

"Really?" Michael sighed, "Well, at least I learned something from doing this and maybe now I actually stand a chance of getting back at Vali."

Kai looked at Michael with a smile and asked, "Michael-san, may I ask why you're so interested in the  **Hunter** anyways?"

"It all started because I heard Kokabiel say something like that when I beat him and also I got really curious once Aniki said something about me needing to ask you and he sounded really serious so I wanted to know what's so special about this guy?" Michael's mind was always one to get curious to know something secret.

Kai's body shook a little once he heard Michael say the word 'Aniki' instead of Sirzechs, "U-Um? Michael-san, may I ask you why your calling Sirzechs that?" Kai's smile was hidden by a strained tone.

"Well, he said I could call him that and I do, it's actually gotten easier to call him that now." Michael shrugged.

"Oh…I see." Kai said with an annoyed expression as he looked away, something about Michael saying that didn't sit well with him and if Michael were to see this he wouldn't even begin to understand why.

"Well, since you're so interested in the  **Hunter** and you did do half of what was recommended I'll tell you a little about it." Kai smirked.

"R-Really?" Michael smiled and sat up using his excitement to unlock his hidden burst of energy to sit properly.

"Yeah, I see no reason not to tell you and even if you wanted to get at a small summary of information from Sirzechs you'd have to get permission from the other 3 Maous first."

"Wow, is it really that serious?" Michael blinked.

"Mmmm-hmmm." Kai nodded.

"So can you tell me why this guy is so important; is he someone famous?"

"Well infamous is a better way to describe him but besides that, the  **Hunter** is a being who has been suspected as an abnormality in the world of mythologies. He caused destruction and devastation towards places with strong devils, angels, monsters or even gods." Kai looked up in the sky.

"Gods? That sounds powerful." Michael said in awe.

"Indeed it is the  **Hunter** is seen as taboo in existence even the Angels have no way of seeing how such a creature was born by their system. But for devils the  **Hunter** is seen as a menace because of what he did during the Great War."

"A menace just what did he do?" Michael asked.

"He did something no devil or Fallen Angel would do, you may have heard some people say that the 4 Maous died in the war but never heard how they did well let's just say our Mr.  **Hunter** decided it was in his best interest to hunt down the top graded prey of devil society." Kai stuck out four fingers.

"So you mean he killed the 4 Great Maous!?" Michael shouted in shock.

"If only that was the only thing he did but it gets worse he created a sword out of their demonic power and blood. Using the materials of his prey to create more weapons such as the way of a true  **Hunter."** Kai sighed.

"But he killed people though." Michael gulped.

"It doesn't matter to him if you are something he hasn't hunted then you're just as good as dead, kids, women, the elderly he would hunt anything which interests him." Kai shrugged, "And do you know what the most interesting thing about him is?"

"What?"

"He's a 100% full blooded human." Kai smiled as the morning sun brightened and blackened half of his face.

"WHAT!?" Michael screamed as he was completely shocked, how could a human do something as powerful as kill all of the Devil Kings.

"What you think I'm joking?" Kai said with a smile but his tone had a threatening tone in it.

"N-No!" Michael shook his head in fear, "But doesn't it seem strange that a human can do all of this?"

"No because if a human was able to slay down Dragons in his spare time, decapitate hydras, make hunting and skinning a minotaur a game for sport then no it wouldn't." Kai shook his head, "And he's human but he's not exactly human just his body which is why he's been able to live as long as he should up to today."

"Wait, he's alive still!?" Michael gasped and trembled in fear.

"Yeah he's been alive since the Great War wait no he's been living before that…" Kai said to himself.

_'_ _Ddraig, do you know the_ _**Hunter?'** _

**[** **_No…me and Albion were already killed after that happened, I was so filled with rage when the other factions interrupted our battle that I lost all reason of thinking and did what I wanted.] Ddraig sighed in depression._ **

_'_ _Why are you sad?' Michael asked._

**_[I'm not just lamenting over how easily angered I was until death.]_ **

_'_ _But you're still alive well in me at least.' Michael smiled._

**_[Yeah, I guess this is a downgrade but still could get worse…]_ **

_'_ _Oi! Don't sound like that when I was trying to help you! Geez!' Michael spat._

"But don't worry the  **Hunter** won't claim anymore prey now." Kai chuckled.

"He won't?"

"Yes, for you see he's been sealed inside another dimension and must stay there until someone of his same blood breaks it and no one has or did because if the  **Hunter** is left free he'll just do what he wants and slay legendary people or creatures even more." Kai laughed.

"That isn't something to be laughing about." Michael's face went pale.

"In the top Rankings of the Strongest of the World the  **Hunter in his prime** would be matched with ranking 3 when not serious but is actually on par with ranking 2 when he's willing to go against someone unbelievably strong." Kai smiled with excitement.

"I-Incredible, he's that strong and just for a human too." Michael said to himself, "But wait what ranking is him if he's so strong?"

"He doesn't have a ranking." Kai shook his head.

"Why?" Michael asked.

"Because he's not allowed since he's an abnormality in the worlds of mythologies." Kai explained.

"But he's just human."

"Yes, his body may be human he's certainly not human in  **spirit**  though." Kai laughed.

"In spirit?" Michael tilts his head.

"Well you see the Hunter is an abnormality because in soul he used to be- EEEHHH!" Kai made an x sign, "Times up your 50% given information has reached its end."

"Huh?" Michael's eyebrow twitched, "WHAAAAAAAAAT!?"

"I told you already you did the original amount of training so you get half of the information with a little lie." Kai chuckled.

"A lie?" Michael blinked.

"Yes out of everything that I've said to you I've made a slight lie." Kai stood up and stuck out his tongue while doing the V sign.

"Aw really why do you have to play me like that Shishou?" Michael sweatdropped.

"Because it's fun and entertaining to see you get the truth on your own now go on I'll see you about your next step of training later." Kai rubbed his chin and started walking off.

"But I'll have to go to school and I'm tired." Michael moaned in complaint.

"So not my problem." Kai stood up.

_'_ _Damn it, I knew he would say that.' Michael sighed._

"Um, Shishou what about my Spirit Cuffs aren't you going to take them off?" Michael asked.

"Why would I do that?" Kai wondered.

"Huh?"

"To better extend your control of Touki, you must wear those cuffs in everyday life to make it less stressful for you." Kai pointed out.

"But I can barely move like this though." Michael grunts as he tried to move his restrained body.

"I'll make sure to replenish your stamina with Senjutsu before sending you off to school. Also I'm entrusting you with a password to break the cuffs when needed during your daily life they will be cloaked in disguise to keep hide from any unwanted eyes." Kai smiled.

"Why not now? I can handle myself with the gained power I have." Michael chuckled.

"No you must break these cuffs when you believe the time is right." Kai shook his head.

"So when will the time be right?" Michael asked.

"I dunno that's what you supposed to find out." Kai wagged his finger.

"Actually, this sounds confusing but heck with it, the Great Hanamura can handle this!" Michael grinned, "So lay down the password on me Shishou!"

"Okay, so the password is-." Kai began.

(Evening)

Standing on the ground floor of the Old School Building was the Occult Research Club about to open the Sealed Classroom which held the Bishop. Michael was anxious to know what was behind the door ever since yesterday. Throughout the whole day he couldn't get the thought out of his head while trying to maintain the spirit cuffs which make it hard for him to do simple tasks.

Just as Rias told them only the new members: Michael, Asia and Xenovia didn't know who the Bishop was but now they'll find out.

"My Bishop lies within this room. The child's been able to leave the inside of his room during some nights but seems to place an inner seal to keep himself in. He really dislikes leaving the building let alone his room." Rias said.

"Wait, so he's a shut in?" Michael asked.

"But this child is the top breadwinner, you know." Akeno brought up.

"Really, you mean for devil jobs?" Michael gasped.

"Using a computer the Bishop makes special contracts." Kiba explained.

"What we can use computers?" Michael groaned in complaint, "Damn it and I was starting to hype myself to get more contracts but that just ain't fair well whatever this Bishop better watch out because I'm not losing to them!"

"…It was never a contest nor will it ever be one Baka-senpai." Koneko insulted with her eyes closed.

"Don't push me out the ring yet Koneko-chan I still have a lot of fire in me to keep going!" Michael growled then joked,

"Well whatever let's meet the Bishop I want to make them feel so uncomfortable."

"Michael-sama! No." Raynare scolded.

"What I'm just being honest I mean have you met me?" Michael asked.

"…Sadly yes." Koneko nodded.

"I wasn't talking to you…squirt." Michael insulted.

***Chiiiiillllllsss~!***

Koneko gave Michael a scary stare which made him tremble in utter fear. Everyone scooted away from the soon to be dead man.

"J-Just kidding!" Michael laughed nervously while looking away,  _'Aw great now I can still feel her glaring at me she must be really pissed!'_

"And making them uncomfortable won't be that hard for you Michael-kun." Kiba gave a coy smile.

"Really?" Michael blinked.

"Now then I'm going to open the door."

Rias said as she started undoing the seal with a magic circle. Which disappeared and removed the tape and locks on the door.

_'_ _I wonder what's in there it must be some stone cold loner kind of character that'd be kind of cool!' Michael thought in excitement._

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

From within the room cried a high scream.

"Stone-Cold and awesome no! Annoying definitely!" Michael covered his ears and shouted.

"…Your one to talk." Koneko shut her eyes in annoyance as she covered her ears.

Sighing to herself Rias opened the door and had on an expression familiar to the situation. Entering the room was like entering a toddler girl's room filled with some stuff dolls varying in size as the wallpaper was pink. But it was almost a girl's room because there was a freaking coffin in the middle of the room.

"So is the Bishop a girl or…?" Michael turned back to the three: Asia, Raynare and Xenovia who shrug in turn.

"Good day, I'm so glad to see you're looking well." Rias approached the coffin.

"W-W-What is going on?" The voice cried it sounded like it belonged to a girl or a very young boy it was difficult to tell.

"Ara ara, the seal got removed so your able to go out now so come now." Akeno walked towards the coffin and opened the top. She had a very gentle voice it seems her experience with whoever it is starting to surface.

"Noooooooooooo! I don't wanna! I wanna stay here! I don't want to meet peopleeeeeee!" From within the coffin was a young bishoujo who looked to be in their first year in high school as she had platinum blonde hair and pinkish-violet eyes as her hair was styled in a short bob cut with several fringed over the forehead as she had pointed ears. She wore the Kuoh Academy girl's school uniform with thigh-high socks.

Asia tilted her head as Raynare and Xenovia looked at one another in question as Kiba and Koneko who knew about the situation bitterly smiled or (Koneko) let out a sigh.

"So it was a girl and what with the pointed ears is she a foreigner?" Michael said in curiosity and looked at girl in the coffin who tried to shrink away into her coffin and away from Michael's sight, "Well it's another blonde like Asia so I don't mind so I guess there are two Bishops who are blondes now at least that's a match."

Hearing a chuckle from Kiba Michael turned around and gave a contradicting look, "What's so funny?"

"It's a he Michael-kun." Kiba smiled.

"…What?" Michael responded with a derp face, "Could you repeat that I kind of heard something else when you said that."

"He is right you know this child is a boy." Rias looked back.

"But he's wearing female clothes." Raynare said.

"He just has a hobby for dressing into female clothes is all." Rias shrugged.

"So what your saying is that this girl."

"Boy."

"Boy, isn't a girl because he definitely has the face of one." Michael pointed.

"Yes." Rias nodded.

"Good to know WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" Michael screamed loudly.

"Eeeeeeeeeeek! I'm sorry! I'm sorrryyyyyyyyy!" The now supposed boy shrieked in fear due to Michael's voice.

The loud shriek caused Michael to cover his ears in pain as he shouts, "SHUT UP! Your screaming is hurting my ears you Cross Dresser!"

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaah! I'm sorry! Please don't yell at me!" The boy cried even more.

"And why the hell are you wearing girl clothes anyways!? This isn't normal!" Michael shouted.

"B-B-But girl's clothes are super cute and I really like cute things."

The boy gave a teary eyed cute face.

"U-Um!" Michael blushed then apologized, "Well sorry I didn't mean to be so-!"

Michael stopped himself and shouted with a terrifying face, "Don't fuck with me! Damn you for messing with my emotions! Shit and here I thought you were someone like Asia or at least a super nerd like Saji since your good with computers!"

(With Saji)

Putting down a book Saji places a finger to his forehead and raised his hand as a strolling Sona walks by.

"Saji what's wrong?" Sona asked.

"I don't know but I feel like someone, somewhere just insulted me." Saji used telepathy.

"*Sigh!* Saji for the last time just because you're a devil does not mean you have telepathy." Sona shook her head.

(With Michael)

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! Please don't hurt me! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The boy was in utter fear under Michael's screaming.

"What did I say about screaming like that!?" Michael grew more pissed by the minute.

"Michael." Rias walked close to Michael.

"Uh-huh?" Michael responded and looked back.

**PUUUUUUUULLLLLLL!**

"Ouch! Okay I learned my lesson please let go of me!" Michael screamed.

"Good Boy now apologize to your fellow servant." Rias acted like she was training a dog.

"Look I'm sovvy." Michael slurred.

**PIIIINCH!**

"Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Michael cried as the pinch grew harder.

"Say it right and like you mean it." Rias scolded.

"Fine." Michael puffed out his cheeks and gave a fake smile to the boy as Rias released him, "Sorry."

"I-It's fine." The boy calmed down still a little unsure of how to respond to someone new,

"B-B-B-B-By the way, who are these people?" The boy pointed to Michael, Xenovia, Asia and Raynare.

"These are new servants who came while you were occupied here. The pawn, Michael Hanamura; The knight, Xenovia Quarta and like you, the bishop, Asia." Rias introduced.

"But what about h-her?" The boy pointed at Raynare.

"Oh she is a Fallen Angel." Rias explained.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah! A F-F-Fallen Angel!?" Gasper trembled in fear as he felt frightened that an enemy to devils is in the same room as him.

"Don't worry she's a friend to us devils now so you have no need to be afraid of her." Rias smiled.

"Eeeeek, even so the members increased by a lot!" The boy cried.

**[It seems to me that this boy must have some issues to cause him to act like this.]**

_'_ _You think I haven't even heard a single thing after he screamed the last time.' Michael rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips._

"Wouldn't it be better to go outside? Yes it's not healthy for you to stay in forever and the seal is gone so why not get out?" Rias tried to persuade the boy gently.

"Noooooooo! For me the outside world is impossibleeeeeeee! I am scared! I am scared of the outside! In any case, even if I go outside it would only cause trouble for otherssssss!" The boy wailed.

Angry that the boy was still whining and refusing to listen Michael pulled him by the arms as he approached, "Come on you little twerp you heard the lady outside we go!"

"Eeeeeeek!" The boy screamed.

Then within that second a flash of light appeared and the boy who Michael grabbed disappeared out of thin air.

"He's gone?" Michael blinked in surprise.

"But I didn't even see him move at all." Xenovia was also surprised along with Asia and Raynare.

Everyone who knew about the boy let out sighs as they looked in the corner to where he was trembling in fear of Michael.

"There you are!" Michael shouted.

"Don't get angry! Don't get angry! Please don't hit meeeeee!"

"That was strange…Just now for a second…" Asia covered her mouth in shock.

"It seems like he did something to us." Xenovia said.

"Yeah how did he do that?" Michael asked.

"This boy possesses the sacred to stop time only for a fixed interval of time when excited. It only works when something he wants to stop is within his view." Akeno explained.

"Wait he can stop time? Sacred Gears can do that!?" Michael gasped,  _'First Kiba and now this kid what's next you can make colossal monsters with these things?'_

"Say you kid you want to trade Sacred Gears?" Michael pointed at Gasper.

"E-Eh?" Gasper trembled and started to tear up.

"Oh come on your sacred gear is awesome and I'll trade my Boosted Gear for that right now!" Michael shouted.

**[No! You can't just trade me like some kind of training card!]**

"I'll even throw in this annoying dragon spirit for that sacred gear!" Michael said desperately.

**[Stop it!]**

***SMACK!***

"OW!"

Ddraig took control of Michael's arm and made him smack himself.

"Eeeeeeeek! I-I don't want to have a dragon in m-me!" The boy cried.

"Darn…" Michael snapped his fingers, "And I wanted to prank a lot of people by stopping time what a shame."

"For others that would be a blessing." Raynare sighed in relief as Asia nodded.

"What was that?" Michael asked suspiciously.

"U-urp!" Raynare froze.

"I-It was nothing Michael-san." Asia waved her hands and sweatdropped.

"Hm?" Michael pointed at his two eyes then back to the two girls,

"The Great Hanamura has his eyes on you."

"I wouldn't mind if you had more than your eyes on me." Raynare said seductively for that instant.

"Huh?" Michael blinked.

"What? Huh? Who said that?" Raynare shrugged.

"Hmmm?" Michael rubbed his chin.

"Because he can't control his sacred gear by orders of the Archduke and the Maou, Sirzechs-sama, he was sealed." Akeno explained further.

_'_ _Well that seems legit for a reason I mean stopping time to do what you want sort of is dangerous in my opinion but if it were in my hands then I would be allowed to use it freely!' Michael laughed._

**_[No you'd run out of control unable to stop what you've done and fix what you broke.]_ **

_'_ _O-Oi! Give me at least some cred, Ddraig I can be careful and responsible if I wanted to.' Michael said back in defense._

"…No you can't." Koneko said with a blank expression.

"…!" Michael looked down to his kouhai and thought with a nervous expression,  _'Did she just read my mind?'_

Hugging the boy in girl's clothing Rias said, "This boy is Gasper Vladi. He's my bishop. For the time being, he's Kuoh Academy's 1st year student. Also before being reincarnated he was half human and half vampire."

"V-Vampire?" Michael blinked in amazement as he knew things would get stranger but fun around the club as of now.

(In Kuoh Town)

Sitting in the park by himself Kai was starting to think about the conversation he just had with Michael. Usually the thoughts of the boy getting stronger would get him excited but strangely the topic of the conversation got him grasped into something other than fighting. Maybe it was just talking with the boy who got him to be so interested or maybe it was because…

_'_ _It was interesting to see Michael-san's progression but he still has a long way to go.' Kai scratched his head and smiled, 'But for him to pass the first stage of his training so fast in under one night is amazing maybe this rival of his is a real good motivation for him to improve.'_

_Suddenly the word 'Aniki' popped up into Kai's head,_

_'_ _I certainly have a few words to ask that Sirzechs before the meeting he better have a good explanation or I'll show him the price of angering me.'_

_Kai thought in annoyance._

"Haiiiiih!" Kai sighed and scratched his head in frustration, "Thinking of this will only give me more work when I'm already doing one as it is. But I did promise Shura I would play with him when I'm not busy but that will only pile up more work for me in the end. Geez thinking this much is really starting to hurt."

"More work? What work you barely look to be doing work right now."

A female's voice caught Kai's attention as a shadow was cast behind him.

"Hmmm?" Kai turned behind to see a tall bespectacled woman with a voluptuous figure. She has tan skin with long brown hair tied into a bun with a headset as she wore a dress that was extremely low-cut and had a high slit on it which exposed a large portion of her breasts. She is Katerea Leviathan former leader of the Old Maou faction and current advisor to Serafall Leviathan.

"What are you doing here?" The woman asked with a judgmental stare.

"Oh hello, Katerea-chan." Kai smiled in a carefree kind of way and raised his hand.

"Hello? Is that all you have to say to me?" Katerea gave a half lidded stare.

"Um yes~!" Kai laughed and shrugged.

"Well then hello to you too, Kai-kun." Katerea strained the name, "Do you want to know what I was doing today Kai-kun?"

"No, not really, I'm kind of in my thoughts right now, so if you could-"

"Today,"

"And here we go." Kai sighed.

"I had to handle and set up meetings for the 2 Maous and their sisters when I'm only supposed to help Serafall with hers and you with Sirzechs but since you weren't there I had to do your job alone while babysitting your son who keeps on asking when you will come to play with him because he said and I quote 'Papa promised he would play me and Papa never lies.' So yeah that's been my entire day." Katerea then looked at Kai in annoyance as the man was rubbing his chin in thought,

"Are you even listening?"

"Hmm-Huh? Oh, yes, of course I am." Kai nodded.

"Don't lie! You're not listening at all!" Katerea crossed her arms under her chest, "You've been absent-minded the whole time!"

"…" Kai kept quiet as he was slowly breaking out of thought.

"Look! You have a position and responsibility now! You can't just walk off and do what you want without telling anyone anything especially if you're socializing with a servant who doesn't belong to your family." Katerea scolded Kai like a child, "And speaking of family, you barely see them at all, especially Shura who's always asking about where you are! Serafall can't fill in your spot as parent forever she has duties and so do you."

Kai suddenly gave her a serious expression and said, "I know that, but I still have lots of work to do, so I don't have time to do all of that and besides I'm a devil and I can do whatever I want! We're allowed to be selfish beings."

**PUUUULLLLLLLLL!**

Katerea looked annoyed then grabbed Kai by the cheeks.

"That doesn't mean that we have to be irrational about our duties as advisers. It was you who suggested this for you, me and Zethyr and you have to take responsibility for it by living up to your word." Katerea was annoyed that such a selfish man like this was able to convince her and the other person to join up with him as advisers to the 3 Maous. She too is of the Ultimate-Class such as Kai, but still physically weaker than him.

"Nah!" Kai meant to say no but his stretched face messed with his words.

"You have to live up to your responsibilities, no matter what the cost, and if you don't then it will reflect poorly on the rest of us!"

"Scrwew iwt! Nowt my prwobwen"

"What!?" Katerea continued pull Kai's cheeks even more, and then she started to calm down and release his cheeks, "Why should I even bother with you it's impossible to get through that thick skull of yours."

Kai rubbed his cheeks in pain and winced with a childish/angered face, "Ouch! That wasn't very nice."

"Now tell me what your supposed 'work' was right now."

"If you must know I've been sensing faint traces of power gathering around this area preferably around Kuoh Academy and they aren't any allies of ours."

"You have then why not dispose of them yourself before they cause trouble." Katerea knew Kai was always happy when there would be battle so she was confused why the man didn't take the chance to do it.

"Because each time I would get a faint trace it would vanish before I can get to them." Kai explained, "They must be using some kind of ability to do this because with my Senjutsu I can sense and find any person from within this area."

"They're able to conceal their presence that much, to where even you a master of Senjutsu and can't find them?" Katerea rubbed her chin.

"Nope." Kai shook his head.

"This is really troublesome if this is some kind of attack from a certain faction then the Fallen Angels and Angels may get the misconception." Katerea rubbed her chin, "We know it couldn't be from 'them' because they are still hiding somewhere within the underworld. So whoever it is must be planning something to gain something but what?"

"Such a group of dangerous powers gathering like that isn't it easy to know what they're after is pure chaos?"

Turning around to see an approaching Zethyr come out from the shadow of a tree wearing a serious expression as normal, Zethyr like Kai and Katerea was an advisor but to Ajuka Beelzebub another Maou of the Underworld. Zethyr is named Zethyr Lucifer a Full Pure-Blooded Devil who is a descendant of the former Lucifer. He defected from the Old Maou Faction due to reasons unknown (right now) and works with allies he used to name as enemies.

"Z-Zethyr-san?" Katerea stuttered.

"Shishishishi! Look who came and in a scary way too how long have you been there?" Kai asked.

"I don't have time to play with you Son Kai all I came for is because you called me here and I wanted to get it over with before I'm detected by 'him'." Zethyr crossed his arms.

"By who?" Kai asked.

"That would be none of your business." Zethyr said as his expression grew to that of annoyance.

"Really, because to me Michael-san was really trying his best to beat his Rival the White Dragon Emperor. Say Zethyr-san, do you know of a boy named Va-?"

***SHIIIING!***

Creating a long claymore with a golden/black blade and gold/black hilt with a white hand guard out of a black/gold magic circle in thin air, Zethyr points the blade directly at Kai's neck.

"Do not ever utter that piece of trash's name to me or I will kill you." Zethyr said with a cold voice.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop, but do you truly believe you can get away with saying something as cliché as that?" Kai stood up and summoned his staff.

"Not again…" Katerea rubbed her forehead.

"I will make your head roll." Zethyr threatened as he readied himself to cut off Kai's head.

"No thanks, I like my head between my shoulders but thanks for the offer though." Kai smirked excitedly as he grew ready to knock the wind out of Zethyr, "So what's the score now, hm? Is it 659 to 659, or 876 to 876 between us? Either way, we're still tied, so let's fix that shall we?"

"Killing you will give me a permanent victory." Zethyr showed a small smirk of excitement

"W-Wait a second you two, what are you about to do?" Katerea groaned.

"We'll resume our talk later, Kate-chan! Make sure to help me with my duties while I handle this! Thanks!" Kai raised his hand.

"Wait, no, you can't just-!" Katerea tried to retort.

"Don't talk like you have everything under control, Son." Zethyr narrowed his eyes.

"So let's start round 876 or was it-? Nah forget it! Let's just get to it!" Kai chuckled as he snapped his fingers and sent both he and Zethyr off to who knows where doing who knows what. If Katerea had to guess they were probably going to some pocket dimension that Kai created to duke it out.

"Those two never seem to act right when something serious is about to happen, and since they'll be fighting, it will be hard to estimate when they'll be back." Katerea shook her and rubbed her temples, "But if worse comes to worse, the threats that may appear will have to deal with the Factions and their guards protecting their leaders during the Summit."

"Excuse me, miss."

Walking past Katerea was a handsome man about 17 years of age with blonde platinum hair, he has brown eyes and he is about 5 foot 11 in height and has a muscular body. He has one scars placed upon his cheeks, he wears a long green leather coat opened to show a blue stripped dress shirt underneath, black jeans, black boots with green accents and blue laces. He keeps around his neck a silver necklace with a sword crest on it.

"Sorry." Katerea apologized then went back to thinking on her own until…

***STARE!***

The image of two silver draconic eyes were behind her causing her to react and whip her head around to catch sight of the stranger who passed only to find that he was already gone.

"What was that just now?" Katerea said to herself, finding it hard to sense the presence of the man, she would search out for him but realized she doesn't have time to worry about such things because right now she has to now set up a meeting for the Gremory Family's Knight about his Balance Breaker.

Disappearing from sight with a Magic circle Katerea left the area only to be spied on by the man who passed her leaning behind a nearby tree as a 4 foot 11 female figure dressed in a black hooded coat swung her feet on the branch, playfully.

"So what do you think of her? A descendant of a Maou sure is strong, right?" The hooded figure had a childish voice and giggled.

"She's only strong in terms of magical ability. I need a real challenge which involves both Strength and Magic. Anything less than that is useless to me." The man wasn't interested in the slightest.

"Wowie~! You're so hard to please at times, ya know?" The girl giggled.

"I'm not so hard to understand, and besides..." The man place a hand to his chest, "The both of 'us' believe that a battle with a strong opponent who's missing a vital area of strength is lackluster at best."

"Geez! You're such a weirdo, talking to yourself like a friend like that." The female figure jumped off the branch and landed on the ground and did a cute pose which didn't help considering the black coat covered her face, "But I guess that's normal considering that you're not necessarily normal at all."

"You're one to talk, you're not so normal yourself." The man coughed.

"Well, duh! What part of me is normal to you?" The figure laughed madly as she removed her hood and showed the man.

"Nothing." The man answered bluntly as he looked the figure in the face.

"Hahahahahaha! I know, right? I'm pretty fucked up on both my face and in my head, right!?" The female laughed before putting on her hood.

"…" The man kept a stoic expression.

***SHIINE!***

Suddenly Magic Circles with Dragon markings appeared underneath the two as one was green while the other was…red?

"It seems that we're being called back." The figure laughed.

"Yeah, let's go they're probably finished talking with those stray magicians." The man stood up.

"Righteo~!" The figure hopped and gave a thumbs up, "Things are starting to get exciting, so you can count on me~!"

The man just looked at the figure in disinterest and sighed, "Just don't get in my way, or you're dead."

The man teleported through the magic circle.

"Aw! Hehehehe! I can tell by his voice that he hates me, well I'm not just going to reject that hate because spoiler alert! I hate him, too. Hahahahahaha!" The figure laughed as she began to disappear, "But he's not the biggest person that I hate because that's reserved for the biggest Black Winged Bitch in existence, Azazel, so I hope he's ready to die~!"

The figure's body emitted an enormous red surge of dragon power before…

***ZOOM!***

The figure disappeared without a trace.

* * *

**Next Chapter- The Great Hanamura and the Half-Vampire form a Bond and the 12 Winged Seraph, Michael appears!**


	25. The Great Hanamura and the Half-Vampire form a Bond and the 12 Winged Seraph, Michael appears!

**The Great Hanamura and the Half-Vampire form a Bond and the Holy 12 Winged Seraph, Michael appears!**

* * *

Once Rias released her Bishop, Gasper Vladi the ORC club returned to the Clubroom to talk about the now freed Halfling and his abilities. The new devils such as Michael, Asia and Xenovia were surprised that a boy like him had the power to stop time and were easily impressed. Except for Michael who was a little annoyed out of the rest of the club since the boy was a headache with all his screaming and his cowardice which didn't leave that much of an impression on Michael at the slightest. Coming down to it altogether Michael just didn't like the boy for some strange reason it just gave him a bad taste in his mouth.

"Because Gasper-kun can't control this power, he was sealed here as ordered by the Maou, Sirzechs-sama." Akeno said while standing by Rias' side.

"Not only that, he's not actively conscious that the intensity of that power is still growing." Rias continued, "Besides from that he is a half-vampire from a lineage of famous pureblooded vampire family his stats with vampire abilities excel human wizardry by a high margin."

Everyone sat on the couches as Gasper was the only one standing at the center of attention much to his dismay as he was visibly shaking in fear.

_'Geez! This kid's really shaking in his boots...' Michael picked his ear._

Rias went on with her discussion about Gasper's power, "It is possible that it may have already reached the level of a Balance Breaker."

Michael's eyes widened as his voice was filled with disbelief, "What this kid can get a Balance Breaker?"

"Michael-sama." Raynare scolded.

"What, I'm just saying he's... I mean just look at him." Michael pointed at thin air where Gasper once stood, he disappeared.

"For the love of-!" Michael growled and stood up looking left and right for the little twerp.

"..." Rias held her head and sighed.

"He ran off again?" Kiba bitterly smiled.

Taking note of a squirming box near the door, Michael simply growled and said, "You're not fooling anyone, brat!"

_'Whoa, it just felt weird hearing myself say that to someone else.' The thought popped up._

"So get out of there!" Michael kicked the box.

"Noooo! I don't like being the center of attention! Please, go back to talking like I don't exist, and I beg of you all not to talk about this topic I don't like it!" Gasper shrieked inside of the box.

"We can't do that if your screaming every 2 minutes, and where did you get the box and why are you in it!?"

Michael kept kicking the box which earned terrified screams from the hiding Gasper.

"This is my dragon protected fort it protects me, and I like it in here! I'm a boxed boy, so just leave me like this!" Gasper cried.

"Dragon protected, eh? Well then allow this dragon to knock it down!" Michael growled as he kicks the box many times.

"Noooooooooooo~! Please leave me alone!"

"Then get out!"

"Noooooo~! It's safe in here!"

"So you don't have any objections for me to continue then, huh!?" Growing by the second Michael was getting annoyed by his new underclassmen's cowardly attitude.

"Please stooooooop!" Gasper cried in terror.

"Then get out of your stupid box!" Michael screamed.

Watching this, everyone sweatdropped at the 2nd year's attempts to drag Gasper out the box.

"Michael..." Xenovia blinked

"...You're starting to look like a bully, Baka-senpai." Koneko sipped her cup of tea and closed her eyes.

"I'm surprised you were able to get a boy like this with only one Evil Piece, Rias-san." Raynare sweatdropped.

Using magic to suddenly bring out a book in mid-air, Rias opened the pages and said, "It wasn't just an ordinary Piece, but a Mutation Piece."

"Mutation Piece?" Asia asks.

Kiba answered,

"It's different from the usual evil piece, people that clearly require more than one piece to be reincarnated can be reincarnated in one piece, it's a piece that can make phenomena like this occur."

"And Buchou possessed that piece." Akeno said.

"Usually, for high-class devils, 1 in 10 devils possesses a single piece. It's an irregularity born when the evil piece system was created, it's kind of like a bug, but it seems like it was kept for fun. Gasper-kun is the one who used that piece."

"Amazing, his prowess with magic must be really outstanding to have such a thing occur." Xenovia said with wide eyes.

"Buchou, it's time." Akeno turned to look at Rias.

"You're right." Rias stood up from her seat, "Akeno and I will be attending a meeting between the top members of the organization. Yuuto."

"Yes, Buchou?" Kiba stood up.

"Onii-sama and an acquaintance of his seem to be interested in knowing more about your Balance Breaker so you'll be coming with us." Rias said.

"Understood." Kiba starts to walk towards Rias and Akeno who prepares a magic circle for them to travel to the meeting.

"Hey, wait a minute. You're taking Pretty Boy because of his Balance Breaker what about me?" Michael jabbed his thumb into his chest, he also obtained Balance Breaker too so why wasn't he being called up to the meeting as well.

"Well, Michael-kun, your Balance Breaker is rather well-known as it is, so there won't be anything to discuss. On the other hand, Kiba-kun's Balance Breaker is an irregular type and quite special due to it's involvement with Holy power, a technique us devils were not able to use in the beginning." Akeno smiled.

"So my Balance Breaker isn't special enough?" Michael slumped down on the floor beside Gasper's box in shock as all the color drained out his body, "And after all that hard work I had to gain it too, and I'm still deemed as unspecial in that kind of area?"

"…I don't think so, Michael-senpai." Koneko kneeled next to Michael.

"Y-You r-really think so Koneko-chan?" Michael sniffled.

First Koneko nodded before replying,

"You have to be somewhat special before being called non-special in a certain area."

Sitting up and scratching his head in anger, Michael shouted, "Gaaah! You're no help at all! That's what I get for trying to get cheered by you!"

"Everyone would you be in charge of Gasper's training until we get back?" Rias asked.

"Training?" Michael mumbled.

"Yes, Gasper still needs to move around after being locked inside of that room and maybe while you train him he can maybe obtain Balance Breaker." Rias was quite serious with this chance her brother gave to her for releasing her Bishop and maybe able to help with his inability to control his power.

"I'm sorry, Michael-kun, but it seems I won't be able to help you with this one." Kiba gave an apologetic smile.

"And I as well won't give you any support with this at the moment so please handle it for me, Michael-kun." Akeno also apologized.

"Don't worry, Akeno-senpai, I the Great Hanamura will bust this this brat into shape even if it kills him!" Michael clenched his fist.

"Don't you mean 'you' Michael?" Xenovia asked.

Michael looked at the boy in the box and smirked, "No…"

"Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiieh! So scary please don't leave me alone with him!" Gasper cried in fear as the box trembled in fear.

"It may seem a little extreme but is the only way so good luck, Gasper." Rias gave her usual tough love smile.

"Noooooooooo! I'm gonna die!" Gasper shrieked.

"Keep screaming like that and you'll die 5 times over." With an irked smile Michael kicked the box even harder.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!" Gasper cried even more.

Walking towards Asia, Raynare, Koneko and Xenovia, Rias whispered to them, "Please make sure you keep an eye on him."

"You mean Gasper-san?" Asia looked over to the Bullying Michael and terrified box which held Gasper.

"No, I mean Michael. I don't feel safe with those two left alone together, so please make sure to keep some distance away from the two if things go bad." Rias whispered then noticed something in Michael's hand as Gasper screamed even louder, "Michael, put the bat away that's not allowed."

"But it's for initiation though…" Michael whined and patted the metal bat on his shoulder as there were a few stains of blood on it.

"Initiation?" Rias raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's for every new servant who joins and they get their butts handed to them very hard." Michael laughed.

"Who told you all of that?" Rias noticed the blood stains on the bat.

"Koneko did, she even beat me up with this exact same bat." Michael pointed at Koneko.

Everyone looked over to Koneko who simply closed her eyes and sighed, "…It seemed a lot more interesting at the time since he would always run away whenever I approached him with it."

_'She actually tricked him into getting beaten?' Everyone thought and sweatdropped._

"Huh? Is something wrong?" Michael blinked.

"Yes, give me the bat." Rias outstretched her hand for the blunt weapon.

"Aaaaaaaw! Come on, at least let me use it once I swear it will only hurt him for a while." Michael tried to persuade his master.

"Really?" Rias asked.

"Yes, since it will only hurt once then he'll never feel anything again." Michael casually explained something horrific.

"Yeah, no. Now give it here." Rias shook her head.

Michael cursed to himself as he gave the bat to Rias, hesitantly.

"Good. Now all of you please help Gasper with his training." Rias turned back to the others.

"We'll do our best." Xenovia nodded along with the others as Rias gives them a thankful smile and teleport through the magic circle to the meeting.

"Now that we're alone, what shall we do first?" Michael cracked his knuckles.

"Wait, Michael. Allow me to discipline him. A weak man isn't a good man at all. In fact, this is actually exciting I've always wanted to fight a vampire before." Xenovia smiled as she starts to pull the box by its rope to the outside.

"Eeeeeeeeek! N-N-N-No way, I don't want to fight against the user of the holy sword Durrandaaaaal! I-I'll get destroyeeeeed!"

"Don't scream, Gasper. If you like, shall I prepare a cross and holy water, and also attack you with garlic?"

"Eeeeeeeeeek! Garlic, noooooooooo!"

"Yeeeeeeeeah!" Michael roared in excitement, "You're going down kid!"

"Um, weren't we supposed to separate Michael-san from Gasper-san? Not Xenovia-san?" Asia sweatdropped.

"And isn't this supposed to help train Gasper-kun, Michael-sama?" Raynare sighed.

"…Baka-senpais." Koneko shook her head.

Outside the clubroom, it was already evening as the Occult Research Club was beginning to train their released Bishop. Their methods were a little unorthodox as Xenovia began her part of the training.

"Noooooooooooo!" Gasper cried as he ran away from a dangerously swinging Durandal used by Xenovia.

"Run faster! If you even get the slightest bit slower, then you'll end up another victim of Durandal's sharp edge!" Xenovia preached while she was chasing after Gasper, by the smile on her face it seemed she strangely likes being in a position of a instructor.

"This seems to be more of a Vampire Hunt." Raynare gulped as her face grew pale.

"Ah! Half-vampire Hunt." Michael laughed as he watched Gasper get chased around, he wanted to see the banshee screaming brat struggle and do something about it. It was a feeling had expected the kid to do, but all he ever did was cry so maybe now something could happen.

"M-Michael-san?"

"Hm?" Michael turns to face Asia.

"Why are you so mean to Gasper-san?"

"Mean? What are you talking about? I'm not being mean." Michael was confused.

"Michael-sama, you're being a totally full-blown jerk towards a Kouhai you just met, that's bullying." Raynare placed a hand on her hip.

"Hey, look the Great Hanamura isn't a bully, he's a cool, sensible guy who wants to help his underclassman stand tall and walk, proudly." Michael then picks up a long stick and walks over to the slowing down Gasper.

"…What do you think you're doing, Baka-senpai?" Koneko was curious about Michael's stick.

"Oh, I'm going to try and make Gasper trip and fall, I'll be right back." Michael chuckled and whispered to himself, "Come over here you annoying little…"

"Really…" Raynare sighed as everyone facepalmed at Michael's choice of words and actions as he continued to trip up Gasper about 5 times, but with no avail to keep him down as Gasper would just keep getting up on his own.

After 5 minutes of running later, Gasper was on the ground exhausted as he panted, "Why are you doing this?"

"You lack both a healthy mind and body, so I think increasing your stamina can be a start." Xenovia had a face of enjoyment.

"I can't do this anymore! I can't move another step!" Gasper cried once again.

"Annoying kid won't even try to defend himself or run." Michael had annoyance in his eyes.

Walking towards the small daywalker, Koneko extended her hand full of garlic out to which made Gasper flinch back,

"Gya-kun if you eat this, you'll feel better in a second."

"Nooooooooo! I hate garlic! Please don't bully me too, Koneko-chaaaaaan!" Gasper cried as he was up on his feet running for his life once more.

"Don't be picky about your food Gya-kun…" Koneko continued to chase after Gasper.

"Wow, for Koneko-chan to tease someone it seems strange to watch." Michael scratched his head.

Popping up from the side of the old school building was a smiling, Saji holding onto a wash cloth covered in a variety of paints as he wore his school jersey.

"Yo, how's it going Occult Research Crew." Saji raised his hand.

"What did I say about talking street, you can't pull it off!" Michael growled.

"Oh, Saji-kun, you're still here?" Raynare blinked in confusion.

"Well I had to clean this asshole's graffiti he littered around the school." Saji gave Michael the stank eyes.

"Hey, at least you got some extracurricular work done right?" Michael smiled sheepishly.

"Extra my ass!" Saji threw down the rag and shouted, "I had my head bitten off by the Kaichou and Fuka-kaichou because of you, don't you remember a meeting between the three factions will occur here what will they think of us devils if we keep our own territories a mess!?"

"I don't know, I thought we're enemies so wouldn't they care less about how we present ourselves?" Michael shrugged.

"That may be true, but it's all about representation…"

"So we're basically doing something for the enemy, who may or may not care at all for what we're doing. Seems kind of dumb."

"No, it's not it only seems that way because…"

"I mean who'd want to impress their enemy shouldn't it make them jealous because something other than that is just plain stupid if you ask me." Michael shrugged.

"He does have a point." Raynare looked to Asia and Xenovia who nod in agreement.

"Look, I don't care if it's stupid or not because at the end of the day it will end up being my job to clean up your mess." Saji poked Michael's shoulder.

"Look man, you can be angry at me later because I have to help this annoying brat with their training." Michael crossed his arms.

"Train? Oh, right you guys just released your Bishop so where is he?" Saji asked.

"Over there." Michael points over to the running half breed vampire.

Taking a first glance, Saji rubbed his chin and asked, "So you have another blonde bishop girl, huh? Well aren't you lucky."

"Why would I be lucky if it's a girl?" Michael asked.

"No reason. No reason. So what's her name?" Saji said with interest as he knew this was his chance to get this girl's attention for himself before he noticed Michael's words.

_'Wait a minute…' Saji realized._

"W-Whoa, wait, did you say if it was a girl?" Saji's eyes widened.

"Yeah." Michael nodded.

"I don't understand, it looks like a girl... How can you even say that?" Saji gasped.

"Erh…Saji-kun." Raynare wanted to explain but Michael placed a hand on her shoulder.

"No, don't worry Ray-chan I got this."

Michael looked over at Raynare who nodded in turn.

"Hey, I need an explanation now! What's going on and what do you mean that girl's a guy? I don't understand." Saji panicked.

"Look man, we need to talk." Michael coughed and led Saji somewhere else to explain.

**[5 Minutes of a Cross Dressing Explanation later...] Ddraig narrated as the sounds of Saji crying were heard in the background.**

_'Seriously, why do you keep doing this!?' Michael thought._

**[I already told you because I'm BORED!] Ddraig shouted.**

_'Fine, you don't have to shout at me!' Michael shouted back._

Arriving back, Michael with a crestfallen Saji, noticed everyone searching for something or someone since Gasper was nowhere to be seen.

"So how was it?" Raynare asked looking at Saji.

"Oh, you know everything went well." Michael pocketed his hands.

"…Saji-senpai, how are you doing?" Koneko asked.

"… …I feel dead inside." Saji grabbed his chest in sadness.

"See? Everything went well." Michael gave a thumbs up, "So where's that brat wasn't he being chased by Koneko-chan?"

"Mmm…" Xenovia scratched her cheek as she closed her eyes, "We sort of lost him."

"You did? How!?" Michael asked.

"Gasper-san, stopped time and began to run away." Asia explained with an exhausted sigh, she knew the others overdid it by teasing and almost critically injuring the young boy with Durandal. This was really foreseeable if you were in the shoes of the terrified boy.

"Geez...this kid is bringing nothing, but trouble." Michael crossed his arms then realized, "Hm, I get the strange feeling that I've heard that before."

"Probably because many people have said that to you." Saji reminded.

"They have? Well, to be honest it sounds kind of familiar when you hear it many times." Michael looked up.

"Of course. You do stupid things such as pranks or half brained schemes to get noticed which all end up in failure." Saji crossed his arms.

"He does?" Xenovia blinked.

"Yeah, and since I'm his friend, I'm usually pulled into the messes he makes it actually kind of-" Saji went off on a rant about the troubles he and Michael face due to the latter's recklessness to everyone.

_'I don't always get myself into trouble for that…did I?' Michael thought with a trouble expression._

Michael looked down and scratched his head. He then remembered the frightened face Gasper had and got annoyed, but strangely it wasn't the boy which disturbed him but the look of fear on it, it all felt familiar it was different but familiar at the same time.

_'Yeah, now I realize it, those words have been said to me by many people who didn't want anything to do with me.' Michael gasped then scratched his cheek, 'Maybe I've been a little harsh on the little guy if it's come to me saying something like that.'_

Suddenly the bushes nearby shook grabbing Michael's attention while the others paid attention to Saji's rant.

"So that's where your hiding." Michael smiled and approached the bush, he started to move the leave out the way and said, "Look kid, I'm sorry I've been such a jerk to you so come out and we can-"

***BONG!***

"OWWWWWWWWWW!"

Out from the bushes came a blonde haired head head-butting Michael in the chin causing the teen to tumble back into the ground

"Michael-san!" Everyone led by Asia rushed over to his side as the teen sits up and rubs his sore chin.

"Dammit, that's smarts! What the hell just happened?" Michael looked at the bush which continued to shook.

"What happened to you, Michael-sama?" Raynare checked on Michael's chin in worry.

"I don't know, I was looking for Gasper and then from out of nowhere someone hit my jaw really hard!" Michael grunted in pain.

"Could it be an enemy?" Xenovia and everyone were prepared to face whoever it was in the now rustling bushes.

"Wait, this presence…" Raynare gasped as she recognized the blonde haired figure in the bushes, she started to walk towards the bush to investigate.

But something felt strange and telling by the look Michael can see on Raynare's face it must be someone familiar with her. The bushes shook once more as an approaching Raynare slowly before the figure pops out of the bush to reveal…!

"Raynare-oneesan!"

"Oomph! M-Mittelt?" Raynare

Glomping Raynare out of nowhere a revealed Mittelt reveals herself, much to everyone, but a confused Xenovia and Saji's surprise.

"Mittelt-san?" Asia gasped.

"It's that Fallen Angel Brat, we met a couple of months ago." Michael rubbed his chin in pain.

"…Why is she here?" Koneko questioned.

"Mittelt, what's going on? Why are you here?" Raynare asked as Mittelt continued to motorboat Raynare's chest with her face.

"Raynare-oneesan, it's been so looooooong! I've missed you so much!" Mittelt giggled as she started to sniff Raynare's more deeply, "Yep, it's definitely been so long that I've almost forgotten your heavenly scent."

"M-Mittelt please don't sniff me, like I told you before it's not normal especially in public, and you still haven't answered my question!" Raynare was flustered and tried to get an answer but Mittelt just continued sniffing and putting her face between Raynare's breasts.

"It seems Mittelt-san really missed Raynare-san." Asia sweatdropped and Koneko nodded.

"That's understandable, but still why'd she have to go and do that." Michael rubbed his chin which was still in a large amount of pain.

"It's only fair she did that, since you did take away her object of affection." A familiar feminine voice piped up out of the forest.

"Another one? And this voice sounds awfully familiar." Michael blinked and looked to the side with wide eyes.

Coming out from the dark depths of the forest was a smiling Kalawarner with both her hands on her hips as she looked at Michael,

"It's been a while kid, how have you been?" Kalawarner greeted.

"Kalawarner/-san?" Michael and Asia said the Fallen Angel's name in unison.

"Kalawarner, you're here too just what's going on?" Raynare who diverts her attention from Mittelt focus on the mature fallen angel.

"Oh hello, Raynare it's nice to see you too." Kalawarner waved.

"Don't change the subject explain why the two of you are here."

"I would but-"

***SHIIING!***

Raising her hands with a neutral expression as the blade from Durandal was raised, Kalawarner was now being held back by Xenovia.

"Could you first tell your friend to lay off?"

"Explain to us your business here." Xenovia threatened, she may have felt comfortable around Raynare, but with other Fallen Angels she still had to be cautious.

"Wait, Xenovia-san!" Asia rushes over to Xenovia and tries to stop her.

Standing while looking like a fool, Saji stared at the close to close contact between Raynare and Mittelt with steam coming out of his red face,

"Sooooo, can someone please explain why a loli is motor boating Raynare?"

Groaning, Michael stood up and says, "Fine, I guess I have to explain everything then so these two are…"

About 20 minutes of explaining about their last encounter and how everything was patched up the chaos ended as Xenovia apologized, Saji was able to regain his senses and Raynare finally pushed Mittelt off of her.

There was a bit of an awkward silence while the Fallen Angels greeted Asia which soon led to an apology on their cruel actions towards her. But like with Xenovia, Asia accepted the apology holding no ill will towards them at all.

"So you guy's faced each other a long time ago and now your friends?" Saji asks.

"Well, it's sort of like that, but it ended off sort of awkward." Michael shrugged.

"I apologize for my rude actions." Xenovia lowered her head.

"You better." Mittelt crossed her arms and looked away.

"It's fine. Your reaction was completely normal." Kalawarner waved off the apology.

"So can you two please tell me why you're here?" Raynare explained.

"Isn't it obvious, Raynare-oneesan, we came here to see you again!" Mittelt tried to hug Raynare again but the girl raised her hand and told her to stop.

"That can't be it, so please give me the truth." Raynare had a very serious expression, "After my last report to the Organization there shouldn't be a possibility of them allowing you back here again, so tell me your real reason for being here."

Kalawarner let out a small laugh, "I knew it would be hard to lie to you, so I guess we have no choice but to say that we're actually here as Azazel-sama's bodyguards."

"Ero-Ossan?" Michael raised an eyebrow.

"What? You two w-were promoted to his Bodyguards h-how?" Raynare said in disbelief.

"After your report and the interrogation of Dohnaseek our superior who allowed us to come take the positions saw it useful to them since we're more familiar with the area and some of the people residing here." Kalawarner explained.

"Superior? Wait, n-no, don't tell me." Raynare gulped.

"Yup, it was Raymond-sama." Mittelt smiled and nodded.

Michael noticed a look of confusion on Raynare's face as he asked, "Um…is something the matter, Ray-chan?"

"N-No, it's just that I was thinking why that monster would do something as to bring my friends here, could he be planning something?" Raynare was troubled by her thoughts.

"Planning something?" Michael repeated with a dumbfounded expression,  _'Maybe this just means he's worried that you're sad without your old friends being gone and wanted them to come back here to reassure you their okay.'_

"Either way, I'm glad you two are fine." Raynare sighed in relief.

"Yes, me too." Kalawarner then focuses her attention on Michael,

"Thanks for taking care of her, kid."

Michael chuckled and folded his arms behind his head, "No problem, I did promise her I'll protect her, and you don't have to call me kid just Michael is fine."

"I see, well, then thank you, Michael." Kalawarner gave a smile filled with gratitude.

"Yeah, whatever…" Mittelt spat.

"Oi! Is that all you're going to say, squirt?!" Michael shouted.

"It's because of you that Raynare-oneesan isn't with us, so why should I apologize to the likes of you?" Mittelt stuck her tongue out at Michael.

"Maybe because you head-butted me without warning!" Michael growled.

"I only did it because you deserved it." Mittelt shrugged and gave a smug smile.

"You know if you weren't a cute little girl, I'd punch you upside the head!" Michael growled.

"W-What the hell!? Where did that come from you, Devil Mutt!" Mittelt suddenly grew a blush and shouted at Michael.

"Eh? I'm no, Devil mutt, you little brat, I'm the Great Michael Hanamura and don't you forget it!" Michael growled.

"The Great Michael Hanamura? Hah! More like the Great Loudmouth Hanamura!" Mittelt insulted.

"That's it! I don't care if you're a cute little girl anymore, you're going down!" Michael shouted.

Michael's use of the word "cute" got to Mittelt again as she pressed her forehead against his and growled in frustration,

"S-Stop saying that you stupid Mutt, that's it. I'm going to turn you into a smoldering pile of devil ash with my light spear and finally take back Raynare-oneesan!"

"Oh yeah, then try it!"

"I will!"

"Then do it!"

"Not until you make the first move!"

"No way, you do it!"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

Both of the two entered a long continuous argument as everyone watching sweatdropped.

"Michael-san, your technically having an argument with…" Asia gave a nervous smile.

"…A girl younger than you." Koneko finished.

"You must have had your hands full with this guy haven't you, Raynare?" Kalawarner looked at the fighting pair in interest.

"Yeah, you can say that again." Raynare dropped her head and sighed.

Kalawarner leaned in to whisper, "So have you two finally done the dirty yet or what?"

Turning red Raynare shook her head and stuttered, "W-What are you t-talking about all of a sudden asking that out of the b-blue?"

"By your reaction, I guess you weren't his first since I can tell just by looking at him that he's ascended from being a virgin." Kalawarner crossed her arms under her chest.

"Y-You can tell just by looking?" Raynare sweatdropped.

"Of course, you can tell a million things by the way a man's posture or personality changes." Kalawarner rubbed her chin, "Also since there seem to be some women around him besides you it didn't seem hard to realize that after a while."

Kalawarner glances at Asia, Koneko and Xenovia before focusing back at Michael.

"I admit that I was pretty slow before, but I won't miss my chance next time because I, myself will soon become Michael-sama's queen once he becomes Maou." Raynare raised her head with her eyes full of determination.

"Oh, is that so? And here I thought you loved Azazel-sama so much too." Kalawarner smirked with amusement, "But to be honest I guess I can see your interest in this kid since he was strong enough to defeat Kokabiel-sama…you know what maybe I should make things interesting."

"Interesting? What do you mean?" Raynare was suspicious of her friend's sudden change of tone.

Ignoring Raynare, Kalawarner walks past her and everyone else while approaching the arguing pair of Michael and Mittelt.

"Don't make me kick your ass, you little runt!" Michael growled and pushed Mittelt's head back.

"All bark, no, bite you, Mutt! Like I'd let you do that!" Mittelt pushed Michael's head back.

"You just watch I'll knock you flatter than Koneko's che-" Michael stopped himself once he saw a dangerous Koneko glaring daggers at him as the apparition of a large white cat stood behind her.

_'Crap, I chose the wrong words!' Michael panicked._

**_[You must think carefully about your words before they come back and bite you in the rear.]_ **

_'I know that, but what else is flat here um…uh…' Michael looked around and stopped to look at Mittelt's somewhat flat breasts, 'Wait, I got it!'_

"I-I mean flatter than your chest!" Michael gulped.

"W-Wait, what?" Mittelt suddenly pulled herself away from Michael and covered her chest as her face grew red.

"Huh?" Michael tilts his head in confusion.

"W-Were you looking at m-my c-c-c-chest?" Mittelt stuttered her words in embarrassment.

"Your chest?" Michael repeated.

"Michael-san, your so cruel, if you had only asked me then I could have…." Asia had a face of regret as her eyes grew teary.

"…You're the worst."

"Dammit! Michael, you're so lucky! Now I'm starting to feel even less sympathy for you!" Saji cried out in frustration.

"Wait, you guys! Why are you getting all mad at me? I wasn't looking at her because I wanted to I just was doing it to finish my sentence!" Michael pointed at Mittelt.

"So y-you were looking weren't you, you pervert!" Mittelt screamed as she started to a little less embarrassed for some reason.

"Like I already said I needed something for my comeback, so I said your chest by coincidence and I'm still pissed about what you did to my chin so just apologize already!"

Michael shouted but then felt a pair of hands grabbed the sides of his face and pull him into a soft embrace between two large breasts.

"Shhh! Don't worry just relax Michael…" Kalawarner whispered into Michael's ear as she cradled the boy into her chest.

"Kalawarner what are you doing!?" Raynare screamed.

"I said, I was going to make this interesting, didn't I?" Kalawarner stroked the back of Michael's head, "And besides his sudden growth in not just strength, but manliness also got me excited don't you know?"

On her face was a blush and a slight look of arousal. Wait…arousal?

Watching in shock the others responded in their own normal way.

"I knew it, these Fallen Angels were dangerous from the start." Xenovia readies Durandal to hack away at Kalawarner.

"N-No, Xenovia-san, please don't do anything rash!" Asia once again tried to stop her friend.

"But Asia if this was to continue then we'd have more obstacles in our path, don't you too wish you can someday do the same thing she's doing to Michael?" Xenovia said almost dramatically as if they were in war.

"U-Um…" Asia's cheeks grew red as she looked at the trapped Michael in Kalawarner embrace, "Yes, but I…"

Raising her hand, Xenovia said, "Then we should do anything possible to make sure we avoid a future threat."

"B-But attacking her seems a l-little too brutal don't you think?" Asia shook her head.

Watching the Fallen Angel hold Michael against her chest both, Mittelt and Koneko watched with their eyes showing irritation for some reason especially Koneko who also had no qualms about attacking the Fallen Angel either if her clenched fist wasn't a clue.

"You've gotten a little manlier haven't you? Maybe. I should try and make you a little more of a man when I get the time." Kalawarner whispered.

_'Aw, geez...please don't tell me she's going to do this too.' Michael started to lose oxygen once more._

"What did you just say to him?" Raynare growled.

"Oh, you know just something for him to think of before I decide to have my part in this thing you and those other girls are doing." Kalawarner turns back and smiles.

"Wait, the way you said that then you're saying your own declaration?" Raynare and Mittelt were in shock.

"Maybe or maybe not who knows, but I guess I can say that this little thing going on could be fun to partake in." Kalawarner stared at Raynare challengingly, "So I'd suggest you make your first phase move before I take it for you."

_'How did it come to this?' Raynare gritted her teeth before she declared,_ "Even if we're friends I won't submit to you at all."

"Good, nice response, but just so you know I'll make sure to never give an opening for you to take advantage of." Kalawarner retorted.

Watching on the sidelines, Saji was backing away with his hands up, "Things just got intense."

"Yeah, they sure have, but I think it grew to be like this in a good way though." A voice behind Saji said.

"Huh, you really think so?" Saji asked.

"Of course, I've had millions of women in my harem back in my day, kid." The voice chuckled.

"Millions? I highly doubt that, you'd have to live for centuries for that to have happened." Saji didn't turn back still oblivious to who was behind him.

"You shouldn't doubt something so logical because if you didn't know already I'm the Governor-General of the Fallen Angels."

Widening his eyes in fear, Saji turns back to look at a smirking, Azazel looking down at Saji with something under his shoulder.

"Hello, nice to meet you." Azazel raised a hand and greeted.

"Holy shit!" Saji jumps away from the man and grew ready in a fighting stance as he summoned his Sacred Gear,  **Absorption Line.**

"Azazel-sama!" Kalawarner and Mittelt gasped as Kalawarner dropped a limp Michael onto the ground who was wheezing for air.

"Oh my goodness, it's really him. Raynare covered her mouth in awe.

As the devils remained vigilant and grew ready to fight themselves.

_'I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that.' Michael breathed as he looked around to see everyone's either shocked or defensive stances, "Huh? Why is everyone looking that way?"_

**_[Maybe because the Leader of the Fallen Angels is standing there.]_ **

_'Huh, Ero-Ossan?' Michael looked up to see Azazel, 'Oh, he is.'_

"So it seems not only the houses of both the devil kings are playing together, but a few of my bodyguards decided to play too. So I hope you don't mind if I cut in?" Azazel smirked.

"Hey, Ero-Ossan, what are you doing here?" Michael asked as he stood up because unlike his friends he didn't need to act defensive or respectfully towards Azazel since he felt comfortable talking this way.

"Oh, you know, I came here just to take a walk and was hoping to run into the Holy-Demonic sword user but I guess I have no luck by myself so would you please tell me where he is." Azazel rubbed his chin.

"Oh, you mean Kiba well if you're looking for him he's not here, but if you're interested in seeing a Balance Breaker, I can show you mine but since you're asking then you'd have to fight the Great Hanamura." Michael grinned and grew ready in a fighting stance.

"Chi! Really he's not here how disappointing and here I wanted to see his incredibly unique balance breaker." Azazel sighed as he started to show no hostility to which everyone started to lower their stances slowly.

"Uh…hello? Unique standing right here." Michael pointed to himself.

"And you know I was willing to give some tips and advice about how to use the sacred gear and maybe unlock it's secrets for him." Azazel shrugged.

"But I need help with my Sacred Gear too…"

"But since there's no one of importance to do that then I'll just leave." Azazel shrugged.

Michael stared at Azazel in annoyance and said, "You suck."

"Oh, and speaking of no one of importance, I remember watching that small fight you had with Vali the other day." Azazel pointed at Michael.

"W-Wait, you did?"

"Yeah, it was pretty entertaining especially the ending which was hilarious, Fuhahahahaha! He totally kicked your ass!" Azazel laughed.

Seething in rage, Michael growled and shouted, "How did you even watch that fight you weren't even there!?"

"Magic, that's how." Both Saji and Azazel answered.

"I'm getting real tired of that being the answer for everything." Michael groaned.

"Alright, tell us why you chose to reveal yourself to us?" Xenovia raised Durandal, ready to slash the Fallen Angel if he made a wrong move.

"Well, usually I'd just laugh at the brat's face and go on my merry way, but on may way here I picked up something you might want back."

***SNIFF!***

Azazel revealed the object her was holding and the object turned out to be a sniffling Gasper.

"Gasper!" Everyone gasped.

"Crap! I forgot about the kid!" Michael shouted.

"You see, I found him crying under this big tree so the first thing which popped up into my head was, meh, why not try to do something as evil as kidnapping a poor innocent looking...girl? Boy? Whatever, but then I saw the uniform and how he had the pale appearance of a vampire and you can tell how this story ends." Azazel explains as he places down Gasper who in turn runs to hide behind Michael and began to shiver.

"That kid's the possessor of the Forbidden Balor View, right?" Azazel asked.

"Yeah, so what?" Michael nodded.

"So, if he can't use it properly then he'll cause more harm to others, it may be a good support type sacred gear, but if you can't harness the certain aspects of it then it will become a threat to others. This proves my point to suspect that you devils have no actual understanding about the Sacred Gears." Azazel smirked as he focused his attention on Gasper who was trembling more and more by the minute.

"Be quiet, we're still doing our best to bring out the potential of our sacred gears we don't need to be told such things by the leader of the Fallen Angels." Saji exclaimed.

"Hmmm?" Azazel directed his attention on Saji's sacred gear and said, "Is that the Absorption Line?"

"Yeah, so what of it?" Saji pulled back the sacred gear defensively.

"Now, now, no need to get all defensive I just wanted to know if you're practicing to use it because if you connect it to this vampire then it will absorb the sacred gear's excess power. In fact his chances of running wild will decrease slightly."

"Tell me something I don't know. I already know everything about my Sacred Gear, thank you very much." Saji spat, "I even know of its ability to scatter power by connecting it to another object or person and also I'm able to create 3 lines as of now."

"This stuff is getting complicated. I don't even know what you guys are saying." Michael complained and scratched his head before looking back at Saji.

_'Things may be getting hard to figure out but Saji did use that one thing on me during the Dodge ball game already.' Michael thought and looked at Saji's sacred gear._

"Really, then you should already know about the other 3 types of Vritra Sacred Gears there are that you don't currently have." Azazel stared at Saji in interest.

"Of course, aside from my  **Absorption Line** there is the  **Blaze Black Flare, Delete Field,** and **Shadow Prison** each Sacred Gear holds a spirit of one of the five Dragon Kings, Vritra. Until all of them are combined then will Vritra's consciousness." Saji explained.

"Impressive, you must really know your stuff." Azazel clapped his hands.

"I have to if I don't know that much about my own powers then I won't be able to use it properly." Saji then glances at Michael then focuses on Azazel.

_'I saw that you little bastard!' Michael growled._

"So what if I were to tell you that I have all the remaining pieces of the sacred gear with me, then would you accept any offer I would give?" Azazel smirked.

"I would rather die than betray, Kaichou, and I don't need that much power. I'm fine with the one thing I've got." Saji clenched his fist.

"Oh really, I doubt that you'll be thinking that way for long if you ever face something too disadvantageous for you to handle alone." Azazel shrugged as Saji gritted his teeth.

"But you know if you allowed the brat, the current Sekiryuutei, to feed the little Vampire his blood then the child's proficiency with the sacred gear would grow." Azazel shrugged.

"My blood?" Michael looked at his hand as Gasper started to shiver at the mention of blood.

"Well that's it for me today. I'll probably see most of you at the meeting." Azazel turns to leave before turning back, "Oh, I almost forgot you."

Azazel focuses his attention on Raynare.

"Me?" Raynare jumped as the Fallen Angel Leader called her.

Azazel gave her a grin and said, "I've heard that you allowed yourself to take most of the blame for the others, so if I were to allow you to return with me to the Organization would you?"

Mittelt looked excited and looked at Raynare with a big smile, "Come on, Raynare-oneesan just say yes."

"Huh?" Michael blinked and looked back at Raynare who had a mix feelings of emotion as she always wanted this very man to acknowledge her and now that dream was coming true but that the feeling she would get wasn't there anymore in fact right now the offer felt sort of bland to her.

_'It just doesn't feel the same anymore.' Raynare looked down before focusing on Michael looking at her with a grin._

"Hey, if it's that important to you then maybe you should join up with the Ero-Osaan if you want I don't mind as long as you're happy." Michael showed his usual grin to hide his uneasiness.

_'…! Wait, what am I thinking?' Raynare smiled and touched the silver bracelet Michael gave to her and approached Michael and wrapped her arms around his own._

"Eh? Ray-chan?" Michael tilts his head.

"I'm sorry, Azazel-sama, but I'd have to refuse that offer." Raynare leaned her head onto Michael's shoulder.

Smiling, Azazel said, "What a shame and after all the good things I've heard from your brother. I guess this was my fault for allowing you to get into the grasp of someone else. But I guess since it's with the brat that I don't mind at all in fact I guess a few belated gifts for him won't hurt."

Azazel looked up with a faraway look in his eyes, "Yeah, belated gifts to help compensate for…"

"Azazel-sama?" Mittelt who was disappointed checked up on her leader.

"Right, excuse me." Azazel coughed then continued, "Michael."

"What? You going to insult me some more, Ero-Ossan? Hah, bring it I'm ready with a few hastily made comebacks for this occasion!"

"No, you idiot, I was just going to give you a pointer for your Boosted Gear."

"A pointer?" Michael looked at his right arm.

"Right now you have an immense amount of Dragon Power which can inflict tons of damage on you when you attack. If you were to use something as a protection for you, while using the Dragon Power then you won't even get inflicted by the recoil of your reckless attacks." Azazel explained.

_'A form of protection?' Michael blinked._

"Well, anyways, I'm a busy with my hobby, so until we meet again." Azazel then walked away like nothing had happened as Kalawarner and Mittelt left with him after saying their goodbyes (mostly Mittelt threatening to kill Michael the moment they next meet).

Everyone was quiet about the entire meeting with the Fallen Angel until Michael made the first move and said,

"Ray-chan, it's kind of hard to move when you're still so close to me." Michael laughed nervously.

"O-Oh! Sorry, I f-forgot." Raynare released Michael from her hold and was disappointed that it wasn't for that long.

"Well, do you guys want to try using my sacred gear to help Cross Dresser-kun, it might be good to do it before he runs away from you all again in that state." Saji stated.

"But what about your job, Saji-san?" Asia asked.

"Oh, everything is taken care of, I already cleaned off all of the graffiti from the entire campus so-"

***SPRAAAAY!***

Saji turns back to see Michael vandalizing the walls of the Old School Building.

Michael turns back to give a peace sign, "Not all of it!"

"That's it….you're freaking dead, Hanamura!"

"Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!"

Saji roared as he chased Michael who ran off doing the Zoidberg scream.

And so after the pair finished messing around, Saji connected the Absorption Line to Gasper's head and sucked the excess power from his Sacred Gear. Now using the Volleyball court in the gym the group started his training by throwing volleyballs at him, well mostly Michael. But each time the ball was thrown Gasper's powers would get in the way and stop everything as he tried to run away.

Luckily they had Koneko drag him back to the gym or things would be even more troublesome as Gasper cried, "Sooooorrryyy!" each time he was dragged back. Soon Michael realized that it wasn't the Sacred Gear which needed training but just the Host itself he was only making things difficult.

After some time had passed everyone sort of went to take a break or go back to their usual business as Xenovia, Asia, Koneko, and Raynare left to take a break as Saji returned to his job of now painting over the new graffiti Michael made over the school. As Michael now stood in front of Gasper's room with Rias who was making sure everything was going okay, only to find an exhausted Michael sitting next to the locked door leading to Gasper's room.

"Gasper, please come out, I know it was really wrong to force you out so suddenly before." Rias apologized.

"Fuuueeeeeeeeeeee!" Gasper was crying out at the top of his longs.

"I'm sorry, Buchou, but things got complicated and ended like this." Michael looked down in disappointment.

"It's okay. You all are working hard for his sake." Rias shook her head.

"Waaaaah! It's scary outside there are many terrifying Fallen Angels and mean senpai's outside…!" Gasper cried.

"I guess he still doesn't like me, huh? Well I guess I deserved that one." Michael scratched his head.

Rias noticing Michael's lack of annoyance with Gasper asked, "It seems you've started to have gotten used to him now."

"Well it was a little difficult at first since I saw something about him which made me mad." Michael sighed and placed both his hands on his hips and looked down, "But I guess I can get used to him now, but.."

"Hm?" Rias looks at Michael in curiosity.

"Do you know why he's like this, because it must have been something terrible for him to act this way." Michael still kept looking down, he felt ashamed he was ever mean to the kid. He always thought that being pushed around would give you the motivation to stand since he was a kid but what Gasper's doing isn't what he had in mind at all.

"Gasper is the son of a very distinguished vampire family, but his mother was a human." Rias started explaining while looking at the door which Gasper hid behind, "Vampires care even more about pedigree than devils and as a result, Gasper was discriminated against even in his immediate family."

"Wait, even his own dad!?" Michael clenched his fist in anger.

"Yes, out of everyone else in his family, his father was the most distant from Gasper." Rias nodded.

"Damn…what kind of parent even does that to their own kid?" Michael's knuckles were turning white as he thought of such a parent doing that to their child. He never knew what it meant to have parents in fact he envied others who had them but one thing was for certain he knew that discrimination against one's own blood isn't right.

Rias continued,

"But his vampire brethren weren't the only ones who rejected him."

Michael looked at Rias in confusion.

"As soon as he entered the Human World, he was treated as a monster for his Vampire blood."

_'So not even humans accepted him?' Michael's eyes widened._

**_[It's not so hard to understand since throughout time Humanity has always feared and were unknowledgeable of the unknown.]_ **

_'…' Michael looked down as he could feel the same since he too was once human, but he wouldn't go as far as calling someone different than him a 'monster'._

"On top of that, he had the troublesome power of being able to stop time a power, he could not control. He was feared. No, it might be more accurate to say he was loathed. You never know what happens to you when you're stopped, you know. No one would want to be near the holder of such a power."

Each time Rias continued, Michael's fingers started to dig into the skin of his hands.

_'So people just labeled him as a monster because of the power he has while despising him and not even trying to get to know the him as a person at all.' Michael growled, 'I don't like this, I don't like it at all it's just like with Asia.'_

"Of course, we know that Gasper wouldn't use that power to do bad things." Rias stated her thoughts.

"I-I…..don't need such a sacred gear like this! B-Because I stop everyone! I scare them! I make them dislike me! Even I don't like my power! I don't want to stop my f-friends and c-comrades and see the frozen faces around me anymore!" Gasper cried.

"Gasper…" Michael said as he started to come up with an idea on how to make things right with not just between the two of them but also the boy's fear with himself,  _'I've got to make things right, I don't want to see anyone hurt by the same loneliness I went through.'_

"What a quandary….. For causing this child to once again shut himself in….. I am a failure as a King." Rias said with a depressed face, she must be taking this upon herself really hard.

Placing both his hands on Rias' shoulder abruptly Michael pronounced,

"You're not a failure, Rias just you watch and leave everything to me. I think I know a way that I, the Great Hanamura can fix, Bet on it!" Michael said with a serious expression, "And you're in a middle of your meeting with Aniki so don't worry about leave everything to me!"

"Are you sure?" Rias was a little hesitant but knew this meeting was for the preparation for the Faction leaders soon to come.

"Heh! My views on Gasper have changed so you don't have to worry anymore." Michael jabs his thumb to his chest, "And besides, it'll be nice to have a kouhai, who doesn't hate me unlike a certain half-pint I know."

(With Koneko)

_'…I don't know why, but I feel the need to punch Baka-senpai in the face…really hard.'_

(Back to the main scene)

"So leave everything in my capable hands, Rias I'll make sure the kid's up and about!" Michael grinned and laughed.

Displaying a smile on her, Rias leaned in to tightly hug Michael and whispered, "Yes, I'll leave everything up to you, Michael."

Returning the hug happily, Michael wrapped his arms around her before he broke off of it to do what he does best. Be obnoxious.

"Damn right!" Michael roared then pointed at the door and shouted, "That settles it, Gasper! Until you come out, I ain't moving an inch! That's right, the Great Hanamura has his eyes on you!"

"Fuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Gasper's cries immediately reached new levels of sadness after hearing that.

"Don't cry harder!" Michael growled and started banging on the door as the crying only raised in volume, "If you don't stop, I'm gonna-!"

"Ahem!"

Stopping, Michael looks to see a crossed arm Rias looking at him with a 'I thought you learned your lesson' look. Michael quickly spun around and chuckled,

"I mean, I'm gonna uh…um…go inside to give you a big old bear hug! Yeah, a bear hug…" Michael gave a coy smile as his voice trailed off suspiciously.

"Remember Michael, I'm entrusting you with this. Don't do anything reckless while I'm gone." Rias warned as a magic circle appeared to teleport her.

"Geez…fine, a guy turns his eye and an arm into a dragon's and then suddenly he's labeled reckless for life." Michael sat down in front of the doors and crossed his arms.

Rias worriedly glances at the door then back to Michael before begrudgingly transporting to the meeting.

"Alright, so now we play the waiting game." Michael rubbed his hands together and total silence filled the hallway until Michael groaned,

"I've made a terrible mistake." Michael's covered his face in boredom.

**[3 Hours Later]**

_'…'_

**[What, no comments?]**

_'You screamed at me last time and hurt my feelings!'_

**[Oh come on, Partner, I didn't mean to be rude about it.]**

_'No, I can't forgive you that easily!'_

**[Oh, really? Not even for a Scooby Snack?]**

_'Are you seriously making this joke because I'm not a freaking dog!'_

**[3 Scooby Snacks?]**

_'… …Okay, fine, I forgive you.'_

Leaning against Gasper's door, Michael had on a face of pure boredom, if he could project his boredom into the world it would cause a rip in the fabric of space and time thus creating a black hole sucking in the planet and everything existing on it until the Black Hole explodes and creates a new world out of his pure sheer Boredom. If it wasn't clear already, the fact is he was just bored to death.

No movement or sound was heard in the other room which made Michael start to contemplate a plan to start a conversation.

_'Come on, Michael, you have to be subtle think of your words carefully. This kid was despised for his heritage from both humans and vampires, and is a coward, who grew up naturally able to be pushed around, you have to think on how to properly start a conversation with a shut-in...' Michael pondered then realized, 'I got it!'_

"So you want to hear a bitching story about some awesome kid in a not so awesome world?" Michael smacked his lips.

"… … …" Gasper was silent in the room it was hard to tell if he was even listening.

**[Way to be subtle.]**

_'Okay, okay, I might have started off  a bit too strong, but trust me... This story will sell it!' Michael nodded encouragingly as he continues talking,_

"Well, I didn't hear a 'no' so too bad for you." Michael laughed, "Once upon a time there was this awesome kid, who was amazing, no, greatly amazing at everything. He would do impossible daring tricks to extreme stunts, anything dangerous you can think of he tried it... Unless you have any suggestions then he could totally do th-!"

**[Focus!]**

_'Right, right...sorry...' Michael sweatdropped._

 

Michael played off the story with an exciting tone before going into a dark voice,

"But suddenly these not so awesome people started coming, no, they were always there and would never see the awesome boy for who he was, yet alone know who he was. But one day the awesome kid decided to do something else than doing stunts, he tried getting the attention on him before he could impress others."

Michael's tone grew more normal,

"But the only method that he could think of was to come up with brilliant plans to prank others or get himself involved into the business of others and annoying them. Though this may have worked it didn't work the way he planned it. Since the people who found him annoying started to either forget about him or completely ignore him despite all of the trouble he brought to them. And that was when the Awesome Boy started to doubt himself about ever getting a friend."

Michael couldn't tell but his tone was starting to get a little sad,

"And then he started to wonder was he ever great to begin with, and will people even notice him if he at least tried to do something amazing? The awesome boy never actually wanted to be seen as a hero or somebody great at all, he just wanted to at least hear people say at least two words 'Hi, Mich-Awesome boy.' He actually wanted people to at least acknowledge his own existence since he never had parents to do that for him. There were even times to where he would get tired of talking about himself in the third person and wished he would stop doing that, but the mere thought in the frightened him because if he were to stop then no one would ever call him by name but just 'brat' or 'annoying pest.' "

"Quitting wasn't an option though." Michael started to pick up his voice, "He knew that crying wasn't going to get anyone to acknowledge him, but only make them see him as pitiful, and soon he'd end up giving up on himself so he decided to do something difficult."

***CREEAAK!***

Michael looked to his side to see a knelt down, Gasper, near his door looking at Michael in wonder.

"A-And then…what h-happened?" Gasper was curious about the story.

Overjoyed, Michael warmly smiled, "Well, he sucked it up, and continued doing what he did before and because of that he was able to get at least his first real friend, and once that friend left, another came and then another. The amazing boy never gave up even when things looked bleak and knew nothing would change if he didn't continue to stand."

Gasper's eyes widened as he started to get enticed in the story, "R-Really?"

"Of course, I mean it's based on a true story, little dude." Michael laughed.

"It is? So does this Awesome boy really exist?" Gasper asked.

"Yeah, he does, in fact." Michael points at himself, "I'm that Awesome Boy, Michael Hanamura."

"R-Really?" Gasper questioned.

Taking this as disbelief, Michael leaned in and growled, "And what does that mean?"

"N-N-N-Nothing! I'm s-sorry!" Gasper cried and tried to hide behind his rabbit plushie.

"Well, anyways that's my story, but enough about me, you're probably scared about your Sacred Gear going nuts, huh?" Michael asked.

"M-Mmmhmmm!" Gasper nods.

"Well, don't worry about being the only one, I'm practically in the same boat as you. I also have a Sacred Gear which could go haywire as well."

Michael gave a sympathetic smile, "I have the Boosted Gear which holds one of the strongest beings in the world, Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor. At first, I was freaked out about having such a power, but after a while, I thought, meh, I could deal with it as long as I can keep moving forward with my friends." Michael shrugged.

"B-But you might lose something precious to you because of that power." Gasper tried to state a certain fact while looking down sadly.

"No, I won't." Michael answered without hesitation.

"Eh?" Gasper looked up.

"Because I'll make sure to never to let that happen myself." Michael grinned.

"But things can't always work that way just because you want them to. How can you think so straightforward?" Gasper asked.

"To be honest, I'm not the smartest guy, heck, I'm not even the smartest guy in building right now since your the only one here with me..." Michael scratched his head, "Hell, if you saw my grades, you wouldn't be so surprised, so I guess it works that way for me and also." Michael looked at his right arm, "I've seen people other than myself suffer. Buchou, Asia, Raynare and Kiba, they all went through more suffering than I did, so I don't want to see people important to me lose their smiles so that's why I'll do everything in my power to stop any threats even if it that threat ends up being me. I'll do whatever it takes to protect them even at the cost of my own life."

Michael clenched his fist tightly, "And also I have a score to settle."

Gasper was in awe as he looked at the sheer determination that Michael was giving off.

"And this fight will settle things between me and my old Rival."

"You mean the White Dragon Emperor?" Gasper asked curiously.

"Well, that too, but this one is also personal between us hosts, so you might not understand, but if I can grow stronger with everyone then I might have a chance of showing that white jerk up once and for all." Michael grinned.

"Grow strong?" Gasper questioned.

"Yes, just like the Rating Game against that douchebag yakitori, I had everyone help train me for the fight and with that, we won." Michael nodded.

"Oh, I've heard of that fight too, but I was here during it though…" Gasper looked off to the side feeling kind of useless.

"Don't beat yourself up. After hearing about your story, I could tell you weren't ready then, but now I think you are." Michael smiled.

"But even if I'm here, I'll only be a bother to everyone." Gasper looked down pitifully.

"Well, I don't think you're a bother at all, in fact, I like you, Gasper." Michael looked down the hallway.

"!" Gasper was surprised to hear someone say something kind to him.

"You may be my kouhai and my senior-devil, but I can say we sort of relate in a way, you know? It's sort of like me having a kid brother around, something I never really had." Michael smiled as the feeling of talking to Gasper was even lifting his mood.

"B-Brother?" Gasper gasped.

Michael stands up and looks down at Gasper, "Come on, Gasper, let's work together from now on. Even if people call you a monster then don't take it as an insult. Take it as a compliment since with a Dragon in me, I'm a monster as well. If you get scared of being alone, remember, I'm an outcast too. And since we're both monster, we should at least watch each other's backs."

"S-Senpai…" Gasper gazed at Michael in admiration.

"So come on, we can be helpful to Buchou if we work hard, and maybe I can give you my blood to enhance your control." Michael crossed his arms.

"B-But I'm scared!" Gasper shook his head, "I'm scared of drinking blood from a living being, it's already taking a lot from me to even drink transfusions once in a while."

Gasper had a little fear in his eyes.

"I'm already afraid of my power even now. If it gets worse than this, I'll…I'll…" Gasper looked away.

"But dude your powers are awesome!" Michael shouted in excitement

"You think they're awesome?"

"Stopping time is so cool, and if I had that power I would be able to do anything I wanted like drawing mustaches on people without them knowing, taking the test answers from teacher's desks and copying them down, and even pant-sing the Perverted Duo in public something I CAN do at anytime, but still it will be hilarious." Michael impishly laughed then realized Gasper staring at him in awe.

"Whoops...did I overdo it again?" Michael rubbed his chin.

"You're a kind person, Michael-senpai." Gasper had a bitter smile, "No one's ever told me that they were jealous of me before, you even came up with concrete examples."

"Well that's just who I am, The Great Hanamura!" Michael gloated.

"I thought this power was to be hated."

"You idiot! We're stuck with them and can't do anything about it, instead of being negative let's think positive about what we can do with them for our friends and for our futures because with my Boosted Gear, I'm going to become the Maou of the Underworld!" Michael declared.

Gasper was moved by Michael's words and hugged his stuffed bunny.

"You listen here, Gasper, one day I'll make a name for myself as an Ultimate-Class Devil and eventually become a Maou to where everyone can look up to and even remember my name." Michael pointed at the sky, "And to do that I'm going to get stronger and stronger. That's my dream, the very dream that Buchou gave to me!"

Suddenly smiling upon realization Gasper stands up, "T-That's amazing, Michael-senpai!"

"Yeah, it is, isn't it? I find it to be a precious dream since Buchou helped me gain it, and when I become Maou, I'll have a day entitled to me like I dreamt of when I was a kid!" Michael scratched his head.

"Yes, to be able to be so positive about the future and dreaming up a beautiful dream while bearing this legendary power is something that I could never possibly think about." Gasper praised Michael, "You're selfish, yet meaningful desires are overflowing with the utmost courage!"

Michael scratched his cheek and thought,

_'Selfish?' Michael scratched his cheek._

"Well, anyways Gasper, you too can dream up anything you want as long as you stay positive and believe you can do it." Michael reached out his hand towards Gasper.

Thinking Michael would do something that would hurt him, Gasper flinched until he felt a gentle hand pat his head as he looks up to see Michael giving him a proud grin.

"Make sure you do everyone proud as you determine what you want your dream to be, okay?" Michael grinned.

"R-Right." Gasper nods then begins, "U-Um… Michael-senpai?"

"What's up?" Michael smiled.

"I-If it's okay with you c-could I c-c-c-c-call y-you, Michael-nii?" Gasper asked out of the blue.

"Huh, you want me to be your older brother?" Michael quirked an eyebrow.

"W-Well if you don't want me to t-t-then I can-!" Gasper tried to look away until Michael laughed.

"Hahahahahahaha! Don't be so scared, I don't mind that, Gasper, in fact, I did mention something about you being like a little brother before, so I don't see any trouble with this."

"R-Really?"

Michael nods.

"O-Okay, then thanks, Michael-nii!"

"No sweat, now let's go into your room and discuss future pranks on the school which will get Saji in trouble." Michael folded his arms behind his head and started walking in the room as Gasper watched Michael enter.

"Finding a dream?" Gasper repeated.

"Oi, are you just going to stand there? Come on, Gasper."

"S-Sorry, Michael-nii, I-I'm coming!" Gasper rushed in the room and closed the door.

Continuing their chat inside the room, Michael took off his pair of goggles and showed them to Gasper,

"You see this Gasper? This is the same thing that Vali admitted he lost for."

"Amazing, Michael-nii, you must be so happy to have earned that from your rival." Gasper smiled.

"Of course I'm not happy, I didn't win this at all. I only got it as a tie, so it doesn't count." Michael shook his head.

"Eh?" Gasper was confused.

"When our second fight comes around, I'll prove to him that I'm his equal and not some annoying kid that he can push away at a moment's convenience." Michael declared.

"Amazing, even when you won, your still not satisfied, Michael-nii, your so goal-driven it's amazing!"

"Haha! Flattery gets you everywhere with me, Gasper, but then there comes my meeting with the Maou, Sirzechs Lucifer to which I can call Aniki and-!" Michael rubbed his head and was getting sucked up to.

***GACHA!***

"Good work, you were able to keep your promise as expected of Michael-kun." Kiba entered the room.

"Hey, welcome back how was your meeting?" Michael greeted.

"It was cut short since the one who was interested in my Balance Breaker was absent due to some 'difficulties'." Kiba raised his hand and rolled his wrist.

* * *

 

(Somewhere in a mountain terrain filled dimension)

***CHIING!***

***DWOOOOOOOSH!***

The clash of both Kai and Zethyr only intensified as Zethyr claymore made contact with Kai's staff. The two grown devils were covered in cuts, but nothing too major to kill them, but if major scars were a problem then you can also say the land they fought on was also being torn and broken apart.

"I feel like we're forgetting something." Kai commented as he left himself open.

"If you leave yourself open, I won't hesitate to kill you."

***DIIING!***

"Oh boy~!"

***DOOOOOOON!***

Zethyr swung the side of his blade's edge against the side of Kai's abdomen and sent him flying through a mountain which was cut in half by the after attack of the claymore's swing. But Kai didn't seem like he sustained damage as he was able to use Touki the last minute to dull out the claymore's edge along with him hardening his muscles.

"That shouldn't have taken him out, yet." Zethyr unfurls his wings and starts to fly up in the air.

**"Extend!"** Suddenly from the rubble of the mountain out came the butt of Kai's staff fired out at Zethyr.

"Hmph!"

***TEEEAR!***

Zethyr narrowly avoids the attack with barely his clothing being ripped by it as the staff slowly withdraws itself in the air and spirals above, Zethyr. When suddenly a shadow shaped like Kai zoomed past Zethyr with his devil wings and tried to grab the staff but. Seeing this as futile Zethyr gripped his claymore and cleaved it through the shadow thus splitting it in half.

"You should take this more seriously, Son Kai." Zethyr sighed as the shadow dispersed into hairs slowly floating down to the ground below. It was a replication technique used with Senjutsu to bring life into the strands of Kai's hair.

Suddenly, Kai's voice echoed throughout the dimension, "I would, but what would be the fun of settling things there!?" Somewhere in the shadows Kai does a hands sign.

***POOOOF!***

"…!"

***BAAAAAAAAAAAAM!***

Zethyr suddenly realizes that the strands of hairs falling to the ground transformed into 5 life sized body versions of Kai as they approach from beneath Zethyr and uppercut him higher into the air.

"Tch!" Zethyr realized they weren't done as they still pursued him and started ganging up on Zethyr as a group attacking him with no mercy.

"Shishishishi! This is  **Saru-Kyoran! (Monkey Frenzy)** I hope it's not too much for you!" Kai laughed while sitting on the floating cloud stratus.

**"Dawning Hawk Strike."**

***FWWOOOOOOOOSH!***

Suddenly a large black/gold tinted hawk like air projectile cut through all of the Kai shikigami clones and headed straight for Kai.

"Shishishishishi! How interesting I wonder if I can still take on one of your moves without any trouble in my base form." Kai outstretched his hand and caught the attack as it slowly pushes him back. The attack was visibly cutting up his arm as many scars and some blood were shown.

"Amazing it seems you're starting to get serious as well." Kai laughed as he focused some Touki into his hand and crushed the air projectile like a pebble.

"Enough of this stalling I don't have time to play games let's settle this by using all of our strength." Zethyr discards Claymore he once held as a rush of a Pale Gold/Black Aura envelops him as one of his eyes completely black as the sign of a golden star appeared on it as the other eye revealed a black star etched into his normal eye as a half of his black devil wings turned white.

"Oi! Oi! Hold on, if I go out I won't be able to experience the joy of this fight, I'll only think of ways to just diminish your will to fight." Kai whined.

"That's what I'm hoping for." Zethyr suddenly starts to create an infinite amount of swords covered in an ominous, gold/black aura in magic circles behind him as they were all pointed at Kai.

"Chi! I guess I have no choice, but to flip on my switch, but I just can't help but feel like we're forgetting something…oh well…" Kai's usually mischievous demeanor disappeared as he closed his eyes, "I hate entering this state but I guess I have no choice." Kai slowly looks up to reveal a pair of blood-red eyes as Kai's own aura increased dramatically like Zethyr as his Gold aura had a black deadly tint to his as well.

"Come at me." Kai summoned his staff back to his side and beckoned for Zethyr to come at him.

* * *

 

(With Michael)

"So the person, who was interested in your balance breaker wasn't here? Must suck for you." Michael laughed.

"Anyways, Gasper seems to have taken a liking to you." Kiba smiled as he approached the two.

"Wait, I just realized something we're the only dudes on the Gremory team, so let's make up an attack we can use in battle to help protect the girls." Michael grinned.

"Oh, that sounds interesting." Kiba placed a hand to his hip.

"It is, because it will be the Gremory Boyz Three-way deadlock. With Gasper's Forbidden Balor View, My Boosted Gear Scale Mail and you Holy-Demonic Sword Balance Breaker we could stop anyone!" Michael declared with so much passion.

"Even I'm starting to get excited about hearing your plan, Michael-nii." Gasper happily agreed.

"I know right, isn't it cool!?"

"Yes, and you even mentioned our Balance Breakers working together so it seems you were interested in it the whole time." Kiba touched his chest again, "I feel my chest growing hot once more."

Michael walked up to Kiba and jabbed his finger into his chest angrily, "Don't you pull that shit now especially in front of Gasper!"

Michael then turned around to see Gasper sitting in the box and said, "And you why are you back in there!?"

"S-Sorry. When I'm talking to people, I feel better like this but, hey, I don't have the box's top closed anymore." Gasper tried to explain.

"Look, I know I'm not smart, but I definitely can tell the top of the box is the issue." Michael facepalmed.

"You can't stay like this forever." Kiba approached Gasper, "Your seal has been broken."

"B-But…" Gasper tried to hide back in his box after hearing that, he really didn't want to leave his comfort zone so suddenly.

"Wait, the Great Hanamura just came up with a brilliant idea!" Michael took his Goggles and placed them upon Gasper's head, "And Voila!"

"Michael-nii, what's this?" Gasper gasped.

"Remember what I said about this being important? Well, I want you to keep it safe for me during this whole Three Faction Meeting event. If you wear this, then you can slowly gain confidence like me." Michael grinned.

"T-The same as Michael-nii's?" Gasper puts on the goggles over his eyes and smiles, "Y-Your right, I can feel Michael-nii's confidence spreading through me now."

"It's actually working!?" Michael then coughed and said, "I mean, of course it is, I am the Great Hanamura after all."

"It seems you've luckily did it again, Michael-kun." Kiba smiled.

"What do you mean by, luckily?" Michael asked.

***GACHA!***

Turning around, Michael looks to see an approaching Koneko coming towards him.

"Oh, Koneko-chan?" Kiba blinked.

"Wassup, Koneko-chan! How have things bee-phbt!" Michael was then socked in the face by the loli.

"That was for calling me Half-Pint earlier, baka-senpai." Koneko pointed then left the beaten Michael on the ground.

***SLAM!***

"M-Michael-nii, are you okay!?" Gasper cried.

"How the hell does that midget notice these things!?" Michael cried as he gripped his bleeding nose in pain.

***Chiiiiiiilsssss~!***

***GACHA!***

Koneko stood at the door way and focused her sights on Michael and approached him while cracking her knuckles.

"No! No! Oh God-ow! Nooooooo!" Michael cried as Koneko's shadow started to cast over him.

***BAM!***

And he was never heard of again…

Nah, the next day he was called by Akeno to meet her at some shrine outside of the city. Michael thought it was prohibited for devils to go to such places but went along with it. But he had no issue climbing the uphill steps since he's gained more mobility because of his spirit cuffs training, it seems that he's been getting more adept with using his Touki as well now. But because of Kai's 'absence' he trained by himself last night to work on what Azazel told him about his Dragon Power and how he should use protection.

Michael wanted to gain more power to fight Vali equally, but he had to go at a slow pace which he didn't like but has no choice but to do so. And thanks to that he's slowly getting somewhat of a hang of the idea by using a shielding on his body while using his dragon power.

Michael climbed the footsteps to the shrine and said, "Man, this place looks cool, but didn't Buchou say that we can't be at places like this?"

"Welcome, Michael-kun." Akeno's voice greeted from up ahead.

"Hm?"

Up ahead, Michael spots his senior, Akeno wearing a shrine maiden's outfit.

_'Wow, I just noticed this, but Akeno-senpai looks cool wearing that.' Michael stared at Akeno in amazement._

"Is something the matter?" Akeno asked.

"Uhm, urp…! No, everything is fine senpai!" Michael shook his hands and head while smiling.

"Sorry about inviting you so suddenly like this." Akeno apologized.

"It's cool, senpai. It's not like I have anything important to do." Michael shrugged.

"Shouldn't you be doing your homework as a second year?" Akeno asked.

"Like I said not anything important." Michael repeated as Akeno giggled.

"So, um…where's Buchou?" Michael asked looking around.

"She will come after her last meeting with Sirzechs." Akeno explained.

"Oh, okay." Michael nodded.

"Michael-kun…"

"Hm?" Michael looked up at Akeno who smiled back at him.

"You don't have to be so reserved about Buchou's name around me. You can say it out loud if you want."

"W-W-What do you mean by that…wait you know?" Michael gasped.

"It was pretty obvious so there's no need to be so formal about it." Akeno teased, "Unless you have an issue against saying her name."

"N-No, it's just that I'm getting used to it is all." Michael gulped.

_'Man, it's already out that Buchou's confessed to me, I only hope that Saji doesn't spread what I told him to anyone else.' Michael thought._

"So does everyone know?" Michael asked.

"Don't worry, Michael-kun. Your secret wasn't spread around." Akeno giggled.

"Oh thank, Maou."

"Because we all already knew based on how happy Buchou was these past days." Akeno explained.

"Never mind…" Michael slumped down in defeat and asked, "So you don't have a meeting senpai?"

"It's my job to go welcome a certain someone." Akeno had on a knowing smile.

"A certain someone?" Michael raised an eyebrow.

Walking up to the shrine, Michael looked up at the gates and said, "Are you sure we can be here?"

"Don't worry, this place is fine even if you are a devil. We made a special agreement behind the scenes to use this place." Akeno walked past the gates.

"Oh, I guess that sounds cool…" Michael walked through the gate,  _'But still a little cryptic ya think?'_

Gazing at the shrine, Michael gasped in excitement, "So amazing so this is what a shrine looks like I never knew we'd have one here so nearby."

"Its previous god left so it was unoccupied for a while, but Rias secured this place for me." Akeno told the shrine's origin.

"Is he the Sekiryuutei, Michael Hanamura-kun?"

Suddenly a pleasant voice was heard from above.

"Who's there?" Michael then sees two gleaming lights which revealed a handsome-looking man with long blonde hair and green eyes. He has twelve wings growing from his back, and unlike other Angels whose wings are white, his wings are colored gold.

"Gold wings and, wait a minute... Who else is up there?" Michael blinked.

As right beside him was a young girl who looked to be at least 5 with brownish/blonde hair, pure white skin, blue eyes, a white robe like dress with a single rosary colored in pink around her neck. Her hair was designed into hoops to look like a rabbits. (Disgaea D2 Sicily, she mostly looks like this).As she had a pair of white angels wings on her back. There was also something wiggling behind her back but the light was so bright I blocked it out.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hanamura, Michael-dono." The young man greeted Michael as he lands in front of him with the little girl hiding behind his robes.

"I am Michael, Chief of the Angels." The Seraph Leader introduced himself.

"Eeeeeeeeeeh!?" Michael's eyes widened in shock, "T-the leader of the angels!?"

* * *

**Next Chapter- A Gift from the Heavens given to a Devil!? And the Meeting of the Three Great Factions Begin! The Dawn of Chaos has begun!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What were those high-leveled powers both Kai and Zethyr showing?  
> Why is Michael meeting with Michael? (I know it's confusing.)  
> And who was that girl who was with the Seraph leader?
> 
> All will be revealed in time.
> 
> Thanks for reading guys and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter!


	26. How we met...

**How we met.**

* * *

_(In Kuoh Town 6 years ago)_

_Walking through the park was a smiling Azazel and an annoyed 11 year old Michael with his forehead bandaged up. After their meeting four days ago, the injury wasn't that critical, but it still needed to be wrapped up just in case. Today, Azazel picked Michael up from his apartment to see someone he brought along to act as his official playmate whenever he wasn't around. Michael didn't know how to feel about something like that since most adults didn't seem all that interested in him, but he decided to go along with things for now and if things go his way, then maybe he can get a subordinate to celebrate his greatness!_

_"Hey, Ossan, whose this guy your going to show me?" Michael looked up at Azazel._

_"Someone, who'll play with you for now on." Azazel said once the two entered the playground._

_"Eh? You have someone who can do that?" Michael was dumbfounded._

_"Well, of course, you didn't just expect me to be all handsome looks did you?" Azazel rubbed his chin._

_"Handsome? Well, you're certainly not hideous, but I would say you're handsome either!" Michael laughed._

_"Beh! An immature brat like you can never understand the sophisticated looks of a man." Azazel crossed his arms and pointed his nose up in the air._

_"Immature? Don't call the Great Me immature! I'm more mature than anyone in this town you got that!?" Michael shouted._

_"Oh, really? You're mature?" Azazel playfully raised an eyebrow._

_"Of course!" Michael grinned._

_"Then let's prove that shall we..." Azazel clasped his hands together, tightly._

_"What are you doing?" Michael wondered what strange thing the old man would do._

_"Oh nothing, I was just going to relax is all." Azazel readied his hands by squeezing them tightly to emit a sound._

_"Relax? Are you stupid? How can you relax when we're stand-?"_

_Out from Azazel's hand was a sound of air pressed together to mimic a fart.  
_

_"Aaah~! That was the best!" Azazel sighed in relief._

_"Mramph!" Michael covered his mouth to stifle his growing laughter._

_"What's the matter, kid, you never heard a old man fart before? I mean, if you had then you must have certainly laughed, but oh my... Isn't that the immature thing to do?" Azazel mocked as he did the noise again._

_"Pffffffft!" Michael's cheeks grew red as his laughter was about to burst out_

_"What's the matter? You aren't going to laugh? Then I guess you wouldn't mind me continuing then." Azazel did a continuous barrage of fake farts which made Michael cry in a struggle to hold in his laughter._

_"Blblblblblbblblblblbl! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Michael busted out laughing and fell on his back._

_"See, your just an immature kid." Azazel shrugged then continued to look around for the boy he dropped off in the area, "Now where did he go? I'd wish he wouldn't hide his presence whenever I enter the area, but he wasn't really that happy that I stopped him in the middle of training. Damn... I guess I have to look for that troublesome kid myself."_

_Looking back at the laughing, Michael Azazel shrugged and saw no harm in leaving the kid alone and went off to search for the other troublemaker._

_About 6 minutes of laughter later, Michael slowly picks himself up and starts to calm down,_

_"Haha, this...proves-! Snrk! Nothing..." Michael turned his head to look either left or right once he noticed Azazel left him alone, "Oh come on, he left me all alone like that!? And what was he talking about someone being my playmate when he's not even here to show me!"_

_Michael picked himself up and looked around angrily, "Whatever, I'll just play around in the park for a while before ditching the old bastard, it's what he deserves."_

_Michael then spots a butterfly fly past him._

_"Oooooooo..." Michael was amazed and ran after it in excitement, "I'm gonna catch you!"_

_Suddenly from above something sticky and wet was spat at him._

_"Yuck, what the...!" Michael touched the spot on his cheek and saw the gross extending liquid, "Who did this!?"_

_Looking frantically in annoyance, Michael searched the entire park for anyone but there was no one to be seen at all._

_"I won't let this go! Whoever did this will pay for messing with the Great Hanamura!" Michael growled._

_"Do you have to talk so loud its annoying?" A cool voice said in the background._

_"Whose there?" Michael looks up at a tree to see a young boy with dark silver hair, ice blues eyes who wore a short sleeved black shirt and red shorts while he held onto a long wooden dead tree branch._

_The boy didn't seem friendly as he stared at Michael with a look filled with annoyance._

_"So your the one who did it!" Michael screamed and pointed at the boy._

_"..." The boy remained quiet before jumping off the tree and walking past Michael._

_"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Michael turned back staring at the back of the boy._

_"Shut up, Bigmouth, you're literally close to blowing my eardrum out." The boy insulted while continuing to walk away._

_"B-Bigmouth!? Do you know who I am? I'm the Amazing Hanamura and I'm no bigmouth!" Michael shouted at the top of his lungs._

_"I would believe you if you weren't screaming so loud. And amazing, hah. You don't seem to have any qualities like that whatsoever, so why don't you buzz off?" The boy stopped and rubbed his ear in pain, "What a pain, really..."_

_Gripping his fist tightly, Michael had enough with this guy._

_"I'll show you!" Michael charged at Vali and cocked back his fist._

_"Hm?" Vali turns back to see the approaching Michael._

_"Hah! I got you!" Michael laughed as he fired his fist forward._

_The sound of heavy hits were heard throughout the park as the sun began to set. Appearing in the park after a couple of hours, Azazel sighed in turn after he failed to find Vali. He would have asked Michael to help him look for the silver haired boy, but the scene in front of him made it clear that wouldn't be necessary anymore since he found Vali sitting on a tired and beaten Michael on the ground._

_"So you were here the whole time? Man, what a pain and it seems you've met your new playmate, too."_

_Azazel noticed the peeved off Michael under Vali grinding his teeth._

_'Damn this bastard thinking he can sit on the Great Hanamura like a chair!' Michael winced in pain._

_"He isn't that much fun for me to entertain myself." Vali stood up and walked towards Azazel while putting on a bored expression,_

_"Let's go, there' isn't anything worth while here."_

_"What you're already bored? Don't you want to play more with the brat before leaving? Well I guess it is past both of your bed time and you two are just babies compared to me so..." Azazel gave a teasing smirk which made Vali a little annoyed while Michael was greatly furious._

_'I'm not a kid!' Both boy's had a usual annoyed anime expression._

_"Play? No he attacked me and started a fight which wasn't even a fun at all in fact it was completely one sided." Vali shook his head, "In all honesty he wasn't even a comfortable seat for me to sit on so I see no value in staying with this loser at all."_

_"Loser!" Michael filled with anger stood up and stomped towards Vali, "Who do you think your calling loser you asshole!"_

_"You loser or should I just call you a failure?" Vali closed his eyes and turned to face away from Michael._

_'Failure oh that's it I'm gonna-!' Michael pulled back the sleeve of his dirtied shirt about to fight Vali again until Azazel intervened and separated the two._

_"Alright you two break it up." Azazel clapped his hands earning only Michael's attention while Vali was still facing the other direction simply listening at this point._

_"As of now you two will see each other everyday of on a school week excluding weekends." Azazel explained._

_"Wait I seriously have to see this jerk everyday after school how is this fair!?" Michael points at Vali._

_"For the first time I must concur with the Loser why should I waste my time with the likes of him." Vali looked at Azazel in question._

_"Oi! Don't call me a Loser!"_

_"Make me...loser."_

_"Well then if your going to be that way then how about I call you shitty emo, crap, turd colored silver!" Michael shouted._

_"I'd say your language and intelligence is nothing more than that of a primitive caveman, you loser." Vali turned around to face Michael with a smirk._

_"That's it!"_

_*GRAB!*_

_Michael grabbed Vali by the collar of his shirt and stared him dead in the eye._

_"Why don't you try coming back here again and try saying that to my face again! Because next time I'll be sure to knock you flat and show you just how Great the Great Hanamura is!" Michael was now glad that this bastard would be coming back the next day so he could show him just who he's messing with._

_"Hm? Even speaking of yourself in the third person how sad and weird I guess your what we call a devolving loser. How rare." Vali insulted with an arrogant smirk once more._

_"Don't you ever shut up!" Michael shouted._

_"I don't know don't you ever close that giant manhole you call a mouth?" Vali retorted._

_Laughing and rubbing his head Azazel answered,_

_"Hahahahaha! See, you're already getting along, so it's already decided that the both of you will continue to meet in this town and play with each other whenever I feel like it." Azazel shrugged._

_Even though Azazel said this, Michael was still focused in his argument with Vali._

_"Oh yeah? Just you wait, I'll prove how I'm great by making you feel like a bug!" Michael shouted._

_"You mean feel like what you are?" Vali continued responding to each of Michael's threats._

_'Dammit, he's got answer for everything doesn't he!?' Michael thought._

_"Alright you two let's break it up now and-"_

_"I'll make you cry for your mother!" Michael suddenly shouted which caused Azazel to widen his eyes as Vali suddenly grabs Michael by his collar with a look coldness foreshadowing his arrogance._

_"Care to repeat that, Loser?" Vali shouted more threatening and a little mad which made Michael happy he finally got one on the guy._

_"Okay you two that's enough." Azazel sounding more serious tried to intervene._

_"So what? You gonna hit me if I do?" Michael smirked._

_"No, I'll eliminate you..." Vali was leaking off a strong killing intent as he remembered the image of a man who looked similar to him but his face was obscured by his hair._

_"Heh!" Michael grinned mischievously, "Fine, I won't say that anymore..."_

_Michael slowly leaned in to Vali's face while holding his smile full of mischief as Vali still kept his angered face on._

_"..."_

_"That's why I'll call you a Momma's Boy!" Michael screamed in Vali's face._

_'Oh boy...' Azazel covered his face as the sounds of hitting (mostly Vali beating the ever loving crap out of Michael) was heard._

**_*BAM!* *THUD!* *CLACK!* *BAM!* *SLAM!*_**

* * *

 

_(Present)_

***Wooooooooooooosh!***

Standing on an unfinished construction site was a cross-armed Vali leaning against an upraised beam while Azazel sat down staring into the night lights of Kuoh Town.

The sounds of the night wind causes Vali to open his eyes as he looks out at the sky.

"Ara, ara it's rather strange of you to lose focus even if it's for a second." Azazel commented.

"It's nothing I just remembered something very annoying...*sigh* I guess idiocy can leave you feeling that way I guess." Vali commented.

"Hahaha! I guess your right but I find idiocy much more easy to mess with then the always serious and complex ones don't you think?" Azazel gave a slight chuckle.

"If you want someone Honest and Earnest then you should talk with the current and past possessors of the Red Dragon Emperor most of them have always had those traits." Vali stated as he researched his seniors before him and the seniors of the Welsh Dragon and learned of their most similar traits.

"So I take it your the complete opposite of him as well?" Azazel asked with a sly smile.

"It is only the true because I am White and that Loser is Red we're destined to opposites of one another." Vali showed now qualms against such things all he wanted was a fight. A good Fight to entertain him nothing more, nothing less.

"So your differences are in just color huh?" Azazel rubbed his chin, "I don't see it but then again what do I care it's not like me to intervene against two dragons so go at it."

Azazel shrugged.

"So I guess you want me to attend that boring meeting with you?"

Vali showed of boredom.

"That's right both you and Raymond will be there of course and since you are the White Dragon Emperor you being there will play a vital role."

Vali then gave off a faraway look, "So tell me what are the odds that war will break out once more?"

"Heh! Conflict's on your mind even when a Meeting between the Three Factions starts, something I'd expect to head from the White Dragon Emperor." Azazel said, "So is your plan to live fast and die young? Shouldn't you enjoy your youth until it ends?"

"Youth? I remembered a time I would wish for something like that but it now sounds boring to me, this era, this world I hate it." Vali stands on his own and looks at the cities below in boredom, nothing such as a normal life could ever satisfy him anymore, "I wish I was born in another era an era I could've faced and killed God myself and even  **him**."

Vali remembers a pair of child hands covered in fresh blood.

"I would've thought you let that go, guess I was wrong." Azazel sighs in exhaustion and scratches his head.

"...I will never let it go until I eradicate those 3 men." Vali's gaze turned more sharp.

"Anyways your lust for battle is impressive I guess you truly are the Vanishing Dragon after all."

"Yes with a rival whose not even worth my time."

Vali leaned back against the beam once more and smiled, "Which is why I'll stick a little longer in this world."

It wasn't just a smile but a battle maniac smile, Azazel caught glimpse of this and said,

"I can never guess what's going through that head of yours."

"It's best you don't." Vali looked up and said, "Because I'm beginning to wonder if Michael Hanamura can get even stronger if I..."

***Wooooooooooooooooosh~!***

The strong gust of wind blocks of the sound of Vali's voice for all except for Azazel to hear who just puts on a serious, unpleased expression which replaced his easygoing face from before and looks back at Vali who still retains his battle maniac smile.

"Hmm...if it's something which will even make you look like that, Azazel then I guess it will be worthwhile to experiment don't you think." Vali smirked and chuckled a little. A true battle between Red and White going all out to incapacitate the other is something Vali hopes for and something he will make sure happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FORESHADOWING! Ahem, I mean, thanks for reading! 
> 
> Well, until we meet again. I'm Out so Peace Out and have a nice day!


	27. A Gift from the Heavens given to a Devil!? And the Meeting of the Three Great Factions Begin! The Dawn of Chaos has begun!

**A Gift from the Heavens given to a Devil!? And the Meeting of the Three Great Factions Begin! The Dawn of Chaos has begun!**

* * *

_'_ _I was not ready for today.' Michael gulped._

**_[No one was Partner, No one was.]_ **

"Ufufufu!" Sitting in the middle, Akeno giggled, she sat between a nervous Michael and the glorious Chief of Angels, Michael and the little girl who still hid behind the angel's back while watching Michael shyly.

_'_ _Why is the head honcho of the Angels here?' Michael was a little nervous under the angels smiling gaze upon him as he felt really tense, and it wasn't because of a high holy presence either, 'And why is he looking at me so intently, is there something on my face?'_

***STARE!***

"Huh?"

Michael notices the girl behind the angel staring at him closely and in the process she noticed that he caught her doing it, so the girl quickly hid behind S. Michael (Seraph Michael) in fear of getting stared at, but then goes back to leaning out to stare at Michael once more.

_'_ _Okay, what's with this girl staring at me like this because it's really freaking me out?' Michael sweatdropped._

"I've heard so much about you, Michael Hanamura."

"W-What, me?" Michael pointed to himself.

S. Michael smiled and began talking to edge away the tense atmosphere Michael was experiencing.

"Yes, I was told of your efforts of defeating the Fallen Angel, Kokabiel and preventing him from starting another war between the 3 factions." S. Michael smiles and nods, "Because of your intervention, we were able to avoid any needless conflict between the Fallen Angels and for that, I thank you."

Bowing his head in thankfulness, S. Michael's praise makes Michael's chest fill up with pride with his gratitude. He would have wanted to gloat, but he knew that the effort alone wasn't just his, but also his friends.

Shaking his head Michael scratched his head, "Thanks, but it wasn't all me because you see, I had my friends and master there to back me up when I needed it the most, in fact, I don't think I'd be here if it weren't for their support."

_'_ _And even if it was just me, after what Vali said that day about how I can't even match Kokabiel the way I am now still pisses me off.' Michael clenches his fist as he remembered Vali's voice ringing through his head._

_-What you did back there with Kokabiel was impressive, but that was only because there was a certain atmosphere around you to draw out that power. But the way you are now, I highly doubt you can beat even Kokabiel alone, thus leading us back to where we started, 'You're not strong enough to beat me, we can go on and on about this stuff, but it will only lead to this truth every time.-_

_'_ _If what he's saying is true then I'll just get stronger and finally show him whose boss.' Michael's hair covered his face._

"Michael-kun?" Akeno gave a face of worry while shaking Michael back to reality.

"Oh right, sorry, I just lost focus is all, well Mr. Angel Leader, sir, my friends are as much to thank for that fight than me, so you shouldn't just give me all your gratitude but…" Michael grinned and rubbed his chin, "I don't mind if you want to continue later on because I'm the Great Hanamura, yeah, you can give me all of your gratitude anytime you want!"

Picking his head up S. Michael puts on a face of surprise then gives a light chuckle,

"I see, then I must thank you all then."

"Hm? Did I say something funny?" Michael tilts his head in confusion.

"Ufufufu!" Akeno laughed a little at Michael's sudden change of seriousness to peppiness.

S. Michael looks upon Michael's hairstyle and thinks,  _'They act so differently, but they look is so similar it's hard to tell whether this boy and_ _ **him**_ _are even related.'_

"Hahahahaha!"

Hearing a little giggle, Michael looks behind S. Michael to see the little girl from before laughing, the girl continues to laugh until she finally hears herself do so, and notices not only Michael, but also Akeno and S. Michael looking at her too.

"Eek!" The girl quickly hid behind S. Michael once more.

"Now, now, there's no need to be shy it's alright to laugh." S. Michael gives a sort of warm smile while putting his hand back to pat the little girl's head.

"O-Okay…" the little girl looks down as she begins to blush.

"Um…excuse Mr. Angel Leader, if I may ask who's that girl standing behind you, she's been giving me the stare since you got here?" Michael was curious about the girl.

S. Michael with a little struggle put the girl in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders while crouching down a bit, "That's correct, I haven't introduced her yet, this is the daughter of my Sister, Gabriel her name is Agnes, my niece."

"!" Both Michael and Akeno gasped in surprise.

_'_ _Wait, Gabriel isn't she one of the Seraphs!?' Michael's eyes bulge out, 'So you mean to tell me that this little girl is related to two of the Angel Bosses, wow, that's awesome!'_

"It's fine, Agnes, say hello to him."

Being encouraged by her uncle's words, Agnes nods shyly and faces Michael while her face turned completely red.

"H-H-Hel-l-llo, i-it's n-nice t-to m-m-meet y-y-y-you!" Agnes trembled in fear as she was face to face with Michael, who let his face grow an awkward smile.

_'_ _So a shy one, huh, I already had enough dealings with Gasper to get used to people like that.'_

_Michael coughed and continued to introduce himself,_

"Yo, Agnes, my name Michael Hanamura or the Great Michael Hanamu-"

"Eeeeek!"

***FLIP!***

Suddenly screaming, Agnes flips her white robe up from the hem to cover her face leaving her pure white bloomers for the world to see, this leaves Michael to stand up and scream in surprise,

"Eeeeeeeeh!? Oh my Go…odness, what is she doing!?" Michael stopped himself as he saw the 'Really' look S. Michael gave him as he began saying God's name in vain.

Walking towards Agnes, S. Michael pulls down the girl's hands keeping up her robe and apologized,

"Please forgive her, she's just really shy around others besides her me, her mother, father and brother." S. Michael patted Agnes on the head which calmed down the shy girl.

"Oh, I see, it's fine then don't worry." Michael sits back down in exhaustion.

_'_ _Wait, he only told me who the mother was, so who are her other family members?' Michael rubbed his chin in thought._

Standing back up S. Michael says, "Now back on topic as to why I'm here."

"Yeah, so what is it you came here for Mr. Angel Boss?"

Michael asked, but then felt his body tremble all the way up to his fingertips,

"T-This feeling it's back, what's going on?" Michael looked at himself closely, "I can't seem to relax and for some reason my guard went up, to where I can't even let it go down at all."

**_[I sense it too, that Angel must be holding something which may harm dragons.]_ **

_'_ _Really, so is he going to pull something?'_

**_[If he wanted you dead then he would have killed you already, he wouldn't have explained so much about his gratitude to you, so just be patient and watch for now.]_ **

_'_ _O-Okay.' Michael gulped._

Smiling knowingly, S. Michael says, "Do not worry, I will not impose any harm towards you. For now is the time to present to you a gift as a token of my gratitude for stopping Kokabiel."

"Present?"

***SHIIIIIINE!***

Suddenly a ball of light flashes in the room to summon a European sword with a reddish purple grip, and a golden hilt with stylized crosses at the edges of the designed dragon clawed guard.

"Wait, a sword? I'm getting a freaking sword!?" Michael smiled with eyes for stars, it was always his dream to own his very own katana, but since this a European sword it's still the second best thing.

"This is Dragon Slayer, also known as the holy sword that kills dragons,  **Ascalon."** S. Michael introduced the blade's name.

"Wait, Dragon Slayer? So this sword actually killed dragons?" Michael looked at the blade more closely in amazement and a little in fear because since he now holds a dragon in him, it will mean a critical hit against him in a fight.

"A Dragon Slayer is someone meant to exterminate dragons for a job, or it can be the title of a weapon used for the job."

**[A Dragon Slayer, eh? Now it makes sense as to why the near presence of such a blade would affect you.]**

"Yeah…" Michael nodded and summons the Boosted Gear.

**[Dragon Booster!]**

"Yosh! I'm ready!" Michael grinned then looked back at S. Michael, "Um, are you sure you want to give this to me?" Michael knew angels and devils weren't the best of friends, but he was confused why the Angel leader, the biggest threat to devils was giving him such a radical weapon.

"If it is in your interest, you could assimilate it into your Boosted Gear." S. Michael gave a much easier way of carrying the blade, "Through rumors, I heard you were the most Reckless Sekiryuutei in history."

_'_ _Seriously, is that really going around even for the angels to hear?' Michael slumped down in defeat._

**_[Stupidity has no limits it seems.]_ **

_'_ _Yeah, I guess your ri- wait, did you just call me stupid, you son of bitch!' Michael growled in his head._

"Taking this weapon can be a good support weapon for you in the future." S. Michael levitated the blade towards Michael, "After the Great War, there was no more large scale fighting, but as you know the Three Great Powers are fighting in small battles even now."

Michael remembered the grueling fight with Kokabiel and started to weigh what a large scaled fight was compared to that.

_'_ _So what your saying is that the fight we had with Kokabiel was just a little battle?' Michael looked down._

**_[Michael there is a difference between war and battle. In battle, there must be a side to win under a certain amount of time, but in war, the violence is much more intense and can grow continuous for even centuries with no conclusion.]_ **

_'_ _So if we had given Kokabiel what he wanted then, we would have been through even more pain then just that battle?' Michael's face grew seriously unpleasant._

"If this continues, everything will be destroyed someday. Or is it possible that a different power will attack before that happens?" S. Michael said.

"Wait, different powers, so there are more worlds containing stuff different besides devils and angels?" Michael's heart was beating fast from all the excitement.

"Yes, there are many mythological systems outside of the Three Great Powers, so this summit will be a good opportunity."

"Wait, opportunity? You kind of lost me." Michael shook his head.

"The opportunity to put an end to our useless fighting and join forces."

"…! Really that could happen with this meeting?" Michael asked excitedly as he can see some peace coming out of this summit after all.

"In the past Great War, the forces of the three factions combined together to deal with both the Red and White Dragons who disturbed and wreaked havoc on the battlefield."

_'_ _So I guess you two fighting did do some good!' Michael laughed._

**_[*Sigh!* This is so bothersome…] Ddraig sighed in exhaustion to just let the conversation about this pass._ **

Sitting with his arms crossed, Michael grinned, "So what your saying is that the, Great Hanamura, is one of the keys to help you guys find peace, right?"

"Correct." S. Michael nods and asks, "Which is why I ask this of you, Michael Hanamura-dono, allow us to join forces again."

Looking to Michael, Akeno says, "Michael-kun, you should accept his gift with thanks."

"Roger, Akeno-senpai." Michael nods as he gets up and approaches the blade.

Feeling not just only Dragon Slaying aura exuding from it, Michael could feel some Holy Power inside the sword as well.

_'_ _This sword, with this I can get even stronger.' Michael breathed out as he grabbed the blade._

"You ready to assimilate this thing, Ddraig?" Michael asked as the jewel on the boosted gear glows brightly.

**[Do you even need to ask, Partner?] Ddraig laughed, [As the host, use your desire to bend the Sacred Gear to your will.]**

"Got it." Michael nods and grabs onto the blade and closes his eyes.

**[Now focus your thoughts on the Sacred Gear!]**

"Right!"

***SHIIIIIIIINE!***

Michael nods as the thoughts helped him achieve more focus which brightened the light surrounding the blade.

**[Now match your wavelength with the Holy Sword's!]**

"Alright, here we goooo!"

***SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!***

Michael roared as the light from the blade intensified as it completely engulfed the boosted gear and the sword in a mixture of red and yellow light. But as soon as the light dies down, Michael regained his sight to see once more to notice his new merged arm blade.

**[Blade!]**

***SHING!***

"Now that's what I'm talking about!"

***SWIING!***

Michael fist pumps his free hand up, then swings the blade to test it, "Hey, not too shabby too, it's really light."

Michael then noticed the blade itself turned from its normal colored steel to gold and red with a few written black runes on the edges of the blade. In fact there seemed to be a weird flower like lotus image on the jewel of the Boosted Gear.

"The hell? Hey, Ddraig what happened?" Michael examined the blade.

**[It seems that the Sacred Gear must have infused part of what's within you to show your true inner colors upon the blade.]**

"Seriously, it can do that?" Michael asked.

**[Anything is possible for the Sacred Gears as long as their user desires it.]**

_'_ _But I didn't want the blade to be like this, what's going on?' Michael asked himself as he looked at the image of the flower on his Boosted Gear, 'And why does it have a weird flower ?'_

"I have done what I came to do."

***PA!***

S. Michael started to unfurl his golden wings.

"It's time to go back, Agnes."

"Y-Yes, Oji-sama."

***PA!***

Agnes nods timidly and unfurls her white wings.

"We will take our leave now." S. Michael was about to leave until.

"Wait, Mr. Angel leader, I need to ask you something really important!" Michael reached out.

"Unfortunately, I do not have the time right now. But during the summit, I will hear whatever it is you want to ask." S. Michael answered.

"Then it's a promise." Michael walks up to S. Michael and holds up his pinky, "Pinky swear."

"Pinky swear?" S. Michael was unaware of this action being brought up.

"This is the only way I'll trust you, so let's do it." Michael laughed.

Smiling, S. Michael agreed and shook pinkies with Michael, before turning to leave in a pillar of light with Agnes who timidly waved goodbye until she suddenly sneezed and out from her grew a monkey tail. Unbeknownst to her, a jaw dropped Michael watched and gasped, "Wait, that tail it's just like Shishou's brat, so wait does that mean…!?"

"This was the 5th time you sneezed today, it seems your coming down with a cold." S. Michael touched the forehead of the girl, "I'll be sure to tend it as soon as we return."

"T-T-Thank you, Ojii-sama." Agnes rubbed her nose.

***SHIIIIINE!***

Disappearing from the room, the two angels left the room leaving both Michael and Akeno to themselves.

"Wait, so Shishou has a daughter, too? But she's an angel, so how can she have those angel wings without any devil wings?" Michael scratched his head, "Bah! So is he an item with Gabriel, or is he the husband to the Kaichou's sister?"

Michael's head started to hurt from all the thinking that he started blowing steam from his ears.

"Ara, ara, seems like you're losing your train of thought." Akeno gets up from her spot and approaches Michael.

"Akeno-senpai?" Michael looks at Akeno in question.

Giving her usual smile, Akeno says, "Let's have some tea just the two of us."

"Erm…okay, I still have enough time before I return home." Michael nods knowing he'll have trouble at home with the girls, but has grown used to it by now.

5 minutes later, both Michael and Akeno sat in a different room known as the Tea ceremony room.

"Here." Akeno handed Michael the tea.

"Hehehe! Finally, some tea, thanks." Michael laughed as he grabbed the tea cup.

Michael remembered something about turning the cup 3 times before drinking it, so he did, slowly, before raising the cup to his lips to drink it but…

"Bleh…" Michael stuck out his tongue and said in disgust, "Bitter…"

"Do you not like it?" Akeno looked apologetic.

Noticing her reaction, Michael shook his head and denied, "No, I mean it's bitter sweet. I kind of think I'm starting to like it too."

Michael took another sip and faked a smile even though the taste wasn't to his liking.

"See, it's so good!" Michael gave Akeno a thumbs up before thinking,  _'Bleh…this thing could use sugar…'_

Laughing in a low voice, Akeno said, "I'm glad you like it."

Putting down the tea cup, Michael asks,

"So senpai have you and the Angel Boss been working on the sword in this shrine?"

"Yes, we conducted the ceremony to convert Ascalon's specifications here."

"Oh yeah, it's a Holy Sword and I'm a devil, so it would have been hard for me to use." Michael nods in understanding as he looks down at his tea cup and stares at the liquid.

_'_ _It's been a while since I've been alone with just Akeno-senpai.' Michael then remembered the fight with Kokabiel as the bastard said something to her similar to what he said to Raynare._

_-Will you stand in my way!? The one who inherited her power from Barakiel!?- Kokabiel shouted._

_-Don't you dare lump me together with that thing! I am nothing like it!- Akeno's expression turned unpleasant and furious as the force of her attack increased._

_'_ _It must have slipped my mind, but maybe I should ask her about this Barakiel guy, so she won't be bothered like Raynare was about Raymond.' Michael lifted his head to face Akeno._

"Excuse me, senpai, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Barakiel, one of the leaders of the Fallen Angels, are you his daughter?" Michael came right out and said what was on his mind.

"…" Akeno's expression at this point was too hard for the teen to read.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, it's just that ever since the Kokabiel fight that's been on my mind is all." Michael sighed then noticed Akeno's expression wasn't changing so he tried to change the subject, "Oh right, I was in the middle of drinking your awesome tea! So here we g-!"

"Yes."

"Huh?"

Before Michael could reach the tea his eyes widened as he stared at Akeno in surprise.

"Senpai?"

"I am the daughter of Barakiel, the child of both a fallen angel and a human." Akeno said as her expression still hasn't changed, in fact, her hair covered her eyes which made it even harder to read her expression.

"My mother was from a shrine family in the country. One day, she saved a wounded man, who so happened to be a fallen angel leader and she later became pregnant with me through their relationship at the time."

Michael's face fell, he didn't expect to hear all of this he just wanted to know if the guy was her father. Now he felt kind of bad for bringing up the subject.

_'_ _So just like Gasper, she was a Halfling too, but with Fallen Angel blood.' Michael thought._

"Akeno-senpai, I'm sorry for bringing up something like this." Michael apologized.

Standing up and facing around, Akeno lowered the back of her haori to reveal her naked back and then…

***PA!***

Coming out were a pair of Fallen Angel Wings and Devil wings.

"That wing...so it's true." Michael gasped.

"Yes, the wings of a devil and fallen angel." Akeno grabbed the feathered wing in what looked to be resentment, "I possess both of these filthy wings."

"Filthy?" Michael frowned in disbelief, "They don't seem filthy."

Sadly his words didn't reach her.

"I met Rias and became a devil because I didn't like them, but the result was a revolting being with both fallen angel and devil wings. But it seems only true that such tainted blood running through my veins would fit so well with my body." Akeno kept on talking about herself like she was some curse.

_'_ _Senpai, stop talking about yourself like this.' Michael stood up._

Turning to face him, Akeno said, "How do you feel knowing all that, Michael-kun?"

Michael remained quiet as his hair covered his eyes and his expression was now unreadable.

"I know that you've befriended some fallen angels, but it still doesn't change the fact that there are those you hate like Kokabiel and Dohnaseek, am I right?" Akeno continued, "They hurt both, you and Asia in the past, they even tried to take your lives and destroy your beloved hometown. You can't possibly think well of most of them."

"…"

Hearing enough of this, Michael started walking past Akeno, who understood if Michael was disgusted by the sight of her and her wings. She tried to keep the pain in for a little longer before it rushed out. The thought of him being set off because of her fallen angel blood and wings caused her to curse herself even more, once the door was open she would have then fallen down and curse herself for being born the way she was now, but none of that happened instead…

***BAM!***

Akeno looks back to see Michael, who had punched the wall and made a dent in it.

"Michael-kun?" Akeno was shocked.

"Who told you all of that?" Michael said with anger in his tone.

"…?" Akeno was silent she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Senpai, who told you all that crap?" Michael turned his head back slightly with his eyes being covered by his shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Akeno questioned as she kept her focus on Michael.

"Could it be your father? No, senpai is too amazing of a daughter for her parents to even be involved, so it must be a bully then…" Michael said in a deep tone to himself.

"Michael-kun, what are you…?"

"Senpai, have you been bullied by someone is that the reason?" Michael asked once more.

"Bullied? No, but how could you come to that possibility?"

***BAM!***

"Because all of what you're saying is complete BS!" Michael gives another punch against the wall, actually cracking it a little into the form of his fist, and turns around to face Akeno-senpai with a face filled with rage.

Akeno gasped.

"The Akeno-senpai, I know wouldn't say things like this about herself! Tainted blood? Filthy wings? That's bullshit, I don't believe it, I refuse to believe it!" Michael shook his head rapidly, "The real Akeno-senpai I know is someone, who would smile and always spoil and help her kouhai, she's kind like no other and always has that comforting smile of hers which always brightens my day every time I screw something up!"

"Michael-kun…" Akeno could only utter his name.

Clenching his fist in pure rage, Michael could feel himself drawing blood with his fingernails, "If someone was able to put this into your mind, thinking that your blood defines you, then they shouldn't be allowed to even talk! I swear, I'll bust all the teeth in his mouth for bullying my senpai, you can Bet on that!"

Michael thrusts his fist at Akeno while giving a fierce glare which seemed to make Akeno blush a little,

"I hated Dohnaseek and Kokabiel for the things they did, not who they were! They were them, so I kicked their asses for hurting my friends, but you, your Akeno, the senpai I like, and Akeno is Akeno in my book always and forever will be!"

Akeno's cheeks flushed even brighter after she heard that.

"So that's why I'll kick the ass of anyone who dares to put such crap into your head. Forcing you to think you're tainted because of your blood is unforgivable! Because to me you're Black wings aren't disgusting, their actually beautiful, beautiful than even the wings of that Angel Boss!"

"Y-You actually find them beautiful?" Akeno tried to find the words to say but could only manage that due to the intense pressure Michael was giving off.

Walking towards Akeno, Michael began to cool off and nods as he touches the wings slowly with his not bleeding hand, "I'm honest, I find them beautiful because they are Akeno-senpai's wings." Now grabbing onto her naked shoulders now, Michael smiled, "But most of all, I like senpai's beautiful smile the best because they're hers."

Akeno could swear, she felt her heart skip a beat after hearing those words as she was dazedly staring at Michael's brown eyes.

"Senpai's smile is important to me, and it should be for her too, so I won't allow anyone to take away your precious smile anymore, because I'll be there to protect it no matter what." Michael nods.

Akeno looked at Michael with soft eyes as the boy noticed what he was doing and it involved his hands touching Akeno's her naked shoulders as she was holding up the front portion of her haori to cover her breasts.

_'_ _Uh-Oh, I'm in senpai's personal space! Evade! Evade!' Michael quickly shirks back and turns to the side and folds his arms around his head._

"So don't worry anymore, senpai, until I find the bastard, who told you that crap, I'll be sure to make sure you won't be sad again, bet on it!" Michael said with a grin that was meant to comfort Akeno but…

She was now crying…

"Akeno-senpai…?" Michael tried to look at her face as he felt as though he did something wrong, "Are you okay?"

_'_ _Oh no, did I do something wrong!' Michael gasped as he started to fear that his senpai would punish him for suddenly get all up in her space like that, 'Of course, she I mean I just literally walked up to her and touched her almost naked upper half!'_

"You've really done it now…" Akeno started.

"*GULP!* I-I did?" Michael's face went pale.

"If you say such things like that it will be hard for me not to get serious." Akeno continued to shed tears.

"S-Senpai! Look, I'm sorry for what I did, so you don't have to get upset over it so let's calm down before anyone gets hurt which is mainly me and…" Michael chuckled wryly and raises his hands defensively until.

**[Michael.]**

_'_ _Yeah?' Michael thought._

**[Just shut up for once and let things take their toll.] Ddraig said with some amusement in his tone.**

_'_ _Oh, shut up, it's not like you're the one who's getting punished for-!'_

***SLAM!***

"Ow! Ow! Huh, Akeno-senpai?"

Taking Michael by surprise, Akeno wrapped her arms around his neck and took him to the ground with her, with him taking the complete impact of the fall.

"I've made my choice." Akeno whispered into Michael's ear.

"Um, what choice, I don't understand?" Michael blinked as he suddenly felt something soft against his chest, "Wait…"

Looking down he could felt the soft closeness of Akeno's breasts against his chest as Michael's eyes bulged out in panic.

_'_ _Not good, we're too close together!' Michael panicked and started looking around for a way out until but he couldn't find any bail out as usual._

"Senpai, you're kind of too close, and…" Michael looked away but continued to listen to Akeno.

"Hey, Michael…" Akeno lifts up her head to look down at Michael with a blush.

"Yeah?"

"I'm fine with being the fourth." Akeno brought up the rankings of the girls who have affection for Michael with a smile.

"Wait, fourth?" Michael didn't know the meaning and tilts his head like a moron.

"Yes, fourth it may not be good as first, but I believe it's a pretty high position." Akeno hugged Michael tightly pressing herself into him even more.

***Munyuuu!***

_'_ _Oh no, she's getting to close now!' Michael trembled as his heart started beating fast._

"Knowing about your relationship with Rias also makes it the more fun to think of it as an affair." Akeno said with a naughty yet sexy tone of voice which even got Michael a little excited,

"Ufufufu! Just the thought of it makes me feel so hot…"

"I don't know what you mean by fourth, but an a-affair, Akeno-senpai?" Michael stuttered since now was probably the time where he would lose focus.

"Michael-kun, if you come to me more often, then I'll make sure to spoil you, more and more." Akeno used sweet words to excite Michael even more.

"Seriously?" Michael's eyes widened.

"Mmmmhmmm…also if that doesn't satisfy you, then I'll even have you use my lap as your own personal pillow instead of using Buchou's all the time." Akeno nodded.

"I-I can, wow…" Michael looked down in excitement,  _'Hehehe! Now I'll be even more famous after I say that I can put my head on the laps of both Rias and Akeno-senpai hahahaha! I might even make the VVV commit seppuku after revealing this'_

_Michael had on a huge grin until, he looks up to see Akeno giving him a pleading look._

"Huh, what's wrong, senpai?"

"Michael-kun, would you call me 'Akeno'?"

Michael's eyes widened as he said, "Are you sure, senpai, I mean it's disrespectful and I don't want to get you mad so…"

"Please, just once? Hearing you say it before made me feel so happy and I…" Akeno gave Michael the puppy dog eyes and strangely to Michael it worked.

_'_ _Wait, before, then that means…Dammit, I spoke without thinking about using her name properly now what will I do?'_

**_[Michael for the love of the Dead God, she's asking you to say her name, how can she possibly get mad?]_ **

_'_ _Well, I guess your right, and what bad can come out of it, I guess.' Michael sighed._

"Okay then," Michael breathed in then grinned, "So is this okay, Akeno?"

Then smiling so happy like a girl her age, Akeno leans down to embrace Michael tightly.

_'_ _Wow, Akeno-senpai just made such a face just like Rias, and she even asked me to say her name just like Rias too, so does this mean…?' Michael's cheeks started to turn red._

"Hey, when it's just the two of us, will you please call me by my first name?" Akeno asked with a cute expression belying her usual Onee-sama one.

_'_ _She's even making it hard for me to think straight with that face…' Michael was going crazy by how cute she was, 'But at least this way, she'll be happy and stop thinking that.'_

"Y-Yes, I'll say it as many times as you want, if it mean I can still see you smile that way, Akeno." Michael smiled and nodded.

"You're a sweet man, Michael-kun."

Sitting up, Akeno places Michael's head on her lap and pats his head,

"A very sweet man, indeed."

_'_ _Whoa, it's so soft just like Rias' lap!' Michael reclined to rest his head happily, 'Now I know what its like to experience the joys of both senpai's!'_

"It feels like I stole one of Rias' special privileges. I feel like I'm doing something naughty." Akeno gave a giggle at the feeling of Michael resting on her lap, "So, Michael-kun how does it feel?"

"Yes, it's really soft." Michael responded with a slight blush as he started to yawn, "I feel as though I can take a nap with no worries."

"But if Buchou were to find out this is happening then…" Michael gave a nervous glance to the side.

***CHIIILLLLS~!***

"What about you're Buchou?" A voice filled with killing intent responded, "Hm, Michael?"

***FREEZE!***

Suddenly, Michael's body froze in that instant along with his smile as he thought,

_'_ _B-B-Buchou?'_

**_[Hahahahahahahaha! I can't wait to hear how you get out of this one, well see you later, partner.] Ddraig suddenly cut off the connection._ **

_Michael trembled as he pathetically cried/squeaked, 'Help…'_

Emitting a dangerous aura filled with killing intent, Rias directed her rage mostly on Michael.

"I'm gonna die!" Michael sat up and crossed his arms in defense.

"Ara, ara." Akeno could only laugh at the predicament.

"I just can't leave you alone for just a minute, now can I?" Rias approaches Michael with a calm angered expression.

"Well you see, I uh… I have a good explanation for this." Michael lied.

"Now really? What could ever be the reason for you to lay your head on Akeno's lap?" Rias crossed her arms.

"Well you see um…" Michael looked to Akeno for help.

"This should be interesting, Ufufufu." Akeno giggled in her hand.

_'_ _Senpai, you're not gonna help me!' Michael panicked in his mind as he kept a calm face._

"It goes like this, after attaining Ascalon, I miscalculated on how much Dragon Slaying Power would be injected in the Boosted Gear, so I suffered massive pain and almost died, but thanks to Akeno-senpai, I was able to heal to full consciousness and since her healing needed to be in close proximity then the need for my head to be on her lap was necessary! Yep, totally necessary, without a doubt! Mmhmmm!"

"Oh really, then if that happened then I see no problem with what occurred." Rias gave a mock smile to hide her anger.

Apparently, Michael wasn't aware that it was fake.

"R-Really?" Michael smiled happily glad he wouldn't get punished.

Reaching out like a snake getting it's prey, by surprise Rias reaches for Michael's cheeks and…

***PUUUUULLLLLLL!* X 10**

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Michael cried as both his cheeks were being pulled to the max, "It huwts! It huwts!"

"Did you really think such a lie would work on me?" Rias stared at Michael with annoyance in her eyes.

"If I said no would you stop pulling my cheeks!?" Michael cried tears of shame and pain.

"So it appears everything went well here right, Akeno?" Rias focused her attention on the crying Michael as she talked with Akeno.

"Yes, everything went fine." Akeno nodded with amusement plastered on her face, "Michael was able to attain Ascalon with no repercussions whatsoever."

"It seems like he wasn't the only one who gained something?" Rias finally casts her stare towards Akeno, challengingly.

"Now whatever could you mean, Rias?" Akeno simply giggled apparently, she was in a very good mood after her alone time with Michael.

"Fine, then let's leave, Michael, there's nothing more for us to do here anymore, let's go home." Rias started dragging Michael by his cheek.

"O-Okay buht led gwo of mwy cheak!" Michael cried in pain.

"I'm jealous of your position as the first, Buchou."

Once Akeno said those words Rias stopped dragging Michael by the cheek and dropped him as she left without saying a word.

"Huh? Buchou?" Michael blinked in confusion as he looks at her leave, worried he began to run after her.

Waving goodbye, Akeno simply sighs until she hears Michael run back and peek his head around the door.

"Oh bye senpa-, Er…I mean, Akeno, please, make sure to smile tomorrow as well!" Michael grinned and waved goodbye.

Blushing at Michael's sudden words, Akeno simply nods and waves.

"Because I'm probably gonna need it…" Michael said in a stressed tone as he runs after Rias, "Oi, Buchou, wait up for me!"

Watching the boy leave now, Akeno could do nothing, but sigh in what seemed to be a little frustration, "I just can't help but feel a little envious of you now, Rias, I guess that's the perk of being the first."

Running down the stairs after Rias,

Michael pants,

"Hey, Buchou, are you okay?" Michael finally caught up and took the same pace she was going down at but with a few steps behind her.

"…" Rias remained silent.

Perhaps, Michael staying alone with Akeno like that made her jealous, but what Michael didn't understand was why? The two did confess to each other and now they should be dating at least he thinks so…

_'_ _Man, now I'm confused more than ever, it's hard dealing with girls.' Michael scratched his head and pocketed his other hand._

Stopping her fast pace down the stairs, Rias stood in place in front of Michael who stopped as well.

"Hey, Michael." Rias spoke up for the first time since they began to leave.

"Yes?" Michael responded.

"Akeno… is Akeno, right?" Rias asked, "She is Akeno fuka-Buchou, but she is Akeno, right?"

"Yes, Akeno-senpai is Akeno-senpai." Michael nodded.

"Then what about me?" Rias asked.

"You're Rias-Buchou and even if you're the Buchou, you're still Rias, so Rias is Rias to me." Michael folded his arms behind his head and answered simply.

"Can you please say that again…" Rias' tone sounded pleadingly exactly like Akeno was before.

Catching Rias off guard, Michael wraps his arms around her from behind and smiles, "Rias is Rias because she's just Rias in my case, I like you because your just you, the sweet smell of your hair, your gentle, strict personality with your servants and your cute smile. I like all of it about you and, so I guess that's why I simply like you, Rias." Michael's embrace became a lot stronger which made Rias grow more lax.

"You truly do?" Rias asked as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Of course, I mean I did say I love you, so it's not weird for me to say the things I like about you." Michael brushed his cheek against Rias' cheek feeling the cool tears rub against his own cheek, "So are you okay now, Rias?"

"Yes, thank you, Michael, I appreciate your answer." Rias smiled gratefully towards the teen.

"Awesome, now let's get going, before Asia and Ray-chan get worried." Michael tried to release his arms but felt the presence of Rias clinging onto them with a tight embrace, she doesn't want him to let go just yet.

"No, I wish to spoil myself with you for a while." Rias blushes then asks, "Could we stay like this for just a while longer?"

"Sure if you want, but…" Michael trailed off then remembered something, "Say, Rias."

"What is it, Michael?" Rias looks back at Michael who was giving a red faced expression with him trying to say something.

"I was wondering if we could…"

Michael gulped and came out with what he had to say…

(The next morning)

In front of the ORC's Old School Building was Michael with Gasper wearing their respective School Jerseys to develop Gasper's training. But this time, Michael decided to make a few changes ever since the two male students got closer. Now Gasper was wearing a boy's jersey along with a boy's school uniform after Michael urged and urged the boy to drop the cute stuff act and become more of a man, and to do that he couldn't always be wearing girl clothes. Also, he wore the goggles Michael lent him just to gain some of his courage.

Around the front of the building were balls staying on the ground, Michael wasn't going to go easy on the boy despite Gasper almost passing out on his fifth try, but ignoring that Michael knew Gasper can grow a strong spirit that can't be broke.

"Nuuuuuuuuuh…" Gasper's eyes glow as he was stopping the time around a single volleyball.

"Good job, Gasper that was your 30th time without losing focus you're almost there!" Michael gave a thumbs up as Gasper stops and drops the ball.

"*Pant!* *Pant!* Thank you, Michael-nii…" Gasper was exhausted.

"Alright, prepare for number 31!" Michael picked up the next ball and prepared to throw it at Gasper.

"Right!" Gasper nodded.

"Yosh, here we go!" Michael threw the ball way too fast as it.

***PIING!***

"Kya!"

It pelted Gasper's face and knocked the boy flat on his bottom.

"Michael-nii, that one was too fast, and I'm way too tired…." Gasper cried.

"Hey, enough of that. There will be times where you can barely stand and you won't have the option to rest so get up, Gasper!" Michael encouraged the boy.

"R-Right." Gasper shakily stood up, being egged on by Michael.

"If we ever want to make the Gremory Boys Three-Way deadlock then you have to put all you're might into it." Michael grinned and thrusts his fist at Gasper.

"H-Hai! I promise to do my best from now on, Michael-nii!" Gasper shouted with the utmost determination.

_'_ _Yes, that's the way, you can do it.' Michael grinned and nodded._

"Always remember that I will never leave you alone to cry and wallow in self-pity, and if you ever lack faith in yourself again, then I'll be sure to come back and kick your ass in the right direction again, understood!?" Michael clenches his fist.

"H-H-Hai!" Gasper nodded quickly in both encouragement and fear, "I'll do my best Michael-nii. Me tired? No way, I'm j-just getting warmed up."

"That's the way! Now let's do it one more time!" Michael threw the ball in the and prepared to throw it.

"Right, Michael-nii!" Gasper made his eyes glow bright and let his spirit make him too excited that he made Michael stop in time along with the ball.

"Eh? Michael-senpai?" Gasper gasped as he noticed what he did, "Oh no!"

Unfreezing Michael, the unfrozen teen simply blinked and looked up to see the ball he threw up coming down on him, "This will hurt, ouch!" Michael fell back and rubbed his nose, "Gasper, did you just-?"

"I'm sorry Michael-nii, I didn't mean to mess up, so please don't hit me and get mad!" Gasper cried as he fell onto his knees and gripped his head.

"Mad?" Michael grunts as he approaches Gasper and kneels down, "Dude, you just actually exceeded your training objective."

"I-I did?" Gasper blinked as he looked up to try and face Michael's disappointed face which wasn't there, but instead a smiling face full of proudness in his kouhai.

"Yeah, you just stopped me and the ball at the same time, meaning your focus has improved." Michael laughed excitedly, "Before, you'd just stop everything without choosing a target, but now you can do it with little to no problem, as your senior, I'm proud!"

Michael roughly ruffles Gasper's hair, who in turn felt really at ease from Michael's praise and felt as if he wanted to do more to impress his senpai. It really felt as if Gasper had an older brother, who could be tough and show some pride in him. This was a feeling Gasper had never known, but wants to keep no matter what.

"But since we're on the next level don't expect this to go a lot easier than before, I'll still scold you for your mistakes if they keep happening got it?" Michael said with a strict face.

"R-Right!" Gasper nodded.

"But since you've made it to this kind of level now, then I guess you can say that you deserve a break, so let's eat out!" Michael grinned.

"Eat out? But senpai class will start in a few hours, so wouldn't it be safe to just stay and do it after school?" Gasper asked in curiosity.

"Listen here, Gasper." Michael smirked, "We're devils, so what would a few absent classes do to us, huh? If we wanted to, we can use our demonic powers to make it seem like we didn't even need to attend, you get what I'm saying?" Michael's mischievous influence was starting to get to Gasper.

"I-I think so…" Gasper nodded.

"Good now let's get go-fwuah!"

Getting a fist to the stomach, Michael was punched by Koneko who suddenly appeared with Asia, Xenovia and Raynare.

"…Michael-senpai, you shouldn't be around Gya-kun with such a bad influence." Koneko looked down at the coughing Michael in annoyance.

"True. Michael-sama, such things like that can ruin a growing boy's future." Raynare nodded in agreement.

"O-Oi, where did you all come from?" Michael's eyes twitched.

"We came to check on how you and Gasper-san were doing." Asia smiled as her dragon familiar Rael flew to Michael's side and checked on the lumbered over teen.

"So how is your training going?" Xenovia asked.

"Michael-nii says that I've gone up another level, and that I'm improving much better than before." Gasper told the girl's excitedly.

"How wonderful, it seems that Michael-sama has taken a liking to Gasper already." Raynare clapped her hands together and smiled.

"Yeah, if he gets good stamina then he could do more with his sacred gear." Michael grinned.

"Stamina?" Xenovia said to herself.

"Eh? Xenovia-san is something the matter?" Asia asked.

Xenovia approached Michael and knelt by his side and said, "Michael, there is something I wish to discuss with you."

"If it's about making babies again, then you can talk to yourself." Michael said in annoyance.

"No, it's not that. I actually have a favor to ask of you." Xenovia said.

"Okay, what is it?" Michael questioned.

"I want for you to help train me to gain more stamina as well." Xenovia asked.

"Huh, really?" Michael asked.

"Using Durandal as a weapon for just base attacks has gotten me this far and further use beyond that always tires me out, so I request that you help me, Michael, please." Xenovia bowed her head.

"Okay, sure." Michael nods and stands up grinning, "If it's to help you to better wield the Durandal, then I can help since we are friends."

Xenovia smiles at Michael's kind acceptance,

"Thank you, I appreciate it, this will really prove helpful for both of us in the future."

"Huh? Both of us, what do you mean?"

Pulling out 4 packets of condoms from out of nowhere, Xenovia says,

"For practice, before we commence our true baby making exercises."

Falling down dumbfounded, Michael groaned, "I should have known you'd pull that out…"

"This stamina training could work better for of us since we can keep going with no breaks or rest. Yes, I think this is the way to go if we want the process of fertilization to be complete." Xenovia nods with all her plans in motion.

"Don't say that stuff with a serious face, and why are you taking that too seriously, it's freaking creepy!" Michael shot back up and points at Xenovia.

"To do such things with Michael-san…stamina must be required…" Asia mumbled to herself as her face was turning red, Xenovia's influence was starting to get on her lately, in fact, the influence of Rias always getting close to Michael has gotten her to be more clingy and defensive when with the boy. The way things stand now, she may even start to lose her purity and attempt the same thing Xenovia's doing.

_'_ _No, not you too, Asia, stay pure!' Michael thought._

Michael thought things couldn't get worse, but they were…

"Michael-sama, please allow me to take part in your stamina training as well." Raynare diligently raised her hand.

"What, why, Ray-chan?" Michael looked at Raynare with a worried expression, after seeing the light of Akeno's past and her blood relations Michael has deemed it for him to try and get a better understanding of the two fallen angels to settle their dispute with their own selves.

"B-Because I too want to get more fit when it's my turn too." Raynare emitted a fierce battle aura which even surprised Michael.

"Your turn for what?" Michael showed his teeth and made an expression of confusion.

_'_ _Out of everyone, I've been starting to slack the most, I've gotten the advantage to live with Michael-sama first, but Asia was also there as well, so the best thing for me to do is to make my move after I believe I can keep up with Michael-sama!' Raynare remembered Kalawarner's declaration the other day and narrowed her eyes, 'There's no way I'll lose to the likes of you, Kala-san, even if it means my body goes for broke, I will never just hand Michael-sama to you!'_

_'_ _Oi, Oi, what's going on with her…' Michael blinked as he saw Raynare give him a fierce stare of determination which sort of intimidated him._

"Michael-san, me too, please help me with my stamina as well." Asia closes in on Michael with hopeful eyes.

"You too, Asia, but don't you use magic?" Michael sweatdropped wondering why the Bishop would even want physical training.

"But I still want to be able to keep up with you, and I don't want to get left behind Buchou-san, anymore; it's not fair how Buchou-san is so close to Michael-san most of the time, so I…I want to be able to last longer with you, when it's just the two of us." Asia said with teary eyes as she gets closer to Michael.

Michael gave a face of shock as he thought,

_'_ _Dammit! You bastards are finally messing up my innocent Asia! I knew it, these guys are staining my Asia's pure mind with this. I have to put an end to this madness right now!'_

"It seems I have some competition, things may be difficult, but it seems they'll be more interesting from now on." Xenovia rubbed her chin then turns to Asia, "If this happens, then we'll need to do our best, Asia getting lazy won't be an option for us."

"H-Hai, I won't give up!" Asia puts on a determined expression with a red face; it seems the thought of these things has caused her to be aware and embarrassed.

"Wow…Michael-nii, you're so popular…" Gasper looks up at Michael in awe.

"No, Gasper, you shouldn't think of this as that. It's getting kind of strange to keep up with everything happening, so let's focus on your training alright?"

Michael sighed and reached to pat Gasper's head, but…

***GLARE!***

***POW!***

"Duuuuuargh!"

Catching sight of Michael almost pat Gasper on the head, Koneko gives a powerful blow to Michael's stomach, again. Everyone looked at Koneko, who had on a mad face as she kept the pose she hit Michael with.

"Koneko-chan?" Raynare blinked in confusion.

"…" Koneko then realized what she did and shook her head upon realization, she herself didn't know what happened, but after she saw Michael almost pat the head of his other kouhai she just reacted upon instinct.

"Michael-san, are you alright?" Asia rushed over to Michael's side and helped him up.

Not responding, all Michael could do was breathe in and say what needed to be said,

"Crap to the Hell to the FUCK!" Michael screamed in pain, as he gets up and holds his stomach in pain. He just wanted to help Gasper with his training; just wanted to make sure his fellow male student would get better, but no. Now everyone's here getting on his nerves about asking for 'training' and to top it all off, he gets socked in the stomach? No, that was enough for one day…

"You know what, Gasper? Training is done for today, I just remembered that I still have some personal training of my own, and oh yeah, the rest of you, forget asking me to help because the Great Hanamura is out! Peace!" Michael kissed his fingers and did the V sign as he ran away.

"No, wait, Michael-sama, don't just run off!"

"Michael, wait, I still need your help with Durandal and for our baby making exercises!"

"Michael-san, please don't run, we're sorry!"

"W-W-Wait, Michael-nii, don't leave me alone, take me with you!"

Now chasing after him were Raynare, Xenovia, Asia, and Gasper, who weren't intent on letting the male leave.

"Just leave me alone, you guys need to give me space, and the training you all are speaking about is confusing the hell out of me, so there's no way I'm helping now!" Michael screamed as he looked behind himself seeing the 4 still chasing after him,

"Take a hint, I just want to train by myself, leave me alone!"

"NO!" The group of four replied at once.

"Dammit, can't you see I'm serious…" Michael panted as he started to run around the school getting chased. As for Koneko the girl was still standing where she was staring at her fist in confusion wondering why at that moment she got jealous of Gasper and hit Michael. She glances back at the running Michael who was now facing a serious Xenovia about to use Durandal on him.

"If you won't stop then I will just have to force you into helping by breaking both of the bones in your legs!" Xenovia lunged at Michael and swung her blade after him.

"Holy crap!"

***SHIIING!***

***DOON!***

Jumping right on time Michael dodged the blade's reach and was now running faster than before.

"Are you trying to kill me!?" Michael shouted.

Suddenly flying by his side was Rael who kept his sights on Michael.

"Thank goodness, Rael, I need you to distract them so I can make a hasty retre-"

Michael's eyes bulged out as he saw the Sprite Dragon attempt to fire lightning.

"Oh crap!"

***ZAAAAAAAAAAP!***

"Gagagagagagagaagagaga!" Michael screamed as he was electrocuted into submission.

He fell limp against the ground covered in smoke and burns as he coughs,

"Rael, you traitor why…?"

Flying to his owner, Rael lands into Asia' arms as the girl looks down at Michael with teary eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, Michael-san but Raynare-san said this was the only way to stop you."

_'_ _Et tu Asia?' Michael trembled as he still felts some jolts of electricity._

"It's okay, Asia-chan it's for the greater good." Raynare smiles and pats Asia's shoulder.

"Michael-nii are you okay?" Gasper runs to Michael's side.

"I can't feel my legs!" Michael cried out pitifully.

"Come on, Michael-sama you've been through way worse than this." Raynare waved her hand.

"Your right living with you has gotten way worse than this…" Michael grunts.

Growing an angry tick on her head Raynare kept her smile as her eyes gleamed dangerously, "Rael perhaps you should discipline Michael-sama's tongue by injecting a few more watts of lightning into him."

Rael nods as he prepares to fire another charge of lightning at Michael.

"No! Stop!" Michael screamed and crosses his arms across his chest.

"What, Raynare-san, don't you think that's a little too m-much?" Asia puts her hands up timidly in defense.

Walking beside them was Xenovia who held up her Durandal and said, "If it's a better choice to make sure he doesn't run off again then maybe I should handle his legs, Asia could you please heal them once we're done."

Both Michael and Gasper's faces pale after hearing that.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiie! Xenovia-senpai is scary!"

"Are you nuts? My legs will turn into dust before they can be put back!"

"No, I absolutely cannot condone that, I don't want any harm to happen towards Michael-san." Asia was completely against such a notion.

_'_ _Thanks Asia I'd knew you'd be able to help.'_

Michael sighed in relief as he tried to crawl away only for Rael to take notice and fire another stream of light at him but this time.

"Michael-nii, watch out!"

Gasper jumped right in front of the blast and took it's damage.

"G-Gasper?" Michael gasped as he gained enough strength

***BZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!***

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!"

Getting shocked Gasper fell into Michael's arms and already lost consciousness.

"G-Gasper not you too…" Michael began to cry and furiously points at Rael and the girls, "You monsters, what has Gasper ever done to you all now look at him! Look at him!"

The girls looked at Gasper in guilt, mainly because the blast was mostly for Michael, but still they looked guilt.

"If it'll stop the bloodshed take me!" Michael points at Rael and cries, "Take me instead! Attack me, not him! Take me! Ta*Sob!* *Sob!*ke me!" Michael fell on all fours and cried.

"That was our intention anyways Michael-sama." Raynare smiled nonchalantly and nudges her head to Rael who nods.

"Wait! Wait! No, I was just acting dramatic!" Michael cried trying to explain his actions to fit in the mood.

***BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!***

"Gagagagagagagagagagagagagagagaga!" Michael was continuously electrocuted to a very dangerous degree that would kill or paralyze a regular human.

Looking at all of this, Koneko sighed and said, "…Stupid, Baka-senpai."

Walking towards them now, Koneko joined the group and continued to watch the beaten Michael get left behind since they lost interest and carried Gasper off to heal him.

_'_ _This sucks…' Michael groaned._

**_[Remember Michael after your fight with the White One you'll have to return to your regular school life here.]_ **

_'_ _R-Really, man, I just want a regular life instead of this messed up school life I mean why did only Gasper get carried off to get healed and not me?'_

**_[Because he's much more likeable and smarter than you.]_ **

_'_ _Nah, it can't be the first one and it's probably the second one so…hm?' Michael rubbed his chin._

**_[Your hard one to figure out, Michael.] Ddraig sighed._ **

_'_ _How so?' Michael tilts his head._

Watching from atop of the New School Building was Raymond, who was simply watching the students and their antics go on.

"So this is what School Life in actual life is, huh? It seems a lot more dangerous than in the manga I researched." Raymond commented in amusement as he also researched Japan and it's many features. He still didn't know the enjoyment of some of the things that they cherished, but took heed to it since it may have been too simple for him to find out.

_'_ _It seems watching from this distance is the best I can do for her.' Raymond looked at the smiling Raynare talking with Xenovia caring the burnt Gasper on her back. Glancing back at Michael, Raymond smiled, 'So like I promised I'll leave the rest of her safety to you, Sekiryuutei, Michael Hanamura.'_

**_*Step!* *Step!* *Step!* *Step!*_ **

Suddenly, hearing footsteps come from behind him, Raymond was quick to turn around and face whoever was on the roof, he knew it wasn't a human since he placed a temporary barrier to keep himself privacy and cover from the sight amongst the humans below.

Stepping out from the shadows was the black hooded women from before, now prancing around the roof.

"Lalalalala~!" The girl sang as she stopped and faced Raymond, "Oh why, hello there I didn't see you there!"

The girl waved and began twirling around.

"Who are you, explain yourself?"

***Fwoosh!***

Creating a small ember of flames, Raymond balances it on his fingertips; just this was enough to subdue a mid-class devil any more than that would be overdoing it.

"Oh you mean little ol'~ me?" The girl said in a western cowbell accent, "Wow, this is so sudden, a handsome man is asking for my name? Oh dearie me, it's my lucky day~! But well if you want to know first you have to get to first base with me by telling me your name."

"…" Raymond growing annoyed emitted a strong aura which started to waver around and cause the environment to turn red hot in the atmosphere.

"Oh my, is it getting hot in here or is it just you?" The girl giggled, "But enough talk, which is what I'm doing strange right? I mean if you want to get a girl like me you have to say some words."

Analyzing his enemy, Raymond could deduce that it was obviously female, but something about her had an eerie glow it felt strange and a little familiar while at the same time frightening. The aura around the hooded girl seemed to be incredible even if the amount was small and concealed he could feel something powerful.

_'_ _Could she be from the Khaos Brigade, it's a possibility considering how I can't identify her from either the devils nor angels and I'd know a Fallen Angel just by looking at them once, so who is she?' Raymond slowly raised his hand as it started to glow dark red._

_'_ _It doesn't matter, I'll just have to capture her and ask her for questions later, even if I have to pull out that vile tongue from her mouth.'_

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

"Hmmm? Ooooooooh~! What's this, a magic trick?" The girl giggled as a growing pile of flames emerged to cover her feet; it started to encroach up her legs and to her upper body steadily.

"You said men, who were interested in talking to you, am I correct?" Raymond said as he raised his hand.

"Oh, so you were listening. I thought you were full retarded there for a minute, but I guess your only half retarded after all." The hooded figure laughed crazily.

"For being able to find me through this barrier meant that your knowledgeable about magic, in fact, you were even able to break through and conceal yourself the whole time, am I right?"

"Bing-Bong!" The girl raised a finger and nodded, "That was correct sir, and you did fabulously, so how about you let me go now, okay?"

"I'm afraid that can't happen, you're now a suspect and must be taken in for questioning." Raymond said with authority in his tone.

"Suspect…That word, it sounds really icky to me…" The girl shook her head as the flames around her started to form into a giant demonic hand, "Whoa, you must really know how to treat the ladies with this hand, boy."

_'_ _Her mouth is as vulgar as her aura.'_

"Now come quietly…" Raymond clenched his hand as he whispered,  **"Hell Blaze: Sinner's Grasp!"**

"Ooooooo~…nice technique name, but I'm afraid I'll have to say no…" The girl trailed off as the flames covered her hooded face.

***CRUSH!***

"There, now you'll experience a temporary nightmare; it'll soften you up until I take you back to Azazel-sama." Raymond crossed his arms and started to approach the contained hooded figure, "For your sake, you'd best not be a lackey or I'll just take it upon myself to make you into a spy for us."

Raymond used such techniques to take control of some devils and used them to steal information on the enemy. He would have preferred just torturing the information out but the idea of using them as tools to get him more information while knowing they are pained to see themselves betraying their own kin was enough to satisfy him.

"Now come here." Raymond reached out, it was his win and he would claim the spy but things wouldn't go so easy for him.

***SHIIIING!***

"…" Raymond stopped himself and looked at a red scaled/clawed sword emitting a dangerous red aura which threatened to annihilate him. The waves of aura seemed rather intense it almost felt as if the blade was alive itself.

"Awww~ What's wrong handsome, you haven't seen a sword before." The hood figure edged the sword from behind Raymond and close to her neck as she was leaning back to back on him.

"You were able to escape tell me how?" Raymond wondered as he kept a calm front while trying to evaluate a way to capture the woman.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! A magician never reveals her secret." The hooded figure wagged her finger and laughed, "I mean, you should know after all "Nightmare Flame" Raymond."

"So you did know of me before you revealed yourself?" Raymond said.

"Of course, it's hard to mistake the dirty wings of a black crow like you." The hooded girl said with hate in her cute tone, "You all look the same to me, even if your filthy wings aren't out I'd still smell your tainted scent from even a city away. But the filthiest among you lot is that Pansy ass Governor of yours, Azazel."

"You have a grudge against us, Fallen Angels, is that what you mean?"

"Well, I actually want to kill your pansy assed boss, but yeah, I'm with complete discrimination if it'll get me what I want back from that perverted crow."

"Get back? Are you not a part of the Khaos Brigade? And if you are, what your plans are?" Raymond questioned.

"I really shouldn't be answering this, but you supernatural baddies will learn of it anyways, so consider it a free gift from me~!" the figure smiled as she said, "I am a apart of the Khaos Brigade, but I'm only using them as a means to get what I desire, oh…and our plans well, if you must know we're going to apprehend your little meeting as a way to spark...what do you call it...a revolution."

Raymond became serious in thought after hearing that.

"And our means to do so will require a little inside help if you get what I mean?" The girl tapped her red scaled blade against her shoulder.

_'_ _So that means, we have a traitor among our ranks or that they have information on one of the three factions and intend to use them against everyone.' Raymond deduced._

"Whelp, anyways, I guess that finishes my work here." The girl used a portal to transport her sword into another dimension and summoned a dragon gate beneath her feet, "So until we meet again, mister Filthy Crow, I hope the next we meet will be you impaled by the tip my blade!"

The girl turned back and waved excitedly.

Raymond remained facing the other way, he didn't intend to spare a look at vulgar garbage such as the girl she is.

Stopping to wave, the girl places a finger on her chin and giggled, "Oh, that's right! I forgot to tell you this as a grave warning for not just you, Fallen Angels, Devils or your pure kin. Something between the both of us as their personal biological guardians!"

Raymond's eyes widened as he heard that as he looks back, "Biological?"

"Mmmmmhmmmm!" The girl nodded as the shine of the red dragon gate illuminated her face to reveal a green dragon eye releasing a dark intent to kill.

"Tell you're Filthy, Whore crow of a sister to keep away from my only  **son,**  you hear me, or else I'll have to take things into my own hands after I deal with that thieving son of bitch, Azazel."

The girl's voice was filled with absolute disdain as she points at Raymond, who was shocked and gritted his teeth.

"You're-!" Raymond gasped and turned around to confront the girl who was already disappearing.

***SHIIIINE!***

"Awwww~! I spoke too much, well, you be a good boy now, handsome! Buh-Bye~!" The girl waved goodbye.

***ZOOOM!***

The girl disappeared without a trace leaving a furious and confused Raymond who started leaking a dangerous amount of aura from his body which enveloped the entire roof. He let his calm rage out as he started thinking of the situation,  _'Biological, so could she be related to Michael Hanamura, no I don't have any more facts guiding to that, so let's focus on who, she was in general before question her relations.'_

_'_ _Who was she, and that sword it seemed absolutely powerful it's aura seemed rather similar to Michael Hanamura's Boosted Gear. But how only the Original Welsh Dragon possessed such power and now it's sealed within the Sacred Gear, unless…' Raymond was pondering in thought then gasped, 'This meeting may not go as we planned after all…'_

Using a magic circle, Raymond immediately teleported to Azazel's location to warn him of the dire news.

The next day, it was finally time for the meeting between the Three Great Powers, a powerful barrier covered the school to ensure whatever may happen won't affect the outside. Now preparing to leave the Old School Building's club room the ORC prepares to move out.

"Well then let's get going." Rias readied herself in front of her servants.

"Hai, Buchou!" Everyone nodded.

_'_ _So it's finally here, the three great powers are having a conference to discuss the Kokabiel matter, it seems rather strange. I don't feel scared, I feel actually anxious to see them gathered up in one room and see how it goes.' Michael clenched his fist,_

_'_ _Also I know that Vali will be there with Ero-Ossan as well, so I better bring my "A" game just in case.'_

Standing next to a box with a foreclosed Gasper, Koneko stood ready as standby in case something occurs to frighten Gasper into stopping time.

"Gasper, be a good boy while we're gone." Rias said.

"R-Right." Gasper answers timidly.

"If something shocks you into activating your power, it'll be trouble so please understand." Rias explained.

"Y-Yes." Gasper pops out the box.

"I'll have Koneko stay with you. Okay, Koneko?" Rias looked at the small 1st year.

"Yes, Buchou." Koneko responded.

"Okay, Gasper, wish us luck okay?" Michael kneels down next to Gasper's box.

"Right good luck, Michael-nii, and I hope everything goes well for you all." Gasper smiled.

"Thanks and oh, I almost forgot." Michael handed Gasper a Nintendo 3DS, "You can have it."

"Really?" Gasper gasped with his eyes sparkling.

"Of course, I mean, I just got the 2DS and having this would cramp my gaming style, so I hand it down to you." Michael laughed.

"Oh, thank you very much, Michael-nii!" Gasper exclaimed happily.

"No problem, enjoy yourself, buddy." Michael grinned and patted Gasper's head.

***SLAM!***

Suddenly, a loud thud was suddenly heard on the table nearby unexpectedly, which made Michael jump as he looks up to see an annoyed Koneko with her eyes closed holding a box of snacks.

"I've prepared a lot of snacks, too." Koneko responded with a cold tone.

"Thank you, Koneko-chan!" Gasper cried out in awe at the many sweet snacks.

_'_ _Was it me or did she just slam the box on purpose?' Shaking it off Michael nodded and said,_

"Remember, Gasper, keep this safe until I come back for it, okay?" Michael pointed at the goggles, "They are important, so make sure to protect my treasure with your life."

"Of course, I'll do my best!" Gasper nods with some shy determination in his eyes.

_'_ _That's it bud, keep them safe and remember to keep having faith in yourself, even if it is still too small.' Michael looked away then stares at Gasper seriously, 'Don't you worry, Gasper, I'll make sure to do better as a senpai for you, I promise.'_

"Michael-sama, it's time for us to leave as well." Raynare waved for him to come along. Still being a Fallen Angel Raynare was now considered to be an ally to the Devils and has tons of relevance to be at the meeting, Michael was glad that she didn't get shunned for her race not being the same as theirs.

"Okay, be there in a minute, well, you two, see you later. The next time you see me, I'm going to be an even Greater, Great Hanamura after beating that jackass, Vali!" Michael clenched his fist and stared up at the ceiling which shined a bright light against him.

"Yeah, you can do it, Michael-nii!" Gasper clapped for his senpai while Koneko annoyingly says,

"…Just leave."

On their way to the meeting room the ORC club was informed about how the rest of the Student Council was being stationed inside of the Gymnasium for back up for the Maou's devil guardians. Michael saw the disappointment written on Saji's face as he watched the Kaichou turn him down for having no relevance in the meeting at all. Nose held up high, Michael was proud that he as a pawn himself was able to get invited to the meeting besides his smart best friend.

But half of him felt sorry, since Sona left the task of watching her nephew up to him. It seems Kai hasn't returned from whatever, he was doing and wasn't able to watch his son. Michael felt sorry for Saji and wished that he wouldn't suffer as he did.

Making their way closer to the meeting room, Michael noticed Rias glancing back at him, which caused him to look away with a little blush which caused her to do the same while looking forward.

The others reacted with: Kiba simply smiling with Akeno, who giggled a bit, Asia looking at Michael with unpleasant teary eyes as Raynare glared at Rias with a annoyed stare as Xenovia was nonchalant and simply blinked in confusion.

_'_ _Man, after what I said, now it'll be awkward to even talk with Buchou alone.' Michael thought in a sigh._

**_[Kukukuku! It's only natural that you feel this way, I mean, wasn't that the first time you asked someone on a-?]_ **

_'_ _Yes, it is, can we get this done with and get back to the main plot!' Michael shouted._

***KNOCK!* *KNOCK!***

Knocking on the door, that led to the Meeting Room, Rias said,

"Excuse us."

***GACHA!***

Opening the door, Rias enters the room with her servants behind her.

Michael and Asia looked around in amazement at the room's rich architecture with a gorgeous and pompous looking table in the middle, where 4 familiar figures sat. It was Sirzechs Lucifer, Serafall Leviathan, Leader of the Seraphs Michael, and last but not least the *Sigh!* Ero-Ossan (Azazel). Standing nearby was Grayfia, next to a tea cart waitressing the important figures.

_'_ _Wow, so this is the meeting room? Look at all the people.' Michael looked around and noticed the figures but realized there were more people in here, 'Huh, who's the lady standing behind the Kaichou's older sister?'_

Michael noticed Katerea standing behind Leviathan with both her eyes closed waiting patiently as Serafall simply gave a cute smile which was her usual smile. As Sona-Kaichou and Tsubaki-Fuka-Kaichou stood behind them.

Michael noticed Raymond standing behind Azazel, and wasn't surprised as the man simply nodded at him with what seemed to be a more serious expression than from before. He wondered what happened to him?

Raynare, who noticed the man simply hid behind Michael, and looked at Raymond in fear.

_'_ _It's fine, Ray-chan, he's not that bad of a guy, maybe I should try and get them to talk to each other, once the meeting is over.'_

Waving from both of Raymond's sides were a smiling Kalawarner and an overexcited Mittelt happy to see the woman and not so much Michael as she stuck her tongue at him.

Michael attempted to do the same but, was pinched in the arm by Raynare to calm him down and not to stoop to her level.

**_[If the meeting doesn't turn drastic and ends up in a war.]_ **

_'_ _I'm trying to look at the positives here, Ddraig.' Michael groaned and forgot about that happening too._

Next up was a surprise as Michael realized Irina was in the room wearing her robes to conceal herself as she stood behind S. Michael. Looking to his left, Michael saw Xenovia enter the room and mutter,

"Irina?"

Looking at Xenovia in disdain, Irina simply averts her sight.

_'_ _I hope those two patch things up, so now all that's left is…' Michael looked around then felt a chill go up his spine as he looks to the far corner of the room to see someone very familiar._

"Vali…" Michael growled lowly as he clenched his fist as he looked at his smirking age-mate, who leaned against the wall away from the other factions including his own being affiliated with Azazel.

_'_ _I swear, I'll flatten you…' Michael moved his thumb across his neck and pointed it down as he initiated a stare down with Vali, 'And finally prove that we're rivals and equals!'_

Noticing this, Asia casts a worried glance over to Michael.

"Let me introduce you. This is my little sister and her household. They fought against Kokabiel in the battle a couple weeks ago." Sirzechs started off the meeting.

"Thank you, for your hard work. Please, allow me to express my gratitude once more." S. Michael expressed his gratitude.

"Sorry about that. It looks like one of my guys caused you some trouble." Azazel looked away with a lazy grin and stared at Michael, "But it didn't seem too much of a bad thing, since you had the Red Dragon Emperor to handle it for you."

"What?" Michael blinked,  _'That look just now, why did it just feel sort of planned to say?'_

Speaking up for the first time Katerea bows, "Forgive us, but all of the participants are not here, should we wait?"

"After what you told us, it's fine, you shouldn't worry, Kate-chan. If it's Kai-tan, then I trust that he'll arrive just on time." Serafall's cheeks tinged pink as she clasped her hands together and swooned, "He's always done it, before and I still believe he'll do it now."

_'_ _Wow, I guess Shishou and the Kaichou's sister are really an item, but seriously, man? He's acting irresponsible, again? Even on a day like this, how inconsiderate can you get?' Michael facepalmed himself._

"Yes, I too will put my trust that Kai will arrive when the time is crucial, and if he arrives after a sudden 'change' of plans then we'll also assume that Zethyr will come as well."

As soon as Sirzechs said that last name Michael noticed an intense killing intent leaking out of Vali as his face was filled with hidden anger, but the fury his eyes told and the light in his eyes seemed rather dark and lusterless.

Catching note of this, Azazel sighed and scratched his head,  _'Calm down, boy, he's not here, you don't have to get so mad over just hearing his name.'_

_'_ _What's up with him all of a sudden it's the first I've ever seen Vali do that.' Michael gulped._

"If everything's alright, then let us begin the meeting." S. Michael began the conference.

Outside the meeting hall were the Three Great Faction's guards leaking out killing intent as Devils, Angels and Fallen Angels faced each other while leaking low killing intent so they wouldn't attack their enemies out of spite, but instead let it boil inside just in case war would break out then and there!

Taking their turns to explain the incident, both Rias and Sona reported the details of the battle with great details and facts to further better explain.

"Those are the details of the incident my household, and I were involved in." Rias finished her statement.

"I, Sona Sitri, also bear witness that the events in her report are true." Sona backed up Rias' statement.

_'_ _Wow, those two are like professional speakers or something.' Michael thought in awe._

**_[Of course, they are High-Class Devils with such sophisticated teachings and you a Low-Class with minimal manners.]_ **

_'_ _Oi, why did you have to burn me like that, Ddraig, I wasn't saying that to you!' Michael growled._

**_[You made it easier for me, so I did.]_ **

_'_ _Grrrrrrrr!' Michael growled._

"Thank you, you may step down." Sirzechs let the two return to their spots in the room.

Looking back Serafall smiled, "Thank you, Rias-chan, Sona-chan."

"Mmm…" Sona's cheeks flush in embarrassment as she sighs and goes back to her spot.

_'_ _I guess she still doesn't like her sister calling her that in public, huh?' Michael and Asia gave bitter smiles._

"I would like to hear the fallen angel Governor-General's opinion of Rias' report." Sirzechs turns towards Azazel.

"It doesn't really matter what I think. It was just another one of my men acting on their own, so they were dealt with immediately before they did anything stupidly dangerous." Azazel rolled his wrist.

"Are you saying you did not know of this?" S. Michael questions.

"I let him move on his own until I knew what he was planning. But I'll bet, he didn't know that I had infiltrated this town. This is a lovely nice place, don't you think?" Azazel tried to change the subject.

"Please, don't change the matter." Sirzechs shook his head.

"Well if it's any consolation, I was sending the White Dragon Emperor and the "Nightmare Flame" to handle things, didn't I?' Azazel pointed back at Vali and Raymond. And Kokabiel's already put in the lowest level of the underworld for permanent punishment although Raymond wished he could have taught his senior the error of his lessons a little longer."

"Azazel-sama, your always too nice to your prisoners, if you'd just give them to me, we'd receive more information and get better results." Raymond spoke up with a hint of pouting in it.

"Like I told you before, Raymond, we only use those measures when absolutely needed, understood?" Azazel smirked back at the man.

"Fine." Raymond continued to sound like he was pouting and looked the other way with a stoic expression.

"…What a monster…" Raynare whispered to herself as she hid behind Michael even more, after hearing that in her condition Michael really couldn't blame her. In fact, everyone in the room felt a slight chill from the man's love of torture.

"The problem here is Kokabiel's motivation for his actions; that he was dissatisfied with you all." S. Michael said.

"Yeah, it seems he was really unhappy that the war ended halfway through." Azazel shrugged, "And I have no interest in a war this late in the game."

"…" Vali gave Azazel a bored look from behind.

"See, he's just as lazy and perverted as ever." Michael sighed in relief knowing the type of guy the Ero-Ossan was.

"The "seeds of discontent", huh?" Serafall said to herself.

"Aren't there some like that in your factions, too?" Azazel brought up.

"That has nothing to do with the matter at hand." Sirzechs tried to put the subject back to what it meant to be but the clever Fallen Angel Boss would always shift it to something else, "This summit's purpose is to…"

Azazel propped his head on the table with one hand and smirked,

"Cut the fancy crap, and let's just make peace already."

"!" Everyone in the room was shocked at Azazel's sudden words.

"Hm! I mean, I'm not the only one, who's thinking it, right?" Azazel smiled.

_'_ _Wow, he's so blunt about that.' Michael rubbed his chin, 'He sounds almost familiar.'_

**_[Michael, he sounds like you, or since he's older than you it means you sound like him.] Ddraig explained._ **

_'_ _I SOUND LIKE THE ERO-OSSAN!' Michael shouted in his mind._

**_[*SIGH!*]_ **

(Elsewhere in a giant white room)

Standing inside a block like room with at least 3 doors, there stood 3 figures one was the hooded girl from before, who shook her finger and giggled,

"Alrighty team let's get this thing started, okay~!?" The girl pumped her fist in the air.

"Shut up, your making my ears bleed you short, little neophyte." A young adult with mid-length red hair under a long, black bandanna and deep violet eyes who wore a long, black coat with a collar as a snake head insignia was designed on the back and on his black pants stood up while using his sheathed long katana to stand up, "I can sense her, my beloved, Katerea-chan, just you wait, I'll take you back from the hands of that despicable Lucifer and then we can finally be together…"

"*Sighs romantically!* A young heart in love, I remember those days, but meh…who needs it, all I want is to take back what's mine and get my revenge on that shitty pansy crow." The girl's hands released a large amount of deadly red aura.

"Let's just get this over with." The young man from the park who bumped into Katerea walked up to one of the doors and touched it with one hand, "The 3 Great Leaders of the 3 Factions interesting, I wonder if we can gain experience from them."

"Oh come on, Rallen-chan, you must have someone or something you're fighting for, now come on, tell us who is it?" The hooded girl asked excitedly.

"…I set the space around us to release us, once the Magicians seized the Half-Vampire and use his sacred gear to run amok, so prepare yourselves, unless you wish to be knocked straight between the armies of the three factions, altogether." Rallen placed his hand on the door and began the preparations to unlock it.

"Oh, I bet it's someone ugly or terrifying to match your attitude or maybe it's Jeanne-chan, you're interested in...hmmmmm~?" The hooded girl rubbed her chin under the hood, "Who do you think it is, Drayfus-chan?"

"Enough pointless dribble, I have no gain in hearing the love life of you, pathetic humans, now step aside." Drayfus pushes aside the girl and touches his selected door.

"Chi! Man, you guys are no fun! Business as usual, but still it's rather strange that our three factions are working together like this, I mean it seems like a dream or maybe a nightmare~! Oooooooo~! I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it." The hooded figure touched the door in front of her and laughed, "But anyways, onto better news just a warning for you two, if you dare get in my way of killing Azazel…"

"…" Both of the taller men looked down at the short girl who reached to push back her hood just a little to reveal only a partial bit of her face as it revealed her having dark skin, sharp incisors and apart of her smile seemed rather snake like it looks as though half of her mouth was shaped like a dragon's.

"I'll make sure to turn you, both into special red confetti as I rip the wings off that Damned Crow." The girl giggled maniacally like a sick person from a mental home, "Kachachachacha!"

"Do what you want, but you better not interfere with my destined meeting with Katerea-chan." Drayfus said, not affected at all.

"Whatever, it's not as if he's the only strong one there, and besides, I sense the presence of 3 dragons, so I'll keep myself busy." Rallen said with disinterest in his tone.

"Good, see, we can get along once we set our boundaries, so now…" The girl raises her eyes and giggles creepily, "Let's commence the attack, boys~!"

* * *

**Next Chapter- The Khaos Brigade attacks and captures Gasper and Koneko-chan!? The Battle of Kuoh Academy starts now! There's no way I'll let my Kouhai be captured like this you watch! Bet on it!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter.
> 
> Also, I just want to thank my Shirou Fujimura for helping me create Drayfus ****** (Full name has yet to be revealed) I really appreciate it!
> 
> Now remember to take care and since I'm out I'll say Peace Out so you guys have a nice day!


	28. The Khaos Brigade attacks and captures Gasper and Koneko-chan!? The Battle of Kuoh Academy starts now! There's no way I'll let my Kouhai be captured like this you watch! Bet on it!

**The Khaos Brigade attacks and captures Gasper and Koneko-chan!? The Battle of Kuoh Academy starts now! There's no way I'll let my Kouhai be captured like this you watch! Bet on it!**

* * *

Hearing the brought up topic of peace, everyone in the room remained silent at the sudden proposal made by the Governor-General,who sat completely lax in his seat as he scratched his head in an uncomfortable manner because of the sudden silence.

"H-Hey, what's with the sudden quiet treatment? I'm being serious here. Let's make peace already." Azazel did a strained groan.

Tiredly sighing, Raymond leaned over to whisper,

"Azazel-sama, you might have been a little too forward with the way you asked for such things like peace."

"Really? Hm… I guess you may be right…" Azazel gave an amused smirk and rubbed his chin, "Excuse me for my abrupt interruption earlier, but don't you think this three-way deadlock has been going on for way too long? Especially now since it's causing harm to this world, the main link to our personal sources in the Underworld and Heaven?"

Everyone in the room remained quiet as they listened to this, he wasn't wrong but the way he brought it up was too sudden.

"You all agree, right?" Azazel said.

' _So was really the whole point of this meeting was to make peace or something?' Michael wondered, 'But the way the Ero-Ossan said it was really stupid, I mean, he made himself look like an idiot, hehehe…!'_

Michael gave a mischievous smirk and laughed at Azazel quietly, but then stopped himself once he noticed Vali from across the room staring at him which pissed him off.

' _What are you staring at Asshole?' Michael glared at Vali._

"Hn!" Vali turns his head away and smirks smugly.

' _You gotta problem then say it to my face you son of a…'_

_**[Calm yourself, Michael, I wouldn't advise you to do something rash with all these strong powers around you.] Ddraig warned.** _

' _Rrgh! Fine, I'll stop, only because I don't want to make Buchou look bad.'_

"The two main leaders of the opposing sides of Heaven and Hell have already been annihilated, The Maous and God." S. Michael reiterated.

_Michael looks to see Asia's discomfort after hearing that and thinks,_

' _Even after hearing it once, just bringing up that topic of God being dead still frightens Asia.'_

*Pat!* Pat!*

Patting the girl's head, Michael smiled and gave her reassurance as Asia looks at him and nods happily knowing Michael was there by her side this time when hearing the used to be startling news on God's death.

' _Don't worry, Asia, I'll make sure to never let you get sad like that again, Bet on it.' Michael nods, 'I know, I can't keep that promise, but…'_

_Michael had a worried expression then looks over to Irina and who wore troubled expression as well, and it wasn't just him noticing as well, even Xenovia who casts her friend a glance out of worry noticed too._

' _So if Irina is the Angel Boss' guard, then it's only easy to expect that she was told about it, too.'_

_Michael knew how much Irina was faithful to God and seemed a little saddened to see his childhood friend go through knowing that the biblical figure, she has always believed in, has been dead for all this time._

"And that's the thing, the issue is that the only two powers outside the three factions are within this room, the Red Dragon Emperor, Michael Hanamura."

Azazel called.

"What?" Michael blinked.

"And the White Dragon Emperor, Vali."

"…" Vali simply nods, his face was calm as he closed his eyes.

"These two are powerful enough to change the world. I want to hear what you two have to say about the matter." Azazel was now seeking answers from the two males in the room.

Answering right away, Vali answers, "Do what you want. It doesn't really involve me, if I'm able to still fight strong opponents then I have no objections."

Vali had on an honest to god smile of enjoyment when saying that, he truly is a battle maniac, which even Azazel slightly chuckles at,

"You can still find a lot of strong people without having a war."

"If you say so…" Vali sighed with a look of utter boredom.

' _He doesn't seem to be that happy about it.' Michael looked at Vali in confusion._

' _So this is your younger brother, Zethyr…' Katerea looks to Vali and can see the exact resemblance the teen has to his brother, 'He even seems to act like you when you were younger, but more expressive. I guess it must be with the different times you've both lived in, but why is he on the Fallen Angel's side?'_

"Now back to you Red Dragon Emperor, Michael Hanamura, what are your thoughts?"

Azazel suddenly calling Michael broke him from thought and caused him to struggle for an answer as he shifts around scratching his head.

"Um…well, you see, I, uh…can I get a pass? I'm not good at answering questions like this…hehehe…" Michael's lightheartedness caused some of his friends to give a little laugh or smile towards him even Irina herself smiled at her old friend's usual habit.

"I should've guessed that a moron like you would have trouble with something as simple as this." Azazel sighed, exhaustively.

Michael grew fumes as his ears started to release steam in anger as Raynare catches a glance from Rias, who nods with a disappointed look on her face.

"Oi, don't call the Great Hanamura, a moron, or I'll-Dooogh!"

Michael received an elbow to the gut by Raynare, who scolded him.

"You're overdoing it again, Michael-sama…"

"*Cough!* Okay, I'm good now." Michael fell to one knee and held his stomach, "*Cough!**Cough!* Man, you didn't have to do it that hard Ray-chan, I just wanted to say what I want…"

' _This boy, he seems to wear his feelings on his sleeve almost like Kai, I guess that fool got himself another pupil to badly influence, but I sense more than just Kai's influence on him it seems to be more than that.' Katerea examined Michael closely from her spot._

"It seems I'm going to have to make things easier for you, Michael, so try to focus because this is serious." Azazel places on a serious expression.

"Whoa, why are you so serious all of a sudden?" Michael gasped at the man's weird change of character.

"Listen, if there was a was war then you wouldn't be able to stay with your friends, in fact, if you agree to war it would be like sending your comrades to their own death." Azazel explained with a reminiscent voice recalling his own experience in the past.

"!" Michael gasped.

"In fact, you wouldn't be able to protect all of them because most of the friends you have are on different sides from you." Azazel explained.

**THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!**

Michael's heart started to beat faster in panic as the images of such things were to occur, he looked around the room in panic as he notices Irina who stares at him in worry before looking away a little sad.

' _Michael…' Rias was worried for the boy._

' _Will that really happen?' Michael went pale as he goes through the many scenarios of pain to come through war._

_**[War breeds pain, and even more despair than just a simple battle. Now what's your answer, Partner? Remember to be a Maou, you can even get recognized for war time achievements, but would you want to risk the lives of your comrades to get that far?]** _

'…'  _Michael closed his eyes and started to think more about his answer, 'If I agree to war, then I would be able to be a Maou and make the Buchou proud, but I would lose my friends or even worse make enemies with my old friends to do that. My own gain wouldn't be worth seeing them suffer like that, Kokabiel wanted war just to prove himself and his race to be stronger. If I were to do it for my own goals then I'd be no better than him!'_

_Michael relaxes his hand and breathes in deeply, 'I think, I know my answer.'_

Michael opens his eyes and grins,

"War? Are you stupid, Ero-Ossan? What makes you believe I'll go along with that crap? No…I want to protect my friends, and keep the friends that I've already made from harm's way. If its not to help Buchou and everyone else then I won't use my power for anything else."

Michael points a thumb at his forehead and declares, "Also, like Vali, I want to fight people stronger than me, every so often, and improve myself, so I won't get left behind and someday prove that I'm stronger than a certain someone ." Michael looks up at Vali, who looked completely uninterested,

"So, I swear, I'll use my strength to develop, myself into someone dependable of being Maou. Bet on it!"

Smiling at the boy's answer Sirzechs, Serafall, Grayfia, S. Michael, Raynare and Rias alongside her other peerage was satisfied with Michael's positive attitude and answer.

"I see, well, if that's your answer then I have nothing further to say." Azazel raised his hands in defense then lowered them.

Knowingly smiling, Rias was expecting to hear that response from Michael, and was in fact happy to hear him back up his words.

"But you know saying such a clichéd answer won't be okay with me, you know?" Azazel gave an entertained smirk.

"Huh, what do you mean by cliché?" Michael stepped back.

"I mean, you must have an ulterior motive, right?" Azazel winked while putting on a perverted grin.

"You're not making sense, Ero-Ossan." Michael sweatdropped.

"Oh, don't play dumb, you know I can tell when a boy's matured into a man once he's punched in his V-card."

Everyone stayed in silent shock after hearing that, especially, Michael, whose jaw dropped onto the ground.

"So tell me how was your first time with Rias Gremory? Are you excited to do it again, and practice for more baby making?"

Hearing this, all of the girls in the room blushed, except for Katerea and Grayfia, who only disappointingly sighed at the Fallen Angel's rather lewd question. But the only ones with complete red faces were Michael and Rias, who lowered their heads in embarrassment.

"Hey, what's wrong with you, two? Now, now I'm just trying to be open and ask about whether or not that was your main motivation to make that choice. I mean your first time could've been your last time if we went to war, but if you deny war then you would be able to have sex every night. Hell, or even all day when you want it, I'm not one to judge." Azazel laughed, insensitively.

Turning to face Rias, Michael muttered, "Buchou can I?"

"Yes, I'll allow it, just this once." Rias nods.

"Good."

**[Dragon Booster!]**

Michael raises his hands and summons his Boosted Gear.

"Ddraig, start the countdown…" Michael said creepily as his tone was filled with rage.

"You two seem to really take this seriously, don't you?" Azazel sweatdropped then sighed, "It was just a joke so relax."

"Relax!" Michael bursts out of his embarrassment high and points at Azazel, "You just shamelessly revealed that I had sex with Buchou in the bath don't you have any sense, you idiot!"

"I just implied to tease you two, I never said anything about the two of you having sex for real, you  **idiot."** Azazel gave a smirk full of mischief.

**. . .**

Michael's face froze as he realized what he just did, then freaked out as he kneeled down and grabbed his face in panic and yelled,

"NOOOOOOOOO, I CAN'T BELIEVE I SAID THAAAAAAAT OUT LOOOOOOUD!?"

Standing by him was a red faced, Rias whose face started to turn crimson like the color of her hair because of the embarrassment she's going through,

"You idiot."

"Ufufufufufu! It appears the secret's out for everyone to hear." Akeno giggled at Michael's outburst, but strangely for Michael, he could sense that her voice was strained as to sound cheerful masking something else in the process.

"Michael-kun, I believe you shouted that out for even her brother to hear."

"Michael-san, I knew that was true, but for you to boldly claim it like that I-I…"

"You're such a disgraceful, proud perverted man, Michael-sama."

Kiba bitterly smiled as Asia and Raynare stared at Michael with teary eyes after he shouted that out loud. In the background Michael, could hear Sirzechs chuckle a little after hearing Michael's outburst as Grayfia just sighs standing behind him.

"O Lord, please never forgive this horrible sinner, he doesn't deserve your heavenly forgiveness." Irina prayed with her eyebrows furrowed in anger.

' _Oh, god-ow! This can't possibly get any worse!' Michael cried._

"Michael?"

Looking to his right, Michael finds a knelt Xenovia holding 5 condom packets as she bluntly asks,

"Is there a certain time you choose for baby-making appointments or-?"

Snatching the packets away and putting them in his pocket, Michael screamed, "You're not making the situation any better, you idiot!"

Laughing his head off at Michael's situation, Azazel wipes a tear from his eye, "Hohoho! This is classic."

"Damn you! I'll get you back, Ero-Ossan, just you watch." Michael glared.

"Yeah, yeah sure." Azazel nonchalantly waved his hand.

"Could we please get back on the main topic?" Katerea pinched her temples.

"Hn! Fine, now are you sure that's your true answer, brat?" Azazel looked at Michael to reassure his opinion.

Michael gave Azazel a death stare before coughing again.

"Of course, I'll do everything in my power to protect Buchou and my friends with all I've got and become a Maou that will make her proud! That's just the way I roll." Michael stood up and said with a grin which was quick to disappear once an arrogant voice said,

"You really believe you can do that because I'm starting to have some doubts that a loser like you can even attempt to keep such hefty promises…"

Michael stares at a lax Vali leaning against the wall who wore a smug smirk.

"Vali…" Raymond looked back Vali, who was ignored the man's attempt to stop him.

"What it's a conference? Can't I have a say? I mean, I am the White Dragon Emperor while, he's the...well, you know what, nevermind…" Vali opened his eyes and watched Michael's face turn into rage.

' _That bastard, he thinks he's so better than me, I'll…I'll!' Michael grinded his teeth and clenched his fist._

"You have something to say then just spit it out already, you jackass!" Michael growled.

"Michael, calm down." Rias tried to calm down Michael but the conflict wasn't over yet.

"I already said what I needed, if you can't understand something so simple as that, then you must be a bigger idiot than I thought, you loser." Vali retorted.

"Loser! Hah! You think I'm gonna accept something like that coming from you, bastard!? You just watch, I'll flatten you, so good that you'll be mistaken for Koneko's chest!" Michael shouted in rage and pointed at Vali.

"Really?" Raynare sweatdropped.

"Hey, she's not here, so I can mostly get away with saying that!" Michael shrugged, "I mean that's as flat as I can think of, a brick wall has more bumps than her!"

(With Koneko)

Eating snacks, Koneko stops herself and places the bag of chips down as Gasper notices the sudden change and puts down his game.

"U-um…Koneko-chan, are you okay?" Gasper asked.

"…Baka-senpai…" Koneko clenched her fist, "Must…die…"

Koneko exuded a powerful killing intent which filled the entire old school building.

"Eeeeeeeeek! Koneko-chan is being scary agaaaaaain!" Gasper cried as he hides in his box and closes the flaps.

Standing up, suddenly, Koneko places on a serious expression as she looks towards the door.

"Eh? Koneko-chan?" Gasper questioned.

"…Don't move a muscle, Gya-kun..." Koneko warned as she senses incoming danger approaching them from the outside!

"…Ngh!"

***BOOOOOM!***

Koneko picks up Gasper's box as an explosion destroys the entrance into the club room…

(Back in the conference)

"So if you want a fight, then bring it, asshole! I'm ready anytime!" Michael threatened.

"You mean you're ready anytime to fail as usual?" Vali smirked.

"Haha, very funny! Well, I certainly wasn't failing last night when I was with your mother!" Michael insulted.

***CHILLLLLLS~!***

"I dare you to repeat that comment, Hanamura." Vali stood up away from the wall and gave Michael a face filled with hidden anger at that comment.

"Oh, what's the matter? You crying for Momma? Boohoo, how sad! Does the baby want his nip-nip! Wah! Wah!" Michael mocked as he approached Vali with a strong intent to fight.

"You know what? Maybe, I should just show you, your place, here and now." Vali started to approach Michael as well with the intention of starting a fight like Michael.

The two started to exude both red and white aura with a red dragon above Michael and a white dragon was above Vali. An ensuring clash was about to begin.

Everyone in the room could only watch as the situation escalated, most of everyone was surprised by the two dragon possessors about to engage each other in combat which wouldn't look good seeing as to how there was a conference going on at that exact moment.

"Michael, I had already told you to stop this!"

"Michael-san, please stop!"

"You're just causing too much unnecessary trouble!"

Rias, Asia and Raynare tried to hold back the angered Michael, who didn't listen to reason at this point.

***CLAP!* *CLAP!***

"Alright, that's enough you, two." Azazel clapped his hands which caused both Michael and Vali to calm down their fight, "We're here to prevent a war, not start one."

Azazel looked to Vali and said, "Vali, you should know that Michael has the biggest bark, so don't expect him not to put up a fight with insults just to get under your skin that's his specialty." Azazel scolded, out of everyone, Azazel knew there were only a few people to rile Vali up like that, and since the numbers were low it really tells you, how Vali is usually calm most of the time.

Vali simply closed his eyes and regained a calm composure as he understandingly nods while Michael just acts like, well, Michael…

"Beh…! Hahahaha! You just got scolded by the Ero-Ossan, ya bastard, you must really suck to stoop that low!" Michael pulled down his eyelid and stuck his tongue out at Vali, who paid no heed to him.

"Oh, and you, Michael are the main catalyst for all of this." Azazel continued his scolding.

"Eh!? Me?" Michael's eyes widened and pointed at himself.

"Yes, you, you're too easily provoked and angered whenever someone insults you, this always starts the fight so easily that it could get avoided without you even using that small brain of yours. It may be because of your simple mindedness but you always get too emotional which causes terrible things to happen to you." Azazel explained in great detail, "In other words, you don't think."

Michael's face went pale after hearing all of that as he groaned, "Geez, say it to the whole world, why don't ya…"

"I'm only speaking the truth, aren't I?"

"No, I'm not like that!"

' _He is.'_

' _He is.'_

' _He is.'_

' _He is.'_

' _He is.'_

' _He is.'_

' _He is.'_

_Rias, Asia, Raynare, Akeno, Kiba, Xenovia and Irina thought in unison._

"Now that you two have seen how childish you've been acting; could you please return to your spots like before, or should I tell you both other things embarrassingly true about yourselves? Azazel's words held truth as both Michael and Vali looked the opposite from each other and muttered,

"…Whatever…"

***Glare!***

***Glare!***

Both returned to their groups, but not before they exchanged a quick glare between each other, Vali leaned against the wall and crossed his arms as Michael leaned against his side of the wall and folded his arms behind his head. Worried about the teen, all of his friends gave him worried glances.

"Sorry about that, they tend to get like that once you leave them in a room together like this." Azazel apologized to the other leaders in the room.

Sirzechs, who observed the whole thing had a few questions to ask about something.

"You seemed to have taken care of that quite well, Azazel." Sirzechs said with a hint of suspicion.

"Well, you know it become a natural instinct for me after dealing with them for a couple of years." Azazel rolled his wrist.

"Couple of years?" S. Michael questioned, "So you have made contact with the Sekiryuutei, Michael Hanamura-dono before?"

"Yeah, you can say that, but let's focus on the real topic, we were last at shall we?" Azazel smiled as propped one hand to hold his head up.

"You seem to be hiding something with your involvement with Michael-kun." Sirzechs tried to push further for more information.

"Maybe I am, or maybe you're just being too curious? I guess, we'll never know." Azazel shrugged.

"We won't be satisfied with such an answer after you say it so suspiciously like that, explain to us what you already know." Serafall pushed the current topic even further.

"That's right for you to bring up such a thing as peace then stifle your words like that it will only be natural to distrust you at this point." Katerea spoke up with a tone full of disdain, well, it's only normal since she is speaking to one of the past leaders who were enemies to devils.

"As the one who first brought up the idea of peace, it is only wise that you know that showing your own honesty will be the first step." S. Michael also put in his input.

Seeing everyone corner him into a spot, Azazel started to scratch his cheek out of focusing on the topic of peace altogether not something this private,

"So it's come to this? I guess it must really show how the other factions trust me the least from the other leaders, huh?" Azazel sighed.

"That's true."

"That's right."

"That's exactly it ."

Sirzechs, S. Michael and Serafall nodded in agreement, it seems Azazel isn't that trustful of a guy after all. But in Michael's case, he'd known it ever since he knew the Perverted Douchebag.

"Chi! I was honestly expecting you lot to be better than God or the former Maous, but now I see how untrusting you are of me as a whole. If it's in secret, you get all protective and wish to know more about something which doesn't concern you, but whatever I'll just tell you what I  **can** explain…" Azazel made an annoyed noise with his mouth and scratched his head.

Everyone listened closely as the governor of the Fallen Angels sighed, "I've been tasked with taking care of the boy as a request from my friend."

"Your friend?" Sirzechs asks.

"Yep, now isn't that enough? I mean there is other pressing matters to attend to, right?" Azazel shrugged.

"That bit of information still isn't acceptable, we still need something less vague than a friend tell us who it is."

Sirzechs wasn't buying Azazel's passive leaps to get out of the subject, there was something more than just being friends between this man there must have been an ulterior motive.

' _Huh, what's all of this about?' Michael blinked with a complex expression; he never thought he would be in the subject of discussion._

"Geez, you just can't give me a break now can you?" Azazel scratched his head then continued,

"Look, I already told you all what I'm able to say that's it. But knowing how you won't be satisfied with that then let me give you a clue on who it is based on what I guess you've at least said to the brat."

*Cough!* *Cough!*

Azazel coughed in his hand then went to touch his hair as to signify a clue to something,

**"The resemblance is rather uncanny don't you think?"**

"!"

Sirzechs, Serafall, S. Michael, and even Grayfia widened their eyes in shock after hearing that as Raymond placed on a neutral expression to the situation. The younger devils and guards to their respective leaders were unaware of what they were talking about just now realizing, well everyone except Vali, who simply had on a small smirk of entertainment.

"It may seem rather out of place, but if you want, we can continue talking about my friend, himself, in detail instead of zeroing in on his request. But for that to happen, we'll have to go back and talk about that "certain" incident 18 years back."

Azazel's tone of voice sounded serious as he stared at the 3 leaders, it seemed out of character which made everyone understand how dead serious he was on the topic.

"What could they be talking about…?" Michael felt his stomach tense and go into a knot for some reason, he was confused but also anxious and little frightened, but for the life of him, he didn't even know what was going on.

Michael began to sweat a little as he paid more attention.

"No, that issue has been declared a secret for not even the ears of those within this room, those events are to and will remain hidden." Sirzechs folded his hands on the desk and answered with the same tone of seriousness as Azazel.

"Yes, such an incident has been one of our deepest sins to which we may never repent for." S. Michael bowed his head and closed his eyes as he muttered a few words to himself. Was he praying for…forgiveness?

Both Sirzechs and S. Michael backed off from the topic getting any more serious than it did. What made them change their minds and why do they seem to look rather guilty for some reason?

"Good, now that we're back on topic let's confirm the situation if we agree on peace." Azazel leans back in his chair and folded his arms behind his head while lacking any dependable mannerisms the other leaders are doing.

"Yes, I also planned to propose peace to the Devil side and Grigori before Azazel brought it up. Even if we continue the relationship of the 3 factions like before, then it will become damaging to the world right now. I, the leader of the angels say it since-the original cause of the war, God and Maou-sama have been annihilated."

S. Michael said that he wants peace in this interval.

Azazel busts out laughing at S. Michael's words.

"Ha! That stubborn Michael has started to speak. Even though he was about God, God, God before."

"….I have lost a lot of things. However, there's no helping seeking for things that aren't present. It is our duty to guide humans. We members of the Seraph have the same opinion that the most important thing is to watch over the children of God from now on as well, and to guide them."

"Oi, Oi, the way you told us your speech just now, you'll 'fall' you know? I thought that but you took over the system, right? It's become a good world. It's completely different from the time when we 'fell'." Azazel said in terms of it almost sounding like a joke, "I can understand your protectiveness towards the humans, but isn't also for that little half-breed niece of yours to whom, I'm guessing is in the area of Kuoh Town right now playing with her mother."

Suddenly the image of an extremely beautiful woman with curly blonde hair and a voluptuous figure was seen patting the head of a timid Agnes holding a red ball and looking up at her mother. The woman seemed to look a little exhausted and sick by her condition.

As soon as Azazel mentioned that S. Michael said with a serious look, "This has nothing to do with the current conversation at hand, and how do you know of such information?"

"Oh, you mean how your little sister Gabriel, one of the Seraphim gave birth to a half-breed angel with a devil without falling, hm? Lucky guess." Azazel shrugged, "But I would say the reason Gabriel isn't here right now is because of her frail condition after giving birth to her daughter just those few years ago. Am I correct?"

S. Michael played a neutral expression as he stared at Azazel to analyze what he's trying to pull.

"This is getting us nowhere, we should just focus on the topic at hand." Serafall announced but the way she said it was filled with annoyance as she pouts to herself. The act was rather cute and adorable for Michael's taste but he just can't help but feel as if the Kaichou's sister has some sort of resent towards that Seraphim the Ero-Ossan described.

"If it will speed things up even if the original Maou aren't here, in order to continue the species, Devils too have moved forward as well. Even we wouldn't want war. If we do start another war, the devil race will be completely extinct."

On Sirzechs-sama's words, Azazel nodded as well.

"Yes. If we do another war, the 3 factions will definitely be mutually destroyed. And then, it will affect the human world as well, and the world will end. We can't do wars now."

Sometime ago, Azazel had a joking mood, but it's done a complete change and he has a serious expression.

"Do you think a world without God is wrong? Do you think a world without God would decay? I'm sorry to say this, but that isn't the case. Me, you as well as everyone else in this world are healthily living life any way we see fit."

Azazel said that while opening his arms.

"Even if God is dead… the world can still keep living and progress even farther than it used to."

' _Whoa, I can't believe I'm saying this but that sounded pretty cool, Ero-Ossan and I agree since I'm a devil and even if my other non-devil friends don't know they still live happily and enjoy every day they have to the fullest so I guess even without God we can still keep moving onto the future.' Michael smiled._

"Well, then it seems that we've come to an agreement have we not?" Sirzechs sentence started to lead off any potential continuation with the meeting. Meaning it was drawing to a close.

Walking by Grayfia's side, Katerea says,

"The conference is drawing to an end; now we will now start with the conclusion by asking all sides if they wish to agree on Peace between the three powers."

"Yes."

"I agree."

"I, as well."

"Yeah…fine…"

Sirzechs, Serafall, S. Michael and Azazel voiced their decision for peace.

"Then with this the summit has been concluded and the vote for peace has been completely decided."

The silver haired woman dressed like a French maid, Grayfia announced the end of the conference.

"So just like that?" Michael said.

"Yup, just like that." Kiba nodded.

"Wow, I thought it would be much longer, but okay, that's cool I guess." Michael felt a lot calm it seems he didn't have to worry about anything for a while.

_**[I wouldn't jinx yourself just yet, it's just the prelude of peace, we still don't know if anything dangerous might happen.]** _

' _Ddraig, did you eat a retard?'_

_**[What?]** _

' _Because you are spewing some stupid crap right now.'_

_**[Michael, what the hell are you-?]** _

' _Look the three powers were at each other's necks and now they are looking peace so we don't have that many enemies anymore, in fact, I think that Kokabiel fight will be the last skirmish we'll ever be in.' Michael sighed in relief then remembered something important, 'Oh right I have to ask the Angel Boss something.''_

_**[No, seriously, Michael, what the fu-]** _

' _No time to chat, Ddraig, bye!'_

_Michael cut off the connection and raised his hand and waved,_

"Yo! Mr. Angel Boss, sir!" Michael called out.

"Oh yes, you mentioned that you wanted to ask me something Sekiryuutei, Michael-dono." S. Michael smiled at Michael as he raised his pinky.

"Hah! You remembered our pinky swear!" Michael laughed.

"You did say that you'd only trust me to keep my word if I did."

"Pinky swear?"

"Ufufufufu."

Rias turns to look at with a befuddled expression as Akeno giggles since she was there to witness it.

"Okay, so here it goes, and don't take offense because I'm being honest." Michael coughed.

Michael turns to Asia and asks, "Do you mind if I ask him about you real quick?"

"If its Michael-san's wish to, then I don't mind. I trust you." Asia allowed it with a smile.

"Thanks." Michael breathed in as his usual tone went deep as he points at S. Michael and gave a straight faced expression, "You, why did you exile Asia from the church, you bastard."

"!" Everyone in the whole room gave S. Michael an astonished look as he said something at the wrong time and even used words filled with disrespect.

"Asia was always so faithful, she was always so kind to others, so why did you do that it doesn't make sense…"

Michael's fist was trembling as he lowered his head.

"Michael-sama." Raynare worriedly looked at Michael

"Michael, that's enough." Rias walks to Michael and puts her hand on his shoulder.

"I thought that good people weren't supposed to get hurt or punished for their actions, aren't they supposed to be cherished and kept out of harm's way!? She suffered being alone, and no one ever felt sorry for her, so tell me why!? Why did you exile someone like her!?"

Michael picked up his head and revealed the tears streaming down his face as he stared at S. Michael with resolute eyes.

"After the death of God, only his system remained. You can call it a force that controls protection, mercy, and miracles. I am just barely keeping it running, so I had to remove all those who could cause it to malfunction." S. Michael earnestly answered.

"So it was just because of her sacred gear being able to heal Devil and Fallen Angels is that, right?"

Michael sounded accusingly as he still wasn't convinced by something like this but kept himself under control.

S. Michael nodded to confirm Michael's earlier prediction.

"We are maintained by the devotion from our adherents. We must remove any elements that could possibly harm our System."

Intervening with Xenovia walks up,

"And is that why an adherent, who was accidentally told of God's passing is also at risk of doing so?"

"Yes, that's right, Xenovia. To lose you is a serious wound even for us, but if apart from us, Seraph and a part of the higher rank angels, if a fair amount of people who know about the non-existence of God approach the place with a direct connection then there's a huge effect on the system. I beg for your forgiveness. There was no other way but to make you and Asia Argento heretics." S. Michael bowed his head out of forgiveness.

Irina who stood behind S. Michael gasped,

' _So she didn't betray us?'_

"No, S. Michael-sama, please don't apologize. Even like this, till I reached this age, I was brought up by the church. I somehow felt it was a bit irrational but if you know the reason then there's nothing such as asking why." Xenovia shook her head.

"The fact that you reincarnated as a devil, that is our crime."

"It's alright… I regretted it a bit, but the things that I couldn't do when I served the church; the things that were sealed from me are now brilliantly coloring my everyday life. If I say these words, I may anger the other believers but… as a devil I'm currently happy with the way my life is."

_**[Well ,partner are you satisfied now?] Ddraig said amusingly.** _

' _Well, he apologized and gave me a badass sword so the Great Hanamura will let him off the hook this time.' Michael grinned._

Walking to stand by Xenovia's side Asia smiles gratefully,

"Michael-sama, I, too, feel happy with my life. I've found so many great people."

Showing an expression of relief S. Michael bowed his head, "I cannot thank you enough for your forgiving hearts."

"Oh, yeah," Azazel looks up to Asia and Raynare who trembled as she noticed this, "I heard one of my subordinates killed that girl over there and I'm pretty certain the one who devised the whole plan was the Fallen Angel right next to her."

Raynare Looked down in shame after hearing that.

"Ero-Ossan." Michael said seriously.

"*Sigh!* Don't give me that look, brat, I know what I have to do." Azazel looked gruff as he scratched his head, "I apologize for the mistreatment of my subordinate towards you it was my bad move to add extra surveyors to watch over Michael."

"Surveyors to watch over Michael-kun?" Akeno questioned.

"We, Fallen Angels are eliminating those who are Sacred Gear users who are causing harm to us and may possibly damage the world. As an organization, it's obvious, right? Sensing that a person may become a threat in the future, then if we know about it beforehand, you'll want to eliminate that threat before it grows out of control. But to make sure the brat wasn't in the range of being eliminated for that purpose I sent a few surveyors to warn me of any suspicious activity. But in the end they used this job to their own selfish gain." Azazel explained and stared at Raynare.

"I-I'm sorry." Raynare bowed her head.

"What are you apologizing for? You didn't do anything wrong, if you did then I'm pretty certain you wouldn't be here breathing with us all, especially, your two friends." Azazel shrugged.

"…!"

"The way that you were able to realize your mistake and tried to fix it, changed the course of your chances of dying. In the end, you're still watching over the brat, who was somehow able to convert you to his side at the last minute, so I guess you haven't been a complete waste of a subordinate after all." Azazel sighed in disappointment,

"In fact, it makes me sad to see one, who can see their own mistakes and try to change them out of the other two, I think you would have made a better subordinate." Azazel complimented.

' _Is he talking about Dohnaseek and Kokabiel?' Michael thought._

"Azazel-sama?" Raynare was happy to hear such words from someone she once admired, but then again it didn't feel as though she wanted anymore.

"But let me guess, no matter what I say, you'll still stay on the side of that Brat, won't you?"

Raynare nods stubbornly and stood closer to Michael who raised an eyebrow in confusion as Azazel sighs,

"Well, it was worth a shot, anyways. So I'll just take advantage of this since most of my subordinates did cause you all so much trouble, I'll pay you back with something only I can do." Azazel grinned and points at himself.

"Something you can do, like what?" Michael scratched his cheek.

***SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!***

Suddenly a freezing sensation filled the room as Michael, Vali, Kiba and Xenovia detected it.

…

"W-What the hell?"

"Michael?"

"Buchou?"

Michael looked to see that he was holding Rias in his arms it must have been by reaction of the sudden sensation.

**[Dragon Booster!]**

Michael looked to see that he equipped his Boosted Gear and that's not all he looked around the room to see that most of everyone but the leaders and other high leveled guards were frozen. Standing unharmed were Michael, Rias, Vali, Kiba, Xenovia, Irina and Raymond.

"Everyone." Michael gasped.

"Did someone… stop time?" Kiba who was held his Holy-Demonic Sword asked as he saw the frozen faces of almost everyone.

"Looks like it." Azazel smirked.

"Katerea-chan?" Serafall looks to her adviser, who was using a complex magic formula to examine the situation.

"Don't worry because of our immense powers, we weren't affected by it. The young ones were able to stay unharmed because of their irregular powers such as their holy swords and the Dragons within them." Katerea gave a full explanation.

Michael noticed Kiba, Xenovia and Irina holding their weapons covered in holy aura as Raymond cloaked his body in red flames to protect himself from the power causing everyone to freeze.

"Are there any others who aren't affected by this?" Sirzechs asked.

"I'm still working on that, give me a little more time to search for any others outside this room." Katerea answered Sirzechs while keeping her focus on the Magic formula.

"My, my I never knew the True Descendant of Leviathan was such a genius when it came to magic, I'm impressed."

"I'd rather die than hear that from the tongue of the Governor General, himself." Katerea glared at Azazel in spite, even though it was agreed that peace would be settled she still held resentment towards Azazel.

"Geez, someone's touchy." Azazel shrugged.

Ignoring the Fallen Angel Boss, Katerea turns to face Serafall and says, "Right now I can detect two others who seem to be unaffected by the freezing effects of this power and they seem to be present near this building."

"The only building presiding next to this one is the gymnasium which means-" Rias stops herself as Serafall cuts in.

"Kaichou's peerage has two members there active then." Kiba said.

"My adorable Shura-chan is there then with one of So-tan's servants, if it's a servant of Sona-chan's then we shouldn't worry about them at the moment." Serafall stated her trust in Sona's peerage to protect her son but also had on an expression of worry only a mother would have.

' _Wait, so that lady as the Kaichou's sister's adviser is a descendant of the original Maou, Leviathan, but I thought they disliked the New Maou system. Why is she helping us?' Michael looked at Katerea in shock before he realized Rias catch his attention._

"Thanks to you, I'm fine, Michael." Rias leaned herself closer into Michael's arms as the arm which grabbed her held the boosted gear.

"No problem, it was just by reaction was all." Michael smiled.

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

Making impact with the barriers covering the school building magic bullets were seen outside the conference room window where everyone watched to see something mind boggling. As a massive Magic Circle hovering over the school was transporting many robed males and females into the area firing magic bullets at the school.

"It's raining people from the sky? What the hell is going on!?" Michael freaked out.

"Those are Mages." Rias said.

"Mages!?" Michael said in surprise.

"It seems we're under a terrorist attack." Azazel smirked as he looked outside.

"Terrorist attack?" Michael tilted his head.

"This should've been seen coming once three sides negotiate peace there will always be a certain group to disagree and take things into their own hands." Azazel sighed,

"These magicians are humans that can use the powers like you, devils. Though, of course, it also seems to be possible that they can't become devils themselves. It's especially troublesome when a Sacred Gear possessor learns magic. Well, their attacks aren't capable of damaging this school building. Because the strongest protective barrier by me, Sirzechs, and Michael is enveloping this place. Though, thanks to that, we can't leave here."

Walking up with a stern face, Serafall cried out in dissatisfaction, "Hey,  _I'm_  the magical girl here, I'll show them what a true magical girl can do!"

"Serafall, I don't think that's the main issue here. Our first priority should be to solve the sudden freeze in time." Katerea sweatdropped and sighed in annoyance.

"B-But I can't just let them get off like that, which is why I'll blow all of them away!" Serafall sounded dead serious and pulled out her Magical Girl Mil wand as she attempts to handle the magicians.

' _Wait, is she being serious or something because I can't tell with that wand she's holding!' Michael gulped._

"Mirurun miruru spir-..!"

"I thought I told you not to bring this!"

Serafall began to twirl her wand around until Katerea snatched it away before she can do her transformation.

"Eh?" Serafall blinked as she looked at her empty hand.

"I can't believe you brought something like this to an important meeting!" Katerea looked flustered as she kept the wand away from Serafall.

"Noooo~! Katerea-chan, give it back! I have to show them how a true Magical Girl looks like!" Serafall hopped and reached for the wand while flailing her arms as Katerea being taller than the Maou kept the wand away from her reach.

"This isn't the time for this, we have to focus on the situation we're in, in fact, if you go out there wearing a costume like that, the mages will be only spurred on to kill us since you make a mockery of their magic with this hobby of yours!" Katerea scolded.

"S-Sorry…" Serafall sniffled and lowered her head like a child being scolded by their mother for doing something naughty.

"You always get too carried away. Your duty as Maou should be focused on much more serious things rather than this childish show. You hold a large responsibility as Leviathan and I intend to make sure you don't tarnish the title, now you must…!"

"I-I'm sorry…I-I'm sorry…" Serafall could do nothing but apologize for her actions.

Watching this both, Michael and Xenovia were shocked to see the Maou get scolded by her adviser as Katerea gave Serafall a long lecture about her duties, and how she should present herself respectfully in public.

"This seems rather strange to watch?" Michael tilts his head.

"Indeed, I thought the position to talk to someone like that should be the Maou's not her adviser." Xenovia tilts her head in the same fashion as Michael's.

"What's causing time to stop, then?" S. Michael looked out the window to try and examine how to deal with the problem.

"I take it they forced the half-vampire's ability into a Balance Breaker state." Azazel brought up, "It's only a temporary Balance Breaker state, even then, to think that it even affects people present in the interior of objects outside the field of vision…So that half-vampire's potential ability was this high? Well, it seems that he lacks the output to stop us top-position guys, though."

"Wait, you mean they have Gasper!?" Michael's eyes widened.

"Very few people possess the ability to stop time. He is the most likely in the hands of the enemy." Sirzechs explained.

"Buchou…" Kiba turned to Rias who was infuriated knowing that her servant is being used by the enemy.

"There's nothing more insulting than having my family used by some terrorists."

Rias said with an angered face as she released a red aura.

"Our guards…" S. Michael looked out the window to see the frozen guards being taken out by the growing army of mages.

"*Sigh!* How bothersome."

***SNAP!***

***ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* *ZING!* ZING!*…**

Summoning countless light spears in the air, Azazel glittered the sky with his massive arsenal of power.

"Whoa, that's so cool!" Michael's eyes sparkled even more than the light spears in the sky.

"You think so…?" Azazel laughed as lowered his hand and fired the countless light spears at the mages. Some tried to use barriers, but they were easily broken as the spears impaled the mages almost instantly and littered their corpses across the school field.

"I still haven't warmed up yet." Azazel rolled his arm.

"Wow, I can't believe you're that strong Ero-Ossan, I thought you were just an old fart, but now I see you in the light of a badass old fart that still is perverted." Michael laughed.

"I just can't dig for any compliments from you, can I brat?" Azazel shook his head.

"Hah! Nope." Michael shook his head and laughed then gasped as he suddenly remembered something, "Oh crap, I just remembered something incredibly important!"

"What is it, Michael-kun?" Kiba looks over to his friend who must have remembered something incredibly dire.

"Dammit, I can't believe I was so ignorant to see this before, but now things are getting serious!" Michael's face contorts into a pale panicky look.

"Is it something involving Gasper?"

"Yes, he…he… and I…I…I…!"

"What could it be, Michael-kun?"

"I forgot, I broke my 2DS when I went training with Shishou a couple of days ago, now Gasper has the only game system that I have which works for almost all my games!" Michael screamed and grabbed the sides of his face.

"…" Kiba gave Michael a "Seriously, that's what your concerned about right now" look.

**[Are you serious, that's what your concern is right now?]**

' _I don't expect you, a dragon, to understand something the Great Hanamura values before anything else, now things just got personal!'_

_Michael's eyes and body were covered with the fires of determination._

"Anyways this school is enveloped in a barrier. But, despite this, they appeared within the barrier. There must be a transfer-use magic circle or a person connecting with a gate to the inside of the premises. Either way, if they increase the effect of [Forbidden Balor View] any more than this, there's a concern that they'll be able to stop even people like us too. By stopping us here with their fierce attack, they intend to annihilate each school building the instant our time is stopped. They seem to be using considerable military power."

"What? They're still coming?" Michael gasped.

Preceding Azazel's gaze, magic circles appeared at various places in the school grounds, and started shining ominously. From the magic circles appeared forms that were the same as the magicians group that Azazel had defeated just now. Or rather, they were magicians just like before!? There were more appearing!? There were a lot of them still appearing!

"I don't buy any of this, the timing? Their plan on using that Half Vampire brat as a tool. The way their attacks are so on point that it's too good to be true for a terrorist attack to be this perfect." Azazel said.

"So what are you suggesting?" Sirzechs asked.

"What I'm saying is, we have a sneaky bastard hiding here as a traitor, who leaked out information."

"Conversely, they have disabled our transport magic circles." Grayfia explained.

"They got the upper hand on us." Azazel commented.

"Yes." Sirzechs nodded.

"We just can't stand and let this happen. If Gasper-kun's power becomes any stronger, even we would…" Sirzechs stopped at the conclusion.

"Even you guys?" Michael asked.

"Remember Michael, Gasper has a mutation piece within him so anomalies are bound to occur." Rias explained.

' _Oh right, I forgot about that…Gasper said he's afraid of his power and if he knows that this is happening then he'll be devastated!' Michael's thoughts were on Gasper, 'No, I won't let him get broken down. I'll do my best for my Kouhai no matter!'_

"Anyways, we've got to do something about that half-vampire. It's too risky to fight back with his power on the loose." Azazel gave a fearless smile as he looked out at the approaching mages making cracks through the barrier.

"Onii-sama, I left an unused rook in the old school building's storage."

"Hm? A rook? I see, you're planning to use castling, huh?"

"Castling? What's that?" Michael asked Kiba.

"It's a special rule in chess where you can switch the places of the King and Rook in one move." Kiba explained.

"Man, why is this stuff all connected to chess? It's too complicated." Michael groaned.

_**[No, it's just you being an idiot.]** _

' _Hey, shut up, and you're not even in the conversation!'_

"But sending you in all by yourself…" Sirzechs expressed his worry for Rias.

"Gasper is a member of my household. I will take responsibility for him and steal him back." Rias' determination to rescue her servant was strengthening her resolve.

"If you borrow Sirzechs-sama's power as well, you can send one more person." Grayfia explained.

"Aniki." Michael grins and walks to stand by Rias' side and jabs his thumb to his chest, "Leave it to me, I'll protect her with all my might!"

"I'll leave it to you." Sirzechs placed his trust in Michael.

"Hah! I'll show you how great I, Michael Hanamura can be!" Michael chuckled.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just get rid of the half-vampire along with the terrorists?" Vali said, heartlessly, "If you want, I can do it for you, it'll be fast, so don't worry."

"You asshole! Like I'd let you do that to Gasper and Koneko-chan!" Michael growled.

"Think about the situation a little will you, Vali? We're trying to make peace here, remember?" Azazel reminded Vali.

"It's against my nature to just stand around doing nothing." Vali was bored from doing nothing but watching people talk, just bringing up the topic of destroying a few people seemed much more fun than just standing in this one spot.

"Then if you're so bored, why don't you go and give the enemy a little scare or a big one, and go cause them trouble?" Azazel smiled amusingly, "You are the White Dragon Emperor, so why not shaken down their ranks a little?"

"Better than just staying holed up here." Vali shrugged and summoned his Sacred Gear,  **Divine Dividing.**

Leaving the room, Vali walks past Michael and smirks as his pace was so calm in this situation like he could handle everything himself much to Michael's annoyance. Michael could feel the sense of superiority Vali had over him and got completely pissed because of it, but at the same time he felt excited to finally prove himself.

"Hn!" Vali smirked.

' _Dammit, I'll show you, I can be strong too, if I put my mind to it, just you wait, Vali!' Michael clenched his fist in frustration._

Opening the meeting room's window, Vali flies through the air and into the middle of the massive army of magicians in the sky.

"Balance Break!" Vali exclaimed as a huge snow-white aura emanated in the sky and enveloped him as it equipped him with a white body armor which radiated a white light.

**(Vanishing Dragon Balance Breaker!)**

"He did that so easily, and without a countdown too." Michael gritted his teeth and looked at his Boosted Gear in anger and frustration, "Dammit! How come he's always the one, whose always the first step ahead?"

***PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!***

Blocking out the mages' fired magic bullets at the armored teenager, who simply crossed his arms and used many barriers to block out all the bullets without so much as lifting a finger. Vali didn't look that entertained as he sighed,

"Well, It's still better than being inside that cramped room all day."

***DWON!* *CRUSH!***

Creating a massive pure white orb made out of dragon power, Vali crushes the sphere and creates a powerful charge of electricity which covered his entire arm.

***ZAP!* *ZAP!* *CRACKLE!* *ZAP!* *ZAP!* *ZAP!***

"Now it's my turn…" Vali laughed.

***ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!***

" **White Dragon's Indignation."**

He clenched his fist tighter then opened his hand while waving at the Mages as the electricity fired a massive bolt of White Lightning obliterating many of the mage's numbers in mere seconds.

"That's not impressive, I can do that TOO!" Michael shouted out the window.

"Oh, really?"

Vali was able to hear that and saw a few more approaching mages coming by land and opened his palm to summon a massive white magic circle above their heads as a large beam of light shined brightly.

"Can you do this?"

***SHIIIIIIIINE!***

" **White Dragon's Divine Lance."**

***DWOOOON!***

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

Falling down upon the magicians was a large mass of white energy crushing their bodies into nothing dust as a large crater took their place.

"Urp…! Well, I can uh…!" Michael gulped.

"Let me guess, you can do that too, huh?" Vali was amused by Michael's pitiful tone

"What you're a psychic now with your powers." Michael growled.

"I may not be able to detect the future, but I can detect bullshit when I hear it, Hanamura." Vali insinuated, "And I'm hearing a whole lot of it from you."

***ZAN!* *ZAN!* *ZAN!* *ZAN!* *ZAN!***

Flying in zig-zags, Vali uses his blinding speed to take care of the Magicians rapidly as he danced through the sky while covered in a pure white aura, which let off a dangerous vibe.

"Oi, come back here, I'm not done with ya yet!" Michael growled.

Michael was starting to grow uneasy with all of Vali's high tier attacks causing so much damage, he could only bluff so much as it is.

"His strength is unbelievable." Kiba gazed outside to see Vali destroying the incoming mages.

"He's not that great…" Michael puffed out his cheeks, "I mean, I could do it too."

"Really, you can? Then I must've been really blind because I've failed to notice your strength yet, Michael-kun." Kiba teased and laughed.

"You son of a bitch, when did you start getting lippy on me too, huh!?" Michael grabbed Kiba by the collar and yelled as Kiba chuckled at his friend's outburst.

"But his strength feels dangerous to me." Xenovia said something which everyone themselves felt as well.

"Buchou, let's get Gasper and Koneko-chan back. I swear to you, I won't let them die!" Michael held Rias' hand tightly.

"Yeah." Rias nodded, "I'll put my trust in you like always."

"Oh, wait a sec, brat I almost forgot to give you this." Azazel waved.

"What is it now? We have to hurry and save Gasper and Koneko-chan!" Michael was growing impatient.

"Would you control that mouth of yours for a second and just listen? Here take these." Azazel handed Michael two ornament arm bracelets.

"What are these?" Michael asked.

"You should be able to use them as compensation or a way to maintain your ability to use Balance Breaker's power output to at least 35%." Azazel placed a hand on his hip.

"Wait, you were working on this?" Michael examined the bracelets.

"Yes." Azazel nodded.

"And you're giving them to me just now because…?" Michael questioned.

"Because I was going to give them to you after the conference, which was so rudely interrupted by terrorists and remember the other bracelet is for that Half-Vampire Brat to regulate his balance breaker." Azazel explained, "Remember, this bracelet itself can maintain your power, but if you overdo it then it will collapse and you'll be back to your low control over the Dragon's power, so don't do anything too reckless that you may regret later, understood?"

"I make no promises." Michael saluted.

Giving a tired sigh, Azazel wondered why he would even bother warning him if he'd know the boy would respond that way.

"Now I want you to listen to me carefully, okay? All up till this point, you've been doing things rather recklessly and life threatening that you can barely call yourself a sane user of the Boosted Gear at the rate you're going. But at the same time, your past predecessors did the exact same thing you did, and lived a lot less, while you're still alive and living longer than all of them as a whole. The only difference I can tell between you and your seniors are that you're much more simple-minded and stubborn as hell."

"I don't know if you're trying to piss me off or help me right now?" Michael looked at Azazel with a 'Seriously?' look.

"Just stop talking and listen. You may think you've gotten this far because of just your hard work and the Sacred Gear, but that's partially wrong, the only reason you're alive this far is because you're a thick-headed fool and because of that the Boosted Gear seems to react well with you and has even evolved to handle feats not even I know about."

"Evolve?" Michael then remembered, "That's right, you did say that last time."

"Well, that's all I needed to tell you, good luck with saving that Half-Breed Vampire Brat." Azazel waved his hand and walked away.

"Hah! Ero-Ossan, please, luck? Bitch, I have skill!" Michael gloated.

**[Kukukukuku! I might not tell the future as well as your rival, but even I can see that's bullshit as well, Partner.] Ddraig laughed.**

"You're not helping, Ddraig!" Michael stifled a growl.

**[Wasn't trying to help, Partner.]**

"Azazel, before we continue, I must ask you something." Sirzechs looks over at Azazel.

"What is it?"

"What is you reason for collecting Sacred Gears preferably of the Longinus variety? I doubt it's to kill God since he's already dead."

"It's to prepare." Azazel shook his head.

"Prepare? Prepare for what, exactly, you make it sound like you were ready for war even though you were the first to ask for peace?" S. Michael said in surprise.

"Look, I already made it clear, I don't want war, but I won't settle for any normal self-defense. All of this is necessary from an unexpected attack from a different power." Azazel explained and crossed his arms.

"A different power, who are they then?"

Azazel looked up with a fearless smirk, "…the  **[Khaos Brigade]."**

"…Khaos, Brigade?" Sirzechs furrowed his eyebrows as to who the group were.

"I only confirmed the organization's name and background recently, but my Vice-Governor, Shemhaza, has also had his eye on this suspiciously acting group from before that. It's said that they're gathering dangerous members from all three big powers. Some Sacred Gear-possessing humans who have attained Balance Breaker also seem to be included. I've also confirmed a number of [Longinus] possessors among them."

"Their goal is?"

"Complete destruction, and mayhem. They're terrorists, who will go to many extremes to reach absolute destruction." Raymond explained.

' _Wait, so are these guys apart of the Khaos Brigade?' Michael looked out the window._

"Their leader is someone, who could make even the [Welsh Dragon] and [Vanishing Dragon] look weak in comparison to them."

"!" Everyone, but Michael was speechless at that part.

_**[I see, so that's who they're talking about.]** _

' _Huh, who? What's going on I'm confused?' Michael looked around the room at everyone's shocked faces._

"…I see, so that person has moved to do this. The [Uroboros Dragon] Ophis. The dragon feared by God… The one who kept reigning over with the position of the strongest since the world began."

Sirzechs wore a grim expression.

"Strongest Ever in the world, so their leader is really someone that powerful?" Michael gasped as he tried to digest this information. So there are these strong guys backed up by the strongest person ever who could even make Sirzechs put on such a troubled face? Michael was at first scared then gulped to calm himself down.

' _No, now isn't the time to be scared, first, we have to save Gasper and Koneko-chan before things get even worse.' Michael nodded in reassurance._

"Buchou, let's get ready to save Gasper and Koneko-chan." Michael shook Rias out of her troubled thoughts of the latest news on Ophis.

"Yes, you're right, we should focus on doing what we can now instead of worrying about the future." Rias nods in agreement.

But then suddenly a magic circle with an unidentifiable seal appeared in the room's center as a voice said,

[It seems you know about our leader, I congratulate you on your single discovery on the Khaos Brigade.]

A cool voice emanated from the magic circle. By the way the magic circle was forged, it sounded like a devil.

Gasping as she looks at the crest closely, Katerea's eyes widened, "Wait, that seal…"

Standing in front of everyone, Sirzechs confronted the teleporting threat and said deeply, "I see, so you've come, the mastermind…"

[I was expecting to see  **him** here and finally settle the score, but I guess taking my prize will have to come first.] The voice sounded threatening as the body began to materialize in the conference room.

"Impossible, how are you?" Katerea summoned a staff and prepared herself for what was coming out.

"Xenovia?" Kiba looks over to his fellow knight.

"Right." Xenovia nods.

***SHIIING!***

Both knights raised their weapons ready to defend against the incoming threat as Irina soon followed in suit as she stood in front of S. Michael.

"Azazel-sama…" Raymond pocketed both his hands and envelops himself in a shroud of nightmarish red flames.

"Grayfia, transfer Rias and Michael-kun, quickly!"

"Yes!"

Grayfia-san forced Michael and Buchou to a corner of the meeting room where a small magic circle was created on the floor. It was the exact size to fit only about two people in it.

"Ojou-sama and Michael-sama, I wish upon you, great fortune."

"W-Wait, Grayfia!? Onii-sama!"

"Yo! Quit shoving, what's going on!?"

"I'll leave Rias to you, Michael-kun."

"Aniki, what's happening? I don't understa-!?"

Michael grunts and tries to see who was entering into the conference room but-

***SHIIIIINE!* *ZOOM!***

The two were already transported to the Old School Building.

"Now, let's see who our unwelcomed guest is, shall we?" Azazel leaned against the window and crossed his arms as the figure who appeared was a man with the appearance of a young adult with mid-length red hair holding a sheathed long katana.

' _This feeling, I-I can't move…' Kiba's hands started to shiver as he held his blade tightly to stop it._

Upon entering the room, the young man made Kiba along with Xenovia and Irina feel a dark chill go up their spines as they were doing their best to hold up their weapons. What was it that was making this man so intimidating, it can't be his appearance so what was it? Kiba tried to size up the stranger who walks in and waves,

"What a not so pleasurable surprise, current devil kings, Sirzechs and Lady Serafall."

"Drayfus Mammon the "Shadow King" and the descendant of the first Mammon." Sirzechs said the name and revealed the man's race of being a devil.

"Mammon… the devil house, which was blessed with the [Power of Darkness]." Serafall stated.

"A devil, huh, so let me guess, he must be in that other devil faction, you all subdued? The Old Maou faction, am I right?" Azazel shrugged.

"That is correct, we of the Old Maou Faction have brought it upon ourselves to make use of the Khaos Brigade to do accomplish our goals." Drayfus walked forward with each encroaching step he caused Kiba, Xenovia and Irina to shiver even more as the dark pressure he exuded starts to grow even more.

"So a feud between devils is the reason for this attack? Chi! devils sure are difficult aren't they?" Azazel said like it didn't involve him.

"For you to interpret those words so literally, you, yourself know what that means don't you, Drayfus?" Sirzechs confirmed.

"It is as you say, the Old Maou Faction is staging a Coup."

Confirming the start of a coup de tat, Drayfus looks around the room and catches sight of a prepared Katerea ready to defend against an attack at any given moment. The look she gave him was one of resent and danger.

' _My beloved, Katerea-chan, I'll make sure to finish off that vile Lucifer and take you back with me to the others.' Drayfus slowly reaches his hand for his katana's hilt and asks,_

"Now tell me, where is the "Dawn Lucifer" I seek to go after his head."

"You wish is to go after Zethyr? Aren't you here to take us out?" Sirzechs asked.

"Yes, but my personal grudge against that man is more important than dealing with you lot. If I were to, I would have wasted my precious power on you instead of using it to eliminate that vile creature. The goals of the Old Maou Faction is to form the world left behind by the dead god and Maous into our own image. So now tell me where is he?" Drayfus' eyes had a strong killing intent.

"I'm afraid we can't do that, on the account that he's been absent for days." Grayfia shook her head.

"Absent?" Drayfus sounded disinterested and lowered his hand away from the hilt of his katana which calmed Kiba and the other swordsman down, but that was only for a second as this happened.

"What a shame, I guess I'll just have to kill every single one of you and take what I need."

Drayfus flat out declared his intention with no fear as his body exudes a terrible amount of aura which seemed to be absolute pitch black.

Drayfus stares at Katerea directly, who shirks back and readies herself by covering her body with a high amount of demonic power.

"You must be pretty confident in yourself if you can handle the 3 faction leaders yourself, Shadow Boy." Azazel stands up and gives a fearless smile.

Looking over to Azazel with a cold glare, Drayfus responds with,

"I'm confident in my abilities, but even I know my limits, which is why I'm here as a distraction."

"!?" Sirzechs, Serafall, and even S. Michael gasped as Azazel clicks his tongue as he finally senses what he meant.

' _Distraction? What does he?'_

***SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!* *SHIIINE!* *SHIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!* *SHIIINE!* *SHIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!* *SHIIINE!* *SHIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!* *SHIIINE!* *SHIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!* SHIIINE!* *SHIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!* *SHIIINE!* *SHIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!* *SHIIINE!* *SHIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!* *SHIIINE!* *SHIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!* SHIIINE!* *SHIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!* *SHIIINE!* *SHIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!* *SHIIINE!* *SHIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!* *SHIIINE!* *SHIIIIINE!* *SHIIIIIINE!***

_Kiba thought as he steps back but then notices the conference room littered with many explosive Magic Circles ready to go off._

"Impossible, when were these set up?" Irina gasped.

"About the time, time froze and to make sure you all wouldn't sense it, I made sure to come at the exact same moment you initiated your plan to put your focus onto me."

"They planned this really well now didn't they?" Azazel rubbed his chin.

' _This isn't something to be amazed at…' Kiba sweatdropped._

"Now if you'll excuse me. I'll be outside waiting where the amount of corpses will be minimal." Drayfus summons a magic circle and was about to leave until.

***SNAP!***

Summoning an entire army's amount of Light Spears outside, Azazel rained them down upon the mages at an incredible rate that the school field was littered with a large amount of corpses. Crossing his arms, Azazel smirked, "Not anymore."

"…" Drayfus stared at Azazel for a few seconds having been verbally undermined by the Governor-General, "If it weren't for that neophyte's dibs on you, Governor-General, I would have gladly taken your head as a trophy."

Raymond grew rather serious as he remembered one person who spoke ill of Azazel.

"Heh! Really, it looks like I'm rather popular, don't you think, now tell me who it is?" Azazel asked.

***Tap!* *Tap!***

Everyone heard a tapping sound from the window.

"I don't know. Why don't you try turning around to find out?"

Drayfus lightly laughed teleports out the room.

Turning around, Azazel looks outside the window to see the upside down body of the hooded girl waving at him rapidly.

"Who is that?" Xenovia wondered out loud.

"I don't like the feeling of this." Irina shuddered as she felt something creepy about the figure.

Noticing something glow in the palm of the figure's hand, Azazel focused his eyes as he saw a red magic circle glowing…it was the detonator for the explosive circles in the conference.

"It's the one that's been covering the room with explosives!" Katerea exclaimed.

Stopping to wave her hand, the figure simply places it in front of a smirking, Azazel who could only bitterly laugh,

"You, sneaky, son of a bitch."

Laughing out loud, the figured raised her hand and said,

"Ta-Daaaaaaaaa~! Surprise!"

***SNAP!***

***SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!***

Snapping her finger, the figure initiated the magic circle's functions as they grew so bright that they…

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

(In the Old School Building)

Making it to the Building safely both, Michael and Rias exit from the storage room and into the hallway.

"Koneko-chan! Gasper!" Michael called out for the pair.

"They must be in one of the Upper floor rooms, lets go look." Rias said.

"Alright!" Michael nodded but suddenly felt a large explosion from outside, "What was that?"

Rushing towards a window the pair see a giant cloud of smoke come from the direction of the New School Building.

"Isn't that where we just left?"

"Onii-sama!"

Michael and Rias watched in worry as they looked out towards the trail of smoke in the sky.

(Back at the New School Building's Front field.)

After the surprise bombing from the hooded figure both her and Drayfus stood in place on the school field as they watched the smoke settle down. Forming powerful a united powerful barrier Sirzechs, S. Michael and Azazel protected everyone who was trapped in the room.

Watching in disgust, Drayfus responds, "Stooping so low as to work with your enemies to survive, you must have fallen pretty low, Sirzechs, if I were you I would've just died knowing you were devil, who finally met his end."

"Just what do you think you're trying to accomplish, Drayfus?" Sirzechs asked the Descendant of Mammon.

"Like I said before, my personal interests lie in killing the Dawn Lucifer and taking back what I deserve." Drayfus continues to glare at Katerea who does her best to assess the situation while using a magic formula to see the number of mages in the area.

Looking across the school field she was able to observe the surroundings much more closely with the help of her magic. Pinpointing a few straying mages she realized that they changed their targets and are now turning towards the Gymnasium to dispatch of the other forces in the area.

Widening her eyes, Katerea informs everyone,

"This doesn't look good at all, I've sensed the enemy sending large numbers towards Sona's peerage."

"Wait, really?" Xenovia gasped.

"This isn't looking good." Kiba looked.

"Do not worry, they'll be fine."

Everyone looked towards Raymond, who was done placing down one of the frozen participants of the conference.

Turning to face them, he says, "I placed a few of my barriers around that building while visiting the area during Open House."

Laughing to himself, Azazel said, "So you really were interested in visiting this place after all, and I here I thought you would be bored just like Vali?"

"There were some things I needed to discuss with somebody, but…" Raymond casts a glance over at the hooded figure staring at the collected group of devils, angels and fallen angels,

"It's far from boring…"

Looking at the hooded figure as well, Azazel narrowed his eyes and said, "So that's the person, who confronted you, the other day, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"I see, then I'll make sure to handle this."

Azazel had a face that said he meant business; Raymond would have urged his leader to allow him to fight the stranger, but knew not to agitate him when he gets into this kind of state.

"Oh, are you talking about me~!?" The hooded figure giggled and waved her hand, "Oh my, I can't believe you remembered me the other day, I must have left a loving impression on you, didn't I!?"

"No…"

Kiba looks to see Raymond put on a face of anger/disgust as he responds to the figured stranger.

' _Have he and that person met before and are acquainted?' Kiba thought then focused on the enemies ahead, 'No, can't get sidetracked, I must stay concentrated on the enemies I have in front of me.'_

"Hey, everyone over there, I'd like to tell you all something very, VERY important~!" The stranger waved as her voice sounded very hard to sound adorable despite how creepy it was. Coming off from her was a dark red aura which was filled with malice and killing intent which makes almost everyone on their absolute guard.

"Who is that?" Irina stepped back.

"It's releasing something so terrible it's hard to breathe." Xenovia's hands shivered as she held Durandal close to herself.

Laughing the figure's tone suddenly went from cheerful to dark and murderous, "You're all going to die…die… **DIE**."

"…! Wait, those words." Sirzechs' eyes widened in complete unsettling shock.

But not only he was off put by this but also Grayfia, S. Michael and Katerea were looking at the figure in complete horror as the way she said those words were completely familiar.

"No, how is that…?" Serafall eye's widened.

"For such a thing as for this to happen…O, Lord." S. Michael bowed his head as his face was filled with sorrow.

"Lord Michael, what's wrong?" Irina turned back towards her respective leader to wonder why he would look so sad.

Both Kiba and Xenovia were confused as to why the leaders would act such a way while struggling to stay focus on the enemy ahead.

"What's wrong, was it something I said, or was it something you've heard before? But seriously though I intend to kill all of you! Won't that be soooooooooooo fun. I've always wondered if the bloods of devils, angels and fallen angels were the same or different color, or maybe it was the taste that's different! Hmmmmm! These guesses are killing me, while I should be killing you all instead! Oh, by the way, did I forget to mention that I'll kill you all, hahahahahaha!"

The figure rubbed her chin in thought as she laughed. Taken off guard by the dangerous aura it was leaking out Kiba could only wonder who was hidden under that hood because the words she was spewing were pure insanity.

"Let me take care of this one, Sirzechs and Michael?"

Stepping forward was Azazel who released a radiant, powerful yellow aura and a unexpected killing intent towards the figure. Neither Sirzechs nor S. Michael did anything to stop the Governor-General as they simply closed their eyes in agreement. Turning back to face Raymond Azazel ordered,

"Raymond, I need you to help clear the mages surrounding the area to lower the number of enemies as support to everyone."

"Yes, sir." Raymond listened to his orders.

"Hey you." Azazel pointed at the figure towards the direction of air and smirked mysteriously as he stared at the figure in suspicion, "If you really want to kill us; why not try your chances with me first."

***PA!***

Azazel released all 12 of his jet black wings and flew high up into the sky.

"Awwwwww~! No fair, you can't decide to die first, I wanted to save the best for last!" The figure stomped her foot on the ground like a child not getting her way, but before she continued she simply said in her dark tone which sounded more mature in contrast with her other voice,

"But I can allow it, since I can finally get my revenge on you, Mr. Crow Bitch…" The figure's aura soon began to compress around her until something from her back started to bulge out and free itself, "I'm gonna enjoy ripping your wings out and choking you with them!"

***PAA!***

Coming out of her back were a pair of red scaled Dragon wings which looked more pterodactyl than Michael's own Boosted Gear they looked more lifelike and actually intimidating.

"!?"

"A dragon!?" Irina gasped.

"Things seem to only get even more troublesome." Kiba tightened his grip on his sword.

"I'm afraid so, but something doesn't feel right, I've known this feeling before." Sirzechs looked at the figure's wings as everyone was caught off guard to see that their enemy was a dragon as well but that wasn't all the wings itself they had a certain vibe it felt as though they weren't the wings of some ordinary dragon in fact they really seemed familiar.

"This aura it's the same as back then…" S. Michael remembered this overwhelming aura what the wings no the aura of what the figure as a whole was carrying.

Sighing in turn Azazel said, "So they found the chopped up  **pieces,** huh?"

Laughing maniacally the figure opened her palms and looked up at Azazel as under her hood revealed it was a green dragon's eye, "Hehehehe…Hahahahahahahahaha! Yes this is it! This feeling of hatred around me, this clashing of powers around us and the dead bodies of so many it's all so familiar it's so nostalgic don't you all agree!?"

"!" The leaders were shocked as they knew what she meant.

The figure looked up at Azazel and roared, "Now let's fight each other to the death now shall we, AZAZEEEEEEEL!"

***BOOOOOOM!***

***CLASH!***

With a single flap of her wings the figure was able to launch herself directly at Azazel in a couple of seconds and attacked with no moment's hesitation as Azazel guarded the attack with his forearm along with a barrier to maintain his defense and canceled out the would be bone shattering punch.

"It seems my hunch was right after all." Azazel said to himself as he saw something under the figure's hood emit a red dangerous light.

' _I definitely can't let the two of you meet, especially, now.' Azazel thought as he pulled away a little too soon as the light from the hood turned out to be…!_

" **Dragon Blaze!"**

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

The figure released enormous gout of flames and filled the entire sky with them as they engulfed the body of Azazel and the many mages who were attacking the leader from the angle he was floating in.

"The flames of a dragon…" Kiba muttered as he watched the fire lit sky.

Once the flames died down there was no trace of Azazel to be found, but that didn't mean he was dead since the figure simply giggled it off and turned around to see a cross armed Azazel floating right behind her.

"Very impressive, Crow boy, you were able to dodge with your incredible speed! I guess they don't call you the Governor-General for nothing!"

"Heh! They don't just hand the title and job out to anyone, you know? Now tell me, who was it that supplied you with such powers because I haven't felt something this familiar in over a long time?"

"Ah-ah-ah! That's a secreeeeeeeet~!" The figure hushed.

"Oh really? A secret, huh, so let's play a game! If I win you tell me everything you know about that supplier of yours and maybe reveal yourself in the end and if you win well you did say you wanted to kill me, so I guess that could be your prize." Azazel shrugged.

"A game, huh, okay I'm game, teehee! But why not make my prize all the sweeter by giving me something of yours?" The figure laughed.

"Okay, then what's it you want?" Azazel said amusingly, he thought if this needed to be taken care of he should at least try and make it entertaining.

"It's something, you don't need to know because it was never yours in the first place so let's begin!" The figure's aura grew incredibly bright and dangerous as it released aftershocks which killed the many mages allying her.

"Oh well, might as well enjoy myself some Armageddon then." Azazel smirked as his aura did the same as well but only this time the two aura clashed and killed even more mages stationed in the area around them as the remaining defending leaders created a barrier to protect everyone else.

(With Michael and Rias)

"Was that the Ero-Ossan and who is that hooded person?" Michael wondered out loud.

"I don't know, but it's clear that they're an enemy as well, right now we should be focusing on our task." Rias turns to Michael who looked a little worried but nodded.

"Righ-uh!" Michael stopped himself as he felt something strange emanate through him.

***BUM!* *BUM!* *BUM!***

"Gack!" Michael gripped his right arm and fell to his knees.

"Michael, what's wrong?" Rias exclaimed as she knelt to his side and checked what happened to him.

"My arm it feels really hot, and it won't calm down!" Michael winced as he saw his slowly dragonized looking hand.

_**[This aura and power I'm sensing could it be!?] Ddraig felt a very, very familiar presence from the fight occurring right outside.** _

(Back in the school field)

Unfurling his set of 10 jet black wings, Raymond immediately took to the skies almost immediately, Raymond engages an incoming attack from almost 50 mages all at once.

***PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!***

Imbuing a defensive barrier made up of his nightmarish flames Raymond blocked the attacks with little to no problem as he insulted the human mages,

"Pathetic beings, learn your place…"

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

***FLAAAAAAAAAAP!***

***SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!***

Soaring above the attacking mages, Raymond pocketed both his hands and started wrapping his black wings with his scorching flames and flapped his wings with a strong force that it shot multiple blade-like feathers at the mages while imbued with his nightmare fire.

The pained cries of the mages filled the area as they fell to the ground and continued to cringe as they slowly turned to ash by the flames. And to its other effects if their fear struck expression showed it they were experiencing their nightmares at that second before their deaths. Looking down with an amused smile Raymond commented,

"…Burn and suffer."

"Now all at once!"

Suddenly appearing to a quick shot at him 4 mages tried to combine their magic into a single shot behind Raymond until…

***ZIIIIING!***

***ROOOOOOAR!* *DOOOOON!***

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaugh!"

A total of three magic circles created a demonic powered blast in the shape of an Asian Dragon devoured the mages and obliterated them into dust. Flying with a total of 10 devil wings confirming her status of being a direct descendant of an original Maou, Katerea flies over to Raymond's side and said,

"Handling this lot alone will be difficult, so allow me to assist you only this once."

"Are you sure? Being the descendant of the original Leviathan should mean you should hate a fallen angel such as me?" Raymond turned back to face Katerea.

"What you said may be true, but I wouldn't say my reason to disliking you was because of my descendants disdain towards your race. It just so happens to be that I generally don't like you lot, but if there were such a thing such as a compromise to end all the devil race from losing any more lives of their fellow kin, then I'll be there with no hesitation to ally myself with you all." Katerea stated her reasons, "Also, you seem more tolerable than your leader."

"…" Raymond stared silently at Katerea before he focused on the incoming swarm of mages beginning their attack.

"Now shall we?" Katerea covered herself with a massive amount of demonic power as she raised her staff in the air to prepare another attack combined with Raymond's flames as their individual powers made a burst of which destroyed the incoming mages and caused a bright light to fill the sky.

"Amazing…" Kiba could only watch the high leveled beings take care of the mages like they were pathetic flies.

Staring up at the sky, Drayfus focused his sight only on Katerea and smiled admiringly at her as he didn't want to tear his sight away from the sight of such a beauty such as her.

' _My dear Katerea_ , _this beautiful sight I thought I would forever lose, gazing upon you like this, but here it is again right in front of him. Your beautiful hair, the way you looked more sophisticated with those glasses, and your heavenly breas…I mean, heavenly smile!' Drayfus shook his head as he grew flustered, 'But each time I look at you now I feel so disgusted that you couldn't be mine, when I know that the Filthy Dawn Lucifer is still out there alive…just, wait for me, I'll make sure to hand his head to you on a platter to prove I'm more superior to him.'_

Reaching to grab the hilt of his katana, Drayfus stares at the remaining leaders with narrowed eyes with the intent to kill, "But first allow me to get rid of these roadblocks before going after him."

Cornered with creating the barrier the leaders were guarding the frozen and defenseless others from the attacks from the mages. Any broken concentration could mean their instant death if they were to be distracted.

"We are outnumbered, we need to avoid a war of attrition." S. Michael focused on holding the barrier up along with Sirzechs, who explains,

"Grayfia is currently analyzing the gate."

"Which means, we need to buy her time." Serafall said then turns back to an approaching Drayfus who wasn't really about intent to give them that much time, "With Drayfus-chan being a High-Class Devil he can just as easily create some damage to the barrier at this state."

Without the extra support of Azazel to hold up the barrier things were looking thin right now, it seemed they were cornered once again by the enemy.

"Then allow me to handle him, Sirzechs-sama and Serafall-sama." Kiba stepped forward with a demonic/Holy Sword in hand.

"You will?" Sirzechs questioned Kiba.

"The power Drayfus holds is still a danger even to Ultimate-Class Devils when he's taken too lightly, fighting him alone is basically suicide for a devils of such lower experience." Serafall warned.

"If so, then I'll do my best to ward him off for as long as I can." Kiba stabbed his blade into the ground and placed both hands on the bottom handle.

"Kiba instead of asking to face him, yourself, let me help you to better your chances." Xenovia offered her help but Kiba shook his head and gave his usual prince like smile.

"Excuse me for being selfish, Xenovia-san, but I feel as though this should be a one on one fight between swordsmen and if I were to back down from a challenge such as this then I'll set a terrible example for the Gremory Men by making them look bad and if that happens it will most certainly piss of, Michael-kun." Kiba then unearthed his blade and walked towards the wall of the barrier about to leave as soon as the enemies attack starts to let up for him to go through it.

"That means we'll have to do our part and keep the enemies at bay with Katerea-sama and Raymond, Irina." Xenovia readied Durandal.

"Right, let's do our best Xenovia!" Irina smiled determinedly to her former comrade as her former disdain towards her was gone.

"I hope Azazel could handle himself against his enemy." S. Michael said his worry.

"Don't worry, Chief Michael. Our friends are also there." Xenovia smiled.

"Yes, Buchou and Michael-kun will definitely make it to help just in the nick of time." Kiba nods then sees the enemies stop their fired and approach at another angle to where the barrier is weakest.

"Now is your chance, I'll be opening the barrier now!" Sirzechs exclaimed, "Prepare yourselves."

"Right!" Kiba, Xenovia and Irina readied their weapons and waited for their signal to go.

"Let's end this…" Drayfus grabs the hilt of his katana and crouches down as he releases a strong aura while imbuing more of his demonic power into the sword as his arm's muscles started to flex in a dangerous manner.

' _He's intending to attack everyone all at once; I have to counter it by using enough force to block out the attack!'_

_Kiba readies his holy/demonic sword and crouches down as he focused all of his demonic power to increase the strength and compression of his leg muscles._

After a few seconds of waiting and staring at the enemy's movements, Sirzechs confirms the position and yells, "Now!"

***ZOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

Using his speed to propel himself at Drayfus like a bullet, Kiba disappeared in a blur before Xenovia and Irina leave the barrier to fend of the mages attacking the leaders.

"It's ready." Drayfus after collecting enough power prepares to launch an attack against the cornered leaders and unsheathed his long katana blade which was colored pitch black with all the demonic power covered around it,  **"Evil Shadow Edge!"**

Lunging forward to swing with all of his might, Drayfus roared as he swung his blade down but then a sudden interruption from another sword intervened in his attack.

"Stop, right there!"

***GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!***

The sound of Kiba's sword hitting against Drayfus' blade filled the entire school field with the sound and echoes of resounding metal.

"Hm?" Drayfus looks down to see a struggling Kiba push back the dangerous attack with all of his effort, Drayfus who taken off guard simply forced the blade down upon Kiba who used the muscles of his legs to stay up right. The two sides tried to force one another back and get the advantage but the only one who seems to get at a better angle was Drayfus who was still shocked that someone caught him off guard. Struggling to put up much of a fight Kiba's legs started to grow weary from the single impact.

***Clackle! Clackle! Clackle! Clackle!***

The two blades continued to clash but now Kiba was losing the battle of upper body strength as he was almost on his single knee.

' _He's strong, very strong, I bet he's just using his bare arm strength over his demonic power just to overpower me.' Kiba realized he can't block out the power and looked around for another direction free of any of his allies, 'Which is why I should just redirect it!'_

"Haaaaaaauh!" Kiba roared as he did his move.

***SHIN!***

"Hou…" Drayfus said with half lidded eyes as he watched in interest.

Using the edge of his sword, Kiba slid the edge of Drayfus' katana and changed it's course of attack into the woods as a WIDE slash of energy went through the trees

***SLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!***

***FAAAAAAAAAAAAALLL!* *THUMP!***

In one stroke, all of the trees were cut in half and fell back all at once at the same exact time.

"That did it…" Kiba panted as he then noticed the edge of Drayfus' katana about to impale him, "!"

Jumping back right on time, Kiba was able to avoid receiving any damage but…

***GIN!***

***RUUUUUUUUMBLE!***

Once the blade of Drayfus' Katana touched the ground it created a large, deep crevice through half of the school field.

"Such destructive power…" Irina who hacked through one mage gasped.

"It's just the same as my Durandal, but I didn't sense his blade use that much power to do that." Xenovia looked to see that the katana didn't exude any of the dark powerful attributes it did before.

' _Meaning…' Kiba looked up to see Drayfus readjust himself and look at Kiba with a look of superiority, 'He just used his bare strength to do this.' Kiba gulped and simply smiled to himself, 'To be honest, I'm a little terrified seeing how the odds are against me, I wonder, how do you handle being in fights like this Michael-kun?'_

Standing up, Kiba bowed to Drayfus respectfully.

"It's nice to meet you, Drayfus-san, my name is Yuuto Kiba a pleasure." Kiba gave a challenging smile which didn't move Drayfus at all as he looked down at Kiba and asked,

"Just who are you?" Drayfus narrowed his eyes.

"Just like before, I am Yuuto Kiba, servant and Knight to Rias Gremory of the Gremory Household." Kiba introduced himself fully, "Now let's start this fight."

"A servant, so that must mean you're a Low-Class Reincarnated Devil then?"

Drayfus sighed disappointingly and motions to sheathe his katana.

"What are you doing?" Kiba asked.

"Get out of my sight."

The words coming from Drayfus' mouth sounded completely disrespectful towards Kiba.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, you fake devil, you're not worth my time right now. The only ones I need to kill are your disgraceful leaders that's it, so move."

Drayfus nudged his head for Kiba to step aside.

But the blonde teen still stood and gave a face full of confused anger, "This is a fight between swordsmen there shouldn't be any distinction about your enemy besides them holding a sword directly at you."

"That may be true, but there's a certain power gap that you fail to see between us, and may never get to see if you keep standing in my way." Drayfus sounded completely threatening as his tone sounded cocky and annoyed.

"Power Gap? What do you mean by that and how are we so different?" Kiba was infuriated that he was being underestimated before he had the chance to fight and the look of disinterest only made him all the more angrier.

Groaning, Drayfus shook his head and muttered as he facepalmed himself, "Do I really say this out to a faker, anti-christ." Drayfus raised his head and started walking to the side as Kiba followed his movements which seemed really lax, but off-putting for him to take a chance to attack because he was so open and no one sane would do that on the battle field wouldn't do that unless they have nothing to worry about in the first place.

"Okay, first, let me ask you something when you were born, what were you?" Drayfus questioned.

"A…human." Kiba reluctantly answered.

"Ding-Ding! Good. It seems your learning a little, now tell me when I was born what was I, huh?" Drayfus opened his arms to gesture to himself.

"A…devil?" Kiba raised an eyebrow.

"Eeeeeeh!" Drayfus crossed both his index fingers, "Wrong, I wasn't just a devil, I'm Pure-Blooded Devil something superior to you since birth, and up to this day, and even until you die. The odds were stacked against you in this "supposed" fight. Right now, I'm sickened that the fact that today most of you fakers are the strongest of the strong in the devil world, so I see you as nothing but…what was the word again…? Oh, right! Pure and utter Garbage!"

Drayfus emphasized then stopped walking to face, Kiba, who let his hair covered his eyes as he released a massive killing intent something that reached even Xenovia and Irina who were a distance away while Drayfus was unaffected by it.

"So since I've put the facts into that little brain of your's, I want you to listen, alright? What I'm doing is eventually delaying your death until the end, so why not enjoy your last hours of life like a good young man and let me get back to work, oka-?"

***SHING!***

Reacting just on time, Drayfus lazily dodges a thrust to the face from Kiba's sword and watched the Low-Class Devil go past him. Drayfus stared at Kiba as he noticed a few snips of his hair was cut off.

Upon landing, Kiba gave Drayfus a look filled with rage,

"Don't underestimate me because of my birthright."

Sighing exasperatedly, Drayfus shook his head and placed both hands on his hips and pointed at Kiba's right shoulder while saying, "Amateur…"

Kiba looked confused for a minute and looked over to his shoulder to see a large gash on it already bleeding out at a moderate amount.

***GASH!***

"Guagh!" Kiba dropped to a knee and held his shoulder in pain as he looks up to see Drayfus slowly sheathe his katana with his thumb.

***CHINK!***

"I tried to warn you, and maybe next time you should try and attack with your feet planted firmly on the ground, or else you'd just make an easy target." Drayfus looked down at Kiba again.

_Thinking about what just happened, Kiba thought, 'How did he get me, I didn't see him use his sword at all..or maybe I just wasn't able to see it in the first place at all…'_

"It seems your finally getting it now. Do you see that you were outmatched, the second you drew close to me, was the second I decided to give you a warning nick." Drayfus warned.

Kiba looked at the big gash on his shoulder and gulped as to think what would have happened if it wasn't just a nick.

"Now will you move out of the way and go die somewhere?" Drayfus sees Kiba stand up and ready his Holy Demonic Sword once more, "Are you serious why stand in my way once you've seen the distance in power?"

"Because it means I just have to surpass it." Kiba who was once furious was now smiling.

"What the hell is wrong with you, you're still a low-class reincarnated devil, no matter how you look at it your still weaker than me just by that alone. So just get out of the way."

"No, because I…I still haven't cut you at least once." Kiba said the familiar words of a friend.

"What?" Drayfus was befuddled.

"It'd be really sad for me to fight without at least putting a single scar on you and if I were to leave you unscarred and go back to everyone else then Michael-kun would just laugh in my face." Kiba's chuckling began to annoy Drayfus even more.

"But even so...I still can't allow you to get pass me and hurt my friends, if they can't defend themselves then I'll be their blade." Kiba proclaimed as he stood straight up to continue fighting, "I'll never betray my friends and leave them to die!"

"Hm?" Drayfus scratches his chin and looks up as he said, "You do have a point, betraying your comrades is something you can't live with and even if you'll die later then you'd just feel terrible. I may see you as garbage, but after hearing that I might just consider taking you serious…"

"Then let's start."

"Listen to my words, you faker, I said might, I didn't agree to fight you, seriously." Drayfus unsheathes his katana and revealed the serpent design along the blade, "But for now I'll indulge you for a while if I were to crush you then it wouldn't keep me busy until my real target arrives, so for this fight I'll give you a handicap. I'll only use my sword arm to fight just one handed style without using any of my demonic power and the abilities of my weapon."

Hearing what Drayfus will hold back, Kiba simply smiled wider as he said, "Really then? Then I guess I'll just have to make you use that power and take me seriously."

Raising his blade Kiba readied his stance.

"Just you try pathetic, faker." Drayfus crouches down in his stance.

Both swordsmen stared each other down before they both took their first step and vanished from plain sight. Anyone inexperienced would have thought they disappeared but actually they were still fighting, but in a speed the normal eye couldn't catch as the sound of metal banging.

***GIN! GIN! GIN! GIN! GIN! GIN! GIN! GIN! GIN! GIN! GIN! GIN!***

Looking at Kiba delay, Drayfus approaching them through a battle and Irina and Xenovia fending off the mages with Katerea and Raymond Sirzechs said, "Everything seems to be working so far, now we must leave our faith in Michael-kun and Rias to retrieve Gasper."

"I pray for their safe return." S. Michael agreed to the plan's procedure.

"…" Looking worried and unfocused Serafall could only think about the safety of her son, who was still in danger of being assaulted by the enemy as she looked off into the direction of the gymnasium and said with heart breaking worry,

"Shura-chan…"

(In the gymnasium)

"Whoa!" Saji screamed as he was sent flying into a cart of basketballs flinging them around as he was kicked away from his assailant,

"Ngh…dammit, just what the hell are you?"

Saji grunts as he picks himself up to glare at a tall standing Rallen holding an exhausted Shura by the collar. The boy seemed to have sustained minor injuries, but the way he was breathing heavily implied that he over did it against the stranger.

' _How could this have happened? I know this feeling from Gasper's sacred gear, but why is it making everyone stop all of a sudden?' Saji looked around to see the frozen faces of his fellow servants standing there in motionless ignorance to the situation. He tried to boggle his mind over, why he himself didn't get frozen like the others, but could only guess it was the black aura his Absorption Line made around him. Could it be that a fraction of Vritra's soul was protecting him?_

_Shaking his head, Saji pushed those past thoughts aside and focused his mind on the enemy ahead,_

' _Enough of the lingering thoughts, the enemy in front of me is more important. First, this guy came out of nowhere through some magic door or something, and suddenly attacked us without warning, so it's obviously clear he's an enemy, but what's his main objective?'_

"Eerrgh…" Shura whimpered as he tried to at least move his arms to struggle.

"You're already done, I'd suggest you rest like a good little boy." Rallen tightened his grip around Shura's collar.

"Gurgh..." Shura coughed and gagged from the loss of air.

"Shura-sama!" Saji cried out and gritted his teeth, he needed to do something or else the Kaichou wouldn't forgive him for letting her only nephew get seriously hurt.

"I sensed the power of a dragon here and expected it to be the Red Dragon Emperor, but it seems I was off by a landslide." Rallen commented as he held up the kid and stared at him, "You possess only a fourth of Vritra's sacred gear, and you can't even make more than 3 lines with it, so I guess it was my fault for making such a disappointing mistake, but this child did prove to be of some entertainment for me for just those couple of minutes."

***Thud!***

Saji's eyes widened as Rallen dropped the now unconscious boy like he was just a doll, this man just dropped the son of Leviathan like a discarded tool for fun. Enraged Saji growled,

"You bastard…"

"I shouldn't worry about him right now because you're next." Rallen opened his hands and released a green, devilish aura with a sharp intent.

"…!" Saji gasped as he took a step back as he felt just what horror the aura held in it, this power it was very dangerous as even the image of an evil grinning dragon was starting to appear inside it.

"W-Who are you?" Saji sweated.

"I don't see how that concerns you at this point, after I just assaulted you all, but whatever…" Rallen sighed then revealed his brown eyes and stared at Vali with little indifference, "My name is Rallen Kurosaki, and I'm here as a temporary recon member for the attack on the 3 Great Powers."

"What?"

"It's nothing that I'd personally involve myself in, but, yeah internal affairs with you devils between New and Old Maou Devils are fighting it out as we speak by our group name Khaos Brigade." Rallen shrugged nonchalantly as though this didn't have anything to do with him.

"Wait, the Khaos Brigade? That terrorist group the Kaichou and Fuka-Kaichou brought up the other day?" Saji remembered a conversation, he overheard while cleaning the hallways of the school. It was between Sona and Tsubaki discussing a rumor of a group of mixed factions rebelling against their respective powers as a single dangerous unit known as the Khaos Brigade.

"Yeah, that's what I just said…" Raymond sighed in exhaustion as he repeated what Saji just clarified.

Saji's heart stopped as he heard that,  _'An attack wait the leaders are being attacked at this very moment then the Kaichou and Mike with everyone else is in trouble!' Saji's hand trembled in anxiousness to support the others, but then remembered something crucial, turning back, he looked at his frozen companions and looks back at the mysterious man in frustration,_

' _Damn, I can't leave everyone here, it's too risky and they might die!'_

He continued, "My job here is to delay any outside forces from interfering with the attack, but sadly, I got stuck with you, a weak devil, who doesn't even have all the pieces of a dragon sacred gear, how boring."

Suddenly, Rallen's eyes began to flicker in the color of silver as he covered one eye and groaned, "Look, I know how you wanted to fight the Red Dragon Emperor, but I can't just let these two stay alive, allow me to at least get rid of these two before going to the next opponent."

_'Was he talking to himself?' Saji thought._

Suddenly his eyes flickered again as Rallen replied with a stoic expression which showed some tiredness,

"I don't care if you're not going to enjoy this with only a quarter of the pansy assed Vritra's soul here I still need to do what I came here for and your whining isn't helping."

Looking a little wistful, Saji could tell disappointment when he heard the man talk to himself and was annoyed and mostly creeped out, but shook his head to clear his thoughts,  _'I don't know what he's doing, but now's my chance to get everyone and get them to safety, I can tell by this guy's power, he's hiding something terrifying so retreat is the best option at this point.'_

Taking the first step was needed so Saji started his plan action by charging at Rallen and raising his fists.

"Here, I come!"

Rallen, who stood in place still continued his argument without noticing Saji's incoming attack.

' _He's not paying attention. Now!' Saji punched at Rallen's face only for the blonde man to catch it with little to no problem, 'H-He caught it?'_

Rallen, who was now done talking to himself muttered, "Can't you see I was in the middle of a conversation?"

"Urgh!"

***BAM!***

"Guagh!"

Saji tried to pull away from the punch, but was sent from flying by a single punch that was so fast that it couldn't have been seen.

***CRASH!***

"Don't you devils have any manners at all?" Rallen sighed as he looked at the limp Saji with his back against the wall, "He was right, maybe this will be a waste of time, so I'll just end it right now."

Rallen who raised his hand summoned a red magic circle in his hands and held a orb of flames over it, Saji lifts his head as to wonder who the man was who kept calling him a devil. Since it was implied many times it was obvious to think he wasn't one as well and with the Old Maou Faction so could he be a human and if so how can he use magic?

"Nothing personal, but I need you two to die is that cool with you?" Rallen asked calmly, who would even ask something like that with no sick twisted face behind it, but with a calm non-caring one, instead?

"N-No…" Saji shook his head.

"I was being rhetorical." Rallen readied the spell and exclaimed,  **"Fire Bullet."**

***TING!* *FWOOOOOSH!***

The spell fired a blast of flames towards Saji who raised his right arm to create a barrier just barely enough to block the attack for a while as he was pushed back against the crater that was known as the gym wall.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Saji redirected the fire towards the ceiling of the gymnasium.

***DWOOOOOOM!***

"Hmmm?" Rallen noticed something different from Saji as his barrier has a certain faint green glow in it, "I see, so that's what you did?" Rallen turns to look at his arm to see a line from Saji's Absorption line attached to him.

Panting like crazy, Saji picks himself up as the spell ends and smiled, "That's right, I was able to latch a few lines on a couple of places before you retaliated with that punch."

It wasn't easy to decipher, but after saying that Saji started counting under his breath.

"Using my sudden absent mindedness against me, impressive, but you just used a few places, so I take it you placed a few lines somewhere else?" Rallen, who grabbed the line on his arm imbued his hand with a green sharp aura and cuts it off with ease.

Narrowing his eyes, Saji placed that image away for later and smiled, "I guess you can say that, but first I'll be taking back the Kaichou's nephew!"

Saji's absorption line extends towards Shura laid out on the ground with little notice.

"I'll just get rid of him now, just to save you the trouble." Rallen prepares to fire a massive magic bullet at Shura but then senses something falling right at him. Rallen's eyes widened as he sees a large steel beam of many holding up the roof fall right towards him.

' _He used my spell to release one of those beams?' Rallen jumps back to avoid the slow incoming steel, but was unaware of his target being out of his reach._

' _Now!'_

***PUUUUUUUULLLL!***

***CLAAAAAAAANG!***

Saji shouted in his mind as he wrapped his line around Shura's torso and retracted the boy back into his arms on time before the beam crushed where the two were just at.

' _Interesting, he was able to separate me from that boy, it seems I shouldn't underestimate him too much.' Rallen, who was still in the air gave the faintest of smiles in actual enjoyment it seems he was starting to like this picked up fight, his eyes flickering once more Rallen said, 'I know he's good, but that won't be enough to just let me give you control.'_

But getting into his view he saw a line from the Absorption line attach itself to a pole directly above him.

"So he can make more than just 3 lines." Rallen half smirked as he was unable to move in the air at the rate he was going.

"Retract!" Saji shouted as the absorption line pulled Saji in after Rallen while holding Shura as he breaks the line off and creates a large magic circle with a mixture of Rallen's power and his own demonic power as he shouts, "Now let's see how you like getting burned,  **Fire Bullet!"**

***DOOOOOOOOOOON!***

A black beam mixed with an array of flames traveled towards Rallen, who could've easily avoided the attack but let it grow nearer and nearer as the man smirked twistedly belying his old calm personality.

' _It seems he was able to turn the tables on me, but it still won't be enough…' Rallen's right eye turned completely silver as he leaned in towards the flames and opened his arms invitingly for the flames to injure him as he shouted in a different insane voice,_

" **Yes, that's the way give me all you got you, Pansy assed, Prison Dragon, Vritra!"**

Getting a shiver up his spine, Saji gasped as he heard that voice while catching a glimpse of those silver eyes as he was quick to retreat and fly back using his devil wings to gain ground as smoke filled the other side of the gym. Landing safely, Saji places a resting Shura on the ground and covered his mouth as he thought,

' _It seems, I was right to question it, but I definitely felt the same presence of a dragon from that guy just like Mike, but at the same time it didn't feel the same it felt as if it was completely deranged!' Saji shuddered as he tried to remember Rallen's appearance and couldn't see any signs of a visible weapon or Sacred Gear on the man to give him such power._

' _Where exactly was he keeping that Dragon if he was using it's power?' Saji mulled over this many times then remembered his time would be limited if the blast wasn't enough to subdue him, 'Darn I don't time to think this many stuff through I should hide the others away from the danger and regroup with the others who still need help.'_

Deciding that the most appropriate place would be the storage room, Saji attempted to do just that, but…

***DON!***

***BAAANG!***

Stopping in his tracks, Saji turns to see a blast of a magic blast broke through the wall he just stood in front of and left a massive opening to the outside.

"…" Saji stopped in his tracks and gulped as he looks back to see a figure sitting against his own side of the gym laughing.

"Just…" Rallen's voice sounded exhaling menacingly

" **Where…" The voice from before laughed threateningly**

"Do you  **think…"** Soon both voices tried to sound in sync but failed until they tried again and finally…

" **You're** going?"

As the smoke dies down, Saji could see only in shock as Rallen was sitting up with only his green leather jacket completely ruined and burnt by the attack as his body was completely unaffected as Rallen's right eye was brown as the other was completely silver.

"This fight just started, and you're going to leave now? No…you're going to entertain us and see this through to the end, Possessor of  **Vritra**."

Rallen gave a battle maniac smirk the same a Vali's, but unlike his Rallen's was a bit more uncontrollable.

Stricken by the fear of facing a strong opponent, Saji could only mutter, "I wonder how Mike's handling his own side of the problem?"

(With Michael and Rias)

In the room, where Gasper and Koneko were being held captive 6 female mages were guarding them just to make sure no intruders would interfere in their plan as they even had time to have a little conversation.

"It seems everything is going to plan."

"You can say that."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know, I mean, do we really have to really wear these cloaks?"

"What, you mean, you don't like them?"

"No, of course not! I mean, why do we have to reveal, so much skin, and look at us, we literally look like a satanic cult."

"W-Well, I think we look pretty exotic."

"Exotic? How can you look exotic if your face is covered by this hood, which is making it hard to see and is the main reason why we use magic circles to trace after the enemy as we blindly attack."

"Look, it may seem contrived, but it was a good design at the time."

"Just listen wearing this makes us easy targets."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…!"

The mages conversed in front of the door as a slight yelling noise was heard from something they didn't mind a few minutes ago up till now as it finally grasped their attention.

"Wait, do you hear that?"

"Yeah, it sounds like screaming what you're going to criticize screaming now you, critical bitch?"

"I know it's screaming, what I was asking was who was doing it, you cu-!"

***SWIIIIIIIING!***

***BANG!***

"Michael Hanamura's here to save you, my underclassmen, just leave it to the Great Hanamura to handle this!"

Our hero roared as he kicked open the door which flattens the female mage, he was currently wearing his boosted gear ready to fight but then look down to see the trembling female mage making gagged noises out of pain.

"Magna!" The mages screamed.

"Oh my god-ow, I am so sorry my foot slipped, and I didn't see you there and to be honest I was going to punch you when I broke in, but man now I feel terrible, and hey…you okay, cause your coughing up a lot of blood right now…" Michael's eyes widened as he tilts his head to look at the now unconscious mage.

Walking up behind him, Rias could only pinch her temples and apologize, "Excuse my servant for… the rude entrance."

Rias looks to see Michael knelt down poking the mage with a pitying expression as the mage was no longer breathing as he said flat out,

"I think she's dead…"

"*Sigh!*" Rias shook her head.

* * *

**Next Chapter- Chaos at Kuoh Academy begins! Devils vs. the Khaos Brigade! Part 1**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys, and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter because it took a while to make but I was still able to type up at least 19,900 words so that will make up for it! 
> 
> Now everything will finally be set into motion, the battles have all been planned out so now it's time for me to take my first step into executing the heart racing shounen styled fights!
> 
> So I hope you have a nice day and keep safe! I'm out so Peace Out!


	29. Chaos at Kuoh Academy begins! Devils vs. the Khaos Brigade! Part 1

**Chaos at Kuoh Academy begins! Devils vs. the Khaos Brigade! Part 1**

* * *

(With Kiba)

In the forest nearby the Kuoh Academy main building, the sound of metal clashing rang through the thick brush of the woods as the screeching attacks seemed to grow louder by the second.

It was the clash, between Kiba and Drayfus Mammon two swordsmen dueling for different goals.

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

Appearing with both their blades pushing each other back, both Kiba and Drayfus stared each other down. Kiba showed signs struggle as he had an issue with this kind of opponent, of course, he can use his speed to his advantage, but Drayfus was also as fast as him or even faster than him by a couple of steps. And that is only a part of the reason why Drayfus was a serious threat. The other was that his physical strength was incredible it seemed to help him gain a much better playing field when they fought up close.

The only thing that Kiba had going for him in this fight was his lower body strength. His legs were trained to run at top speeds and with great speed like his means he too had physical strength, but only with his legs to keep him up and withstand the heavy blows from Drayfus' sword.

"Is that all you got? I haven't even come close to actually trying yet, faker." Drayfus smirked as he seemed to somewhat enjoy how the boy was trying his best to make a cut on him even though he knew it was futile for a former human to even do that.

_'_ _He's still looking down on me…I won't tolerate that anymore!' Kiba pumped his legs and shot himself at Drayfus._

Running side by side in the forest, Kiba and Drayfus were cutting at each out like crazy as their swords clashing echoed through the dark quiet forest.

"Try and handle this if you can." Drayfus with a swing of his wrists creates 7 sharp air projectiles and fired them directly at Kiba. Those arms of his are incredible if he can create attacks in thin air!

"…Gh!"

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

Right on time with creating another Holy-Demonic Sword, Kiba was able to deflect the projectiles before skidding to a stop from running and charge at Drayfus while swinging his blades back and giving a loud yell as he engaged Drayfus in close range.

_'_ _I can't keep staying at a distance. I have to take the fight to him.'_

"Hmph! You fool." Drayfus leans in and readies his katana.

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

***CLANG!***

"Useless." Drayfus was not amused at all.

Using both his holy-demonic swords in tandem, Kiba first attempted to swing them vertically at Drayfus with the imbued effects of his demonic power to increase its hardened blade, but all that proved meaningless once Drayfus used his katana to negate the attack of the Holy-Demonic sword.

***CRACKLE!***

"What?" Kiba gasped as he saw a couple of cracks on one of his blades, the one which made contact with Drayfus' weapon.

Then at that moment Drayfus leans in closer and whispers to Kiba,

"Like I said. Utterly useless."

"!"

***PRANG!***

***CRASH!**THUD!* *WHAM!***

Kiba then realizes the slow movement of Drayfus' sword pushing his and his body back with just one arm holding onto the katana before he applied enough force to shatter one of Kiba's holy demonic devil swords and send him hurtling towards a tree. To where he crashed through and slammed into another tree behind him and fall on his front, directly on his keys.

"Eauuugh…*Breathes Heavily!*!"

Grunting in pain, Kiba slowly picks himself up panting as blood from the impact of crashing into the trees flowed down his forehead. Looking down at his swords he realized one of his holy-demonic swords were broken in half as the other was still barely intact with a few cracks.

Getting up, Kiba staggered around a little disoriented by the blow of the attack. Looking up with a pained expression, he saw a walking shadow from deep within the forest walk out only to see a smug, half smirking Drayfus leaning his katana over his shoulder.

"Hmhmhmhm! Oh forgive me, I didn't mean to put in that much force into blowing you away. That was meant to trip you up was all." Drayfus laughed as he swings down his katana and slammed it onto the ground. With just his arm strength alone, he created a larger crater than before which paled in comparison as it almost engulfed the entire area Kiba stood in front of.

Jumping out of the way while getting a hold of himself, Kiba watched as the environment was torn apart by another one of Drayfus' minimal efforts.

_'_ _Incredible, so this must be the strength of a pure blooded devil's descendant. No, it's something different than that. Usually devils aren't this naturally strong by their given power alone, so he must have trained to get this far.'_

_Kiba stood and examined Drayfus' past abilities and compared them to past pure blooded devils such as Riser, who may have been powerful, but wasn't strong enough to just use his base physical strength._

Taunting Kiba, Drayfus beckons him to come at him, "I must say your skills are quite that of someone with amazing talent for a former human but that's all you have going for you along with those accursed traits those fake devil kings gave to you."

_'_ _Is he talking about the Evil Pieces?' Kiba panted starting to get better control of his senses as he starts to repair the damage done to his holy-demonic sword with cracks._

"You fakers honestly believe you've been given gifts that can help you stay on par with us pure-breeds? Hah, don't make me laugh. The only thing given to you lot was just a small advantage, so you can at least keep up with the real devils."

As he continued, Drayfus used a laid back demeaning smile to rile Kiba up as he continues, "Your weaknesses are too plain to see. I can actually hold back and not even try to read your moves or counter them."

Feeling as though he was getting a lecture, Kiba looked at the Mammon Descendant in confusion, "Weaknesses? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, seeing that you'll keel over soon, I guess I'll fill you in." Drayfus let down his guard and scratched his cheek.

_'_ _Now!' Kiba took this chance to get the drop on Drayfus by using all of his speed to disappear and reappear behind Drayfus who had his guard lowered as he swings back his sword then brings it down to sever Drayfus in half._

***CHINK!***

"…!" Kiba gasps as Drayfus catches his blade with just his index and middle finger without turning to look back at him.

"Hey, it's rude to attack when someone's giving you hints, faker."

_'_ _He was able to predict I was going to attack him?' Kiba then looks at the focused look in Drayfus' eyes as he felt uncertainty in his stomach, 'No, that look he already knew, I was going to attack from the start._

Landing behind him, Kiba tries to pull his sword away, but it was trapped between the fingers of Drayfus, who made sure to say his point before giving it back,

"If you want this back, then try and take it. Just remember, I'm not going to give it to you so easily. So pull with all you've got or you'll be defenseless." Drayfus popped his neck as he felt the sword tremble probably from Kiba's vain attempts to pull it back.

Gritting his teeth and putting his all into retrieving his blade back, but it was no good. Drayfus was just too strong to take it out of his clutches. Growing sore and weak, Kiba's arm muscles start to grow tired by the second.

"Tick…Tock…Tick…Tock…Tick…Tock…" Drayfus playfully shook his head back and forth clearly making fun of Kiba's lack of strength which made Kiba only force the blade away from the devil descendant. This continued for more than 5 minutes before Drayfus sighs in boredom, "You know, I was expecting this to be a little more entertaining, but it's actually quite sad."

"Keh!" Kiba pants as he tries for the 46th time to relinquish his sword from Drayfus' grasp with no avail.

"How pathetic. Now I can see that my hypothesis is right about you." Drayfus shook his head.

"What are you getting at?" Kiba grunts.

"You lack upper body strength along with the exception of your lower body strength that is your con. As a knight, you're well bred to develop your speed and that's an important factor for those with skill, but…"

***SHATTER!***

"…!" Kiba's eyes widened as he saw his Holy-Demonic Sword break before his eyes and with just Drayfus' finger crushing them like a pair of scissors.

"Skill can only take you so far!"

***BAM!***

Drayfus kicks Kiba with an unbelievable amount of strength as the young man was once again sent flying through the air with the air knocked out of him.

"Uargh!" Kiba coughs out a large amount of blood as he slowly opens one eye and try to regain balance before he crashes into something. Then looking down out of the corner of his eye, Kiba finds a pursuing Drayfus clenching the back side of katana now using the dull edge.

"Before a swordsman can even wield a sword, they must first know how to wield their most important weapon their entire body!"

***SHING!***

"Aaaaaaaaurgh!" Getting a cut through his back Kiba screamed in pain as he was sent crashing into the ground repeatedly before stopping to a halt to flat on his stomach.

_'_ _Kch…This man is truly powerful, but I can't...' Kiba raises his head then sees the hilt of his broken Holy-Demonic sword and slowly reaches out for it, until the sight of Yami no Ryu stabs it's in the ground before him._

"Yeah, I don't think so." Drayfus chuckled and shook his head as he looks at the ragged beaten Kiba below his feet, "Tch! So much skill and potential wasted. Even for a human, you were still able to make me at least get a little warm up. However, that meant nothing when you knew the difference of our powers from the beginning, and now it ends."

_'_ _I can't let things end now. I swore to hold him away from the others, a-and I intend to do that!' Kiba reached out for his Holy-Demonic sword in vain as the distance between him and it were blocked by Drayfus._

***STAB!***

"Gugh!" Kiba bites down on his lip and drew blood as Drayfus stabbed his sword through Kiba's outreached hand.

"I win." Drayfus smirked as his tall standing figure over Kiba made the young man look up at him overwhelmingly as he wondered if he could really defeat let alone hold off such a man like this. As a knight, he felt honored to have fought against a well-trained devil only a few his age have ever faced. He felt as though he did his best to stall long enough for the leaders and others against a man of such strength but lingering thoughts crept into his head and saddened him.

_'_ _Will I really die…?'_

But deep down inside, he felt fear that his life would end just when he had received clarity from his past deceased friends and now he'll really die? After he started a new life? After he made new irreplaceable friends and comrades? After he…he just realized it was okay to enjoy  **life?**

"Now you finally get it don't you?" Grinning at Kiba's helplessness beneath him Drayfus laughed, "I am superior than you in blood and strength you, shitty faker."

Raising his blade and pointing it over Kiba's back, Drayfus intended to end it in one thrust through the chest, as a way to give a swordsman a way to die with the honor they fought with.

"Be glad that you were to die at the hands of a true devil, take this truth with you as you wait for your comrades to soon follow suit. I'll make sure to ingrain into their brains that the true descendants are absolutely powerful."

_'_ _What?' Kiba's eyes widened as heard that, 'M-My friends? He'll kill them?'_

_Kiba's arms start to shake as he heard that. Those words filled his racing heart with rage. Thinking about the deaths of his friends to follow after him if he died, stirred him to try and get up. He couldn't let this be the end, not yet! Not now!_

_Raising his head to look up at Drayfus with hatred, Kiba growled, 'I can't let this man this monster go if I do, then…everyone could be as good as dead! And I promised t-them, I promised him, that I would be with them that I would be!'_

_(Flashback)_

_"You may have already been forgiven by Buchou and everyone else, but you still don't have sympathy from me, yet." Michael said as he could feel Kiba growing a frown,_

_"But that could change if you promise me one thing." Michael grinned._

_"What is it?"_

_"Promise you won't betray your comrades anymore for something selfish, I want a truthful promise from the Knight of Rias Gremory himself, or I'll never accept your thanks or apologies again." Michael looked down at Kiba and smiled._

_Nodding with a truthful glint in his eyes, Kiba stood up and said, "Yes, I, as the Knight of Rias Gremory promise to never abandon his comrades again."_

_Michael smiled at Kiba then scratched his head and said, "Good, but you do know what this promise will mean, right?" Michael stood up and gave a thumbs up, "It means you can't make the same mistake, and if you do then the Great Hanamura will kick your ass 'til you remember, got it?"_

(Present Situation)

_Kiba's fist clenched as Drayfus finally initiates to finish the young blonde off._

"Farewell!"

***CHING!***

And with that the fight was over…or it would have been if Kiba hadn't have just disappeared before Drayfus' eyes.

"What the? When did he-?" Drayfus gasped as he was now unaware of where the young man was, he just disappeared before he could catch a glimpse of his next movement. Looking a little off put, Drayfus searched around the area for no signs of the Low-Class Devil anywhere. He looked back once then turned to face forward before he gasped, "Wait, that broken sword's hilt it's not-!"

Then sensing something from above, Drayfus looks to see a falling shadow from up above with their blade about to impale him. Only knowing that, if he didn't do this he would potentially get injured. Drayfus backs away only to widen his eyes as he sees the shadow pull out another sword and swing it towards his face.

"When did-!" Drayfus leaned his head back as he saw the black/white blade nearly touch the tip of his nose. Standing back to gain his ground Drayfus tightens his grip on his sword as he saw that it was Kiba wearing a determined expression on his face through his beaten and bloody body.

"You, little bastard, you managed to startle me for a second, but don't think this will get the best of m-!"

"Light!" Kiba roared as he thrusts one of his Holy-Demonic swords at Drayfus.

***FLASH!***

"Argh!"

_'_ _This kind of light, it's just like…!'_

Drayfus, who was blinded by the Holy-Demonic swords holy attribute lighting the area stutters back as he rubs his eyes, "You, little...now you've…!"

_'_ _Now's my chance!'_

"Hiyaaaaah!" Kiba executes an upper swing with one of his demonic-holy sword.

"Guh!"

***GIN!***

Startled and still trying to gain better balance of himself, Drayfus barely managed to parry that attack, but that wasn't the end.

"I won't die!" Kiba roared as he swings his other blade.

"Trch! Damn, I can't see and concentrate!" Drayfus growled in irritation.

"Your prideful banter let your guard down into believing I would just quit, so easily. Well, let me prove you wrong!"

Mustering all the strength in his body, Kiba went full throttle as he disappeared and used his speed to create shadows and after images of himself around Drayfus as he still continued to attack the man who was still blinded by the Holy-Demonic swords eerie light. The effects of it being holy must have added the strengthened effect of his blindness.

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

***RIP!***

"Damn it!" Drayfus realized his clothes were getting torn by Kiba's rapid attacks.

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

"I won't let you go! I swore from my oath as a knight to keep you at bay!"

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

"Damn you! You shitty brat! Damn you! Damn you! Damn You!" Infuriated that he a Devil Descendant was getting pushed back so far by a Fake Reincarnated one Drayfus kept on shouting his disapproval of this happening in, fact, he couldn't believe this could be happening.

***TEAR!* *RIP!* *TEAR!* *SHRED!***

Kiba's entire almost God like speed was starting to overwhelm the disadvantaged Drayfus barely able to handle himself against the endless onslaught of Kiba's swords.

"I won't approve of this! I can't approve of this!" Drayfus shouted.

"I swore as my oath as a knight to be their sword!" Kiba yelled as his strikes were getting more rapid and precise by the minute as Drayfus's strength couldn't help him against sheer speed as his blocks became more sluggish.

"Hyaaa! You won't ever get past me! Even if it takes my entire being to stop you! Even if I die, I won't lose to the likes of you!"

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!**RIP!***

"As a knight of Rias Gremory!"

***GIN!* *RIIIIIP!***

Kiba was able to cut Drayfus' clothes completely, but still wasn't able to scar the man.

"Damn you! Just die!" Drayfus slammed his katana against the ground and created a massive crater, but it was too slow to keep up with Kiba and his speed.

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

"As a fellow student and comrade to my allies!"

***RIP!* *TEAR!***

"This shouldn't be happening! This can't be happening! Low-class, fake shit, filth such as you can't be doing this to a high class devil like me it's not right it's-it's not right at all!"

***CLANG!***

***SHATTER!***

A huge clash shook the ground and the earth around it as Kiba and Drayfus' blades rang out through the entire forest. With the greater strength, Drayfus was able to shatter Kiba's holy-demonic sword, but that was just one of them. Leaning forward, Kiba uses both hands to grip his only remaining sword and roared something he really felt proud of, "And as a best friend of-of the Sekiryuutei, Michael Hanamura, I won't lose to you!"

***SHING!***

Gasping out in surprise, Drayfus blinked as Kiba swung his blade and landed behind him standing tall as Drayfus still stood still wondering if he had received any damage and felt relieved, knowing nothing was cut or injured and would have ranted about Kiba's failed attempt to cut him, until he heard the sound of something dripping.

***DRIP!***

"…! What?" Drayfus felt his cheek and saw that it was blood, but it wasn't blood that belonged to the low-class devil, he was fighting it was his.

"For the sake of my friends and their survival, I won't lose!" Kiba turned around and felt satisfied he got at least one cut on the man.

Motionless, Drayfus looked to see he had a large cut across his cheek and began to release a large killing intent along with a dark purple aura surrounding his body.

"Mpmh!" Kiba narrowed his eyes as the dark aura starts to push Kiba back with strong winds.

"How dare you!"

Drayfus' violet eyes turned dark as he turns to face Kiba with wide bloodlust shot eyes as he growls, "A mere low-class devil being able to touch me! Do you have any idea of what shame you've brought onto me?"

Unresponsive, Kiba simply kept his steely glare at Drayfus, who turns around and grips his katana so tightly that the dark aura covered the entire blade as he holds it up in a very serious stance.

"I can't let you live now, you were able to touch my face and your low-class scum to top it all off! I won't allow you to run off without your head still placed between your shoulders!" Drayfus's aura behind him started to form into a large dragon with a large evil smirk on its face as it's threatening red eyes glared at Kiba.

A little frightened, but not fearful, Kiba simply stabs his Holy-Demonic Sword into the ground and closed his eyes,  _'Things are getting serious now, it seems that aggravating him was able to make him take me seriously. I don't know whether if that was a good idea or not, but it feels like something Michael-kun would to his opponents when he wants a fight that he feels is true. To be honest…'_

_Kiba's hands shook a little, 'I'm scared, but at the same time, I'm really...'_

Kiba clenched his two hands and strangely smiled. Most would tremble at the sight of overwhelming power such as this, but the thought of fighting a strong opponent who's now serious to the bone made him feel more relatable to his best friend, a friend, who'd never let him walk astray from a path, he was blindly walking down,

"Happy."

"Tch! To think, I'd go this far just because a low-class faker did this to me! Now, I'll probably shame myself as I steal back, Kate-chan! No! To mask this blood, I'll bathe myself completely in your own!" Drayfus roared as his immense power and aura crushed the ground around him and created a large crater.

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

Some of the crater's rocks and dirt dusted up against Kiba as even a stray pebble was able to cut his right cheek making it bleed out but that didn't even faze Kiba as places a single hand atop of his Holy-Demonic Sword and said,

"I only have 5 minutes with my balance breaker being able to allow me to create Holy-Demonic swords. I might as well go all out!"

***ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!***

"HUUUUUUUUUUUUURAAAAAH!" Kiba roared as he forced all of strength to create as many blades as he'll need against his opponent.

"W-What is this trickery you're doing!?" Drayfus grunts as he then realizes the rumbling underneath him and jumps up to land on a tree branch and look in amazement.

A Huge Blue Magic Circle covered the entire forest as the sounds of blades stabbing into the ground was heard around the entire forest probably even from the School's sport's field. Dust settling down, Kiba was seen standing in the middle of about 60 Holy Demonic Swords of different attributes and sizes.

"Tch! Like those swords will do you any good. No matter what sacred gear or weapon you possess, a faker is still a faker, you'll never get the best of me!" Drayfus shouted in contempt.

_'_ _Now is not the time to worry and hold back, now I have to fight this battle to actually win, no matter the cause.' Kiba's thoughts, brimmed with confidence even when things seemed really dark as they are now against Drayfus' now monstrous power._

Looking up at Drayfus while picking up two scimitar like Holy-Demonic Swords which looked as swift as the wind, Kiba introduced himself again to affirm his resolution, "Drayfus Mammon, my name is, Kiba Yuuto, a Knight of the House of Gremory, and former apprentice of Master Souji Okita. Everything I know about the weight of my blade and swordsmanship, I learned from him, one of the most powerful swordsman known throughout the Underworld and this world."

***SHING!* *SHING!***

Kiba swings both Schimitar and give Drayfus a challenging smile,

"And I intend to use everything, my master and my friends, have shown me as I continued to live to fulfill my oath and defeat you, Khaos Brigade member, Descendant of the Mammon Family, Drayfus Mammon!"

"Now your spouting bullshit! A low-class talking like he's big shit! Don't screw with me as of right now, I'll obliterate you! Raaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

***BAAAAAAAAAAANG!***

Propelling himself in blinding speed, Drayfus launched himself off the tree and possibly destroyed it upon himself using too much of his power to do so.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Using his leg muscles, Kiba pumped his legs and used his incredible speed to dash then jump after Drayfus in the same velocity, he was falling down towards him as both their blades slowly made contact.

***GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!***

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

The impact of their weapons created a massive explosion enveloping the area in a mixture of Holy-Demonic aura and Dark Purple aura as the sound of sword clashing renewed with great vigor. This was just the beginning…

(In front of the School Sport's Field)

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!**BAM!**BAM!**BAM!***

***CLASH!***

***BAM! **BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!**BAM!**BAM!**BAM!***

***CLASH!***

Littering the sky in a mixture of gold and dark red lights were Azazel and the Winged Figure, brawling in mid-air as they resorted to overpower one another with basic hand-to-hand combat. The two were so unbelievably fast that the only thing that could be seen was the shocks of their blows connecting. The fight seemed rather one sided as Azazel was mainly blocking the attacks the figure threw at him, so he could find an easy opening to exploit.

While as for the figure they kept on brutally assaulting, Azazel with rather dangerous blows which would break the body of a High-Class Devil if the aura surrounding her fists meant anything. Of course, this proved a little harmful to Azazel, who had to this seriously and actually make an effort to put his guard up against an opponent like this.

"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!"

***DON!* DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

Firing massive amounts of energy volleys with her strange dragon power, the figure laughed as Azazel simply rubbed the back of his head then raised his hand to create a rather large lance of light with a long spear.

_'_ _This power's aura, it's really familiar, but how could she have…?' Azazel was troubled with his thoughts as he prepares to counter the attack._

"Heh!"

***BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!***

Swinging the edge of the spear effortlessly, Azazel was able to cut the energy volleys in one slice as they consecutively exploded.

Watching from below were S. Michael and Sirzechs, who didn't once let their eyes off the battles occurring right in front of them.

Catching glance of Azazel's lack of trying to use his full power, Sirzechs said,

"He's not even trying to finish this quickly, what is he waiting for?"

S. Michael replied, "Perhaps he's examining the enemy's movements, but it would seem to be a really difficult task to accomplish."

S. Michael and Sirzechs couldn't even understand the figure's mind function as she was rather unpredictable to make out her next move. They were starting to even question if this person was the same as 'back' then…

Commencing in another close quarters combat, Azazel kept guarding each of the figure's viscous attacks while staring at her body's movements closely as she seemed uncontrolled and relentless.

_'_ _The way she was using her power back then would have been overwhelming. If I had decided to take this fight like a joke with the many others I used to mess around in.' Azazel thought as he tried to examine the figure's quick movements to see no opening as she would always attack with no rest, 'It seems that my blocking tactic won't last much longer as she'll get fed up and make a mistakenly wide opening."_

Getting fed up with Azazel's blocking, the figure taunted and threw a quick punch to Azazel's face,

"What's wrong, Crow-Boy, you don't like taking the first move when confronting a woman? Oh, how flattering, but sadly, a little pansy assed, don't you think!?"

_'_ _Got you!'_

Catching the fist, Azazel slowly lowers it down and remarks, "Woman? Chi! Like I'd show courtesy towards a monster like you."

Azazel raises his arm to create a light spear to impale the half-wide opened figure, but instead of trying to escape she simply laughs in enjoyment.

"What's so funny?" Azazel worried about why she seemed so energetic.

"A monster…how flattering and true, you're also good with your words too… Too bad I have to rip that tongue out of that filthy mouth of yours!"

***Shiiiiiiiine!***

Azazel looks down to see the a large orb of red energy close to his chest as he clicks his tongue,

"I should've seen this one coming."

The figure giggled, "Bye-Bye~! I hope you have a safe trip to hell!"

***DOOOON!* *TSUUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

Firing the growing large orb of red energy the Figure was able to force Azazel back with the blast's force as he headed towards the ground below towards the leaders trying to raise their protective barrier around the frozen devils unable to protect themselves.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Yes, get crushed and annihilated like a pile of smoking flesh! All of you!"

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

***TSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

Increasing the mass of the massive orb, the figure made things a whole lot difficult for Azazel as they fired more volleys of energy into the sphere as the high scale energy attack started to prove a little too much for him at his state.

"Tch! I guess, I should really go all out. No time to review over her movements…"

Giddily watching her long hated foe get destroyed with the leaders below the Figure couldn't help, but shake in joy. Finally, she would get her revenge for what they did, yes, they deserve nothing more than a harsh, painful death by her hands.

***PUUUUSH!***

"Huh?" The figure then noticed the massive sphere being pushed back towards her, "Wuh-oh..."

Surrounded in a staggering amount of aura, Azazel used most of his base strength to force back the attack with only one arm. Smiling to himself, Azazel chuckles,

"What goes around comes around!"

Building up enough pressure, Azazel was able to force back the massive sphere with some struggle as the figure panics upon the sphere coming closer and closer until it's pressed up against her about to explode,

"No! I can't die, not now! Not here!"

Azazel, who continued to look up at the screaming figure was not amused as he already knew where this was going. The figure's right black glove slowly burned away as she continued to cry out in anguish,

"This is impossible, the likes of me, losing to-Psych~!"

***SMACK!* *BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

Laughing the figure was able to backhand the mass of energy into the forest where a single flash of red light filled the entire school which soon followed with a massive explosion, which seemed to be the size of half an airport.

"Nice try, but that won't stop me~!" Azazel narrowed his eyes at the Figures revealed hand having bandaged around it as the fingers seemed to have very sharp claws. It seems his hypothesis on the  **pieces** being implanted within her were starting to be correct.

"Impressive acting, you must be a riot at parties." Azazel mocked.

"Oh, you have no idea, bitch crow boy, you can say that I tend to be a real  **killer** at events like that. I even made my own game, if you're interested?" The figure then started to unwrap her bandages as Azazel felt something really familiar about the presence, until he widened his eyes along with S. Michael and Sirzechs who were watching from the ground.

"It involves you trying to kill your gaming partner with at least one of your limbs. Many people rejected to play it because they said it was too complicated and dangerous. I mean, what's so complicated about people killing each other?"

Ignoring the figure's words, Azazel focused on their arm as it was just as he expected it was one of a dragon's with red scales with large jagged claws. And with this Azazel could now confirm his suspiscions about this being having implanted something very dangerous into her body.

"That aura and presence…it seems this turned into a threat, we cannot ignore anymore." Sirzechs narrowed his eyes at the dragon arm.

"How could they have gotten their hands on that forbidden dead creature's body?" S. Michael wondered out loud.

"Yup, it's on the mark alright."

"So here is how you play, first, I'll play my turn, right…."

Azazel reassured himself then gasps as the figure disappears from his sight, "Where did they go, hm?"

Azazel looked lax as he rubbed his chin, but the aura, he surrounded himself meant his guard was up to prevent any foretold danger towards him. Appearing behind him, the figure's incredible speed allowed for her to vanish and get the drop Azazel.

"Nice try, but you know, not really."

***CLASH!***

***BANG!***

Is what she thinks as Azazel shirks back and raises his forearm to block the clawed fist lunged towards his arm as a small explosion to emphasis the strength of the attack being landed as smoke raises itself in the air and clear out to show Azazel's long sleeve was torn off by the attack.

"Phew! That was a close one."

"Awww~! Why won't you stay still and die!" The figure started off cutely then shouted vulgarly as she latched onto Azazel arm and much to his surprise he was being spun around by her as the figure laughed, "Spin~! Spin~! Spin~! And…DIE~!"

She released Azazel and fired her incoming attack.

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

Getting thrown towards the ground, Azazel was then greeted by the sight of 4 energy volley blasts ready to engulf him.

***BAAAANG!***

A large crater was made as black smoke covered Azazel's body and anything within the crater.

"Now here's the last one!" The figure raised her arm and created a larger more destructive orb of dragon power energy and fired at crater and…

***DOOOOOON!***

The entire crater grew 5 times its size after a huge explosion over takes it.

"Hahahahahahaha! Try and stand up after that you, crow bitch!" The figure laughed out loud, thinking she got the governor-general right where she wanted him, but a tap to her right shoulder caught her attention.

"Whoa, that was a close one, you know?" Azazel laughed as he was unscathed from the attack, he actually used his speed to dodge the volley blasts before he hit the ground and managed to get behind the figure that let their guard down.

"Kch! No fair, you were supposed to have died?" The figure growled in irritation as her cute demeanor was starting to get replaced by frustrating annoyance, "But, oh well, it means that you're actually taking this serious-Ugh!"

***ZAAN!***

"W-What?" The figure looks down aghast at what entered her.

Piercing their chest with a light spear, Azazel caught the blood coughing figure off guard as he closes his eyes and says, "This is it."

He made sure to hit the spot where the figure's heart was to give them a quick death. Even if it was towards the heart his light spear was top notch and another level compared to his subordinates so a win like this wasn't hard to comprehend.

Taking it upon himself to say some final words, Azazel said,

"Sorry that I had to end it like this, but a threat like you had to be taken care of, or else you may potentially destroy the world as you please. It may have been too late to say this, but I guess you must have taken the sacred treasure of the  **Celtic**  Children of the Hanamura Clan, the severed pieces of the Welsh Dragon's body."

Narrowing his eyes, Sirzechs brought up, "Azazel, we-"

"I know…I know, geez, we're not supposed to talk about that topic. I was the one, who proposed the idea to never speak of the clan, we all, almost, wiped out, you know?" Azazel tightened his grip on his spear and pushed it deeper into the figure.

"Guargh *Cough!*…" The figure coughed out a large amount of blood as they took short raspy breaths as she started shaking in anger as Azazel continued talking.

"It's hard to wrap my head around such logic about how you are here still alive right now, and how in the hell you could have gotten your hands on those parts after they sealed off all connection to the outside world after that incident. But that won't matter once we've finished dealing with you, and once you've been put down, I'll make sure to take back those parts you took. And you don't have to worry anymore, I promise that he'll be fine and healthy from now on, in fact, he seems to be rather happy with his current life."

Azazel expected to ease the stranger's feelings about whatever they sought, but that only made her angrier.

"How dare you…"

"What?"

Breathing sharply and forcing her body to stay up right, she kept pushing herself forward off the tip of the spear. Azazel, who was caught off guard watched the figure slowly turn their head back to face him as he was eye to eye with her dragon eye.

"Just who the hell do you think you are!?" The figure screams as she pulls herself off from the spear's tip as everyone watched in horror of what she was doing. Her finger tips were shaking as she was almost done pulling herself off the blade before, she places her hand back at Azazel and yells,

"You son of bitch, you bastard, you have no right to say ANYTHING!"

***DOOOOOOOOOOON!***

"Gugh! How did she?" Azazel was blasted with a cindering variation of an energy wave as he felt a couple of burns on his skin and clothing, "Hah!"

Canceling out the attack with a swing of an arm, Azazel stopped the attack from furthering any longer as he points his attention on the slumped over figure, who placed her hand on her left chest which was bleeding immensely.

_'_ _She still survived that, but how?' Azazel blinked._

Azazel was sure that the figure was finished, but was taken back as something wrong was happening, shouldn't she have died already with the light spear through her heart? How is she still alive?

Panting the figure growled, "M-My past, I have nothing…you've all destroyed it…"

***SHIIIIINE!***

Suddenly a red light shined where her wound resided as she looks up to glare at Azazel, "My future, you took it from me."

_'_ _That light. Could it be the body pieces of the welsh dragon increasing her recovery rate?' Azazel thought as he realizes a dark atmosphere surrounding the pressure around them._

***SUUUU!***

Pure malice was now radiating from her aura as the figure continued to speak in a dark tone, "You expect me to just let you live after what you did…no, you expect me to allow this dirty world to exist after being so corrupt!"

Negative emotions rise from the figure's aura. Hatred, Anger, Depression, Sadness, and even Revenge all of these bad thoughts were stirring up in her body and soul.

The entire field was chokingly quiet as no one uttered a word as they listened in on the figure's words full of contempt towards everyone there.

"I will never forgive you, Governor-General! I can never forgive you, your very existence is a sin! And the devils and angels too, they deserve to die, everything should end it's only fair! An eye for an eye, and a  _life_  for lives!"

Closing his eyes, and breathing in Azazel exhaled, "My entire existence is a sin, huh? Haven't heard that one in a while. But at the rate things are going it seems that I have no choice."

Azazel looks down at Sirzechs and S. Michael and asked, "Hey, Sirzechs and Michael, would you mind if I leave no remains of the body? Because I don't think preserving it now after we're done will be a good idea, especially, if there's the off chance that Michael may stumble upon it."

"Go ahead, we won't stop you." Sirzechs may have said this, but secretly agreed to Azazel's method.

"Even when we face the same matter once more, it still comes to this." S. Michael looked rather apologetic for the enemy.

"Looks like I have to use it after all." Azazel looks back at the figure and reaches into his back pocket.

"You stole my past and destroyed it, so I'm going to claim back my future, here and now!"

Imbuing their wings with their dark red aura the figure made their wings look more like the wings of light as the aura made the wings illuminate a dark red sort of color. But that wasn't all around the figure's dark jacket were red dragon like markings giving off an intimidating vibe as their aura too, took the shape of a western dragon with immense power exuding her body.

**"** **Welsh Drive."**

Looking a little disappointed, Azazel pulls out a small spear with a purple jewel decorating the bottom as he scoffs,

"How disappointing, and here I thought using this on it's first test trial would be fun, and yet, for me to do this now." Azazel sighed sadly then smirks as he thrusts the spear forward, "Well, all I can do is rely on luck, and see if I can hurry this along before Rias Gremory and her servants make it out on time."

Raising her head, the figure released a loud…

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

Watching from afar with his arms crossed was an armored, Vali who chuckled, "It seems things just got a lot less boring, didn't it?"

***DON!***

"Blargh!"

"But it's still going at a slow pace."

Firing a block of energy to kill a magician trying to sneak attack him, Vali paid no mind to him and focused on the Old School Building and smirked within his masked helmet, "I think I know how to fix that, but not now, patience. Might as well let the loser enjoy himself before doing that."

Releasing a dangerous white aura, Vali's calm demeanor seemed a little exaggerated as his aura flaring out intimidated the magicians, and showed how much he wanted to take action, but patience…patience was always a virtue he could support, and once the time for patience is done, then he can finally have his  **fun.**

* * *

**Next Chapter- Chaos at Kuoh Academy begins! Devils vs. the Khaos Brigade! Part 2**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading everyone, and I hoped you enjoyed part 1 of the fights with Kiba, so now we move onto Saji's fight. And before you guys start to groan, don't worry! I'll make sure his is a little more interesting and entertaining to grab your attention.
> 
> This is the first chapter of my story where I've never included Michael in it... It feels strange, but I'll give him, his chance to shine or else he'll start ranting.
> 
> Well, anyways, I'm out so Peace Out and have a blessed day and be safe.


	30. Chaos at Kuoh Academy begins! Devils vs. the Khaos Brigade! Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "…"- Speaking
> 
> '…'- Thoughts
> 
> […]- Ddraig
> 
> {…}- Albion
> 
> (…)- Vritra

**Chaos at Kuoh Academy begins! Devils vs. the Khaos Brigade! Part 2**

* * *

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!"

***SHIIINE!***

***BOOOOOOOM!***

A bright flash of light filled the entire gym as a large explosion and smoke breaks through the building's windows.

Inside the now ruined gymnasium there radiated a sharp green aura which shined throughout, not just the inside, but the outside as well. Inside of it, the gym equipment was either torn up, blown up, or burned to a high degree. The walls were filled with craters and scared with the many missed attacks of the sudden assaulter who attacked the vulnerable Student Council.

Lighting the room was a green light which brightened the entire gymnasium court. While hiding inside one of the equipment rooms was Saji and the frozen bodies of his fellow Student Council Members. Panting heavily, Saji leans against the wall while placing a conked out Shura near him.

_'_ _That guy...what is kind of monster is he?' Saji remembers back to a large burst of power that Rallen made just by screaming, luckily the force wasn't too dangerous as it conveniently blew him and his frozen comrades closer to the equipment room near the stage._

_'_ _This guy is obviously bad news, and it looks like I just pissed him off even more by retaliating!' Saji slowly looks out the door and peeks through its crack to see the blood chilling sight of his opponent._

In the middle of the gym's court was a single shadow that stood in the green flamed covered court. The figure was revealed to be a smirking Rallen, whose eyes gleamed silver through the darkness that was illuminated by the flames.

Looking straight up, Rallen exhaled a gust of smoke before he mutters,  **"Vritra,** where a **r** e you  **hi** d **i** ng~!"

"…!" Saji inches away from the door and tries to lower his presence.

"Awwwwww! Come on,  **yo** u s **h** ou **l** d be re **joi** cing, we **finally**  get to meet again after all this time! So why d **on'** t we fel **low ev** il dr **agons**  c **o** me o **u** t and  **gi** ve  **eac** h other a right  **rous** ing reunion of beautiful  **BLOOD!"**

Rallen sounded playful, but it obviously wasn't innocent and as the man continues to talk to Saji, the latter remained quiet and wasn't content in revealing himself without a proper plan to deal with the threat. There was also the fact that his friends were frozen and unable to defend themselves.

_'_ _Wait, Evil Dragon? I knew this tremendous power belonged to a dragon, but…I guess that explains this terrifying pressure. But what kind of evil dragon does he have inside of him?' Saji's mind raced with many questions, 'And if he can use an Evil Dragon, how can he even be able to invoke it's power without a sacred gear?'_

Saji couldn't help, but shiver at feeling the presence of such a scary opponent so close, and he had to deal with this issue himself with no support to give him enough time to plan any moves out.

"Damn, retreat would be a good tactic right now, but everyone is trapped from time freezing them. There's also the fact that he's freaking insane and judging by that power I can tell I won't even last a minute against him…" Saji said his thoughts out loud while assessing the situation. He knew that if he could barely fight this guy in a sane or well, almost sane mindset then he had no chance of winning if he can't control his actions.

Looking up at the ceiling, nervously, Saji said,

"But knowing the leaders, they must be trying to deal with the issue as we speak, so if I can wait it out, then maybe we'll get help any minute now."

_'_ _But since I'm dealing with an Evil Dragon User things might not be easy, because of this freezing trap everyone is under. I can't effectively transport them anywhere with a magic circle. I can't even communicate with anyone on the outside because of some interference.' Saji walks towards a wall in the closet and touches it before he feels a dense sensation from outside of it._

_'_ _Wait a barrier? Then someone must be using this to protect us from something outside.' Saji wondered who would plan something like this without the Kaichou's knowing,_

_'_ _But I guess that explains why I can't communicate outside. It must be an isolation barrier. Which has a thick shell which is hard to break for even a high-class devil, but the cost of using it absolutely blocks out the outside until something from the inside destroys it.' Saji rubbed his chin and thoughtlessly comments,_

"I wonder if I can make something like it-no, this isn't the time to be thinking that. I have to focus on this problem."

Saji gulped as he heard the slow footsteps of Rallen approach one of the 4 equipment closets in the gym.

 **"** **C** ome  **ou** t~! C **om** e  **ouuuut~!**  Vri **tra, yo** u p **an** sy a **s** s **ed** w **us** s, I ju **st want** to  **pl** ay w **ith y** o **u fo** r **a while, that's al** l!" Rallen grinned as he stalked towards the equipment closet on the opposite side of the one Saji hid, "Or unless you'd rather play something different? I'm game!"

_'_ _Game? Wait, does he mean?' Saji's eyes widened as he saw Rallen raising his left arm in the air and started to create what looked like to be a dark green magic bullet infused with the dark properties of dragon aura._

**"** **Here's** my fi **rst** gue **ss!"**

***BAAAANG!***

Flicking his wrist, Rallen threw the magic bullet at the equipment closet and made it explode leaving no remains as the outside was revealed through the gaping hole. Losing more color in his face in fear of Rallen's increased power, Saji leans more closely to the wall, he sat against and starts to breathe heavily at what just occurred.

 **"** I'm f **ine wit** h  **play** ing **hi** d **e and** s **e** ek es **pecia** ll **y wit** h **a wuss like y** ou, **Vritra!"** Rallen cackled loudly as he snaps his head towards another empty equipment room,  **"Now** on **to** the  **nex** t one!"

Rallen charges another magic bullet into his hand ready to smoke out the, Prison Dragon or ¼ of the Prison dragon.

Scooting away from the Equipment room's door in terror Saji slowly stands up and begins to sweat, he was trembling. All of his plans from before

_'_ _He's trying to lure me out!' Saji gasped, 'Dammit! This isn't good at all. I have to think of a better way of escape…wait! I got it, the isolation barrier is weaker on the inside, so if I fire an attack on it and destroy it, I could use a magic circle to transport all of us out of here, but, gah! I forgot everyone's still frozen!' Saji clutched his head in many failed attempts to come up with a plan._

***BAAAAAANG!***

"!" Saji looks out the door's crack to see Rallen standing in front of a smoking destroyed equipment closet with an annoyed expression with no remains or showing of Saji at all.

"Tch!  **See** ms lik **e** you wer **en't t** here eith **er, damn you're so good at this** , Vri **tra,**  but you should remember…" Rallen's smirk slowly turns to that of impatience with a slight furious scowl that Saji shivered at,  **"I ha** te to  **b** e kept wait **ing…** "

_'_ _He's starting to get impatient too, now things are getting dire maybe if I act as a decoy and wake up Shura-sama, maybe, he can use one of his talents to move everyone out safely.' Saji gulped as he prepares to do that, but then hears the noise of firing from the large gaping holes Rallen made._

***PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!***

"What are those?" Saji gasps as he looks outside to see magicians firing at them but gladly the barriers are there to protect them. The same barriers which are keeping him isolated with this…

***BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!***

**"** **VRITRA~! I'm getting bored now, so come out and fight or else I'll turn that room you're staying in into a burning pile of ash!"**

Rallen's voice has now changed to take on a different tone as it wasn't his anymore, he also destroyed the last remaining equipment room with somewhat more power out of irritation. It seems Saji not being there to pop out made him more aggravated.

_'_ _Monster…' Saji's face turns completely white as he falls on his knees as all options for were falling apart, there was no way he could escape with all those magicians outside attacking the barrier, even if they escaped Rallen they wouldn't survive a relentless attack of those magic bullets pelting them._

**"** **I'm going to count to 3. If you don't come out, I'll obliterate you, here and now, and since it'll be quick, I'm going to be lenient and count slow. One…"**

**Rallen's count begins.**

_'_ _I can't think of a way to get out of this situation, it seems utterly…impossible.' Saji falls to his knees and closes his eyes, 'I'm sorry, Kaichou, I wasn't able to defend the gymnasium like you had asked.'_

Clenching his fist in frustration, Saji grinds his teeth, "I just can't seem to think of a way out of here, and with this guy being obviously stronger than me. I can't seem to find a way to win. I guess as a Pawn, I wasn't able to do anything."

**"** **Two…"**

"Dammit! I just can't think of a way out of this!" Saji shakes his head and hurts himself to come up with an idea, "I don't know what to do. I can't do anything without a plan without one I can't win! There's no way any simple Pawn can ever win a fight alo-!" Stopping himself Saji gasps as he remembers someone who would have proved his words wrong.

"…No…Mike was…" Saji covers his right eye as he was starting to realize what he was lacking.

It was someone, who was his same age mate and close friend along with the same Evil Piece of Devil. Both of them started off the same and basically are the same in each of their separate peerages. But only one of them has been making any visible progress, the only one taking steps forward were Michael.

**"** **Two and one quarter…"**

_'_ _Mike was always a step ahead of me, even when I think I feel that I surpass him in knowledge. But in the end, when he does something mind-blowing it always made me question if my knowledge can even compare to his progress at all. First, it was the fight against the Phoenix Family where, he defeated the known immortal bird.' Saji remembers flashbacks on Michael's fight with Riser._

_'_ _But to do that the idiot had to give his eye away to the Welsh Dragon inside of him, but he still kept fighting.' Saji felt strange to almost crack a smile at his friend's stupid decision._

_'_ _Next, was his fight with Kokabiel, where he trounced the Cadre classed devil with the price of almost permanently breaking his arm to do so.' Saji felt a swelling of envy towards Michael as he continues,_

_'_ _No matter how terrifying or impossible it was, Mike was always able to take on any fight without thinking of the effects and danger he'll be in, he just fought to prove himself and help others. While I just studied and did normal maintenance around the school.'_

_Saji smiles bitterly as he says out his thoughts about Michael, 'It's because he's an idiot, who can't even see the trouble he'll bring if he does things his way without thinking and… that's why I'm j-jealous of him.'_

"He's a pawn, like me, who always gives it his all despite screwing up every time, but he was still able to gain the affection of his master so fast, while I barely get mine to acknowledge me from time to time. Even before he was a devil, I always wanted to think less of every problem and stop worrying about them. But that sort of thinking doesn't fit me at all and all."

**"** **Two and a half." Rallen starts enlarging his magic bullet.**

_'_ _That's right, he doesn't worry about anything but keeps moving forward even when we were kids and yet, I…wait, he didn't worry about anything when we were kids…?' Saji starts to realize why he always lags behind as he noticed one certain truth,_

_'_ _That's true, he never does_ _**worry** _ _about any of the consequences. No matter if his plans lead to failure, he just doesn't worry. And this was before his reincarnation of becoming a devil and awakening of the Boosted Gear.'_

Saji starts to realize that what's holding himself back from making an actual effort to win was himself. If he always hesitated then there would be no way for him to see the outcome on whether he was right or whether he was wrong. That's what made Michael accomplish the many things he's done so far not just because he had the Sekiryuutei within of him. But because he wanted to move forward because he…

"Has faith in himself." Saji said out his answer as he stands up and looks at his Absorption Line, "And that's what I lack…faith, if I put more trust in myself. Then I can change the outcome of an impossible situation as well."

Welling up inside, Saji was a lit flame which made him feel that everything would be okay despite the hopeless situation that was close to destroying the equipment room he stayed in.

"I don't have my complete Sacred Gear right now, so I won't make much progress, but I can manage with what I'm given."

Saji notices he was running low on power after his struggle with Rallen before,

"The way I am now, won't help me against that monster. I need more energy."

Saji knew it would be difficult to leech off strength from the crazed Rallen, who could easily dodge or destroy his lines.

**"** **Two and Three-Quarters!" Rallen sounded pissed off with a hint of readiness to fire.**

"C'mon, think! Think, I need another power source to borrow energy from!" Saji whispered to himself, then looked back and forth before, he stops, "Wait, I already have a power source, or, in fact, I have a group of them right here."

Saji looks back towards his frozen friends and frowns, he didn't want to take their power without permission, but weighing the choice against fighting Rallen on half empty power and going at him with everything he has, he had to make the right decision. Closing his eyes before opening them, Saji nods with eyes full of hope to find another conclusion to this crazy fight.

"All right, here goes nothing.  **Line Go!"** Saji shoots about 3 lines at Momo Hanakai (Rook), Tsubasa Yura (Rook), and Tomoe Meguri (Knight). Informative about his allies and their stats, Saji chose these three first since they are more adept in their demonic power than the others. If things weren't as bad as they were now he would use the others before resorting to use the more experienced devil's power.

_'_ _Forgive me, but I'll need half your demonic energies to do this.' Taking in the power from his comrades, Saji's body is coated with a much thicker aura as he clenches his fist._

"Alright, I'm all charged now." Saji smiles and pumps himself up and turns to the door ready to face his next challenge, "Now time to take care of that monster."

Still outside waiting to smoke out his squirming prey, Rallen simply sighed in irritation as he realizes his patience has run dry and the fun was now gone. What was the joy of having to wait for a bellyaching opponent, who won't even try to prove to be entertaining?

**"** **Chi! No fun at all, maybe if I faced Ddraig then I would have gotten a real challenge, at least, but I shouldn't have raised my expectations so high," Rallen's charged dragon magic bullet prepares to fire as he mocked,**

**"** **After all you do hold only ¼ of that Pansy Prison Dragon's soul in that little weapon of yours."**

***DOON!***

"Not so fast, you bastard, what the hell do you think you're doing!"

***REFLECT!***

**"** **Heh!"**

***BAAAAAAAAANG!***

Firing the blast it directs itself to destroy the room completely if it had hit. But breaking down the door and reflecting the blast back at Rallen; Saji was able to make it just in time. Not alarmed by this Rallen grew a smirk finally happy that this fool revealed himself.

Even with the blast of his own attack flying past him by a few inches from his head which soon exploded in the background, even after grazing his cheek, Rallen was still unmoved as he simply cracked his neck in readiness. Landing across from the demented man, Saji starts to release cover his body in Demonic power to stabilize his power and harden his defense and offense.

_'_ _Good, I was able to make sure no one got hit by that blast.' Saji relaxes his hand, now burned from the brunt of that energy blast. Rubbing his hand, Saji now realizes the intensity behind Rallen's attack._

**"** **So you've finally decided to show yourself, huh, Pansy Vritra?" Rallen getting way over excited flexes his muscles with enough pressure to break the air pressure. Around him, the dark green dragon aura starts to spike out his body as its pressure intimidates Saji.**

_'_ _Such power...it has too much killing intent inside of it, so this is the power of an Evil Dragon it seems much more terrifying than a cadre class Kokabiel.' Saji gulped as he prepares himself for the worst._

**"** **Here I cooooooooome~!" Rallen roared catching Saji off guard as that confirms the man's personality switch. Using Saji's lowered guard as his chance Rallen charges at him at blinding speeds head on to catch him off guard.**

_'_ _Here he comes!' Saji readies himself as Rallen brings himself to appear but then disappear._

"What?"

***FLASH!***

Suddenly, appearing behind Saji with his fist cocked back, Rallen laughed,

**"** **Your too slow, you pansy Prison Dragon!"**

***BAAAAM!***

***CRAAASH!***

"Uuarck…!"

Getting sent flying by Rallen's dragon aura coated fist, Saji slammed into the gym's floor and creates a large crater with his body. The blow forced Saji to hack out a moderate amount of blood. Getting himself up, Saji is up on all fours with his forehead bleeding.

**"** **Hahahahahahahahaha! That was impressive, you're still alive! I honestly thought you were going to die with just that one hit." Rallen stood over Saji with an entertained smirk as he let out a twisted laugh.**

_'_ _I was able to coat the part this guy attacked with all of my demonic power, I used almost all of it to prevent too much damage, but it's obvious that he wasn't even using his full strength to do it.' Looking a little frightened, Saji swallowed his fear and stood up once more,_

_'_ _No, I just steeled myself to do this. I can't give up now, even if he does have immense power. I will find a way to break through it and find his weakness.' Saji raises both his fists as he prepares to go into close combat._

**"** **Ooooooh~! So you want to fight, eh? Well, come on. I don't got all day let me show you how strong my vessel's body really is Vritra!" Rallen roars as he starts to engage Saji again.**

_'_ _Fighting in close range combat isn't really my suit point, but I have to do this to make finding any weak points in his stance, form, or power.' Saji thought._

"I'll just have to find any weak points he may show..." Saji raises his arms and coats them with demonic power to harden his defense as he blocks Rallen's blows.

**"** **Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora!"**

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

**Rallen laughs uncontrollably as he launches a full scale of piercing punches.**

"Gugh! Nugh!" Saji grunts.

"Your open!"

***BAM!***

"Uuurgh!"

The punches Rallen fired were so much stronger, that they were able to break through most of Saji's guard and push him back before he was able to catch himself. As Rallen took this opening to do an uppercut, he sent Saji spinning through the air.

"Damn!" Saji winces as his jaw felt a little broken from that punch.

**"** **Woohooooooo! Yeah, it's not over yet! Come on, you're a fellow Evil Dragon too, if not, your part of one. So stop acting like a pansy and give me a fight, or I'll just kill you, right now!" Rallen jumps after Saji and covers his arms with dragon aura which formed into sharp dragon claws.**

"Tch!" Saji quickly finds a vantage point to use his absorption line on to see one of the steel beams still remaining. At first he hesitates wondering if the same trick will work twice against Rallen, but seeing that he hasn't the time to hesitate, he decides to take action.

Gaining distance, Rallen was close to tearing his claws through Saji's abdomen with the intense burning will to kill him. But was taken by surprise as Saji was able to remove himself from Rallen's reach and retract himself to a steel beam from above.

_'_ _He didn't expect me to do that again?' Saji started to wonder, why Rallen didn't just use his speed to cut him off, but shakes his head as he realized Rallen had a big opening._

"Take this, Hah! Hah!"

***DOON!* *DOON!***

Firing black demonic magic bullets at Rallen with his borrowed power, Saji was able to make contact with Rallen's body as he was too slow to react.

_'_ _Did I get him?' Saji questioned as he looks at the smoke which collected after impact, but was soon stirred to blink as Rallen soars out the smoke to strangle him within an instant._

"Grck!" The sudden pressure applied to his throat was dangerous it was close that it made Saji cough enough blood to escape his mouth.

**"** **Ahahaha…hah…you almost had me there, Vritra, almost, but that was nice what you did there. So let me take you for a SPIIIIIIN~!" Grabbing Saji's hair Rallen starts to spin around and wave Saji around like a rag doll.**

**"** **Now fly! Fly, you, son of a bitch!"**

"Aur-blurgh!" Saji coughs out a large amount of blood and extends his absorption line at Rallen attaching it to the man.

***THUD!***

***BAAAAAAAAANG!***

Saji felt the crushing pressure of the spin end as he hurls to the right through the air before Rallen's blinding speed appears to go to his advantage once again as he appears behind the thrown Saji. Stabbing his elbow into Saji's abdomen with bone crushing impact, Rallen sent the Pawn crashing into the gym floor creating a large crater in the middle of it.

"*HACK!* *COUGH!* *COUGH!*" Coughing up a fit, Saji gripped his bruised stomach as more blood expelled from his mouth.

***THUM!***

Landing with enough pressure to crack the ground, Rallen looks over at Saji and puts on that same old comfortable smirk he had before.

**"** **You know even though it's not that much of a fight anymore, it's still satisfying to beat and hear the cries of a pathetic opponent!" Rallen laughed uncontrollably before stopping to breathe in.**

_'_ _His attacks are lethal with each hit. I have to reexamine the common mistakes, he made during the fight before I actually die. Good thing, I managed to recharge my power with his Dragon aura.'_

_Unaware of it Saji's Absorption line gleam a bit as black aura starts to exude from it_

_Saji reviewed over Rallen's single track mind to kill him, 'He didn't notice my earlier attack like before, so that must mean his bloodlust is overclouding his sense to think properly.'_

_Noticing Rallen has been breathing for a long time, Saji ten gasps, 'He's been breathing in for a while, what does he think he's doi-? Wait, he has an Evil Dragon and all dragons, who inhale that much air-!'_

**"** **GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

Filling almost half of the gym was massive gouts of green flames which threatened to burn down the entire gym. Thinking about dodging, Saji stops himself when he sees the equipment room filled with his friends. If he were to avoid it then the flames would kill them.

_'_ _No good! I have to put up a barrier with all my power to block these flames!' Saji raises both his hands and summoned a barrier big enough to protect his half of the gym. This costs him more stamina and power to which he fell to a knee from exerting himself._

**_*CRACK!* *CRACK!*_ **

_'_ _It's still too strong to hold back!'_

_As soon as the flames made contact they were strong enough to leave cracks on the barrier as some flames burned Saji just by a bit. If the onslaught were to continue, Saji would have fainted from exhaustion, but luckily for him the attack was soon ended._

_Lowering the barrier, Saji pants heavily and looks back to see the equipment room._

_'_ _Still intact no one got hurt.' Saji pants as he looks back at the door smiling grateful for his attempts to protect it. He felt exhilarated to know that his efforts of taking on the opponent head while protecting the others was going to plan even though it felt hopeless in the beginning._

_Energy still entering his body, Saji starts to stand up and get himself together there were still the opponent in front of him, he still needs to detain. But the behavior of his opponent has changed so much that the attacks he used before had no problem at making direct hits._

_'_ _His attacks are more dangerous and ruthless, as before they were more planned and patient, so I can only assume he's being influenced by that Evil Dragon. This could be helpful because now I have a plan to capture him, but I have to keep charging my energy up to the maximum output.' Saji then looks up to see Rallen was gone._

"He vanished!" Saji gasped.

**"** **Nope…" Rallen whispered from behind using his speed to disappear from Saji's frontal view.**

"…!"

**"** **I'm just behind you~!"**

***DOOOON!***

"Gaaaaah!" Saji cries out in pain as he received a magic bullet to the back which burned a hole through his school uniform revealing his burnt back.

**"** **Now come on, let's play some more~!" Rallen engaged Saji in close combat, well, it was technically Rallen beating up Saji, who continued to take the blows, while waiting for each of his lines to get charged.**

_'_ _I have to focus my power into my absorption line, I haven't tried to use_ _**this,** _ _so now will be a good time to test it!' Saji's absorption line gleams brighter without his knowledge. The line still connected to Rallen that was still focused on pummeling Saji._

**"** **YEAAAAAAAAAH~! This thrill of killing is so much fun! Don't you think~!? DON'T YOU!? DON'T YOU~!" Rallen's cackle made Saji sick to his stomach.**

***BAM!* *BAM!* *THUD!* *THWACK!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

_'_ _Just a little more! I know trying to evade will tire me out so I have to try and stay conscious while preserving my strength.' Saji was knocked back a little then stops as he raised his fists, 'Shit! This will probably hurt more, yet this is the only way to get things done quickly.'_

"I-Is that all you got? Hah, my mom, could hit harder than that, you wuss!" Saji charged at Rallen who was amused by the taunting.

**"** **Oooooooh! So you're deciding to talk back and fight? Interesting, show me what you got Vriiiiiiiiitra!" Rallen roared as he charges.**

"Then try me you creepy looking bastard, watch as I…!" Saji begins to shout as he starts to curse to himself for even saying something like this. It was actually below him, but if he intends to act on the ball like Michael then he might as well say it,

"The Spectacular Saji amazes you with his well thought out spectacular attack!" Saji proclaimed himself in the third person.

(With Michael)

_'_ _Whoa…' Michael puts a finger to his head._

**_[What is it, Partner you having another splitting headache from thinking?]_ **

_'_ _No, I…I just felt someone out there just took my shtick.' Michael's eyes widened._

**_[That's interesting, but you should really be paying attention to the mages trying to kill you.]_ **

_'_ _The what about mages?'_

**_*PEW!*_ **

_Michael asked then a magic bullet zooms past his head as he screams,_

"Holy Shit!"

"That was for Magna!" One of the mages cried out for revenge.

"Hey, lady! No, need to get hostile it's not my fault, she was crushed by the door and got a concussion." Michael shook his head.

"Yes, it is!" The mage cried.

"Well then, why don't you try being the bigger person and letting it go like Magnus here?" Michael nudges his head towards Magnus, who was not moving and only groaned.

"That's because she's unconscious!" The mage shouted.

"So? It just proves how much of an immature magician you are, for even pushing a subject that had already passed, on me." Michael shrugged.

"That was 5 minutes ago!" Even Michael's illogical thinking made the other mages yell.

"Really, because to me it felt like 6…" Michael grinned then made an exploding noise, "The Great Hanamura just blew your mind, didn't he?"

"Oh dear…" Rias sighed and placed a hand on her forehead

"…" The mages looked to one another and focused their sights on Michael instead of Rias as the leader of the group nonchalantly said,

"Kill him."

***PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!***

The mages concentrated their magic bullets at Michael who continued to dodge them in a panicked fashion

"Aaaaaaaah! Aaah! Aaah! Aaah! Why only me? It's not like I hurt your friend or anyth-oh wait, I take that back!"

Michael was hopping as the beams were fired at his feet as he almost lost his feet to the barrage.

(With Saji)

Saji continues to taunt as he punches Rallen unexpectedly before getting a sock to the nose in return. It seems his punches weren't hurting him, just urging him on to hit harder. In fact, it turned into a pattern once Saji tried to hit back, if he hits hard then Rallen will hit even harder. If he tries to break something, Rallen will try to break something that won't be healable.

**"** **What's wrong? I thought you said you were going to show me how spectacular you are!?"**

_Saji's face got more bruises by the second as he allowed himself to get smacked around, but this isn't working as the blows were growing more lethal and might probably kill him. But he has to hang in there or else, he won't be able to show off this cool side of himself again. Yes, he at least wanted to show this side to the Kaichou and everyone else and dying wasn't an option._

_'_ _I-I don't know how much I can withstand…Guh! No, have t-to k-k-keep on going I c-can't lose!'_

_Even with convincing himself, Saji couldn't avoid the possibility that he may collapse before his plan is take into fruition. With one heavy blow to his chest, Rallen was able to make Saji skid back and fall to a knee._

Coughing up a fit with blood splattering out his mouth, Saji was on his last peg, his body was covered in bleeding bruises and blackened burns. His stamina wasn't far off from being almost empty as he had the strength to even consider staying on one knee.

"Damn, and I-I'm so close too…" Saji pants as he was almost charged with enough power from Rallen's almost limitless amount of strength. It was a surprise the man couldn't even sense the line on him especially when Saji hasn't even made it disappear with a spell.

**"** **Awwww~! It looks like the game is over for you, Vritra, but no worries, after I'm done with you, I'll go have fun with a couple of others! Hyahahahahahaha!" Rallen's sight directed itself towards the equipment room.**

"…!" You Bastard!"

**"** **Stay down, Pansy Vritra."**

***FLICK!***

***PEW!***

"Argh!"

Shocked to hear that, Saji forces himself to get up, but to no avail as Rallen was quick to shoot a small magic bullet through Saji's kneecap. The pain felt excruciating that it made the blond teen hug his knee in pain.

**"** **Hehehehe!" Rallen chuckles as he slowly approaches Saji with a smug grin as he says, "Now time for the most exciting part of killing someone actually killing them~! Hyahahahahahaha!"**

"D-Dammit, I-I have to get u-up!" Saji grunts as he pushes himself up, but as he does he realizes the wounds in his leg won't allow him to stand at all. He can't die yet. He has to win, he has to protect everyone for their sake and the Kaichou's. He can't give up!

Any kind of thought to stand was gone as Saji uses sheer will power to at least get himself up onto one knee. But that was the best he could do with his one good leg. Panting and staring at the approaching Rallen, Saji groans, "I'm so close to hitting max power, I have to be exact or my body will be destroyed with the amount, I have."

_'_ _I could use some advice right now on how to take care of this guy, without physically fighting him. Like to detain him.' Saji thinks to himself before he hears a hear voice come through his mind._

**_(G…en…l..t.o…str…g…t…fi…t agai…t…use..li..es…to…old…him in place!) An eerie voice warns_ **

_Freaking out, Saji realized his eyes glew a little purple before he grips his head in concentration, 'What the-what was that?' Saji looks at his Absorption Line to see that it was glowing with a dark aura, 'Wait, could it be that a fraction of Vritra's soul has awakened? Maybe, it must be from me absorbing that Evil Dragon's power.'_

Saji remembered the quote Power calls for power and now the power of this Evil Dragon that he still doesn't know the name of is attracting the fractured soul of his Sacred Gear.

**_(Q….ick…Gre…l…will…al..ys…u..s…up…too..m..ch…power…without..thinking) The fraction of Vritra's soul was still cryptic with its words, but luckily Saji could interpret what it was saying._ **

_'_ _I can't tell the first words, but I know he want me to use my lines to-I got it he wants me to hold this guy down with the lines and increase the sturdiness with his power as it continues to leech off of its power, but can I really detach my lines like that?' Saji was doubtful._

**_(..D…n't…sitate…do it!) Vritra pushed Saji to do so anyways, its best to try then never do it and fail at the start._ **

_Shaking his head, Saji nods, 'You're right I have to give it my best or I won't win at all!'_

**"** **So this is it." Rallen stood over Saji and cracked his knuckles before he surrounds it with a thick dragon aura with a dark intent to murder the keeled over teenager.**

**"** **This was fun. I'll give you that, but I expected for you to do one last trick! How disappointing~ Oh weelllllll~! TIME TO-!" Rallen swings back his arm for the finishing blow.**

_'_ _That's it! Come on, you bastard, come and get me…I'll take that opening and finally hold you down.' Saji slowly pulls his line as Rallen's arm moves back in a slowly but steady fashion. It was now or never._

**Cracking his arm forward with all of his might Rallen's fist fires at Saji's head at the speed of a bullet being shot. It was still slow not to have hit yet but Saji suspected it and waited for the correct moment to strike.**

**"** **DIIIIIIIEEEE!" Rallen roared as he outs much more speed into the fist at the last second.**

**(…N..OW…!) Vritra's soul signaled for the counterstrike.**

_'_ _Right!' Saji leans into the punch, while cocking his head to the side where he barely dodges it._

***CHICH!***

***VRAAAAAAAAM!***

**"…** **! What the hell!?" Rallen blinked in surprise.**

"Target captured!"

With his lines wrapped around Rallen's arm, Saji knelt right beside him with his enhanced line filled with the stolen evil dragon's power making the restriction durable. Struggling to move, Rallen was caught off guard by this as Saji then initiates his plan.

"Go line!  **Detach!"**

***WHIP!* *PULL!***

Using a new feature for his Absorption Line, Saji willingly detached his line after wrapping it around Rallen's arm and sends it wrapping around one of the volleyball net iron poles.

**"** **You little pansy assed-!"**

***WHIP!* *PULL!***

**Rallen roars in irritation as he tries to reach out for Saji again only to have it wrapped once more by Saji and trapped with the other pole as its base. But this wasn't the end he has to constrict this man before he gets any ideas with his legs.**

"Almost!"

**"** **You bastard!"**

***WHIP!***

**"** **GET ME OUT OF THIS NOW!"**

***WHIP!***

_'_ _If I just connect these lines to his body, like the others, then I can force him to make the lines sturdier and strong to hold him back!' Saji thought as he finished as lands in front of a completely restrained Rallen._

Saji sent out two lines and detained his feet as well as both lines attached themselves to the legs and connected to the poles. Rallen would break out if the lines weren't constricting him more by the second. The more power, he would put into breaking free, the more he wouldn't even move an inch. Making sure of that, Saji fell flat on his bottom and continued to pant in exhaustion.

**"** **WHY WON"T THIS STUFF COME OF!?F THE POWER OF THAT PANSY VRITRA CAN NEVER DO THIS TO ME ALONE WITH HIS SORRY EXCUSE OF POWER!" Rallen roared at the top of his lungs as he tried pulling off the lines by flaring his aura only to increase their durability.**

"Are you really that surprised? I'm not the one whose making them hard to escape from, you are."

Saji smiled tiredly.

**"** **What did you say…!" Rallen looked at Saji threateningly.**

"What I said, you ignoramus, is that you fell into a trap with you as the source. If it were just me using my own power to trap you then it would have failed after I attempted to use the second line on your other arm."

Saji started to tell his plan,

"You see, I heard from a certain someone." Saji's absorption line gleamed one last time,

"That you can't hold in that aura of yours especially when your mind's set on killing. So I decided to use that against you. This is what would happen if you lose focus on control rather than focusing your time on pummeling me. Because of that your enemy will definitely take advantage of it, and defeat you before you go berserk."

Saji then thought,  _'Well, berserk as it would be if I'd have let him continue rampaging.'_

"So I decided to use my lines to wrap around each of your arms and legs and connect them to the volleyball poles. With the lines draining your power it would be easy to detain you without worrying about you breaking free because,"

Saji looked at Rallen's angered expression and that could tell the whole story,

"You'll just get angrier won't you, and with that you will lose even more control and let out more aura that will only bind you in that spot for even longer."

**"** **DAAAAAAAAAAMN YOOOOOU!"**

**Rallen was filled with anger after being defeated by someone who wouldn't fight back with their power but their brain instead.**

"Yeah, yeah, keep crying. Blame yourself for being so gullible not to see that."

***Thud!***

"Finally, I d-did it…"

Saji looked down with a tired smile as he trembled at his accomplishment and he was really happy. He was able to make it this far. If he had given up, he wouldn't feel so grateful for the stuff that happened during the fight. Just thinking about how everyone would be safe made him feel relieved, he did his job, but now he has to wait for everything to go back to normal starting with time unfreezing for him to be completely relaxed.

_'_ _I wonder if everyone on the outside is okay now, no, I need to put faith in them and be patient while watching this guy and making sure he doesn't escape, Kaichou and Fuka-Kaichou. I protected everyone.' Saji looks up and grins, 'Thank you, Vritra, you really saved me, and guess what Mike, I finally took a step closer to catching up to you just you wait.'_

Everything was finally going well for Saji until he heard…

**"** **Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe!" Rallen started laughing out of nowhere.**

Saji looked at Rallen in confusion, why was he so happy, he lost and can't fight anymore or was it that he was missing something but what could it be?

"What's so funny, you finally crack? Or even why are you laughing at the pitiful situation you're in?" Saji gulped as he still felt fear from the individual. Shaking it off, Saji tried to get some questions in,

"Now tell me, who are you and what business do you have with the Khaos Brigade?" Saji wanted information and that would also shed some light to why he noticed Rallen's sudden change in character and murderous attitude.

**"** **Hehehehehehe! This is bullshit!" Rallen started to laugh uncontrollably as his tone was filled with joy when it shouldn't.**

"Excuse me?" Saji sweatdropped.

**"** **The likes of me being restrained by an incomplete user of Vritra it can't be real this is some shitty joke, isn't it?" Rallen continued laughing as his tone grew more aggressive, Saji's eyes widened as he felt a rising appearance of Rallen's green aura.**

"What the fu-?" Saji couldn't finish as Rallen suddenly roared,

**"** **ISN'T IT!?" RALLEN roared as his aura only grew more in size and sharpness as the winds started to blow back Saji who lands on his belly and look up at the crazed man now standing.**

"What's happening? Doesn't he know that won't do him any good at all?" Saji wanted to assure himself but the strange creeping fear rises up in his chest, "M-My hands."

Saji finds that his fingers, no, not just them his entire body was shaking.

"What is this? I know this was checkmate, but I feel scared even when he's held back, what could it be?" Saji grunts as he tries to keep on the ground as the pressure of aura threatened to send him flying.

**"** **ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

**Rallen starts to infuse more aura into the lines making them much more thicker and constricting to the point that it crushes his wrists and drawing blood by the pressure. The output of power was startling even with an Evil Dragon within a Sacred gear it shouldn't give off this much aura.**

**"** **DOOOOOOOON'T THINK THIS IS IIIIIIIIIIIIT!"**

***RIP!***

"What the-!? How did you!?"

**"** **ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAR!"**

***FWOOOOOOOSH!***

***RIP!* *RIP!* *RIP!***

Saji lays down terrified at what is happening the lines were growing so much that they couldn't handle the immense power Rallen gave off, so they snapped free from the pressure of the aura it was put into.

**"** **Hmhmhmhm!" Rallen, who just finished breaking free, removed the lines, "There, that's much better."**

Rallen's laughter filled the gymnasium as it brought the feeling of dread onto the remaining individual in it.

"I-Impossible, he has this much energy to overpower the lines which sapped all of his past energy?"

**"** **Oho! You don't know, well, let me make this easier since I'm going to kill YOU!" Rallen disappears and reappears with his leg swung back, "I haven't been taking you seriously at all."**

"!"

***WHAM!***

***CRASH!***

"Guraaaah!"

Saji was kicked off the ground and crashed into one of the remaining gym walls untouched by their fight. Falling onto the ground, Saji felt his whole body go numb as he was near or was possibly at his limit this entire fight he was giving it his all, but his all still wasn't good enough. Looking up at Rallen's silver eyes, Saji could feel intimidation leak off his stature.

***STOMP!***

"Eaaaaaargh!"

With Rallen's foot now crushing his head Saji shouts out in pain as Rallen smirks in sadistic enjoyment.

**"** **Yeah! Scream in pain, you sissy bitch, thinking you could stop me with a few shitty lines like this!" Rallen turned one of Saji's detached lines into ash with his flame covered hand.**

Pissed off that Saji was even close to restraining him, Rallen puts more pressure into crushing Saji's skull to release his rage. Just the thought of being led into the palms of this boy's hands made him sick to his stomach that he almost wants to throw up.

**"** **I don't know how, but you've actually pissed over my good mood by trying to be a hero, so I'll make sure to have extra fun by making you scream for hell~!"**

***STAMP!* *STAMP!* *STAMP!* *STAMP!* *STAMP!***

**"** **So go on, cry and scream for help, even beg for me not to kill you! Let out those desperate wails to live!" Rallen continued to stomp on Saji's head as blood starts to go down his face from the stomps.**

Continuing this Rallen had expected Saji to give in already and scream, but that didn't happen at all. Each time his foot stomped the devil, he wouldn't hear anything. No screaming, crying or even those pathetic gasps for air. It was just silence. Suspecting he was already dead, Rallen looked and saw Saji breathing deeply in control of his breath as he goes through the pain.

**"** **What the hell is wrong with you? Why aren't you screaming? This is supposed to be the best part, why aren't you crying for mercy?" Rallen shouted as he felt Saji slowly turn his head back to look at him.**

"B-Because…"

***Chillsss~!***

**"…** **!" Rallen gasps as he felt his spine chill over as something about Saji's eyes tipped him off. It wasn't special like that of a dragon's or that they changed color in fact they looked dark near the point of unconsciousness, but that still wasn't it, the issue was the message his eyes were giving.**

"I-I won't give up…"

**"…"** **Rallen stepped back as he started to feel himself actually felt worried for the first time,** **_'What the hell is wrong with me, no, what is up with this kid? I'm supposed to be stronger than him. He can't hope to defeat me with that little power of his, so how? How is he making me be, so hesitant?"_ **

"N-gugh! Until I die, I'm not going to just roll over a-and..." Saji tries to stand but falls once more before picking himself up again, "I-I w-won't give y-you any sat-tisfaction."

**"** **What the hell? Why are you still trying to stand, you should know your place by now that you're going to die! So just lay on your back and admit defeat, you bastard!"**

Rallen tried to discourage Saji, but that wasn't working for him at the slightest as Saji continued his struggle to stand. Rallen made an annoyed sound with his mouth as he started to sweat, just what was it about this guy that made pushing him to continue a losing fight?

"You think I'll just g-give up because you're strong?" Saji grunts as he tries once more to stand as blood starts to flow out of his wounds and drip down onto the floor, "Before, I wanted to avoid a fight like this happening, but the possibility of that happening was 0%."

Finally able to push himself up on all fours, Saji starts to cough up some more blood to add to the slowly filling pool of it beneath him.

"I'd always thought that victory would be determined from a fight in the start of battle, but as I continued to watch  **him.** I've been proven that I was wrong time and time again, and it took me up until now to realize it. So I decided if taking on any odds with no safe assurance in the process can take me far…"

Saji uses every muscle everything fiber of his being just to stand up. He needs to do this to protect everyone whose lives are in danger. He needs to make sure the Kaichou's nephew wouldn't get harmed any more by this guy. Even if he can't throw a punch, fire a devastating attack or even think his way out. There was only one thing he had going through his head and that was,

"Then I'll use everything in my power to win, even if I die." Saji slowly raises his head as his eyes glared at Grendel with a burning dying vigor to keep going, "I don't care if you're stronger than me, faster than me or even smarter than me because either way **I**  won't lose!"

Now it was so apparent why Rallen felt fear from this powerless boy who could barely stand it wasn't him trying to act tough and it certainly wasn't because he wanted to end his life to end the pain. It was because of his Strong Will to win and that strong will has always been a pain in the ass for  **"him"**  in the past against that damned  **"human warrior".**

Rallen gritted his teeth in frustration, he really wanted to end this fight but he couldn't bring himself to move. He was being really hesitant and couldn't force himself to just kill the devil in one blow.

"So come at me you, monster! I'll kill you, and take you with me if that means I'll win!" Saji shouts with passion as he held his unstable stance against Rallen.

**"** **Grrr!" Biting his lip to draw blood Rallen stirs himself back to reality and growls, "You DAMN BRAAAAAAAAAT DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING LOOK DOWN ON ME!"**

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

**Raising his aura to an intense degree Rallen covers his entire body in the power and charges at Saji with his fist cocked back. He intended to end this with a single blow, he thought this would frighten the boy, but Saji still stood motionlessly as he glared at Rallen with those unwavering eyes of spirit.**

**"** **ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!"**

***DOGAN!* *DOGAN!* *DOGAN!* *DOGAN!***

The aura was now crushing the ground around them once the pressure exerted itself, but Saji still stood through it, glaring at his enemy.

Gaining closer distance Rallen was now close enough to kill Saji with his single blow as it was now mere inches from his face.

**"** **DIIIIIIIIE!"**

The punch was shot forward and Saji's fate was sealed.

"And here is when I step in." A voice chuckled.

**"** **What?"**

***SMACK!***

Suddenly a finger went to stop Rallen's punch as…

***BAAAAAAAAAAAANG!***

Filling the gym was another explosion which threatened to shake the entire building down off its moorings. As the smoke settles, Rallen slowly opens his eyes, he could only see the smoke of his attack ahead of him as he wondered who just said those words.

Then as he focuses his senses he starts to jerk back a little too late as the butt of a red staff taps him on the forehead once and draws back which confuses Rallen.

**"** **What the fu-!"**

***SNAP!***

**"** **Urhg! Uchk!"**

***BANG!***

**Rallen then felt the dormant pressure that the staff placed on him without his knowing before he was sent tumbling back and crashing into a wall. The pressure was strong enough to cause the man to vomit out blood and bile.**

"Shishishishi! It looks like interesting things have been going on here while I was away." A figure laughed as he slammed his red staff into the ground.

**"** **Grgh!" Rallen gripped his head in pain as he growled and glared at his opponent,**

**"** **Whoever you are you're asking for a death wish!" Rallen growled with seething anger.**

"Oh, really now? I'm sorry, but if I wanted to ask for a death wish…" The smoke cleared to reveal a smiling Kai wearing a black and gold dragon designed tangzhuang shirt and pants with martial arts shoes as his former clothing was destroyed in his past fight.

"I'd certainly would not be going to you for that favor." Kai finished his insult with a grin.

**"** **Why you…!" Rallen growled in anger.**

"You know, if you keep making that face it'll stay stuck like that!" Kai teased and rubbed the back of his head and mocked Rallen.

**"** **You! Tell me, who the hell are you!?" Rallen demanded.**

"Okay, but first I need to do something real quick, so be patient okay?" Kai waved his hand before he turns around to face Saji, who stood in place not even reacting to Kai's appearance.

**"** **BE PATIENT!" Propelling himself towards Kai with his fist cocked back with an insane amount of aura Rallen shouts, "Just WHO the hell do you think you're talking too!?"**

***SWISH!***

Opening his eyes, Rallen gasps to see his target dodged his attack and was missing.

"Well I do know that you're Grendel-san, am I correct, and it appears your inhabiting a human body and sharing it with a soul so nice to meet you." Kai said from behind and above the now proven to be possessed Rallen.

**"** **When did you and how did you-?"**

Rallen whips his head back to see Kai with his legs swung slightly back.

"It's not hard to tell this strange feeling I get from your Ki as I sense two souls within that, but besides the point because still even if you're a well-known Evil Dragon remember this," Kai slowly opens his eyes to reveal a pair of cold brown eyes, "If you get on my bad side and don't listen, I'll  **rip**  your heart out!"

***SLAM!***

***BAAAAAAAAAAAM!* *BAAM!* *BAAAAAANG!***

Imbuing his leg with a little Touki to increase the speed of his leg, Kai was able to send Rallen flying with just his base strength as the blonde man crashed into the ground a couple of times before stopping upon impact to create a large crater with the force of falling.

**"** **Huuack!" Rallen coughs a large amount of blood out of his mouth.**

"And now back to you, Saji-kun." Kai waved to get Saji's attention only to smile and realize, "You did your best, and you may just be entertaining to keep around after all."

It was revealed that Saji was still standing with dull eyes as he wasn't even conscious anymore.

"I'll make sure to keep you around, it's still too early for someone of your potential to die now, you just may come of use to me and someone who's really lazy in the future, so I'll make sure to keep you safe. Oh, and thank you, for taking care of Shura, bye-bye." Kai poked Saji's forehead and said, "Boop."

***Thud!***

Saji's body fell limply.

"But for now, I'll handle this man before helping the others outside with their "problem"." Kai grimaced at the thought of facing what he had hoped he wouldn't be who he thought it was.

**"** **Hiyaaaaaaaah!"**

"Hmph!"

***PUSH!***

***DUWAAAAAAAH!***

Taking note of the furious Rallen, who yet again charged at him with another aura filled fist. Kai simply thrusts his palm out and set out a strong pulse of Touki which created an air pressure to push back the possessed man. Yet again it was enough force to make another large amount of blood splatter out from Rallen's mouth.

"So I'll make this quick and help the old Crow-Ossan when I'm done, I still do owe him that debt." Kai's smile slowly changed to a more serious face as he closed his eyes, "Now to hurry before I sense Michael-san gain distance to that fight."

(With Michael)

***PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!***

"Why isn't anyone stopping this!?" Michael cried as the mages still kept firing their magic bullets at Michael's feet as Rias and Koneko sighed tiredly while Gasper simply looks at Michael with teary eyes. As Gasper started to believe it was his fault that all of this misfortune was happening.

Watching all of this from a close window was a black cat purring as one of its yellow luminescent eyes gleamed with mischief as it looked up in the air to see a bored Vali in armor dealing with mages with minimal effort.

Looking at the cat himself, Vali nods as he repeats to himself,  _'Patience, it's almost time. It will happen in due time.'_

(With Kiba)

***GIN!* *GIN!***

"Uooooh!"

***GIN!***

***SHATTER!***

***WHAM!***

Going in at Drayfus, Kiba uses a few quick tricks with his speed to try and trip up Drayfus, who blocked the two swings of the Holy-Demonic sword with his katana easily breaking the sword with less effort than before. Then proceeds to slamming the bottom of his hand guard into Kiba's chest.

"Ack!" Kiba coughs as he tumbles back to stop himself just in time.

Panting on a knee, Kiba is seen holding his now half broken sword of many as the other Holy-Demonic swords failed to get past Drayfus' inhuman attacks. The devil descendant's attacks were relentless after he had taken on a powerful transformation as a dark purple cloak of dense aura surrounds his body in the shape of a western dragon.

Kiba realized that blade, Drayfus carried which he named, Yami no Ryu, was devouring his energy each time it lands a cut even if it was a small one Kiba felt sapped of his power if the new gashes on his legs and shoulders were any indication. This only proved useful to Drayfus as he "devours" the power and strengthens himself.

"It seems things have gotten more difficult." Still keeping himself together Kiba stands up and faces the approaching Drayfus whose urge to kill only rose by the second.

"Each minute your alive is another minute you tarnish my pride you damn, fake devil!" Drayfus launched himself at Kiba and swings his sword with enough strength to create a massive shockwave, "DIE,  **Evil Shadow Eagle!"**

***GIIIIIIIIN!***

"Tch!"

***CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!* *CLACKLE!***

Kiba grunts as he is forced to use a regular demon sword after he exhausted his time in his balance breaker state. But with his exhaustion getting the better of him and his regular demon swords being much weaker than his holy-demonic swords it would be very difficult to see him getting out of the attack unharmed.

***SHING!***

***GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!***

"A-Almost, if I could jus-!"

***SHATTER!***

"…!"

***SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!***

Kiba starts to push back the attack with his remaining strength only to lose his footing and concentration as the shockwave breaks through his blade and…

***RIIIIIIIIIIP!***

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!"

Cuts against Kiba's upper body releasing a terrifying amount of blood from the deep wound. Once the attack ended, Kiba was still seen as one whole instead of being cut in half by the attack. If it were any ordinary devil, it would mean their instant death. But fortunately for Kib,a he was much skilled then the ordinary devil.

Falling to one knee, Kiba coughs out more spurts of blood as his right horizontal scar was till embedded onto his chest as blood oozed out of it. The wound felt like it cut through his entire inner body and perhaps his spirit with the force of sheer power.

***DRIP!* *DRIP!* *DRIP!***

_'_ _Gugh! Argh! The wound is too deep and I made sure to use all of my demonic power to form a protective defense across my upper body, and yet, it only helped me keep my life.' Kiba then looks to see his broken sword's blade has crumble away as he lost focus in maintaining its form through all the pain._

"Darn, I can't maintain it…" Kiba pants heavily as he slowly loses his strength.

Having a shadow tower over him, Kiba looks up to see Drayfus looking down at him with a no nonsense expression. He was very serious when he said he would kill this fake devil and means to do great harm if given the slightest chance.

"Your still alive, impressive, most would have died from that and yet, you took the whole thing and can still breathe as a single whole." Drayfus readies his katana and clicked his tongue, "But you still won't get any respect from me, because after what you have done. I will not be satisfied until you are wiped off the face of this world you fake trash!"

"Ngh!" Kiba grits his teeth as he struggles to dodge.

Drayfus exploded in rage as he points his katana down at Kiba who grunts and tries to move but his body won't allow it due to the pain.

_'_ _Come on, I can't die here! Move body! Move!' Kiba closes his eyes._

"Now rot in hell and send the God of the Underworld my regards!" Drayfus thrusts his sword aiming to impale Kiba's head. It looked to be Kiba's last moment until a shadow appeared from the ground and stabbed itself with a large,

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

***TREMOR!* *TREEEEEEEMOR!* *TREEEEEEEEEEEMOR!***

The shadow created a large RUMBLE which shook both Drayfus and Kiba to where Drayfus and to regain his balance which gave Kiba time to swallow what's left of his energy to gain distance. Once the trembling stopped Drayfus snarled and looked back to see a single European sword with a black/gold blade emitting vast amounts of potent power.

"That blade then that bastard's-!" Drayfus' eyes narrowed until the sword's golden blade flashed and blinded everyone.

***SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!***

Opening their eyes, Kiba and Drayfus looks up to the sky to see a mixture of gold and black in a massive barrier surrounding the entire forest they are in.

_'_ _A barrier? Who made this?' Kiba looked back and forth before seeing a magic circle appear before him, transporting someone to his location._

"So we meet again, you powerless mongrel." A voice sighed from within the magic circle.

***SHINE!***

Coming through the circle was a cross-armed Zethyr, who wore a new cleaner black suit with a white tie. The devil looked at Drayfus to notice the descendant's stare full of hatred towards him.

"Zethyr, the "Dawn Lucifer." You bastard…" Drayfus' tone was low and threatening.

_'_ _The "Dawn Lucifer"? Really, he's one of the few Devil descendants, who swallowed their pride and joined with the New Maou Faction, he even has the rank of being the strongest swordsman in the Underworld before even my Master. I heard he's the advisor for Beelzebub-sama. Why is he and why does he looks familiar?' Kiba looks closely at Zethyr's appearance and tries to assimilate it to someone he once saw._

Growing an excited grin which looked twisted from someone else's perspective Drayfus points his katana at Zethyr and laughs,

"Finally, I can settle things with you and finally take back my beloved Kate-chan! Zethyr Lucifer it is time for you to die!" Drayfus proclaimed.

Shaking his head at Drayfus' challenge, Zethyr remarked,

"Still as improper as ever."

"Grr…!" Drayfus growled.

Zethyr closed his eyes as he just wanted to deal with this matter before "someone" analyzes the sudden presence of two newcomers through the barrier around the school. And that "someone" will be focused on him so he try to overdo it and reveal himself.

Taking a glance back, Zethyr notices a wounded Kiba and says, "What a pitiful sight, a knight wounded and on their last peg especially when they display such pitiful use of their weaponry. How saddening."

Taking that to heart, Kiba lowered his eyes after having been negatively viewed at by one of the best swordsman in the world.

Turning his view forward at Drayfus, Zethyr sighs, "But it was my fault for not arriving to the meeting I set up with you, so I'll fight this battle on your behalf, so I won't be ashamed of not keeping my word."

***DYUUUN!***

***DYUUUN!***

Raising his head, Kiba looks up to see two regular sized magic portals both black and gold create a blade made from pure Demonic power which seemed much denser and destructive than any sword he could create.

As the gold magic circle creates a blade which let off a Holy power kind of vibe but this holy power was stronger and more powerful, it felt as though the Holy Power belonged to a higher being.

Catching Kiba's admiring stare of his power, Zethyr says, "If you don't want to be erased or killed stay back."

Walking forward to face Drayfus, Zethyr point's two of his fingers forward and released both blades from their portals to levitate on both his sides.

"Now shall we?" Zethyr beckons for Drayfus to come at him.

"I've been waiting for THIIIIS!" Drayfus roared as he swings back his katana to cleave Zethyr in half.

* * *

**Next Chapter- Come on Gasper be a MAN! The Calvary arrives as the beginning of the Destined Fight commences!**


	31. Come on, Gasper be a MAN! The Calvary arrives as the beginning of the Destined Fight commences!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "…"- Speaking
> 
> '…'- Thoughts
> 
> […]- Ddraig
> 
> {…}- Albion
> 
> (…)- Vritra

**Come on, Gasper be a MAN! The Calvary arrives as the beginning of the Destined Fight commences!**

* * *

Standing in the ruined club room was Rias and a panting Michael, who was exhausted from dodging the onslaught of magic bullets he was pelted with from earlier, and of course the mages, who were holding Gasper and Koneko captive. Now after the commotion ended, Rias was now thinking of a way on safely retrieving her servants back from the mages.

Both Gasper and Koneko were suspended in the air by the magical chains the mages created to restrain them of any movement and seal their respective evil pieces attributes. This pissed Michael off to see that his kouhai were being treated so poorly, but what angered him the most though was the damaged clothing and few bruises on Koneko.

_'_ _These guys, what have they been doing to Koneko-chan?' Michael then looks towards Gasper, he saw the young boy with swollen eyes and tears going down his face the goggles Michael let him borrow for courage were still on him so this made Michael question why he was crying._

"B-Buchou… Michael-nii…"

Gasper muttered out pitifully as his head was lowered.

"…Please forgive me, Buchou."

Koneko apologized with a frown for her inability to protect Gasper for as long as she did.

"It's all right. I'm just glad neither of you aren't gravely injured. Besides…" Rias smiled in relief but was interrupted by a Mage.

"We don't know what trick you used to get here, but if you take one step…"

The mages pointed their daggers at Koneko and Gasper's necks, threatening both Michael and Rias to step back.

"That's not fair! You guys are cowards for using that cheap ol' trick!" Michael shouted, annoyed that he was forced to hold back from rescuing Koneko and Gasper, he knew rushing in will just endanger them both as they outnumber him alone and even if he had Rias' help it would still be risking them both of the captives' safety and lives.

"This tactic may seem cowardly, but you devils should blame yourselves for getting into a bind like this don't you think?" The Mage scoffed at Michael's remark.

"Oh yeah, well I'm gonna…!"

"Michael, stop!" Rias kept her focus on the captives to ensure their safety while stopping Michael from making any rash moves. Doing things recklessly won't make this situation better, for Rias she has to keep a cool head or else something regretful happens.

"B-But!"

Michael pulled back his sleeve to try something until he saw one of the mages react and put the daggers closer to Gasper's neck drawing out a tiny inkling of blood.

"Damn…" Michael groaned and lowered his arm as Rias reassures him by patting his shoulder and nodding towards him to just be patient.

"Buchou…"

Gasper shudders with his head hanging low between his shoulders,

"…J-Just please, kill me…"

"Gasper, what the hell are you talking about!?"

Michael shouted at Gasper's plea to die, annoyed the boy would even give up.

"It would be better for everyone if I died. I'm a useless coward who just causes trouble for everyone because of this power. I'll just mess things up again…"

Michael looked closely at Gasper's sad face and clenched his fist.

_'_ _Come on Gasper, you shouldn't let yourself get down now!' Michael thought as he didn't want Gasper to just quit now, not when he was making progress._

"Stop spouting nonsense. I would never abandon you. Remember I told you when I made you a part of my household that 'you will live for me, at the same time you must find a way to live a life that will satisfy you."

Rias reminded Gasper of those kind words.

"But there's no such thing for someone like me, I'll just cause trouble again, and again that soon I just won't have any value to live anymore…"

Gasper continued to sob, he still wasn't letting what Rias said sink into his head as he still hasn't realized his own self-worth. Annoyed by this Michael tried to keep his cool as he thought,

_'_ _Gasper, you're just making excuses. You can't keep doing this or else you'll keep falling and find it harder to get up again!'_

Michael clenched his Boosted Gear Cladded hand harder at Gasper's demeaning cries.

"You're my servant and part of my family. I won't abandon you so easily, especially now when the possibility of you being free is so high!" Rias was resolute to gain back her captured servants.

Following up, Michael nods and said, "That's right! Don't quit now Gasper! You're not a nuisance, so stop bringing yourself down and realize we won't ever abandon you!"

"B-Buchou…Michael-nii… I-"

***SMACK!***

Michael gasps as he just saw one of the female mages strike Gasper's cheek then pulled him by the hair roughly. Michael tried to restrain himself from attacking the mages right then and there but he realized he'll just be playing into their hands if he did.

Sneering at both the devils, the mage spat,

"It would seem you fools don't know how to use a tool at all, huh? You think a dangerous half-vampire should be treated normally? Don't you get how much time you're wasting trying to make him feel normal? Hmph! I should have not expected much from the Gremory Family's disgusting affection for their servants. It would seem the Old Maou faction was right after all."

_'_ _You bitch…stop treating him like he's just a weapon, just because he's a half vampire doesn't mean he's not a person too!' Michael trembled in rage as he continued to listen to the mage's insults._

The way the mage talked filth about them, only pissed Michael off even more but he soon realizes that Rias wasn't so easily affected by the mage's words. In fact, she seemed to find their words to be of less importance at the moment as she only focused on retrieving her servant back.

Seeing this the mage tried to goad Rias into responding,

"A better use for this child would be to make him run rampant by brainwashing him and sending him off to go and take care of those cursed Fallen Angels. He might even give you a bonus by taking out one of their leaders. But the way you use him is pathetic. Tell me why exactly you treat him like a close friend?"

The mage rudely questioned.

"Enough of this..." Michael raised his Boosted Gear, "I'll take all of you out at once."

**[Boost!]**

Flaring up, Michael's red aura began to show a dark killing intent towards the mages that got even them to shiver and hold their daggers closer to their captives as a way to restrain them. Still worried for them Michael believed he could take care of all of them and still be able to save Koneko and Gasper.

"Y-You move and they'll die!"

The mages were quick to bring up an ultimatum once they saw Michael get angered.

"I'll make sure to blow away the ones closest to them and handle the rest." Michael imbued his fist with Touki then surrounded the white aura of Touki with his red dragon aura, "For you to talk trash to my master and kouhai right in front of me. I'll make sure you'll pay!"

"Michael." Rias place a hand on Michael's shoulder to stop him.

"Buchou?" Michael looked back at Rias still furious at the mages and saw her calm expression as he shook his head, "There's no need in being nice with these people Buchou, so let me handle this I, The Great Hanamura, won't forgive them after saying all that crap."

"Michael. Stop now." Rias repeated her order, firmly as she still kept a leveled head.

Still standing resolute on making Michael stop, Rias just continued to stare at him without the intention to let Michael continue. Michael still held his dangerous aura clad hand in preparation to attack as he stares back. The two were having a stare down to see whether one of them will back down and by the way Michael was starting to grit his teeth as it got longer it was obvious that Rias was winning.

"Gah! Fine, I won't attack." Michael threw his hands in the air and canceled his attack which caused all of the mages to take a breath of relief.

"Thank you, Michael." Rias smiled at her Pawn.

"Whatever I'll just be patient and keep my cool is that okay?" Michael folded his arms behind his head.

"Very much, thank you." Rias nodded and walked in front of Michael,

"Now back to that question you asked, well I never expected for you to understand this answer but I'll tell you something plain and simple for you to understand." The way Rias explained that pissed off the mage,

"It's because I treasure my servant. Which is unfortunate for the likes of you since you can't possibly comprehend something so simple to grasp."

"You cheeky, little bitch, I believe that disgusting mouth of yours along with that disturbingly beautiful face, that doesn't belong to a devil, should be reconfigured!"

***PEW!***

Suddenly firing a magic bullet at Rias' face the Mage stated her petty jealousy towards the Crimson Haired beauty. But suddenly, catching the bullet in his hand with the use of Touki, Michael was able to stop the attack before it even reached Rias.

Looking at the mage with narrowed eyes, Michael crushed the attack with his bare hands shocking the mages as he says,

"Hey! Hey! She wasn't done talking!" Michael looked to Rias and grinned as she smiles back at him.

Backing away, Michael allowed Rias to speak up once more,

"Gasper, please, cause me lots of problems. I'll scold you over and over, and then comfort you. I will never let you go."

Rias comforted Gasper with her usual kind personality which made Gasper cry out in tears,

"B-Buchou…I…!"

Gasper started to cry once more, but this time in happiness that someone was happy he made trouble. But the tears didn't stop there, he then remembered something similar such as flashbacks when Michael helped train Gasper on his own and accepted the mistakes he made. Even though he was rough and really strict, Gasper felt happy to know that someone was scolding him out of worry and for what's best for him.

Yes, that feeling was what truly made him the most happiest!

"I…I…!" Gasper hiccuped as he continued to sob with joy.

"GASPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!"

Michael shouted and got the 1st year's attention.

"How long are you going to look pitiful like that? Especially in front of the Buchou and me, you know those goggles your wearing, they symbolize that you won't quit and that you'll stay confident no matter what!"

Michael released his intense passionate feeling towards Gasper who started to widen his eyes and raise his head slowly gaining some confidence to stand up.

"Now prepare yourself and don't run away anymore! Enough putting yourself down! Enough of the excuses! You're not alone anymore you have Buchou! Asia! Ray-chan! Akeno-senpai! Kiba! Koneko-chan! Xenovia! And your big bro, The Great Michael Hanamura, right here to help! Remember, we're your friends. We never ever leave behind each other and we won't start now, especially, not with you!"

"M-Michael-nii." Gasper's face slowly grew determined.

"After what you said back there it really made me mad at the words you chose which is why I have to knock sense into you but I can't do that if your captured so find a way! And show to me that I should let you call me, The Great Hanamura your Big brother!"

_'_ _Michael…' Rias smiled at Michael's encouraging attitude._

Michael's body resonated with a fiery drive which sparked enough excitement for Gasper to try and nod.

"Y-Yes sir."

"You call that the cry of someone ready to go all out, sound off like you got a pair, dude!" Michael shouted.

"Yes sir!"

Gasper attempts again with a shout.

"Not good enough one more time! Come on Gasper Vladi…BE A MAAAAN!" Michael shouted dramatically.

"YES SIIIIIR!"

"That's what I'm talking about, Ddraig!" Michael called out to his partner who reacted according to his thoughts.

**[Roger, Partner!]**

**[Boost!]**

"Now let's do this!" Michael screamed as he thrusts his Boosted Gear up in the air,

"Ascaloooooon!"

***CHIIIIING!***

**[Blade!]**

Using the new call of his Sacred Gear, Michael was able his new added feature the Dragon Slayer Sword known as, Ascalon. The blade increased in length once Michael boosted his power.

The mages stepped back and made sure to keep their daggers pointing at the captured devils.

"You fool, are you going to resist us!?"

"If you take one more step they're as good as dead you know that, right!?"

"After what you did to one of our own, we won't hesitate!"

The mages shouted as one of them were still bitter about what Michael did earlier.

"Oh shove it, you stupid hags, this blade isn't for you." Michael points the blade towards his hand and smirked, "It's for me."

"…!"

Everyone in the room gasped as Michael pointed the edge to his hand as Rias tried to stop him.

"Michael, stop what are you-!"

***Sliiiiick!***

Michael stabbed a hole into his hand and caused it to bleed out much to Rias' worry.

"Gugh…man this really stings…hehehe, but it's nothing for the Great Hanamura." Michael actually wanted to cry his ass off since the pain was literally burning his hand.

_'_ _Damn, this Dragon Slayer sword really hurts like hell! I guess being a dragon does have its downsides with stuff like this! But I can't look weak now especially with Buchou and Gasper watching!' Michael clenched his bloody hand and looked towards Gasper._

"Michael, why?" Rias tried to check upon the wincing Michael, who tried to hide his pain, but he grinned at her with a single eye opened as he tried to endure the burning sensation going through his wound,

"Because, Power calls for Power." Michael remembered the words of Ddraig and the teaching the Ero-Ossan told him when they were training Gasper.

"Now rise, Gasper, show everyone-!" Michael raised his arm and flicks his wrist towards Gasper's direction letting his blood splash against his face,

"Your true power as a MAAAAAN!"

**_[Is shouting like that every time you say "man" really necessary?]_ **

_'_ _YEEEEEEEES!'_

**_[Okay, you don't have to yell, I get it!]_ **

"RIGHT!"

Gasper bellowed for the very first time as he licked the blood off of his determined face. Soon enough, the Bishop's eyes began to glow once more as the room's atmosphere changed along with its temperature.

***FLAAAAAAASH!***

Suddenly in a single moment a flash occurred and Gasper with Koneko was gone only for Koneko to appear standing right by Rias' side. It seemed Gasper was able to stop time and break free while helping Koneko out as well.

"He's gone!"

"Where did that little brat run off to?"

The mages panicked seeing their trump card now being their trap card instead.

"His Sacred Gear should have been suppressed, how was he able to-?"

Chichichichichichichichi!

The mages slowly looked up in fear as they saw many countless bats hang upside down from the ceiling before batting their wings and swarming them. It caused panic and confusion to spread in the mage group.

"He transformed! Stupid vampire!"

"Quick, shoot them down!"

***PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!***

The mages tried to fire magic bullets at Gasper's bats but they weren't able to even land a single hit with the many targets.

***GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!***

"Kyaaaaa!"

"What are these things, they're pulling me down?"

"Keh! Is this another ability of that vampire?"

"No, get away from me!"

Reaching out to grab them were multiple shadow arms latching onto the mages who struggled to break free only to realize their attacks weren't working as the arms just regenerated to latch onto them harder.

Chichichichichichi!

Swarming and biting down on their necks the bats began to drain the mages of their magic and blood.

"He's sucking our blood!"

"No, not just that. He's also draining our power too!"

The mages panicked.

One tried to escape, but sadly.

"…Payback..."

***BAM!***

Koneko who held a grudge for being captured delivered a swift kick to the mage's jaw, knocking her out.

Looking on in amazement, Michael smiled, "So this is Gasper's power? How awesome!"

"Actually this is all but a fraction of what he could do." Rias explained.

"Wait, seriously only a fraction? So he could do more than this? Whatever, I can still do better than this since I am the Great Hanamura after all!"

Michael gloated then calmed down to give Gasper a genuine smile,

"Now don't you see Gasper? You're not useless and soon, you'll be much more helpful than any of us."

"You're right." Rias smiled in agreement,

"Because of your blood, he was able to release his power, just how did you know this would work?"

"Well, you can say that I got some help. Hehehe!" Michael pointed towards the bracelet on his arm to indicate Azazel gave him the advice.

"Really? Azazel told you how to increase the power of Gasper's Sacred Gear?"

"Well, yeah, he was able to give us some helpful advice the Ero-Ossan may be a douche at times, but at least he knows when to be helpful at times."

Slowly getting up, the mage, who Michael knocked out from the beginning, began to attack the conversing Michael and Rias unnoticed as she screamed,

"Let's see how you like this!"

***PEW!***

"Buchou!"

Koneko alerted Rias and Michael of the incoming Magic bullet.

"Not so fa-! Huh?"

Michael was about to shield Rias with his body but the magic bullet stopped in mid-air.

"What, he can stop our magic now?" The mage gasped.

 **"** It's no use. I can read every move you make. **"** The eyes of the bats glow brighter as Gasper's focus began to heighten to the point that he stopped the movement of all the mages.

"Amazing, Gasper, you're focus has really improved."

Michael praised Gasper, who signaled for a follow-up attack,

"Michael-nii, the finishing blow!"

"Alright! Let's do this!"

Getting what Gasper meant, Michael could only grin and laugh heartily as he cracked his knuckles. He had been waiting for a chance to knock these bad mouthing mages out and he gets to do a combined attack too, this day was starting to look good for him.

Tagging the mages one by one, Michael was able to place a magic circle on their body.

"Now!  **Dragon Break!"**

***SNAP!***

***ZIIIING!***

All of the magic circles began to shine to indicate their readiness to be used.

"And now prepare to witness my next attack behold as I fire my greatest technique which will-!"

"…Just do it already." Koneko was annoyed with Michael's gloating.

_'_ _Why can't she let me enjoy the moment at least once!' Michael tears up then cried out in disappointment,_

"Fine, way to kill the moment,  **Dragon Shot!"**

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

Michael summoned a medium medicine ball sized mass of demonic power and fired a single beam made to knock out the mages as it separated into smaller beams to target the multiple targets at once.

The mages fell to the ground, beaten once the beams touched them.

Hopping up and down excitedly Michael laughs, "That was so cool! Did you see that Gasper? We were so badass! Too bad Kiba wasn't here to help with the combination, but we'll make up for it next time, but even if it's just the two of us we can be unbeatable!"

Michael thrusts his fist in the air as he gave a cool pose.

"Yes, Michael-nii!"

Gasper was just as happy to see his first coordinated attack with Michael work so perfectly.

"But maybe we could have timed it much better, in fact, we could actually do better right now, so come on, Gasper! Let's look for more enemies to defeat!"

"Yes, Michael-nii!"

Both Michael and the Gasper in his true vampire form started to leave the clubroom.

Michael was getting a little too ahead of himself with the whole concept of combination attacks he had planned in his head. Rias and Koneko watched wondering why he would even suggest such a thing at a time of danger like this.

"All right! Time to find us some more enemies so prepare yourself for the Great Hanamura and his kouhai's special attacks you turkeys!"

***BONK!***

"Dow!"

"…Now isn't the time, Baka-senpai."

Koneko appeared behind Michael and punched him on the head that it made a bump grow upon it.

"Ouch! Why'd you do that? I wasn't doing anything wrong!?"

Michael rubbed the huge bump on his head.

"M-Michael-nii, are you alright?"

Turning back to normal all the bats formed together to shape Gasper's human form as the young boy checked on Michael. The amount of blood he devoured only allowed him to be in that state of power for a short moment.

"She's right, Michael, don't forget the reason we came here."

"Right sorry." Michael coughed and picked himself up.

***BONK!***

"Ouch!" Gasper cried out loud as Michael punched him over the head.

"That's for giving up so easily, if I ever see you do that again don't expect to be let off so easily got it Gasper?" Michael said this was a strict tone but Gasper knew his senior was doing it out of care so he sniffled in pain.

"U-Uh-huh!" Gasper nodded.

"Good." Michael crossed his arms.

"Hey, Michael-nii."

"Hmm?"

Michael looks to see Gasper holding out something to him as it was, his goggles.

"I made sure that they didn't mess with your goggles, so it would be best if they were in your hands than my own."

Smiling Michael reached out and took the goggles as he assured, "Thanks for taking care of it but you know Gasper your right I don't think you need to wear these anymore."

Taking that as him being not trustable, Gasper lowered his head with a frown.

"But..."

As soon as Gasper heard that he raised his head to see Michael give him his signature grin.

"That's because you don't need it you've already gotten enough courage to stand on your own right now, and you'll just keep getting as you continue to live." Michael placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Feeling thankful and happy that he was alive to hear this, Gasper begins to sniffle then lets out his tears as to convey his happiness,

"M-Michael-nii…I…I…Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Oi! Oi! Why are you crying? I just complimented you!? So stop it!" Michael sweatdropped at the sudden crying.

"Waaaaaaaaah! B-But I c-c-can't!"

Looking at Michael scolding Gasper then petting the boy's head to calm him down, Rias couldn't help but smile as she saw Gasper sniffle and smile at the same time Michael began patting his head. Now she could tell she made the right choice in leaving Michael in charge of the boy.

"Thank you, Michael." Rias expressed her gratitude to herself.

"You good now?" Michael said as he finished calming down Gasper.

"Y-Yeah." Gasper nods as his breathing settled down.

"Cool." Michael looked at his goggles then remembered his past actions with Vali during the meeting before he smiles with his hair covering his eyes, "It's not really my style to fight unprepared especially without this. So I'll wear it when I decide to face him sooner or later."

***STRAP!***

Michael puts back on his goggles and grins as it kept most of his hair away his eyes.

"Michael-nii?"

"But thinking about this now, this may be my last wearing this thing. I've gotten so attached to it but me wanting to shove this back into Vali's face and showing him that we're equals will make up for that completely." Michael grinned, even if Vali was more talented, stronger and smarter than him it still wouldn't change the fact that he wouldn't try his best to win.

"So cool…~" Gasper's eyes sparkled as he looked at Michael, admiring his resolve.

"Heh! I am the Great Hanamura so losing isn't an option." Michael smirked then remembered the damage Vali could do and weighed all the power he had and compared it to the current Michael he is right now.

_'_ _Losing definitely isn't an option; I'll show him how much I've changed and make sure he acknowledges me as his rival.' Michael looked serious._

Suddenly blinking upon realization Michael gasps, "Oh that's right Gasper I forget to do this!"

"W-What is it?" Gasper asked.

Rias had hoped Michael would have remembered the arm bracelet but that was a good thing to remind Gasper and talk about, but now as she expected him to place the bracelet on the boy but sadly for her…

"Alright, Gasper I'm gonna need my 3DS back right now." Michael reached his hand out for the hand held game.

"Oh dear…"

"…"

Both Rias and Koneko facepalmed at Michael's main concern.

"Oh right, here you go." Gasper handed back the game device to Michael.

***PUUUUUUULLLLL!***

"Stop messing around, you know exactly what I meant."

"Wight! Wight! I gewt iwt!"

Michael cried out in pain as a vexed Rias pulled his cheeks real hard.

After a couple of moments of getting himself together and Rias healing his bleeding hand before checking to see if Gasper didn't erase any of the game's memory on his 3DS. Michael made sure to place on the bracelet around Gasper's arm as he shook his head once the arm bracelet shined pink.

"Here you go, this will make sure you won't go out of control again, okay?"

"Thank you, er… why is it shining pink?" Gasper asked curiously.

"I don't know, but it was the Ero-Ossan who made it, but as men let's endure this terrible pain together." Michael felt disgusted to wear anything pink right now.

"Eh? But I think it looks good, in fact, I actually like the color!" Gasper smiled brightly.

Gasping in surprise Michael widens his eyes and wags his finger at Gasper,

"When all of this is over we're having a serious talk about your preferences, young man." Michael said with a strained parent toned voice.

"H-Hai…Michael-nii." Gasper bowed as he felt the stern gaze of Michael stare on him.

"All right, let's hurry you three, we have to return and give the leaders our support!"

Rias walked ahead and out from the clubroom as she was concerned about the current situation the leaders were in and wanted to support them in case things get any more dangerous.

"Hai, Buchou!"

Michael, Koneko and Gasper responded as they followed behind their master.

"Freaking sweet! Now I get to show off my killer moves to the leaders and show up Vali at the same time!"

Michael laughed giddily as he could imagine the glory he'll receive.

Rolling her eyes in response Koneko ignored her senpai's ramblings and focused on running before she felt something was unusual all of a sudden.

***JINGLE!* *JINGLE!***

"…!"

But just as they were about to leave the room, Koneko was the only one to stop as she suddenly felt the ominous presence of someone nearby. Koneko looked around the room as she heard that familiar ringing, searching as she lost her composure, as she had her back facing the window where the sudden image of a cat was seen.

*Meow~!*

From outside was a black cat watching her through the window as it mewled and lazily wagged its tail.

"…!"

Whipping around to face the window Koneko saw that the noise's origin along with the ominous presence vanished. This sudden feeling of fear and anxiety was starting to get to her as she could only wonder why the feeling brought itself up again in the first place.

_'…_ _Was that…?' Koneko kept staring at the window while sweating a little to try and confirm something_

Peeking his head back into the room, Michael called out to her, "Koneko-chan what are you doing we have to book it over to the leaders as fast as we can!"

Still not listening, Koneko seemed to be unaware of Michael's presence in the room.

"Oh man, don't tell me she's mad about me using that brick wall comparison of her chest in the meeting." Michael said to himself.

***Chiillllllssss~***

"…Baka-senpai…"

***GLARE!***

"N-No!"

_'_ _Oh crap, she heard me!' Michael trembled and turned pale as the sight of Koneko slowly turning to look at him with those cold half-lidded eyes scared the hell out of him._

"O-Okay, Koneko-chan let's not worry remember we have to go help Buchou and…? Koneko-chan?" Michael sweated bullets while raising his hands in defense, scare for his life he even started backing away.

Remembering that feeling of irritation, Koneko lost interest in the ominous presence and just kept staring at Michael who was unable to make a move with the way she's acting.

_'_ _Oh crap! I'm terrified right now, what should I do, Ddraig?' Michael cried in his head._

**_[Run…]_ **

_'_ _What? Why she's not-!'_

***DASH!***

Suddenly using her legs to chase after Michael, Koneko tries to punish her senior for what he said.

**_[RUUUUUUN!]_ **

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

***SLAM!***

"AAAAAAAAAHHH! No! No, I don't want to die!" Michael screamed at the top of his lungs as he slammed the door which was futile as Koneko simply smashes through it with her Rook strength.

"K-Koneko-chan, calm down. I was just kidding see? It was a joke, hahaha!" Michael tried to do a fake laugh but it still didn't convince the white haired girl.

"…Laughing at someone's appearance isn't funny, Michael-senpai."

Michael knew shit was serious when Koneko was starting to use his real name instead of an insult.

"L-Look I'm sorry please, forgive me!"

"…Only when your 6 feet below will be the day I forgive you, Michael-senpai…"

"Kyaaaa! So scary!"

Michael screamed as he saw the dark look on Koneko's stoic face, it could tell a million things on what she wanted to do to him so not wanting to find out what they are Michael just ran farther.

"B-Buchou! Koneko-chan is trying to kill me!"

"…Escape is futile."

_'_ _I hope none of the others are having this problem, in fact, I wonder how they're doing.'_

**_[Michael, she's catching up to you.]_ **

_'_ _Huh? Oh, shi-!'_

_Michael turns to see a fist coming directly at him and…_

***BLAM!***

(With Kiba)

***GIN!* *GIN!* *CLANG!* *CLACKLE!* *SHING!* *GIN!***

Only capable of watching, Kiba sees a magnificent battle of swordplay between two experienced swordsmen right in front of him. After being knocked down by the Mammon descendant Drayfus, Kiba was saved by the Dawn Lucifer, Zethyr who's matching Drayfus' attacks, strike by strike.

With his arms crossed, Zethyr simply approached Drayfus as the two swords he summoned a pair of European swords, one covered in a pure black demonic aura and one with a golden holy aura which surprised Kiba. How could a devil be able to control Holy magic without the power he uses for his Holy-Demonic Swords?

The fight between Drayfus and Zethyr seemed to be a slow progressive stand still as neither was pushing each other back. But there was a difference between the two of them which made this just a stand still. It was that Zethyr was just buying time so he simply stayed on the defense, while Drayfus kept on attacking without giving himself a chance to think.

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

"Graaargh!" Drayfus roars as the swings of his sword were getting fierce with each swing he makes at Zethyr's body, intent on killing the man in front of him. The odds weren't in his favor since unlike his last opponent this one was actually experienced and more analytical when predicting his next move.

In fact, Zethyr was so experienced that he, himself wasn't even fighting. He was using a strange force of magic to control the two blades without holding them. Standing in one place with his arms crossed Zethyr simply controlled his weapons from a distance as he watched Drayfus' movements closely.

"Die! You thieving son of a-!" Drayfus uses his enhanced speed to appear above Zethyr who still hasn't moved to look up or dodge.

***GIIIIN!***

Both the Demonic Sword and Holy sword blocked Drayfus' aerial attack.

"An aerial attack from above? You must be joking. If you believe that will work."

Zethyr had his eyes closed as he sounded unimpressed by the attack.

"Shut up!" Drayfus used his 6 pairs of devil wings to fly up higher as he was starting to lose his cool, and raised his blade over his head and imbued a more viscous aura of what looks to be dragon aura,

"Let's see how you deal with the power of a dragon then!"

_'_ _What? How is he able to tap into the power of a Dragon? Could it be that sword?' Kiba gasped as he just now realized why Drayfus' aura resembled that of a dragon._

Kiba would have thought that Zethyr would be concerned but the dark-silver haired man simply adjusted his glasses and looked up at Drayfus with a bored look in the eye.

"A dragon's power you say? That's the reason why you were able to handle yourself so well when you got here. In fact, it explains how you're able to tap into such power involving darkness, how fortunate for you."

Drayfus bit his lip at Zethyr's remark annoyed that the man wasn't taking him seriously.

"Don't you mock me, you bastard!  **Shadow Dragon's Dark Talon Rain!"**

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

With his impressive arm strength and fierce dragon power, Drayfus sent down a heavy barrage of purple enhanced sharp projectiles of air/dragon power cutting up the ground and everything below it.

"What a simple move." Zethyr sighed tiredly, he honestly didn't want to deal with this man but if he lowered the barrier concealing his presence then he'll alert that "boy" of his presence here. Using his two levitating blades to cancel out the onslaught of pressured air waves fired at him.

But using the onslaught to his advantage Drayfus knew that Zethyr would use his two blades to defend himself so now he was completely open from behind. Appearing behind Zethyr, Drayfus prepares to impale Zethyr only to stop once he sees another magic circle of small size appear by Zethyr's side.

"What the hell?" Drayfus gasped as he saw a beam of light shoot out the magic circle and towards him.

"Like I said before."

***SHING!***

"Goough!"

The beam of light penetrated Drayfus' left torso as the devil falls back and coughs out a large amount of blood. Even after the beam went through Drayfus it still crashed into a huge amount of trees that it tore the land upon its impact.

"W-Wow…" Kiba could only mutter just that at the display of power shown right in front of him, even looking back to where the beam landed he saw that it wasn't just a beam but just a holy sword in the form of a dagger that moved at the speed of light.

"What a simple move." Zethyr shook his head.

Falling to the ground, Drayfus holds his bleeding wound in pain as he growls at Zethyr, who looked down at him.

"Damn you…"

"Now what you said before about me being a thief, whatever could have given you that idea about me?" Zethyr questioned Drayfus' possible dislike towards him.

"You mock me even though you know the truth is right in front of you!"

"What could you possibly mean?"

Zethyr was confused by Drayfus' yelling.

"Fine, if you really want to know then, I'll tell you why! Its because you stole away my beloved Kate-chan from me you, bastard! This is why I'll take your head and claim her as my own!" Drayfus accusingly pointed at Zethyr who was unaffected by this.

Zethyr facepalmed and responded tiredly,

"That's seriously your whole point for doing all of this? How pitiful. Don't tell me you joined the Khaos Brigade just for that reason alone because if you did then allow me to end your life and appease your suffering."

"Don't you pity me, it's the truth! It's not fair that you get to indulge in her beauty and hog those bountiful, soft brea- I mean personality to yourself! Not fair at all! So that's why I decided to take part in this attack to finish things with you and claim the bewitching Katerea for myself!"

With a oblivious face on, Kiba could only be confused about that logic, could a devil descendant truly be interested in a terrorist attack over something as shallow as a petty grudge. He then remembered back to one of the advisors belonging to Serafall Leviathan-sama and didn't find it hard to believe that Drayfus actually knew her since Katerea too, is a descendant from a very well-known devil.

"What you wish for cannot be gained through killing me if you want Katerea to be yours then you should have worked harder at it, this matter isn't something to whine about. It's her own choice on who she prefers to be with."

Zethyr was mature with his answer as he didn't want to talk about a subject he had no power over, he crossed his arms and shook his head in disappointment at his opponent's mindset.

_'_ _Is Zethyr-sama in some kind of relationship with Katerea-sama?' Kiba realized that it was a possibility since he heard that only a single pair of the remaining descendants of devils has decided to join over onto the New Maou Faction,_

_'_ _So could that be the reason for them turning over to a new side as a couple?_

"Quiet! It was obvious she was falling for me until you decided to barge in and ruin everything!"

"I have no recollection of taking "anything" from you. This argument is pointless instead of getting mad at me, you should be mad at her for making the choice that your clearly not happy about."

"You bastard…like hell I would be mad at Kate-chan because she's…"

Drayfus stopped himself as he was overwhelmed with his feelings of admiration and devotion towards Katerea,

"She was the only one who cheered me when I was always…"

"Always, what? I can't understand the ramblings of a man, who foolishly deludes himself. I honestly find it quite aggravating when those kinds of people refuse to see the irrefutable truth in front of them."

"Bastard, I don't have to continue with telling you what I feel, all you need to know is that as a traitor you must be eliminated!"

"Traitor? Me? No, you must be mistaken. I made sure to separate myself from you, barbaric fools."

Zethyr shook his head and simply smirked rather arrogantly which made Kiba question where he saw such a resemblance like that before.

"I've simply chosen a path which doesn't lead to destruction. The very same path all of you are going down."

"Destruction?" Drayfus snarled.

"Yes, I, myself must admit my arrogance and glorified days before and during the Civil war drove me into trying to prove I'm the better choice to take ownership of the role of Lucifer. I sought for leadership for my own gain while being blind to what was real important. And it became so clear to me after I faced that annoying man, time and time again during that war."

Zethyr had an image of Kai go through his mind as he looked disappointed with himself for even saying this conclusion out loud. It was so easy and clear that he couldn't believe he needed to fight an outsider of the devil society at the time of the Civil War to realize this.

"What man? Just what was it you realized?"

Zethyr fixes his glasses by adjusting them and raises his head saying,

"Prosperity."

"…?"

Drayfus looked confused, he couldn't get what prosperity had to do with anything, realizing this Zethyr sighed at the man's ignorance and continued with a question for the Mammon Descendant, "If we, the devils from the Old Maou Faction, were to have won the Civil War, then what? What would we have done after that?"

"That's easy, we would have taken the fight to the Angels and Fallen Angels to prove just how powerful we really are!"

"Indeed, but do you remember the Great War and what befell our race upon its climax?"

Zethyr brought up the deaths of many devils and even their Original Maous, it was a tragic time as panic ensued over to whom become the next Maou. Not coming up with an answer because he knew this, Drayfus kept his mouth shut as he saw where this was going already.

"Having pride is a essential for life, bu having too much is foolish. If we had blindly lived off our own pride, we would have just caused more unnecessary losses to our race and won't have a future left looking forward to. We may have dreamt of ourselves as the deserving heirs to the titles, but in the end, we were nothing more than spoiled brats, who through a tantrum for not having things their way."

"And what exactly is your point? How does this matter to you?"

"It matters to me because I want to see how far the devil race can live on and advance after the war. I want for the race to seek glory in a different light than just brute force and power that greatly outweighs the forces of our enemies. I desire and work for a new future where my pride is in not just my own bloodline, but my species as a whole."

Kiba jumped and was shocked as he saw Zethyr looking over his shoulder to glance at him before continuing his speech,

"That is why I will do everything in my power to do what's best for our race. Even if it mean that I'll have to kill the forsaken lot, who were once my comrades."

Zethyr releases an immense surge of demonic power from his body which only increased in volume and quantity. It was able to make Drayfus stagger back with the intense winds it made even when his aura cloak was still protecting him from outside forces.

_'_ _This terrifying amount of demonic power it's so vast and I can't sense any limit to it yet? Is he going to fight all out now? No, if he was then I would already be dead...' Drayfus began to sweat in fear as he discovers a terrifying detail about Zethyr's demonic power reserves,_

_'_ _He's only using a small fraction of what he'll need!'_

Drayfus growled, as he was overwhelmed by Zethyr's display of power when was able to pierce through the cloak of darkness he surrounded himself in, and force to make him hesitate to attack.

"Guragh!" Drayfus falls on a knee and holds the wound he received before in agonizing pain as the holy dagger's light seared through his flesh.

_'_ _This traitorous thief! How was he able to do that attack from before? The aura cloak I wrapped myself in no attacks can break through it so easily…no, I can't believe I forgot about this asshole's…'_

_Drayfus then stands up and spits out some blood while looking contemptuous,_

_'_ _Of course he can use Holy and Demonic power like that faker over there, but his power is on a whole new level which is why he can handle himself so well.' Drayfus was describing all he knew about Zethyr to confirm his analysis about his strengths so he can later find the weaknesses,_

_'_ _This bastard has always been talented ever since the day he was born, his demonic powers were that of an adult when he was a child and even his swordsmanship was ranked the highest out of the most skilled. He was never satisfied with anything he received, so he kept on developing himself more and more to where it's hard to see if this man, no, this monster had a limit at all.'_

Drayfus prepares his katana once more and charged at Zethyr with a loud battle cry while shouting, "I'll kill you!"

"You'll die trying."

Zethyr raised his hand and fired a huge block of demonic power at him.

"Yah!"

***ZAN!***

***CLANG!***

"Damn, these annoying things!"

Drayfus was able to cut the attack in half but was soon met with the levitating blades Zethyr was controlling with his demonic power subconsciously.

"Hyaaaaaaah! Yah! Yah! Yah!"

***SHING!* *CHOP!* *GIN!***

Drayfus' attacks whether they were physical or either imbued with dragon power was deflected somewhere away from Zethyr's body mostly trees and sometimes nearby Kiba. Finally getting that he himself was still in the way even Kiba noticed a few close calls of each reflected attack.

_'_ _It was because of his damned Lucifer bloodline that he was able to make it as far as he did!' Drayfus gritted his teeth in frustration._

_Continuing to think about the Dawn Lucifer's powers, Kiba thought,_

_'_ _It was told in the bible of God's right hand man and most favored archangel, Lucifer, who was cast down to hell for his pride and arrogance to surpass God. His holy power was believed to have been gone once he lost the blessings of god but it seems it was just dormant within him, sealed away for him to ever use again as a devil.'_

_Kiba gulped,_

_'_ _In the past, no one in the House of Lucifer not even the Original Lucifer himself was able to tap into such power, not until Zethyr Lucifer was able to make a discovery of tapping into Holy Magic within his bloodline!' Kiba's eyes widened in amazement._

Lowering his arms, Zethyr looked at Drayfus more specifically his wound and commented, "To think you're still able to move after being impaled by a single dagger imbued with holy power. I must say you are somewhat durable."

"Krch!" Right on time, Drayfus grips the burning wound as the holy power was negatively affecting his devil body.

"Or is it you're just pushing through the pain with just sheer willpower." Zethyr sighed, "Either way this is still taking too much time as it is, anyways, come at me so that I may finish this swiftly."

"Grr! Why won't you fight me yourself, you damned bastard!?" Drayfus roared as he charged at Zethyr once more and imbued more dragon power into his katana as he puts more force into each of his blows.

"Because when I fight opponents, who can't use their innate powers, I just decide to stick with a handicap."

Zethyr was able to determine that just by how Drayfus was wielding his sword. The aura it released was too strange and more cryptic than a devil's in fact he was pretty sure it wasn't even devil's aura.

"What do you know? I am using my power, allow me to show yoooou!"

Drayfus attempts a horizontal slash which just ends in failure as the Holy sword blocks the attack while the Demonic Sword points itself at Drayfus from above.

***ZWOOOM!* *ZWOOOM!***

It had a dangerous black lightning kind of aura surrounding it. It was about to fire a beam.

"If you are then answer me this question… Why does the color of darkness that you exude resemble that of the Evil Dragon, Apophis?"

Zethyr narrowed his eyes as he could easily read through the scales of power going through that blade.

"! How did you-!?"

**"** **Beta Demon Edge."**

***SNAP!***

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

A massive amount of pure demonic energy was shot at Drayfus in the form of an engulfing energy wave. The blast was tearing through Drayfus who tried to bring himself to roll out the way which only seemed futile as the attack stayed locked on his entire form making dodging a problem.

"Gaaaaaaaaaargh!"

Being forced back, Drayfus took the attack at point blank range, being pushed back by quite a distance Drayfus knocked down a couple of trees and still kept getting pushed back within the blast.

"Haaaauurh!"

***CHIN!***

Putting a stop to the would be fatal attack, Drayfus stabbed his blade in the ground to stay in place as the energy attack passed by him as it kept continuing and made impact with something deep in the woods.

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

The attack created a large enough explosion to shake the ground around them.

Panting with his remaining strength to keep himself up, Drayfus was covered in blood as the energy wave wasn't just damaging him with its deadly power but also leaving gash marks which would be received from a sword.

"Does that suffice enough evidence to prove you're not using your own power? Or should I come to the conclusion to why you're using the spirit within that sword as a handicap to make up for your lack of ability to even use the [Power of Darkness]?" Zethyr continued speaking which annoyed

_'_ _Wait, that dragon's power is also controlling the draining darkness around him?' Kiba gasped._

"Drayfus Mammon, you are a descendant of the Devil Family, Mammon. Unlike your relatives, you were the only one who has yet to have been born with your bloodline's special ability, the [The Power of Darkness]."

Putting out Drayfus information out in the open, Kiba was shocked while Drayfus lowered his head in rage at being revealed and humiliated by this man of all people.

"I had heard you criticized this reincarnated devil for his change in status from a human to a devil, blatantly stating how completely fake he was compared to us, Pure Blooded Devils. But I find that hypocritical coming from a Devil, who would stoop to something so low as using an external source of power."

Zethyr points a finger at Drayfus calling Drayfus out by using his own words against him,

"A Proud Descendant of a Pure Blooded Devil has no right to preach to a Reincarnated devil about what's fake or not, especially when they are using the power of others to help them."

Having hit the ball with that, Zethyr awaited Drayfus' reaction hoping it would be of surrender, but in return he didn't get that at all.

"Hehehehehehehe..."

Drayfus started laughing as his head lowered to hide his face.

 _'_ _He's laughing?'_   _Kiba watched as Drayfus laughed all of a sudden._

"I'd never imagine this would be happening to me, haha... what a joke."

"…"

Zethyr watched Drayfus' demeanor go slack as the rise in dragon aura only increased along with the shadow like aura surrounding his katana.

"To think I've been humiliated by a fake devil that was able to put a cut on me, but also by being found out and revealed by the very same man who stole the person I absolutely adored away from me. Man what a complete and hopeless mess that fell onto me."

Unaffected by Drayfus' change in attitude, Zethyr simply watched without reacting. Drayfus smirked as he raised his head to look up at the sky covered by the barrier Zethyr made.

"You must think you've gotten the better of me both physically and mentally, huh?" Drayfus covered his face and laughed at Zethyr's attempts of disorienting him, he may have denied it but deep down he was really pissed off by this.

"That wasn't my intention. I just simply wanted to bring that up, so you can find the answer you seek. If I wanted to take control of this fight it would have been done no long ago." Zethyr folded his arms behind his back.

"You must be…joking as if I would ever let myself get caught up into your tricks so easily you fucking, pissant!"

"You're just doing this to yourself, I dislike to waste air on the hardheaded, so I will give you only one more chance to lower you weapon or I may have to put you down."

Zethyr sounded serious with that ultimatum.

Drayfus snapped at Zethyr, who was still unaffected by the man's outbursts. Actually the aura of shadows and dragon powers cloaking around Drayfus began to rise in power as it started collecting itself, to where that it all transferred into the blade of Yami no Ryu as it had an eerie glow which had that one purpose, to kill the enemy right in front of him.

"So you're willing to walk down the same path of selfish glory are you?" Zethyr wondered if this was Drayfus' answer.

"No."

"What?"

"The path I walk down on is different from the path you just described, you see unlike the others I wasn't born to be spoilt for choice. I was actually struggling to get strength like this, being not able to use the power my family had was just the start. For you see I trained myself to the bone to be able to use this dragon's power for myself. Increasing my strength, my stamina and speed I was able to get this far by working at it!"

_'_ _Incredible so that power of brute strength from when he fought me was from training?'_

_Kiba has never known a Pure-Blooded devil who would do that to themselves, such as Riser Phoenix who virtually relied on his own talents rather than training his body's stamina and lost to Michael because of it. No matter how strong you are, if you don't put in the effort to work to better yourself you won't go that far._

_And seeing that Drayfus was able to gain this terrifying power on his own through training, and a prodigy such as Zethyr Lucifer who not only excelled with his talent with his demonic power but also tapped into and perfected a recessive trait within his bloodline. Kiba felt that compared to these two he was on a level way below their own._

"Even if I have to use all of my strength, I swear I will cut you down and claim my prize and your head, Zethyr Lucifer!" Drayfus lowered himself and held his katana with both arms as the blade was held over his head. The power his entire body exuded was now placed within the sword now it was made into a weapon with an instant kill atmosphere about it.

This was it, Drayfus knew that he wouldn't be a match for Zethyr if he continued like this so he decided that it's now or never, by placing his bets that one final attack will put the fight into his favor.

"Hmph! Such a well-spoken response." Zethyr snapped his fingers redrawing both his demonic and holy sword back into their magic circles; it looks like he was going to be meeting Drayfus halfway as well once he picked up the blade he created and crashed into the ground from earlier. The sword was a long dual edged claymore with a black and gold blade infused with both holy and demonic power Kiba uses for his balance breaker. But unlike his holy-demonic sword that claymore was more advanced with a stronger aura surrounding it.

"I will indulge your brave foolishness by dispatching of you, Now..."

Zethyr summons a sheathe to his hand and puts his claymore back into it as he kept his hand on the hilt,

"Come at me, Drayfus Mammon!"

"Here I come, ZETHYR!"

Charging with all the strength in his legs Drayfus flexes his muscles to the max so that his sword can break through that claymore, if he can break it in time he can use the chance to attack Zethyr while he tries to make another sword. That plan sounded completely sound as it gave him the many different scenarios if Zethyr's blade breaks or if the man decides to dodge. This final attack would settle the battle in one fell swoop.

"Farewell, Zethyr Lucifer!"

Beginning his attack once Drayfus began swinging his katana the shadowy dragon aura it let out extended and chopped all the trees to his right, where he began to swing for over a 20 mile radius.

_'_ _The wide radius he's attacking with is incredible, and the speed even if someone were to dodge it they would still have an issue with gauging how fast they should retreat before the attacker changes the direction of the sword's edge. This is very troublesome attack!' Kiba watched closely seeking curiosity on how Zethyr will handle the situation._

The blade was drawing closer to Zethyr, who didn't show any fear. By taking a couple of steps at the charging Drayfus, Zethyr slowly draws his blade as he approaches with a brisk pace.

Seeing this casual side of Zethyr not even trying Drayfus roared louder and increased the radius of his aura to twice that of before as it extended to over half of the forest destroying the many wild life around it.

"Hey, I thought you said you were actually going to take me serious! If you don't try and put up more of an attack other than walking I'll win this battle easily!"

Drayfus arrogantly shouted at Zethyr who continued his brisk pace towards Drayfus.

So quiet that only for himself to hear it, Zethyr whispers,

"Once day turns to night, once night turns to day there will always be a shift from between these opposites but if it were possible, if there was a chance for these polar opposites to attract one another when both night and day can become one."

Zethyr slowly takes off his glasses and puts them in his suit's chest pocket.

"Then you will see the horizon which is covered in a mysterious darkness and a comforting light, yes, that is…"

***Shine!***

"…!"

Drayfus gasps as he saw a Pale Gold/Black Aura cover Zethyr in that one instant as one of his eyes completely blacken as the sign of a golden star appeared on it as the other eye revealed a black star etched into his normal eye. Was this a transformation?

"The New Dawn..." Zethyr's disposition now revealed a deadly seriousness when compared to his past cold behavior.

If so this didn't stop Drayfus from continuing, stopping right now would make it seem that his aim to win would lack so he continued forward with his attack not holding back at the slightest, and since Zethyr was using this transformation Drayfus felt more appeased knowing that his opponent wasn't going to hold back at all.

So thinking that he was going to do this with no regrets Drayfus thought,

_'_ _Aw, hell! Might as well say it now!'_

"Diiiiiiiie! Katerea's wonderful oppai will belong to me!" Drayfus shouted at the top of his lungs.

***SHIIIIIIING~!***

Kiba's jaw dropped after hearing that proclamation come out of nowhere as both Zethyr and Drayfus passed each other as the sound of steel cutting flesh was heard coming from one of the two. Both the fighters faced away from each other as soon as their attacks have started to dig into their bodies.

The aura which surrounded Drayfus' blade has vanished as the devil stood with his head lowered as he smirked while Zethyr was actually smiling at the outcome of the attacks.

***Drip!* *Drip!***

Falling off of his cheek was blood which Drayfus gave to him with that swing.

"It seems you were able to get me after all you should be proud."

"D-Don't give me your pity you, b-bastard…" Drayfus looked unharmed to Kiba at first but once Zethyr sheathed his blood-stained blade something frightening happened.

***SPRAAAAAAAAAAAAY!***

Blood sprayed out of Drayfus' body, but not from a single wound but from multiple ones: his shoulders, legs, arms and knees, each wound sprayed out large spurts of the red body fluid.

Being the spectator who was currently unable to move some of the blood sprayed over to where Kiba laid and got onto his face.

After about 3 minutes of losing blood, Drayfus fell to his knees and where a puddle of blood now lays, "Damn, I guess I wasn't strong enough to handle you yet."

"That should've been obvious."

"Yes, because after seeing what you've done."

Drayfus glanced at the entire forest as all the trees were completely leveled none was standing, the once standing forest was now a mess of fallen trees. The forest was no more and it was all because of one swing Zethyr put in that sword that was able to cut him and effect the surrounding environment.

"…" Kiba was at a loss of words, this advanced swordplay had him wondering if his master would be serious like this in a fight.

Beginning to walk away, Zethyr was stopped by Drayfus, who coughed,

"Aren't you going to finish me off?"

Sighing in exhaustion, Zethyr shook his head,

"I have no use for you dead, you were just to stall me enough time before I decided to leave, but you weren't to complete that job. I could capture you, but you seem to be the type who's loyal to his comrades and would rather die and that garbage, so I'll let you go with that." Zethyr raises his sheathed Claymore and placed it within its magic circle, putting away the sword that was used.

"Hehe…man, you just seem to piss me off each second we talk, chi! And here I thought I could die knowing I tried my best. My pride has been trampled on if I couldn't put more than one scratch on you." Drayfus weakly chuckled.

"Then go ahead and die, kill yourself right where you stand if your pride is so ruined then die. A man with no pride has no meaning to live anymore." Zethyr reverts back to normal his eyes going back to their original color.

"…" Drayfus coughs out some blood while struggling not to fall over due to the pain.

"Or you can live another day and gain pride worth having as you get stronger." Zethyr crossed his arms.

"What?" Drayfus looks back at Zethyr surprised of his words.

"Is the pride that you've broken today after giving it your all, worth it? Will it really be satisfying to just die, especially when you claimed you have no regrets?"

"Kch!" Drayfus gritted his teeth, he was receiving mercy from this man, indirectly. He can obviously tell by the way he's talking and remembering the smiling face of a young Katerea which encouraged him came to his mind.

"I'm not telling you what choice to pick, but just giving you something you should look into should you continue to live. Get stronger your way, and try to be able to match me, but I can't promise that you'll reach my level."

"Huh?"

"But remember this. You won't be the only one who has grown when that time comes." Zethyr looks to Kiba then back to Drayfus, "The future is turning out to be interesting indeed, and as much as it pains me, I guess Son was right after all."

"Tch! Fine! But you'll regret this!" Drayfus manages to dredge up the remaining dragon power he could use within the katana to try and create a dragon gate.

"Say whatever makes what's left of your pride feel better." Zethyr shrugged.

"Ngh…dammit…I wasn't able to gain you back Kate-chan, but one day I-I swear I will…" Drayfus cursed under his breath then looks over to Zethyr,

"Mark my words, Zethyr Lucifer, I will sever that head of yours and claim Katerea Leviathan as my own! And you Fake Devil, Yuuto Kiba."

Kiba grunts in pain of his bleeding wound that has yet to stop hemorrhaging.

"I'll make sure you pay for starting this wheel of unfortunate events on me, just you see, I'll claim your head as well."

***SHIIIINE!***

A purple dragon's gate appeared below Drayfus who retreats from the area leaving just Zethyr and Kiba.

"T-Thank you, for helping m-" Kiba tried to thank Zethyr.

"I don't need your gratitude, this was a challenge you made, so don't expect any sympathy from an outsider, who conveniently saved your life." Zethyr negated the thanks and raised his hand towards Kiba,

"Now hold still."

Suddenly a bright circle appeared below, Kiba and began healing him slowly.

 **"** **Healing Circle,** Now stay under that for 5 hours, your wounds are too fresh to move."

"Y-Yes sir…" Kiba whited out after being scolded by a harsh Zethyr.

"Now to wait until, Son is done over on his end." Zethyr crossed his arms and turned around revealing his un-bespectacled face which made Kiba gasp.

"W-Wait, now I know why you're so familiar!"

"Hm?"

"It's because yo-you look exactly like the Hakuryuukou, Va-!"

Flash stepping to appear kneeling in front of him, Zethyr instantly shut Kiba up with a jolt of lightning made from his demonic power. It wasn't enough to kill the young knight, but just enough to inflict pain to make him faint.

"Don't you ever refer to that weak, little reject's name." Zethyr's eyes turned lightless at the mention of almost hearing that name, even the pressure within the barrier started to grow to a exerting extent as the air was more thin and had risen with malice.

Standing straight up and allowing the healing circle to fix up the now knocked out Kiba, Zethyr stood up and looked at his hand which held a magic circle used for calling that person he'd knew would take his damn time.

(With Kai)

Inside the gym, Kai was busy dealing with the possessed Rallen, taking the spot of the now unconscious Saji. Facing a mad Rallen, Kai simply placed his arm behind his back and used one hand to block the relentless attacks coming his way.

***THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!***

Keeping on a smile, Kai catches all of Rallen's punches with no effort.

**"** **What the hell, why can't I hit this shitty bastard!?"**

"It's easy for me to tell where your punching because your just randomly attacking instead focusing on a single point. These punches feel like they could do some damage, but sadly for you, the way you're throwing them is making it easy to block as well."

**"** **Shut up, no one asked you for advice! I'll kill you, you shitty interrupter! You'll be dead before you even know it!"**

Then vanishing to the normal eye, the two clashed around inside of the gymnasium either in mid-air or on the ground the blows being landed were brutal as the area shook from the fight. Kai was handling himself pretty well, he didn't have an issue dealing with the possessed Rallen.

Rallen's attacks were very powerful, he could give him that but they weren't thrown correctly. Predicting each punch or kick fired at him was making him bored to the point that he stops concentrating on the blows altogether.

Rallen or rather Grendel, who took over the man's body, however was pissed off beyond belief that he couldn't even land a single hit no matter how hard he threw his fist at the man's face. There were occurrences that he was able to get close to hitting the man but Kai manages to block it with a single opened palm, even when two fists are sent at the same time.

**_'_ ** **_This bastard has some real power! I'd actually enjoy myself but after what that pansy-assed Vritra did I got myself into a bad mood!" The possessed Rallen focused on the fallen Saji and smirked as he thought about lightening his mood with a little murder._ **

***DON!***

While in his clash with Kai, Rallen prepares a charged magic bullet imbued with dragon power and aims it at Kai, who effortlessly dodges it.

"Shishishishi! I'm sorry, but you have to do better than that!"

**"** **I wasn't aiming at you, but that shitty assed pansy down there!" Rallen points down at the direction Saji was laid out as the magic bullet was about to destroy him.**

"Whoops...forgot about him!" Kai inhaled sharply as the Pawn just crossed his mind right now.

**Smirking while preparing to bombard Kai with magic bullets, Rallen knew that if Kai wanted to save that pathetic weakling, he would have to turn his back to the opponent. He would sustain a crippling ton of damage if he turned his back to Rallen, who wasn't afraid to fight dirty at all. Finally, he could get back at the bastard for humiliating him.**

"I see, well, I guess I should go take care of that." Kai sighed.

**_'_ ** **_Yeah, show your back to me. I'll be sure to shoot you while your guard is do-!'_ **

Suddenly latching onto Rallen's shoulder, Kai held the man with an iron grip which took Rallen off guard.

**"** **Wha-What the hell are you doing!?"**

"Taking care of that attack you just did right now." Kai looked back and focused on the magic circle marker he secretly placed on Saji as he arrived.

**"** **Hah! I'd like to see you try and save that dilweed while holding onto me, as if I'd make it easier on you to do it too!" Rallen attempts to state how futile it is to save Saji but Kai was unmoved as he knew something Rallen didn't.**

"Oh really? Then could you please explain why that attack is coming straight at you?"

**"** **Wait, what attack are you talking ab-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"**

Being pelted by the powerful blast of power Rallen screamed in agony, just how did he get hit from his own attack? Checking around his environment he looks to see the zonked out Saji laid out on the floor behind him.

**"** **H-How did we?"**

"Easy, I teleported that's how."

Kai made use of his teleportation skill as Rallen was talking about the "futile" effort to save the Pawn.

"Now where were we? Oh yeah!"

***SMASH!***

**"** **Fwuaaach!"**

***FWAM!***

**"** **Oooouggh!"**

Kai held back and used a heavy blow against Rallen's stomach forcing the possessed human to cough up a mouth full of blood before tossing the man up in the air letting pressure bring him down. Then executes a perfect straight kick through the gut that had Rallen falling back in pain.

"How exciting, I never imagined fighting an Evil Dragon would be this entertaining. Well you're an Evil Dragon possessing a human body, but still fun either way." Kai laughed excitedly.

**Getting up while wiping his blood covered chin, Rallen pants in exhaustion and growls,**

**"** **What are you laughing at? You think that you teleporting makes you hot shit!? Well, bad news for you, shitty bastard. I'm the hotshit around here and this hotshit will teach you just, who you're messing with!"**

After Rallen's announcement, Kai looked around awkwardly as he shrugged,

"Uh…okay."

**"** **Now don't blink because you'll die after I finish you with this!"**

**Jumping back and using the muscles in legs, Rallen bounces off the walls in strong impacts shaking the entire gymnasium which was already in a bad enough state. He bounced off the floors and any surface to increase his agility as the entire room shook from his impacted jumps. Craters and fist shaped marks were seen appearing as the rapidity of the jumps grew more forceful. Kai simply sighed and waited patiently looking in one direction as Rallen continued.**

**_'_ ** **_Let's see this piece of crap try and catch me now!' Rallen uses all the momentum he collected to ambush Kai._ **

**"** **Now you DIE!"**

**Rallen lunged forward and throws another punch, he channeled just enough dragon power into it to blow the unsuspecting Kai away.**

***Catch!***

**"…** **!"**

Rallen froze as he saw one of his blows getting caught like nothing by Kai's hand.

"Too bad, you still didn't take my advice so now," Kai raised a hand to Rallen's forehead,

"Buzz off."

***PING!"**

Kai flicked Rallen with a single finger that had enough force to send the possessed human flipping in the air, catching himself in mid-air, Rallen creates a magic circle platform to keep himself afloat in the air.

Panting with a bleeding forehead Rallen looks down to see Kai who now vanished.

**"** **Where did he-?"**

"Psst! Behind you."

Flash stepping right behind Rallen, Kai held his staff and placed the butt of it on Rallen's neck slowly.

"Extend."

***CRASH!***

The pole extended and sent Rallen crashing to the ground forcibly as Kai returns the staff to normal and lands. Getting up and whipping his head to face Kai, Rallen shouts,

"You son of a-! Hold still and fight me!"

Kai wasn't where he stood anymore.

"Why should I?"

Rallen gasps and snaps his head back to see Kai behind him standing up with urgency to gain distance once Kai was about to flick him again.

"You were the one who started bouncing off the walls, to me this seems pretty fair don't you think?"

**Realizing he was shaking, Rallen became infuriated at how easily he was frightened and decided enough was enough,**

**"** **ROOOOOOOOOOOAR! I won't be the loser!"**

"Excuse me, Grendel-san, you should know when a man, who experiences trouble in a fight and whines over the difficulty shows their fault which lies within the man's arrogance and inability to comprehend that someone is actually better than them." Even though Kai meant to explain that like a wise mentor, he still kept that smile of mischief.

**"** **I'll kill you!"**

**Rallen lunges at Kai and engages in close combat starting with throwing quick punches to Kai's upper body and head.**

"Like I said before you're lacking focus to target anything because you're still just trying to hurt them without coordination." Kai stood in place as he fluidly moves his head back and forth in rhythm at Rallen's rapid punches.

**"** **I'll rip that fucking tongue out your mouth!"**

Rallen fires a barrage of kicks at Kai, who still dodges them with minimal effort, to Kai this seemed to be just a game since combat to him is like bookworm to a book, easy and predictable to read.

"You would have to be able to touch me if you at least want to rip out my tongue, Grendel-san." Kai continued to taunt Rallen even more.

 **"** **Gragh!**   **SHUT UUUUP!" Rallen breathes in as he initiates to breathe fire before Kai simply flash steps in front of him and covers his mouth, tightly.**

"No."

**"** **Mmmmmprh!" Rallen chokes on the flames accumulating in his throat as it now threatens to burn him.**

"Any more flames and this building will literally go down." Kai shook his head.

***CHOOOOOOOOOOO!***

**"** **Yeeeeeeeeeeargh!"**

Flowing out of his nose, Rallen experienced heavy gouts of flames going out of his nostrils. The man held his nose in pain and jumped back to recover.

**"** **Gah! My nose!"**

"Here, hold this." Kai tosses his staff his staff to Rallen who catches it.

**"** **Wait, what the-!"**

***DOOOON!***

**"** **The weight of this staff, it's-!"**

"About 9,000 pounds, my Grandfather decided the ol' 8,000 pounder isn't suited for me anymore since I'm all grown up, so he gave me this so I wouldn't get lazy. It's nice being cared for by relatives, right?"

Kai replied flippantly as he saw Rallen struggle to hold the staff up, the staff made a medium sized crater in the ground just by the weight it has.

"Hard to hold, right? Yeah, I figured an ordinary human like you would lack the necessary strength to use it."

**"** **Grgh! Shut up, I can carry this thing no probl-!"**

***WHAM!***

The moment Rallen attempted to hold up the staff, Kai appeared in front of him and fires a strong punch sending Rallen flying through the air and crashing into the wall. This just showed another example of Kai's physical prowess as he didn't even need to put in Touki to send someone of Rallen's caliber flying.

"I'll be taking this back." Kai chuckled as he raises his hand and catches the staff.

Catching the staff before it fell, Rallen flies up in the air and extends his palm out at the zonked out Rallen, who fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry, but this staff is a gift and I don't like anyone holding it for me." Kai smirked with mischief on his face.

**"** **You shithead! But you gave it to me!"**

"I know." Kai tilts his head and laughs.

**"** **Why you assho-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!"**

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

Like a machine gun, Kai fired an unbelievable amount of ki blasts infused with a little Touki at Rallen which dug into the possessed human's body. After a couple of minutes of firing his powerful blasts, Kai lowers his hands to see a bleeding Rallen coughing up a large amount of blood, even though his body didn't sustain that much damage.

"I guess, I made the right choice. Even if I'm a quarter serious. I still can't seem to hurt you on the inside, so I decided to use my enhanced senjutsu with a little Touki to hurt you on the inside." Kai lands, "It really feels like I'm fighting the real Grendel as we speak, this has become very entertaining all right. Maybe...should I enjoy myself a little long-?"

***SNAP!***

Suddenly sensing the clash between Azazel and the hooded figure and an approaching Michael's energy nearing them, Kai simply sighs,

"But I guess that this will have to be it then."

Seeing Rallen force himself up with a lot of struggle, Kai takes it upon himself to go check on Saji who was still laid out on the ground.

"You seem to have taken a lot of damage here. I'll make sure that he receives the right amount of change back." Kai's hand started to glow gold as he reaches into Saji's chest using Senjutsu and pulls out a blood red sphere.

"Your pain, fatigue, and other mental strain will be infused into a physical form." Kai stands up and holds the small compacted sphere.

**"** **Hehehehehe! Interesting, I've never expected I'd get to go all out, this is very interesting!"**

Kai finds that Rallen was now standing on his two feet staring him down with clear enjoyment as his hand was reaching for something in his jacket's pocket. Kai's expression could tell that what Rallen was about to do would prolong the fight and he knew time was ebbing away as they spoke.

 **"** **I had heard this toy that Ra-chan got would amplify my power to the next stage, and now I finally get to use it." Rallen pulls out what looks to be**   **shackles are green in color, have silver jewels on one curve for both of them and have black chains are broken so they could act as bracelets than restraints as it's mainly for show as its silver gem seems to be the real thing.**

"A sacred gear?"

Kai guessed.

**"** **You could technically call it that, but you can also say that it's something that can make this a whole lot more fun."**

"So what are you going to do with it attain a Balance Breaker like that of the Red Dragon Emperor and White Dragon Emperor?"

**"** **No, instead of those sealed bastards. I'm actually going to use all of my power without restraint!"**

**Rallen snapped the cuffs onto his wrists and started channeling power into it as it starts to shine. The bright light illuminated the entire gym room as green aura covers Rallen's body.**

Kai watches with a hand covering the light as he smiles,

"Without restraint? Shishishi! How exciting to think I would have been fighting an Evil Dragon with no restraint it could have been really fun…"

Kai's giddy laughter slowly died down as he closed his eyes once slowly before exhaling, as his voice turned more serious, "But it appears that I'll have to fight with you another time, sorry."

**"** **What are you apologizing for, you shitty bastard!? You think I'll let you go after humiliating me like that? Hahahahahahaha! Don't fuck with me you're going to die right where you stand after I'm done with you!"**

Rallen cackles as the image of his body within the surging green aura starts to create the form of armor in the shape of a dragon. The increase in power was staggering to Kai it felt so strong that it made him almost reconsider ending this battle real fast. He wondered if the chances of another Balance Breaker state would come of this drastic charge of power.

But after a sudden that feeling of wanting to battle was gone, so was all the other feelings of excitement which made Kai love fighting. Now he felt absolutely serious and earnest as he begins his pace towards Rallen. The hair on his head shadowed over his eyes as he starts to flare out his golden aura, compulsively.

"How annoying if things were different, I would have enjoyed spending my time fighting you but I believe this is it."

Kai's voice didn't sound like its old cheerful or sagely tone as it used to now it was cold and earnest as his grave facial expression replaced his old cheerful one as well. Getting quite closer to Rallen's aura covered body Kai raised his hand as the golden aura started to convert itself into a black aura which permeated a repelling nature.

Lacking any perception of this, Rallen continued gloating about his eventual transformation,

**"** **Hyahahahahahahaha! You must be eager to die well, thank you for being patient~! Now as the show starter I'll be breaking every bone in your body before grinding them up and finally, the best part, make you scream out for mercy! Hyahahahahahahaha! This will be a battle I will never forget! Oi! Let's see who can make who die first isn't that thrilling?"**

***GLEEEEEAM!***

**"** **Ouuuugh! Here it comes! Hyahahahahahahaha!" Rallen's twisted cackle matches the dark green ominous glow of aura surrounding him.**

"Grendel-san, excuse me for this." Kai now only a few inches away from the possessed Rallen stretches his arm out towards the man's chest.

**"** **Now commencing: Crime Force Dragon Shackles: Crime Force Dragon Berserker Arm-!"**

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!***

"…!"

"Please stay dormant for a while, Grendel-san."

Planting his hand on Rallen's chest Kai released the black aura within his hand into Rallen's body and ended the surge of aura covering his body and creating a physical form from it. The young man having been reverted to normal and by "normal" it meant that he had full control of his body once again not Grendel but the actual Rallen from before. The young man was taken by surprise as he was watching what occurred as Grendel possessed his body and wondered how he was forced back into reality again.

_'_ _Grendel?' Rallen tried to call out to the other soul within his body and received no response._

"Slowly looking up at Kai with an examining stare, Rallen asked,

"What did you just do to me?"

"I'm impressed that a human is able to retain his humanity while sharing a body with that train wreck of a dragon. You must be something else if you can pull that communication you did by allowing him to take control of that body while you watched." Kai slowly raises his head.

"That wasn't my question, I asked what you did and how you were able to sever my connection with Grendel like that?"

The power Rallen was about to summon up when Grendel took over was gone all of it, nothing left remained and the most crucial part, Grendel wasn't heard whining about the broken link and him being interrupted with the use of the weapon, Rallen kept for emergencies only. Of course to Grendel, he never felt that there were any emergencies and was too uncontrolled to restrain himself from using it.

"Are you sure that was all I did? Why don't you try using magic next? I'll give you a free shot."

Kai suggested, and of course Rallen didn't reject the offer finding it appropriate that he take down this strong opponent himself. A thunder spell would suffice in paralyzing him and if he could try to find a way to summon enough dragon power maybe he could use the weapon that was stopped in the middle of being used.

"What?"

Rallen looked at his hand to see that the spell he commenced wasn't activating.

"Surprising, isn't it?"

Rallen looked at Kai's appearance closely to see if anything were out of the ordinary and it was, the man's face seemed to be in a calm state as he looked a little angered as he looked at his own hands with his now dark red eyes, another factor to what may have occurred.

"I was able to erase any trace of magical power and dragon's energy inside of you. There's nothing left for you to build up or even try to scrounge up, it's all gone. Nothing. Left."

Kai's explanation of what he did stunned Rallen.

"Just what kind of magic or technique did you use to do that? I've never heard of an attack which disables all of the energy within a person before." Rallen curiously asked, not showing fear at his sudden defenselessness.

"Neither of those, it's not a simple technique or spell you can just learn it's something you have to be born with to gain." Kai clenched his hand, "It's a rather unfortunate power to have especially for a battle-loving guy like me, every time I use this it sucks out all my positivity and forces me to use my negative emotions, feelings, and bad memories to fuel it."

Knowing that the way it was explained Rallen could tell the power to that feasts off negative emotions seems to be more of a nuisance then anything helpful in fight, well helpful morally not physically.

"It seems to be a burden to carry that kind of power don't you think?"

Rallen question as he entered a casual conversation with Kai, feeling level-headed about his situation Rallen still felt annoyed and angered at the fact that someone stronger than him is currently in the room unharmed. The more he wanted to take down this man, the more he had to think and the more thought the more realizes that at this current state he can't even use the simplest of spells.

So the only solution he could think of to keep a calm mindset was to ask these questions just to pass the time as his back-up plan was already initiated. Behind his back and he held a single silver crest that had the symbol of "Maid of Heaven" carved into it as magic, illuminating a bright yellow shine hidden away in Rallen's clutched hand. Rallen cursed to himself for even stooping as low to use a signal to be picked up, he could already see that smug face of the woman who forced it on him.

Continuing with his story, Kai shook his head and gave a bitter smile,

"Burden? Yes…no…it's just more complicated to call it just that, for me it's called a  **Curse."**

Naming what he used to stop Rallen's surge of power, Kai then proceeds to reveal the red orb he made out of Saji's fatigue, stress and mental pain condensed into a small size.

"May I ask you something?"

"You've bested me, so I have no intention to resist."

"Good. Because I need you to answer me something, what would you say about that young man who you defeated?" Kai starts bring up Saji into the topic.

"All I can give as an answer is that he's weak and very tactical, for someone with limited weapons, techniques and weak strength. He was able to catch me off guard a few times and surprised me when he actually stood up to Grendel, when I handed him the reigns, he seemed real interesting to fight but he's no one I'd fight by choice though."

Rallen gave his full opinion about Saji.

"Hm? So your saying he has potential, but isn't ready to be someone to get excited about, huh?" Kai rubbed his chin, "I'll save that for future reference, but now I wish to ask you how much pain do you think he endured and let me remind you, he's a low-class devil so give me your honest opinion."

"The pain must have been excruciating and hellish after what Grendel did."

"So you say then, allow me to show you this." Kai reveals the orb of Saji's pain, mental strain and stress, "This is the boy's fatigue, pain and stress all of it put into one. To be fair I just put the damage that he received from this terrorist attack into this single orb."

Kai revealed the orb to Rallen, "Now I wish for you to do me a favor and allow this orb to phase through you as you return to whatever group you are in with the Khaos Brigade. If the pain was swift then you shouldn't worry about the boy as a threat in the future. But if you do it now in this less powered state you can actually see for yourself that he took an unbelievable amount of pain without giving in to it."

Rallen allows the orb to float into his hand as he examines it to make sure it wasn't a trap.

"And what do I gain from this, I'm not that interested in money or anything you devils value."

"Then listen to these terms, If you feel that this boy is actually worthy of your attention then you can challenge him one more time the next you two meet. By that time he'll be stronger than he is now so do you take the challenge?"

Kai sets up a future goal for Saji to set even if the boy wouldn't want to he'll still have to do it if he doesn't want to end up like all the other things that bore Kai.

"Fine, I'll accept, but I don't see why you're wasting such effort on a devil such as this." Rallen shook his head then looked at his hand, "How long will my powers be disable for?"

"About 5 days, I was in a hurry and went overboard with how much power I erased within you."

"5 days, huh?" Rallen clenched his fist as he turns away from Kai, "That will be good time for me to train my physical form."

"Yeah..." Kai was still trying to get over the negative behavior the power he used had on him.

"Awww~! Guess who needed my help after all~!"

Rallen groaned as he heard the teasing voice of a cute girl ring out through the destroyed gym picking up the signal of the crest he's holding.

Suddenly a large light yellow magic circle marks itself beneath Rallen's feet picking about to transport him.

"Listen, old man, you seem to be powerful even more than me and I hate that, my blood's boiling just by being in the same room as you, this thing you're setting up I have no idea what you're planning but remember this one day I will gain tremendous power and eradicate you understand?"

Kai could see the battle-maniac gleam in Rallen's eye, smiling at a similar case he is now Kai simply nods in response and waves his hand,

"I understand, so could you leave now?"

"I was well on my way, anyways…" Rallen looks over at the unconscious Saji before narrowing his eyes at the red orb in his hand. The magic circle shines and whisks the platinum blonde man off to the destination he was teleported to.

Now being left alone, Kai simply settles down and returns back to normal as he scratches his head,

"What a pain using that mood killing nuisance of a power got me in a bad mood, but after seeing that young man and this young man fight I can easily say that some good came out of this. Now there will be more than just Michael-san to look out for, for entertainment." Kai smiled with an honest smile, "I wonder if they have the possibility of fighting me in an equal fight of power."

That honest smile signified the true nature of a battle maniac.

"To think that young man was a human, I'm impressed on how the human race has advanced so far, it makes me question how far I was able to come as Halfling."

Kai smiled to himself as he just revealed something he didn't mention before to Michael, he knew that boy was confused after their last talk as he confessed to saying one lie so he kept it to himself and away from Michael's ears. But since no one around was able to freely move or were unconscious then he can freely state of his true race of being Half Human and Half Monkey Youkai.

"H-Halfling?"

A tired voice repeated.

"…Oh dear." Kai whipped his head back to look at a semi-conscious Saji raising his head.

"K-Kai-sama?"

"Oh Saji-san, your awake…so how are you and how  **much**  did you hear?" Kai sounded threatening as he approached Saji.

"Kai-sama, where did that man go from before did you?"

"Don't worry, I took care of it. Now back to what I asked…how much did you hear?" Kai grabbed Saji by his hair as his usual smile failed to hide the rising demonic aura of anger Kai exuded.

"N-N-Nothing, I heard absolutely nothing!" In fright Saji denied it, he knew confirming it would lead to him getting fisted into unconsciousness.

"I see what a relief because I actually thought that you listened. Shishishishi!" Kai laughed, "Don't you think it's funny?"

"I urh…" Saji looked away.

"I said don't you think it's  **FUNNY."** Kai smile turned all the scarier as his voice sounded more threatening.

_'_ _Ohmigod! That's freaking scary!' Panicking and trying to force a smile, Saji did his best not to be destroyed by the Ultimate Class Devil, 'Even if I did hear him say that he was half human I wouldn't even tell anyone!'_

"Y-Yes sir it is, Hahahahahahahahaha!"

"That's good, see it's good to laugh, and now could you do me a favor real quick?" Kai smiled.

"Hahahahahaha! What is it, Kai-sama?"

"Take a nap."

***DON!***

Slamming Saji's head into the floor with enough force, Kai was able to knock out the young man and possibly make him forget about what he just heard. Saji now sustained even more physical damage than before.

Standing up acting like he didn't do anything suspicious, Kai laughs carefree while scratching the back of his head,

"Phew! I'm glad that secret's safe. Wasn't I supposed to help you and the rest of Sona-chan's peerage, not hurt you? Oh well, it doesn't really matter now I should probably help the Crow-Ossan with that person. But I should probably watch over them before taking them to the outside."

Looking back at the exhausted Saji and sensing the frozen presences of Sona's peerage, Kai then inclines himself to survey the Student Council and his son's safety. Taking them to the outside would cause too much hassle for him and he'd prefer them being aware to defend themselves than him trying to protect over 7 people.

"Welp, it would be too boring to watch over this many people in one place but I find it dreadfully boring to protect them from opponents that don't even pique my interest at all."

Kai may have said these things but in actuality he had a hunch that secretly the matter will be resolved more easily once the figure saw Michael at least once. He hopes that this hunch was correct and that this would all fold over for the better. Or else…things could get troublesome not for just him but also for Michael's well-being as well.

"I guess I'll just teleport them back once the time freeze is finished."

Kai made sure to set all of the student council members together and placed a heavy barrier just in case any of the mages out there had another surprise up to show him. Laying Shura on his lap Kai smiled and stroked the hair of his son in as he waited patiently.

"Chi! That Crow-Ossan must be having it rough, but that presence that person has with that Welsh dragon's aura has gotten me so envious of him. I wish I was out there fighting."

Kai voiced his bitterness towards Azazel; the two seem to know each other based on how he was talking. Wondering about Zethyr, Kai simply chuckled knowing the man wouldn't step foot outside that barrier to reveal himself to "you know who". Kai felt happy with the way he's handling his own issues compared to that of the hard-ass Lucifer descendant.

Reading the presences (except for Zethyr whose barrier negated his presence) in the area known as Kuoh Academy he could sense the many different aura and Ki around the school while he closed his eyes. The statuses of the many others around him were either getting exhausted or deteriorating in life. This could be the mages who have been attacking the leaders, but something else felt a little off to him it was that feeling where you know someone was there and you can't see them at all.

Having felt this, Kai deduced that someone else who knew Senjutsu was somewhere near the Old School Building.

_'_ _I wonder, who could this be…it's not Koneko-chan, considering her situation, so have the Khaos Brigade attained a master in senjutsu? And it's not the only one as I feel another presence somewhere a little too far away and it feels like…wait I know this Ki!'_

_Kai drops the thought of the more adept Senjutsu user and focused on the intermediate user whose presence was obviously easy to detect even through it being hidden._

Growing a playful smirk, Kai laughed as his playful demeanor masked a dangerous behavior starting to rise up in Kai,

"Shishishishishishi! I wonder could it be you, Bibi-chan~!"

(With Bikou)

Shivering in mortal fear out of nowhere, Bikou looks from side to side as he gasps,

"Brrrr! W-What was that I just felt something terrifying and why do I feel I like crying? I never felt like this ever since I was a…"

Suddenly the images of a child Bikou huddling in a corner while the shadow of an adolescent was seen overshadowing his crying form.

"No…" Bikou turned pale as he waited patiently, now he hopes that Vali would be able to get things done quick before he's find out…no before all of them were found out by  **him.**

(With the leaders)

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

An explosion filled the air where Azazel and the figure fought as smoke blocked the view point of the leaders down below who were still raising a barrier to protect the frozen victims of the Balor View. Their attention on the sky rather than the mages firing their pointless magic bullets at them they began to get troubled, the presence of Kiba Yuuto was no longer sensed and what made it stranger was Drayfus Mammon wasn't detected in the area either.

"Both Kiba Yuuto and Drayfus Mammon appeared to have been cut off by a barrier of strong isolation."

Sirzechs had asked Grayfia for the young devil's status, he wouldn't forgive himself if a member of his sister's peerage were to die under his care.

"We shouldn't worry. If the barrier is still raised then, we could trust that Kiba Yuuto-kun is still alive and well."

If the barrier were lowered, Drayfus would have been out already do to the quality the barrier has to block out outside interference and to hide the power signatures of anyone inside of it. So a chance of Kiba being still alive is quite high as the barrier was still held up.

Getting rid of the approaching mage fodder on the ground, Xenovia makes use of Durandal's destructive power by creating large cutting waves of holy magic to vanquish them. The group of mages she destroyed was turned into dust once the holy wave touched them. Dealing with enemies, who only work with magic was a good thing for a fighter like Xenovia, since the enemy is too weak physically and can't seem to take a hit.

Another swarm of mages approached the Durandal wielder and started bombarding her with magic bullets.

"More? Guh…" Xenovia uses the large blade of Durandal to shield herself from the attacks as the numbers the mages have shown were a little too much for her to take on alone as a mage took this this chance to fire at her from behind.

Good thing she wasn't though.

"Xenovia!" Wrapping itself around the mage the holy Excalibur sword, Mimic turned into a rope and threw the mage up in the air. It was Irina providing back-up for her former partner.

"Irina!" Xenovia nods and jumps in the air, hacking the assaulting mage in half.

Landing beside Irina now back to back, Xenovia said,

"Thanks that would have been very messy if you didn't help."

Gathering around the two holy sword users the mages prepared their attacks to end them right there as they focused on building up their magic.

Questions floating around her head as the meeting went through her head, Irina cried,

"Why? Why didn't you tell me the truth that you weren't a traitor but had been exiled!?"

"Revealing my actions would have made things easier for you to understand, but to do that I would have told you that the God yo-, we loved didn't had died. Even if you didn't saw me as a comrade anymore I still couldn't tell you something which would make you fall into despair."

Xenovia showed a face of concern, towards her old partner still worrying for her even after she was reincarnated as a devil.

Taken back by this Irina looked shocked before smiling upon realizing a pivotal truth which would be accomplished with fighting with Xenovia again,

"I understand. Thank you…"

"Irina?" Xenovia looked over her shoulder at the exorcist.

"Let's handle these pagans then we can catch up, because if we gain peace then devils won't be my enemy anymore." Irina smiled as she saw another possibility to be friends again with Xenovia and Michael.

"Your right and neither will the believers of God will become the enemy to me, a devil." Xenovia smiles as well filled with hope and a new drive to fight harder,

"Then this is a fight with our friendship on the line!"

"Let's face this trial, and keep moving forward!"

Xenovia and Irina readied their blades and evaded the massive magic bullet the mages shot at them combined.

"HAAAAAAH!" Both girls swung their blades in tandem and fired a large holy wave which made a clear path after chopping the row of mages in half.

"Come on, Irina, we can't lag behind now!"

"Your right, we should at least do our best to clear these guys like Katerea-san and Raymond-san!"

The two were urged to work harder as they see the display of the higher powered beings above taking care of the mages that are airborne. Raymond flew with his arms crossed as he reveals more red-flamed aura around his body.

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

**"** **Hell Blaze: Sinner's Grasp!"**

***GRAB!***

***SIZZZZZLE!***

The flame looking aura actually turned into a red flamed demonic hand which grabbed a handful of mages and burned them alive in one touch. The hand thrusts out in between another few scattered mages who dodged.

Flapping her devil wings to appear over Raymond, Katerea raises her staff in the air,

"Here, allow me to give you a hand with that!"

Horrible pun aside, Katerea used her demonic power to enhance the number of arms Raymond created like the single arm of flames grew another two on both of its elbows as Raymond used them to kill the remaining mages in one or actually two clutches.

"Tch! Pathetic worms, you clearly stand no chance."

Raymond turns his aura back to normal as he saw the dust remains of the mages fall to the ground. Their efforts were treating the two good as their enemy's numbers were decreasing as they continued firing their combined attacks, but that still didn't stop the new arrival of mages that appear from the enemy's gate over the academy.

"Looks like we have more incoming." Katerea reminded.

The enemy mages fired another round of their magic bullets in combined volleys as they pelted both Raymond and Katerea futilely once they shielded themselves in human sized barriers.

"Let's handle them quickly. This is just getting repetitive." Raymond thrusts his hand out and creates a giant massive circle in front of Katerea.

"Hyah!" Katerea summons a massive blast of demonic power in the shape of an Asian dragon, upon it entering the magic circle the Asian dragon underwent a upgrade in destructive power as the imbued magic circle coated it in the hell flames Raymond uses in combat.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The mages cried out in agony as they died from the torturous pain from the combined attack.

"That's not it here take some more!" Katerea uses her staff to direct the flaming mass of demonic power to attack and devour the mages filling in the sky.

Looking at Katerea with a unreadable expression, Raymond said,

"…Impressive."

"You shouldn't expect less coming from me. Now have a surprise!" Katerea placed more power into the Asian dragon making it breathe out gouts of demonic infused red flames at the approaching mages who were turned to ash.

Looking in the air at the black smoke filled sky Raymond worried for his leader as he was facing an individual of unpredictable power and questionable sanity. He knew the Governor-General always had a trick up his sleeve once something's on the line so he expected Azazel to use it now before it was too late.

"Relentless as hell, I see."

"RAAAAAAAWR!" The figure released a inhumane yell.

Soaring out from the black cloud of smoke, Azazel flapped his wings and created a gust of wind thrusting him higher into the air. Following closely was the figure whose wings of lights made it easier to get close to the Governor-General from behind. The figure was actually able to force him to be cautious as all of her attacks were lethal. Tightly gripping the golden spear with the purple jewel closely, he hasn't been given the chance to use it yet because of his opponent being persistent on killing him.

"You know out of all the women I've ever encountered, you seem to be the only one who can't take a hint!"

Azazel throws one of his large light spears at the figure.

"Grrrrr!"

***CRUSH!***

The figure caught the light spear with their bare hand (or dragon clawed hand) and crushed it while using the power in theirs wings of red light to catch up with Azazel.

"Chi! Seems that won't work if I tried again, seems like I have to distract her with something else."

Azazel contemplated over a plan but could have made sure the figure wasn't too close before doing it.

"Auuurgh!" The figure lets out a beastly grunt as they grab onto the ankle of Azazel.

"Shit! Looks like I let myself get too lax." Azazel cursed.

Spinning the body in place the figure decides to use a roundhouse throw and spiral Azazel in mid-air with hefty strength and speed.

"Huuuura!"

The figure released Azazel after applying enough pressure into the throw, Azazel could not move as the force he was thrown back with was intense for him to recover.

He couldn't help, but smile bitterly at his situation,

"What a mess, I've been put into."

Suddenly flash stepping to appear over Azazel, the figure readied both their ordinary hand and dragon arm to enhance their sharpness as the dragon claw glow darker and honed as their ordinary arm had the aura form into the same shape as well.

"YAAAAAAAAAH!" The figure leaned in and was about to use those claws to rip through Azazel.

"Ohoho! This will probably sting." Azazel raised one arm to block the incoming attack.

***SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!***

***RIP!***

In a frenzy, the figure started cutting like crazy as Azazel resigned himself to guard the attack that ripped the sleeves of his clothes off, Azazel made sure to use his aura to toughen his skin but all that did was lessen the force of the slashes the figure made on him.

"Tch! Damn that stings." Azazel's arms were covered in mild cuts as blood came out of them.

"…Aaaaaaarhaaaa!"

***BANG!***

The figure kicked Azazel quite a distance away as the Fallen Angel Governor catches himself from the kick back and tries to use this time to use the power of his spear.

"Die! Die! Die!"

Growling loudly the figure clenches their fists as they began their next attack.

Using the dragon aura claws for their next attack the figure created an unstable sphere of the dragon aura which seemed able to explode just by how it twitches. Compressing the sphere down into that of a golf ball the figure places it in their mouth devouring the dangerous power.

"I'm not staying planted here to know that this will be bad."

Widening his eyes, Azazel knew where this was going as he readied his wings and jetted himself higher into the sky once the figure raised their hand before slapping it down on their belly.

"Gooooooooooooough!"

***DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!***

Expelling a large dark red laser from out their mouth, the wave was sent boring through the ground below in the forest around the academy setting off consecutive explosions as they made contact. That would have been a dreadful blast to recover from had Azazel got hit.

"Phew! Now that was a close one, but I don't see you getting the upper hand if you can't catch me."

Azazel makes sure to appear behind the figure.

"Grrrrrrrrr!" The figure growls and snaps his body back and lunges at Azazel as they threw a mighty barrage of fists at the Fallen Angel. Dodging the lethal blows with caution Azazel could see that with each hit the figure threw the more powerful and destructive they could be. It was like a heater generally picking up enough energy before releasing that energy in larger amounts. Could it be because of that transformation the figure did before?

_'_ _I heard her say Welsh Drive, so it's linked to Vali's Vanishing Drive. It seems because she has the flesh and power of the original Sekiryuutei in her, she can tap into the power without using the spirit of the Welsh Dragon.' Azazel concluded that thought as he was a little slow to dodge one punch as it grazed his cheek._

"Tch! I can't fight back if I don't have distance." Azazel clicked his tongue as he tries swerving away from the barrage of punches but the figure would let him escape as they kept charging forward to attack with their dragon aura infused fists.

"Nyaaaaaaaargh! Die! Die! Die!"

"Geez, you're a broken record you know that, so allow me to put you out of your misery!"

Azazel manages to find an opening in the figure's middle and stabbed a light spear right through them, this like before had little to no effect to the figure who just coughed up the blood they lost, pulled out the spear, and crushed it.

Grunting in search of Azazel the figure violently looked from left to right before looking up towards the sky to see the man pointing his spear down as it flashed a bright light in the air.

With that little time he had gained, Azazel was able to gain distance and face the figure from afar as he said,

"Finally, now to continue what I was going to do. Allow me to show you what I made with my new hob-"

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

"Oi! It's rude to interrupt the transformation of your opponent you know? Not even cartoon villains would stoop that low!"

Azazel was getting frustrated with the figure interrupting his transformation as they exhaled huge blasts of flames with no warning. Azazel flew higher in the air and dodged the scalding fire only to see a shadow above him. He turns his back to see the figure with their hands locked over their head.

"DIIIIIIE!"

***SLAAAAM!***

***CRASH!***

Feeling the brunt of the locked handed attack, Azazel was sent crashing in the ground where a large crater was made from his body. Standing out of it with a few mild bruises, Azazel shook his head and groaned,

"Okay, I admit things are starting to get a little out of hand now." Azazel looks up to see that the figure had another attack planned and ready to go because in their hand was a massive amount of dragon power in the form of a giant sphere.

"Ku…" The figure growls lightly as they saw the grounded Azazel with the other faction leaders behind him. It would be like killing 2 birds with a single stone. The figure then started to expand the destructive capabilities of the sphere as it glows brighter and lets off an almost electrical aura as it becomes more unstable with the boosted power transferred in it.

"Now this could prove a problem."

"That much energy could obliterate the entire campus!"

Both S. Michael and Serafall were concerned with the massive ball of destruction their assailant has formed. Looking calm and assertive Sirzechs began thinking of a way to prevent any massive damages that would result from it. As for Azazel, he simply resumed with his plan to use the spear in his hand.

"I guess it's now or never." Azazel made the jewel on the spear glow brighter as he prepares himself to use a stronger outlet of power that can get them out of this bind.

"Die…Die…Die…Die….DIE! DIIIIIE!" The figure kept repeating the same words over and over again. They didn't want to give the Fallen Angel a chance to retaliate so they began to throw their attack to finish him, the leaders and everything else that was in the way. Finally it could all be over they just needed to destroy these people before claiming what had been stolen from them.

Yes, it was just a matter of…

***BAM!***

Suddenly the sound of a hard punch was heard from far away.

"…?"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The figure looked up in the air and saw a weird sight it was the flailing body and hurtling down to the earth nearby Azazel.

Looking up, Azazel sighed and said, "Don't tell me that's…no, it couldn't. How would he even?"

Azazel had his doubts about the possibility of that kid showing up, but doubted it until something the falling body said confirmed it,

"EXTREME!"

***THUD!***

"O-Ow…"

"Oh god, it is." Azazel face palmed as he looked to see the twitching and battered Michael lying face down in the ground. It just wasn't him who was surprised it was also Sirzechs, Serafall and S. Michael who watched the young man fall from the sky.

_'_ _I should have kept my focus on his location more closely so none of this would happen.' Azazel looked down at the trembling Michael pull his head from the ground and shakes it to get his mind back together._

"Hahaha! I'm still alive, well of course I am because I am the Great Hanamura! Hahahahahahaha! Ough! It hurts to laugh *Cough!*" Michael stands up and lands before grabbing his pained stomach after the blow it received from the furious Koneko who beat him up.

"…!" The figure gasped and began to tremble as they froze in place after catching sight of Michael being so close to them. The massive sphere of dragon power disappears as well as the figure's urge to kill

"Wow, brat, you sure made quite a pitiful entrance, don't you think?" Azazel mocked Michael who was just now trying to deal with getting himself oriented.

"Oh it's you, Ero-Ossan? A-And what the freaking flip do you mean by pitiful I'll have you know I was falling in style!" Michael grinned and posed in a cool fashion.

"Falling in the style of a moron."

"What did you say!?"

"You heard me."

Michael and Azazel entered into an argument, but now wasn't the time for this.

Turning to look at the approaching Rias who have arrived with her Rook and Bishop by her side, Sirzechs smiled,

"It looks like you made it back and retrieved Gasper safely."

"Yes, now we'll begin our counterattack with the others, but Onii-sama may I ask you to please watch over Gasper?" Rias places a hand on Gasper's shoulder.

"Alright." Sirzechs takes Gasper under his care as he stays within the barrier.

"Our current objective is to get rid of the mages attacking the leaders until the enemy's gate closes understood?"

Huddling up around Rias were the remaining servants: Xenovia and Koneko, who were able to fight.

"Hai, Buchou!"

"Where is Yuuto?" Rias asks Xenovia.

Wearing a worried expression, Xenovia responds,

"He is dueling one of the attackers of the meeting by himself, but I'm confident he'll make it out and win." Xenovia reassures not only Rias but herself.

"Yes, he is my knight and I expect no less of a victory from him." Rias placed her faith that Kiba would return alive,

"Now let's show them what we can do my adorable servants!"

Engaging in defense the devils began their attack back on the mages. Rias uses magic to create a barrier for the others as they dealt with the mages below it. Koneko attacks the opponent with heavy punches and kicks that lead to an instant K.O. while the combined efforts of Xenovia and Irina wiped the floor with the enemy with their holy swords.

"Alright, look I didn't come here to get insulted by you, Ero-Ossan!" Michael grins then points at the figure above, "I came here because of you!"

_'_ _The feeling my dragon arm felt back then I wonder how it's linked to that guy?'_

**_[I sense about 50% of my power within that person's body, it may be the severed pieces of my former body within them.]_ **

_'_ _Wait, your old body is transplanted in someone? How do you even do that is that even possible?' Michael thought._

**_[Don't ask me, this is a first I've seen of this happening, but let me warn you, Michael. Do not engage them alone. I sense more than just the power of my former body in her, there seems to be other harmful things about her as well.]_ **

_'_ _Yeah! I gotcha!' Michael punched his open hand and smiled,_

"Well then allow me to introduce myself, I am Michael Hanamura the Great and I will be your opponent so get ready as I-!"

Pushing Michael back, Azazel states, "Michael, this isn't a game. Stay back and let me handle this."

"EH!? Why should I and what the hell? I was in the middle of introducing myself to my opponent that's a jerkwad move Ero-Ossan!"

Michael shouted.

"Michael, this is serious, so stay back and go help your master." Azazel warned Michael once more who didn't understand the mood as he persisted.

"I called dibs on this guy, so let me at them, Ero-Os-!" Michael tries to push Azazel back, but stopped when he saw the sudden rise of light aura escape Azazel's body; it was a ton and very intimidating. Plus the solemn expression that Azazel wore made Michael know that whatever it was it sure as hell shouldn't involve him if things were this bad.

"You know what…kick their ass, Ero-Ossan, I'll go help, Buchou and the others!" Michael went 360 in a second as he runs back to support his friends.

Dripping out from under the hood of the figure were tears, as she cried,

"A-Aeron…?"

The conflicting emotions of seeing that boy so close up gave Azazel a chance to activate his secret weapon,

"Now that all the interruptions are over with let's be getting down to business!"

"The only one among them who can use strong defense magic is Rias, huh?" Sirzechs commented as Gasper watched in anxiousness of his friends fighting as hard as he could only watch them struggle.

_'_ _B-Buchou!' Gasper thought with tears welling up in his eyes._

***PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!* *PEW!***

"Aah!"

Dealing with the mages above with her defensive magic, Rias begins to struggle as all of them began to gang up on her. Their numbers were too much for her to handle and the defensive spell broke under the bombardment as Rias fell back being overwhelmed.

"Buchou!"

**[Boost!]**

**[Blade!]**

"Extend!"

***RIIIIIIIIP!***

Michael used Ascalon and extended it from the Boosted Gear as he tore through a row of mages about to attack Rias with a single swing.

"Buchou are you alright?" Michael kneels down to Rias' side.

"Yes, thank you Michael." Rias nods, happy that Michael was there to help.

"No problem!" Michael grinned then looked back.

_'_ _I-It's all my fault…' Gasper stares at the fight in front of him, as he started to feel tired of being helpless._

Seeing the mages circling around them, Michael gritted his teeth and picked Rias up in the bridal position as the mages fired the magic bullets together in a powerful shot.

***BAANG!***

"That was too close." Michael jumps out the smoke with Rias in his arms, with the latter blushing at the position she was in.

"Everyone's fighting hard…for something I caused…I can't j-just sit here and watch this." Gasper picks himself up and with the best effort he can, try and stand tall.

Watching this closely Sirzechs wanted to see how much growth the once sealed Bishop had underwent as he didn't do anything to stop Gasper.

"I-I want to help too, Michael-nii told me I had to stand up, so I-I can't quit anymore." Gasper trembled as he prepares himself to return time back to normal.

"Rias-Buchou! Michael-nii!"

Catching both of their attention Gasper cries out, "I want to be a man like you, Michael-nii, and I want to live up to the expectations you've made for me, Buchou. That's why…I'm going to prove myself as a man by helping my friends, too!"

Gasper reaches for the arm bracelet strapped on to his arm and rips it off.

"No, Gasper stop that, Onii-sama please stop Gasper!" Rias cries out for Sirzechs to do something.

"Excuse me for this Rias, but I must allow this, who am I to stop a "man" who's intent on doing something." Sirzechs said with a cool smile.

_'_ _Wow, that was so cool and slick, you're the best, Aniki!' Michael could understand what Sirzechs meant._

"B-But!"

"It's fine, Buchou." Michael said.

"What?" Rias questioned Michael's reassuring grin.

"Gasper's finally standing up, and when a man gains his courage it will be hard to stop any decision he makes."

"I'll show you all how much of a man I really am!" Gasper's eyes glow bright as he undoes the effects of his sacred gear in the surroundings.

"Come on, you can do this, Gasper!" Michael cheered.

***FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!***

After the flash ends, the time frozen field which surrounded the academy and effects on the others were stopped. Everyone regained the ability to move once more.

"It seems it stopped." Raymond calmly looks up at the now unfrozen sky.

"Meaning we shouldn't worry about protecting the leaders, so seriously anymore." Katerea sighs as she stops her continuous Asia Dragon/ Nightmare Flame combination attack.

Blinking upon being brought back from their frozen states, everyone looked around in confusion of why they were outside instead of the meeting room.

"Oh my…"

"Huh?"

"How did we…?"

Akeno, Asia and Raynare looked around to see the change in location.

"Just what in the world happened?" Sona who is returned to normal turns to Tsubaki.

"I have no clue."

"Sona-chan, your back!" Serafall lunges at Sona and hugs her tightly.

"O-Onee-sama?" Sona was even more confused it seemed her sister was really joyed for some reason.

"He did it, Gasper made time go back to normal." Rias felt so proud for her Bishop able to do something like this after what just happened to him.

"He also stopped the enemy gate, as well." Grayfia also added.

"Now we have one less thing to worry about." Serafall smiles, but then remembers something very important as she kept on worrying about it ever since this incident start, "Oh no! I forgot about my precious, Shura-chan!"

Pushing through the unfrozen Occult Research members and Raynare, Serafall makes a beeline for the Gym with Sirzechs giving a bitter smile and sigh at his fellow Maou's behavior.

"Serafall, what are you doing? Don't just go off all by yourself!" Katerea manages to fly after Serafall and lift her off the ground and heads back to the leaders.

"No! My beloved Shura-chan is there! He's his son too, and I won't forgive myself if he's hurt!" Serafall flailed her arms over Katerea's shoulder as she was dragged back.

"He's protected inside a barrier, he'll be fine just stay with the leaders and wait until we finish off the rest of the enemy."

"Hmph! Fine!" Serafall pouts and crosses her arms as she was placed on the ground besides Sona who puts a hand to her head and groans.

"See Gasper, you can do it! Way to prove you're a MAN!" Michael shouts as he puts Rias down to stand by herself.

**_[Okay, you need to stop that.]_ **

_'_ _Yeah, I see how repetitive it is now…' Michael thought._

About to fall over in exhaustion, Gasper was caught by Asia who rushed to help.

"This is…?"

"We'll tell you the details later. Now I need the help of everyone." Rias unfurls her wings and flies in the air.

"Yes, Buchou." Akeno follows after Rias and calls upon the power of thunder, "Thunder, come!"

***BAKAAA!* *BAKAAA!* *BAKAAAAA!* *BAKAAAAAAA!***

Using her magic to enhance the power of thunder, Rias uses a magic circle to increase the quantity that is fired. Most of the mages succumbed to the powerful lightning and died.

Joining the fray, Sona and Tsubaki stormed after the mages with Sona using a barrier to force back the magic bullets fired at them.

"Tsubaki!"

"Yes, Kaichou!"

Tsubaki revealing her weapon to be a naginata uses the speared weapon's length to cut the mages in half in both close and mid-range combat.

"I don't know what's going on, but allow me to cut in!"

***STAB!* *STAB!* *STAB!* *STAB!***

Firing a single light spear, Raynare's precision was perfect as it impaled 4 mages at once.

Smiling at her impressive skill, she was oblivious to the mages who were still around about to pummel her with their spells. Upon realizing it, she gasps while expecting to get hit by a magic bullet only for them to get impaled by a blue light spear followed by a pink one.

"Those Light Spears they must be!"

Raynare then was tackled in the air by a flying Mittelt, who forced her face between the former's breasts.

"Raynare-oneesama, I missed you!"

"M-Mittelt and Kalawarner too?" Raynare looks to see Kalawarner calmly float her way.

"Nice to see your still doing alright." Kalawarner greeted.

"But how are you two still okay after the attack?"

"It was because Raymond-sama placed us both in these powerful barriers!" Mittelt rejoiced happily as she tries to snuggle up to Raynare, who tried to pry the small blonde off.

"He did that?" Raynare's eyes widened as she looked up at Raymond who was burning many mages alive. Her expression didn't change it was that of being somewhat thankful and confusion at Raymond's current actions towards her friends.

Pushing that aside, Raynare said,

"So how about we three work together for old time's sake?"

"It would be enlightening to fight by your side." Kalawarner didn't mind it as she missed this nostalgia of working with the two girls as a whole once more.

"Yes! Yes! Let's show them the power of our friendship and love, Raynare-oneesama!"

"Mittelt, please, stop putting your head into my chest…" Raynare blushed as she pried off the Blonde Fallen Angel and soared into the sky with the two and fired an endless barrage of light spears at the scattering mages.

"Now it's time for me to show my stu-! Huh?"

Michael blinks as Koneko suddenly grabs him by the collar.

"K-Koneko-chan?" Michael gulps, "Your still not mad at me, right?"

"…Fly away."

"What the hell? You can't keep a grudge for that looooo-aaaaaah!"

***THUD!***

Koneko, who was still upset threw Michael at a group of mages really hard, Michael rubbed his back as he unintentionally defeated them.

"Damn it, now my back hurts!" Michael cries out as he rubs his back.

"Michael-san, are you okay?" Asia rushes to Michael's side and starts healing his back.

"I am now, thanks Asia. It's good to have you back." Michael smiles with happiness at the fact that everyone is back to normal, "In fact, it's good that everyone's unfrozen and back to the way they are."

"T-Thank you, Michael-san. I'm glad to be back." Asia who focused on the first thing Michael said blushed at his words and smile

Still looking at Michael, the figure blocked out the other things happening around them as they simply focused on the sight of the Trident shaped haired boy.

"A-Aeron…you've grown…" The figure kept on muttering something to themself.

Floating up in the air to be face to face with the figure, Azazel taps the spear on his hand a couple of times as he smiles,

"Look whose calmed down for once, but don't you know staring is rude?" Azazel smirks.

"Grrr!" Blocking the view of Michael, the figure snapped at Azazel.

"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down, I'm not here to aggravate you anymore, I'm just here to put an end to you before you do something which could be the end of us." Azazel points down the tip of his spear as his aura cascades around his body, "I'm about to show you what happens when I take something serious."

"Hrrrh!?" The figure snarled in question of the spear.

"Wondering what this is? Well, it's something I made for fun, or my hobby. This is the  **Downfall Dragon Spear."**

Azazel raises the spear high up in the air as he explains, "This baby is an artificial sacred gear. I have been developing this one for a while after I checked out the specs of Vali's Balance Breaker."

Flashing, Michael saw his Boosted Gear detecting the presence of something else.

"What's going on up there?"

**"** **Balance Break!"**

Immersing himself with the gold aura which emitted itself from the spear, Azazel started to transform the power into a physical form. The power changed into the form of a golden plated dragon's armor, with Azazel's 12 jet black wings sticking out of it. There even was a unique spear in Azazel's hand while wearing the armor.

"That is awesome! How did the Ero-Ossan get a Sacred, and… but no matter it still isn't as awesome as our Balance Breaker right, Ddraig?"

**[Michael get serious, we are literally in the middle of a battle. But I'd never expect that Fafnir was sealed away in a Sacred Gear as well. It must be a fake by how forced the Governor-General made it appear.]**

_'_ _Wait, that thing is fake?' Michael blinked._

**[He forced it into a Burst State which will make the Sacred Gear go out of control. He must have planned to use it as a disposable if he wanted to actually use it.]**

"So who's this Fafnir guy you talked about? Is he just like that crazy Tiamat-bitch?" Michael was curious about the other dragons, and still called Tiamat such a name after doing what she did to him and Ddraig.

**[Yes, he is** **one of "Five Great Dragon-Kings". Azazel talked about Vritra the other day, remember? In addition, there's the "Chaos Karma Dragon" Tiamat, we already *Cough!* met, the "Mischievous Dragon" Yu-Long, and the "Sleeping Dragon" Midgardsormr. And finally "The Gigantis Dragon Fafnir. Though I say that, Vritra was eliminated long ago and sealed somewhere. If what Azazel says is true, then Fafnir was also sealed. Though originally, there were six Dragon-Kings.]**

"Whoa! That's a lot of dragons and Vritra? That's the dragon Saji has! And wait, six dragon kings? What happened to the last one?"

**[That will be a story for another day, now focus on the fight above.]**

"Don't you think this is fair game, a Dragon for a Dragon? I like to call this armor,  **Armor of the Fallen Dragon, Downfall Dragon Another Armor."**

"Wow, that name's too long way to kill the mood!" Michael shouted at the armor's stupidly long name.

"You still don't change it seems it feels like yesterday, you were just building that ridiculously named sword. What was it again…? Oh yes, I remember it's-"

S. Michael brought up with a reminiscing tone.

"You stay quiet, Michael!"

Azazel, who was being ridiculed for the naming of his armor snapped at both Michaels.

"Which one are you talking to?" Michael asked.

"Grrrrrrrrrr!"

The figure began to create a magic circle once it saw the light spear Azazel held, pulling out a red scaled/clawed sword, it let out the same presence the figure did meaning it was created from the body parts of Ddraig's old body as well.

"Looks like someone came well prepared." Azazel chided as he puts more power of light into the light spear and grips onto it tightly,  _'I'll be sure to end things fast, and leave as little amount of damage to the body so I can examine it later.'_

Placing all of their power into their sword, the figure now held a elongated aura blade created from nothing but pure dragon aura. The two were hoping to finish this battle while going all out with their individual finishers. Readying his wings Azazel prepared to shoot himself through the air with all the speed he has.

Beckoning the figure, Azazel laughed, "Now come on…"

"You took everything…took everything tookeverythingtookeverythingtookeverything from ME!" The unstable Figure shot themselves at Azazel who flapped his wings and created a powerful gust which blew back everyone who watched on the ground.

"AZAZEL!"

"Hmph!"

"Come on Ero-Ossan, what are you doing? Kick their ass!" Michael cheered.

"W-What, A-Aeron?" The figure was displeased with Michael cheering for Azazel and dropped her Welsh Drive state decreasing the power she once had in half.

"Your open." Azazel took this chance to put enough put to kill the figure as he thrusts his light spear at her chest.

"…! DAMN YOU" The figure gasped as they remembered what they were in the middle of doing and swings her sword in the ready to chop Azazel in half.

***CLAAASH!***

***GIIIIN!***

Making contact with each other in a slow motion kind of fashion, they passed one another and stopped charging as they're backs was facing to each other. Waiting for their reactions to their own attacks to take place, everyone stayed silent. A few seconds pass and the one who showed any hint of damage was Azazel.

***SNAAP!***

***Thud!***

A torrent of blood sprayed out of Azazel's left arm as it falls out of its socket and fell to the ground.

"!" Everyone who watched was surprised.

"Azazel-sama!"

"Ero-Ossan!"

Both Michael and Raymond cried out in worry for Azazel.

Expecting a wince or scream in pain, everyone heard a slight chuckle as Azazel said,

"Looks like I lost my arm, it's a fair price to pay after I did the same to you." Azazel looks over his shoulder as he uses magic to stop the bleeding of his arm.

***SNAAP!***

***Thud!***

Now snapping off as well the right arm of the Figure fell off as well as it fell to the ground with a loud thud right next to Azazel's.

"Grch!" The figure gripped their bleeding, empty arm socket and trembled, "It wasn't a fair price at all you, bastard. You did way more than I did…"

"Perhaps." Azazel nodded as he saw the many blood soaked holes on the figure's back courtesy of Azazel's increased strength and speed within his dragon armor. His thrusting speed was so powerful during that one moment he tore through the figure's body and pierced them with little issue. An added bonus to this was that he got the chance to do it multiple times before ending it with a quick slash through the arm.

"Ourch! Ooooough!" The figure coughs up blood and moans in pain as they placed back the sword they used back into the magic circle for storage purposes.

"I guess this is it…" The figure coughed as a silent ringing went through its head communicating with it,

_'_ _M-Master…?' The figure listened intently to the ringing as it varied upon meaning like Morse code._

"It's over. Even when we both have one arm, I still have enough power in this thing to eradicate you completely, so accept defeat or else I'll-,"

Azazel would have continued his demands but was interrupted.

"Oh well~!" The figure retained their former cute tone as it stood right up and waved at Azazel, "I'm sorry, Crow-Bitch, but I can't stay here anymore. I'm needed elsewhere, my master told me to have enough fun before things went too far, so bye-bye!"

The figure waved goodbye as it chest was littered with many blood splattered holes, was it even human anymore. No, a human would have died a long time ago so what was she, no normal being can handle that much damage and still be okay to laugh like that.

"You think we'd let you escape?" Azazel raised his remaining hand and summoned a massive amount of light spears and fired them at the figure.

"I'm sorry, but we'll settle this another day, Crow-bitch!" The figure giggled as a massive hole takes shape in front of the figure that hums happily and devours the onslaught of light spears.

"…!"

"That technique!"

"This is new, isn't that the technique of a devil?" Azazel wondered out loud not at all phased by the interruption.

"The Power of Hole which belongs to the Abaddon Family why is it here of all places?" Serafall gasped.

"Could it be that the master their talking about is a devil?" S. Michael turns to Sirzechs.

"There's no doubt about it." Sirzechs examined the Hole as it closed when the figure was safe from harm. Taking form under them the figure stood on a dragon gate as they began to get teleported to another location.

"You see even my master wants for me to leave already, so I'll just be letting myself out for now, but remember~!  **One day I will come back to kill you and all the others who ruined my past, and took away my future! Especially you, Azazel!"**

The figure finished her deadly speech with a cute giggle, "Well it's been fun and all so until we meet again farewell, oh and congratulation with your treaty I hope it lasts for a while longer so I can get rid of you all in one blow, you can  **Bet on it!"**

The figure smirked under their hood as they saw the confused expression on Michael's face.

"Wait, did you just say Bet on it? Hey, that's my thing ya jerk!" Michael shouted.

Without saying a word the figure turned their back to Michael and looked over to Azazel saying, "His thing? That's a laugh maybe he should check with someone who actually used to say that right, Azazel?"

"…" Azazel kept quiet and resigned himself to see the figure off, he knew attacking would be reckless and taking a chance might lead to some good but the cause and effect lose balance when a single action takes the wrong step.

"And enjoy that boy's support while you can because I'll make sure to tell him everything you lot did, EVERYTHING…" The figure quietly threatened as they still felt annoyed by Michael's cries of support for Azazel. Just being reminded of that made their skin crawl.

"Huh?" Michael was curious and confused by this, he didn't catch the glance he Sirzechs gave him out of worry.

"Ooppsie! Time for me to be off. Well, goodbye everyone. I hope to see you dead the next we meet~!" The figure waved goodbye as she teleports away and vanished leaving an eerie and confusing atmosphere.

They just left just like that, making chase after them would be difficult with the remaining mages still attacking the leaders.

Sighing to himself with a tired expression, Azazel reverts back to his normal form and catches a falling jewel which used to be a part of his now broken artificial sacred gear.

"*Sigh!* What a mess to be dragged into. Looks as though we need to do better with the spear's modifications." Azazel looks at the jewel then kisses, "I'll have you stay with me for a little longer, Dragon King, Fafnir."

_'_ _What the hell was going on just now? Who was that guy, and why did they say those words? I always say those words that's my shtick! In fact, how the hell do they even know of them, man, things are just getting even weirder…' Michael thought himself into circles until a hand roused him back to normal._

"Let's handle the stragglers before thinking too much." Rias too wanted to know what just happened, but wants to deal with the mages who were still a threat.

"Yes, ma'am!" Michael nods in reassurance.

Working together with their combined might, The Gremory Peerage, Irina, Raynare along with Kalawarner and Mittelt, Raymond and Katerea were able to deal with the mages with no problem.

Rubbing his chin as he watched everyone handle the few mages left, Azazel smirked, "Looks like they annihilated everyone, interesting. Hm?"

Azazel catches sight of the arm the figure forgot, it looked to be that dragon arm they were sporting in the middle of their fight.

"Now what do we have here?" Azazel closely examined the arm letting his guard as he floats down to pick up it up.

_'_ _Good, we're finally done with those stupid mages. Now everything is okay!' Michael then realizes he was forgetting something, something important, no it wasn't something it was someone, 'Wait, where the hell is that douchebag, Vali? He didn't even help us at all!?'_

***ZING!* *ZANG!* *ZING!***

"What?" Michael sensed something quickly approaching their area.

"Michael-sama, what's wrong?" Raynare asked Michael who looked up in the air.

"Wait a minute is that-?" Michael focuses his eyes as he focuses on the power signature swiftly making its way towards…!

"Ero-Ossan, watch out!"

"Michael-san?" Asia casted a worried look as Michael went off running into danger again.

Michael shouts out as he makes a dash for Azazel as he sees a bright white light approaching from behind the confused Fallen Angel Leader.

"You're about to get hit!" Michael shouted.

"Michael, what are you doing?" Rias exclaimed.

"Huh? What are you talking about br-?" Azazel who was obviously losing his edge barely finds out about the incoming assailant.

"That bastard, what does he think he's doing!" Knowing he wouldn't make it in time the way he was now, Michael breathed then breathed out as a large amount of Touki surrounds his whole body and grants him an extra boost of speed. With the training he went through with Kai and his own occasional practices, Michael's adeptness with Touki has increased a lot by a margin.

"Haaaaaah!"

***THUD!***

***WHOOOSH!***

Michael swings back his leg as he manages to make it past Azazel in time to make contact with the white mass of light. Putting more Touki in the leg he's about to swing, Michael protected it and created a strong kick. The kick landed and was blocked by a white armor plated arm. Narrowing his eyes, Michael growled as the force of his kick dispersed the light revealing a White Dragon plated Armor, the Vanishing Dragon Scale Mail and its wearer Vali Lucifer.

"The Hakuryuukou?" Sirzechs narrows his eyes as he starts to get a bad feeling from that White Dragon Emperor.

"What is Vali-sama doing?" Mittelt questioned Kalawarner who shrugs and watches the clash the Red Dragon Emperor and the White Dragon Emperor made.

"Michael!" Rias calls out for the pawn in worry.

Forcing back Vali's attack, Michael grits his teeth and holds Vali in place until he gets enough leverage to push him back,

"Just what the hell do you think your about to do, Vali?"

"Hmhmhm! So you were able to keep up this time, you must've trained after we last met."

"Tch! Ergh…!" Michael grunts as he tries to kick back Vali's arm with the momentum his position has.

Michael hides a wince in pain as his leg though strengthened by his Touki still took the brunt of Vali's intended attack towards Azazel. Based on the pain he's feeling it felt that Vali wasn't hesitating when he directed his attack on Azazel.

"Vali?" Azazel looks over his shoulder to just now take a glimpse of this, remembering their last talk he widens his eyes and calls out, "No, Michael get away from him!"

"Hey Loser, you once said you wanted to prove something to me is that, right?" Vali perked Michael's interest but being called loser made Michael angry.

"Yeah, and what's it to you now? And stop calling me a loser!" Michael forces his leg into Vali's even more only to feel that it wasn't working anymore once Vali transferred more dragon aura into his arm to hold back Michael without having to use that much effort. Ignoring Michael's last comment, Vali pushes his arms out throwing Michael back a couple of inches.

"Whoa!" Michael yelped as he tried to regain balance.

***GRIP!***

"Huh? Hey, let go!"

Grabbing onto his leg was Vali, who smirks under his scale mail helmet and chuckles at Michael's struggle to break free as the teen tries his best to get out the hold. From kicks to punches, Michael's attacks didn't even faze Vali when he was armored by his sacred gear.

"Your failed attempts at escape are boring me, loser."

"…! I said don't call me a loser! Ascalon!"

Vali's eyes widened as he heard the name of a Dragon Slayer weapon come out of Michael's mouth.

**[Blade!]**

"Let's see you try and handle a Dragon Slayer weapon!"

His Boosted Gear using its call while shunting the blade out of its knuckle Michael attempts to thrust his blade into Vali. The dragon slaying aura the sword emits made Vali's skin burn in irritation/pain.

**{Vali, make sure to be careful of that weapon, and make sure it doesn't touch your main body! I won't be able to recover any damage quickly if you're struck by a Dragon Slayer Weapon!}**

"Ergh!"

***Sliiiick!***

Catching the blade with just his hand, Vali recoils in pain as his hand bled out once he touched the sword. This just proved how much power the Dragon Slayer weapon is to a fully armored dragon user of Vali's caliber.

"What you caught it?" Michael gasped at Vali's ballsy move to catch the weapon created to kill dragons like the one which is inside him.

Letting go of the blade and staring at his bleeding hand, Vali could only grow excited at the prospect of a Dragon Slayer being factored into a fight with the Red and White Dragon Emperor. He can just tell this plan of his will lead to a more interesting "outcome".

"Haha! Ascalon…you seem to acquire more unique stuff to your artillery, Hanamura your variety of weapons will make this all the more enjoyable." Vali remembers Michael's use of Touki, his ability to use Balance Breaker and his newly added Ascalon sword. This is a very dangerous combination of power and Vali couldn't be happy that he can fight against them all at once.

"Hah! Of course I am unique. I am the Great Hanamura after all!" Michael gloated then realized his position,

"Hey, why am I getting so buttered up let go of me you, asshole!"

"I've been waiting patiently enough for this, now let's settle this somewhere more appropriate."

_'_ _Settle this? Could he be talking about our…fated fight?' Michael stopped his struggle to acknowledge what Vali said._

"Vali." Azazel looks up at Vali in question.

"Sorry, Azazel. Things seemed more fascinating over on this side." Vali said.

"Geez, I really must be losing my edge, especially if my own follower has decided to trade sides from mine." Azazel scratched his head and laughed at himself.

"Wait trade sides, then that means you-!"

Michael starts to get what they were talking and shouts, but was interrupted by the approaching voice of Raymond who flies down to be exactly behind Vali.

"He's the traitor." Raymond stated, "He received an offer from the Khaos Brigade just after we returned back to headquarters carrying Kokabiel and the stray priest."

_'_ _Wait, he got the offer after our fight with that Coke-head?' Michael thought, it was rather convenient and scary how the world works so fast like that._

"I'm impressed, Raymond. I actually didn't sense your presence the whole time they explained the offer, but I was able to tell you followed me out of suspicion that whole day, so I guess it's only fair to say I tripped myself over on that."

Vali admitted his own mistake of not predicting Raymond's surveillance.

"Your behavior as of late was rather odd, so I allowed Raymond to follow you."

"Only fair to assume." Vali openly agrees to it with a smile.

"Okay guys, blood is starting to flow to my head here." Michael, who was behind held by his leg casually voiced in his words.

"Hey, Vali. There's just one thing I wanted to ask you."

"Hm?"

"My Vice Governor-General, Shemhaza you remember him, right? Well reports have been coming into telling of a dangerous faction known as the Khaos Brigade. Have you actually considered following a faction like that? It doesn't surprise me to know that the Vanishing Dragon decided to partner himself with Ophis the Ouroboros Dragon."

**_[The Infinite Dragon God…] Ddraig reminded Michael in his mind._ **

"It is true that I have sided with Ophis than with you. Your goals of peace are boring for a person, who enjoys the call of fighting and testing his strength against the strong. The Khaos Brigade is nothing, but a tool I need to achieve my dream and to give me entertainment that won't bore me. They even offered me with a chance to take part in a war against the Valhalla, Asgard."

Vali says his reasoning to follow his own path leading to his betrayal against Azazel.

"I see that sounds exactly what you would say; I knew you'd do this someday, but still…" Azazel clicked his tongue and shook his head, there seemed to be a little hurt in his eyes through that smirk of his. He seems to be a little saddened that Vali is the traitor,

"But I knew it wasn't in your favor to be all buddy-buddy with your other fellow descendants, who lead the Old Maou Faction. Since you do possess the blood of the old Maou in you."

"Blood of the old Maou?" Serafall repeated Azazel's words.

"What are you talking about?" Rias questioned.

Placing a hand on his chest, Vali introduces his full name for the first time,

"My name is Vali Lucifer."

"What did he say?" Sirzechs furrowed his brow upon hearing that name.

"W-Wait your a Lucifer descendant!?" Michael gasped.

"I-It can't be…!" Rias gasped.

"I am a descendant of the dead Devil King Lucifer. I'm a half blood, born of the grandson of the former Maou and a human." Vali reveals the origin of birth.

"That can't be true…"

"I see. With a human… there was no way, we would have known his birth since he is a Halfling." Sirzechs understood why the birth of a devil who possessed even the White Dragon Emperor's power was never brought up. Any devil who would usually mate outside of their own race would keep quiet about the birth of a child from a different species.

"While you have the blood of a real Maou, you are also half human, which was a requirement that gave you the power of the, Vanishing Dragon. So basically your entire existence seems to be a joke." Azazel explained a rather difficult thing to believe but not hard to trust since the very existence was right in front of everyone.

"I believe the word "miracle" is a better term to describe me." Vali revealed at least 8 devil wings confirming his bloodline of being related to a Maou.

"His wings…!" Asia covers her mouth at the revelation.

"O, God…" S. Michael lowered his head at the existence in front of him.

"This child will be the strongest White Dragon Emperor the world has ever known."

Azazel said, it was absolutely true with Vali's talent with magic, incredible speed and strength and adeptness with his Sacred Gear. His skills were on another level.

_'_ _It is just as you once said Zethyr, this child is a dangerous one.' Katerea narrowed her eyes at Vali as she observed what the silver haired teen's next move would be._

Crossing his arms while still being held by the leg, Michael could start to feel himself get overwhelmed by his rival being so skilled and powerful and since it was all explained he began to feel anxious, nervous and really excited. Or it could be the blood rushing through his head.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Suddenly laughing at the top of his lungs, Michael caught the attention of everyone as his laughter echoed through the entire campus.

"Michael-sama?" Raynare blinked, she would have thought he would worry about the reveal of Vali's heritage, something even she had regretted not to inform him of.

"Hahahahahaha! I don't know if it's the blood rushing to my head, but this just makes things all the more better!"

"It does?" Vali raised an eyebrow in question.

"Of course it does! Because not only will I prove that I'm your rival, but I also get another chance to prove that I'm actually Maou material!" Michael points at Vali with a challenging grin, he still hadn't lost hope yet, he just found another motivation to beat Vali, "Me, the Great Michael Hanamura against Vali Lucifer the Descendant of the original Lucifer! I'll show you that even I can be the rival of Devil Descendant and prove to you that I'm not a loser!"

"…Hehehehehe…Hahahahahahahaha!"

Looking at Michael's sudden burst of charisma, Vali couldn't help grow a smile at the boy's excited ramblings. It was too much, so that it made even Vali laugh at Michael's absurd thought at the matter.

"You still talk so big after knowing, who you're rival is, and you don't even hesitate at all too. You don't seem to have changed at all, loser." Vali smirked.

"And it seems you didn't change either since you still don't respect me, asshole!" Michael grinned, "So let's settle this with a fight right here and now, Vali!"

His plan running so smoothly, Vali could only respond,

"A fight against you will be the easiest win, I'll ever earn."

Releasing his hold on Michael, Vali lets the young man hurtle towards the ground disoriented as all the blood he had in his body flowed to his head.

"Whoooooa!" Michael screamed in panic as he quickly approaches the ground.

"Kuroka." Vali called out someone's name as the sound of a bell jingling was heard around the school field.

The bell and the sudden call of that name frightened Koneko, who trembled and could only look around in fear as Rias gasped,

"Wait, Kuroka isn't that?"

"Vali, you really know how to keep a girl waiting you know, nya~!"

"Who was that?" Michael just now heard the voice a female as a portal appeared below him, "And what is that!? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Michael echoed as he fell through the portal with his arms flailing about.

"Michael/-kun/-sama/-nii/-senpai!"

The calls of Rias and Michael's other friends called out for the teen who disappeared.

"It appears my patience was worth it after all." Vali himself prepares to go through the portal leading to who knows where.

"Vali." Azazel gave a stern call.

"…" Vali stayed in place within the air as Azazel crossed his arms,

"You shouldn't do what you may regret in there, even if it's for your entertainment. Remember that emotions are what set Michael off."

"You are right. I shouldn't, but this time it doesn't concern you, Azazel. Also, you should stop thinking I'm working under you because from now on," Vali turns his face to give Azazel a bored, rebellious expression, "I don't take orders from you anymore."

***Chicchek!***

***WHOOOOSH!***

Vali uses his helmet to cover his face as he dives in the portal.

"Azazel-sama?" Raymond approaches Azazel, who shakes his head to let that comment slide and focus his view in the air as a large crystal ball like sphere revealed the image of the two dragon's location to battle.

"Let's just hope nothing too troublesome happens in this fight." Azazel sighed.

It was a wasteland filled with rock formations and canyons.

"Michael…please be okay…" Rias looks up at the sphere displaying Michael's location in worry as she puts a hand on her chest.

"The presence of whoever made that portal is gone; they must be skilled to handle creating a stage like this while keeping their appearance away from our detection." Sirzechs looked from side to side realizing that whoever did it was quite a distance away from the academy to do this, with an impressively hidden aura.

"I hope, Michael-san will be alright. O lord, please protect Michael-s-Ack!" Asia tried to pray for Michael's safety while experiencing the recoil of pain from a devil praying.

(In the wastelands)

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Ough!"

Landing smack dab into the ground below, Michael picks himself up to feel the burning rays of the sun on his body, devils were quite sensitive to it and but for him it was just an irritation.

"Ugh! Why is it so hot and bright?" Michael covers his eyes from the harsh sun rays, "It was just near evening, why is the sun out?"

**[That's because you've been teleported to another space different from Kuoh Academy.]**

"Really? Well, I'm glad. Now I don't have to worry about damaging the school while the Kaichou was there, and this means that I can beat up Vali with no interruptions." Michael punched his hand into his palm.

"Beat up? Hehehe! Such delusions will get you nowhere, Hanamura."

His eyes narrowed at the White dragon plated armored Vali, Michael felt that he should use his Balance Breaker. But those thoughts were abandoned once Vali returns to his normal state without either his Sacred Gear of Balance Breaker. Eyes filled with annoyance, Michael shouted,

"Oi! Why aren't you getting ready to fight?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I am ready to fight." Vali's arrogant smirk pissed Michael off, "I don't need to use my Sacred Gear to know that this will be an easy fight."

"Grrr! Enough of that you, asshole this a fight between you and me with these stupid dragons!" Michael was irritated at being underestimated by Vali.

**[Hey!]**

**{Hey!}**

"Whoops, no offense." Michael apologized to both Ddraig and Albion.

"But you get what I mean. So take this seriously or else I'll make you regret it!" Michael clenched his fist and entered his fighting stance as he releases a massive amount of red dragon aura to show he wasn't playing games.

"Oh, trust me." Vali's white dragon power spiked up higher than Michael's and he wasn't even in a proper stance just his arms crossed as he didn't place that much effort into releasing any of his power,

"I will."

***WHOOOOOOOOOOSH~!***

The hot wind of the wastelands brushed past the two teens that narrowed their eyes at one another. Both have their reason to fight one another, one who sought enjoyment from the fight and the other who sought to be acknowledged.

Finally, it was time to decide the next outcome of the 2nd Bout between these two rivaling dragons.

* * *

**Next Chapter- Red vs. White, Round 2! The clash of the Two Heavenly Dragons shake the Earth, and the unforgivable rage from the past awakens!?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you guys have been given a few reveals so far, but I'll just clarify and answer with: Yes, Kai is technically a Half Human and Half Monkey Youkai hybrid. There, I hope that helps. 
> 
> Now we approach my favorite part of writing fights the Rival battle it will be one of the ages once I'm done with it or it will be entertaining either way is fine with me. Now it's time for the final battle for Peace Treaty Arc to commence!
> 
> Thanks for reading guys, and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter as much as I had "fun" writing it. Well, I hope you enjoyed it, and please make sure to leave a comment
> 
> Well, I'm out so peace out and have a nice day!


	32. Red vs. White, Round 2! The clash of the Two Heavenly Dragons shakes the Earth, and the unforgivable rage from the past awakens!?

**Red vs. White, Round 2! The clash of the Two Heavenly Dragons shakes the Earth, and the unforgivable rage from the past awakens!?**

* * *

_(In Kuoh Town about 6 years ago)_

_"All right! Today is the day, I finally beat you!" Michael points at Vali as he grins with the utmost confidence to beat his rival._

_In the park in town was an empty playground to which a young Michael and Vali stayed in. The two had decided to stay nearby in the field portion of the park since it gave them lots of space to move through. For Michael it would be another attempt to get back at Vali and finally get a win at something. No matter how hard he tried, he could never win and it lists from racing, eating contests, and even the painful staring contests._

_He could never win at anything, but he was determined to win today with the challenge he picked._

_"Oh really, and just what do you have in mind?" Vali said with a neutral expression._

_"Hehehehe!" Michael laughed childishly, "For today's challenge, we're going to do-!"_

_Suddenly a change of scene occurs as the two young boys now stood in front of two large, tall trees._

_"Tree climbing!" Michael declared as he pumps his fist in the air, "The first one to the top is the winner!"_

_"Tree climbing, you're joking?" Vali looked at Michael with narrow eyes._

_"Haha, I, the Great Hanamura never jokes when it comes to challenging you, jerk. So, do you take my challenge on or not, perhaps you are just afraid of losing to me and finally admitting I'm absolutely better than you! Hahahahahahahaha!" Michael laughed immaturely until he opens his eyes to see that Vali wasn't standing next to him anymore, "Huh? Hey, where are you going?"_

_Michael looks behind himself to see Vali walking away._

_"I have no interest to take part in any of your childish games, loser. If you're so intent on climbing a tree then do it yourself." Vali rejected the challenge._

_"But you just can't walk away if you do then this is my automatic win!" Michael shouted as Vali continued to walk away._

_"It's not a real challenge if your opponent doesn't concede to it at all." Vali responded, "Come back when you actually have something entertaining for me to do, loser."_

_Normally the silver haired boy was passive and bided his time actually doing these childish games in the past. Azazel would always leave the pair alone to handle some business before coming back the few last hours until evening. He hated the thought of being sucked up into these contests, but being bored is something he can't tolerate. But after going through this annoying scenario of playing such trivial games, it's gotten really agitating to take part in it anymore._

_Grinding his teeth at being called that, Michael rushes after Vali and yells,_

_"You, jerk! Don't just walk away like that, and like I said before, I am not a-!" Michael stops in his tracks to see a nearby flash of light almost blinds him, "Ack! So bright!"_

_Moving himself from the range of light, Michael shakes his head and looks around for whatever did that._

_"Huh, what was that just now?" Michael looked up in wonder before he catches sight of the ray of light which blinded him, rather curious he followed it intently._

_"I wonder where this light came from..." Michael who was blinded yet fascinated by it followed the light's trail to a couple of bushes, pushing them aside he gasps in awe at his discovery, "WHOA!"_

_Right in front of him were a pair of goggles which looked to be brand new. Well, there were some smudges on the lenses and a little of the goggle's paint started to chip away, but it still looked mildly used, so he saw no difference. Picking them up with a breathless expression, Michael smiles,_

_"So cool~!" Looking around he attempts to see if any passerby had dropped the goggles while walking. He could have expanded his search for the owner who may have dropped it but instead he decided,_

_"Hehehehe! Well, since I can't find the owner, this automatically becomes mine!" Michael laughed at his sudden ownership of the goggles as he carries it and looked at them closely in pure happiness._

_"Hey, loser what do you got there?" Vali who returned asked from behind Michael._

_"Oh my Jesus! Don't sneak up on me you, bastard!" Michael quickly spins to face Vali and hid the goggles behind his back._

_"You're still a waste of space if you can't even sense my presence when I don't even try to hide it." Vali sighed and shook his head, "Now what's that you got there?"_

_"Why do you care? I thought you said the trivial things I do aren't entertaining?" Michael tried to steer clear of what was behind his back._

_"I did, but not being able to do anything is even worse, my boredom has sunken me so low that I have to ask you of all people to show me what they got, so what is it?" Vali looked conflicted/annoyed with his feelings toward the matter._

_"Oi! Stop making it sound like it's such an ordeal to even know about my business!" Michael shouted._

_"Whatever. Are you going to show me or are you just going to be holding your arms back like a moron the entire day?" Vali crossed his arms._

_Looking peeved and a little pressured, Michael decides to give himself up and show Vali the goggles, "Fine, I found these awesome goggles in some bushes and decided to keep them."_

_"I-I see…"_

_Michael kept his eyes closed as he expected another one of Vali's degrading quips about his childishness or his idiocy, and infatuation towards shiny objects. But that didn't happen which made the boy attempt to see why he wasn't getting insulted, and that lead to a paralyzing discovery._

**_*STARE!*_ **

_It was Vali staring at the goggles intently as his eyes too looked at them with the same excitement Michael did from before. The boy's eyes shine as he gazed upon the goggles, the scene was at first off putting but made Michael understand. A huge grin grew on Michael's face as he coughs,_

_"So, is that all you have to say?" Michael knew of the interest in Vali's eyes._

_Catching onto that, Vali quickly masks that face with one of disinterest and says, "Ahem! Of course, those goggles aren't the least bit impressive, they seem to be really used with the chipping pant and those filthy smudges."_

_Realizing this for himself, Michael could still tell Vali was interested in the goggles like him. He may be trying to hide it, but the few glances he gave back to it proves him right. Smiling, he understands that no matter how stuck up or mature Vali may have seemed he still was a kid just like him. In fact, this just gave him an idea. If Vali likes the goggles then he would somewhat take anything involving it seriously, which would mean Michael could finally get the boy to take him serious in their challenges._

_'I wonder…' Michael thought as he saw that both boys were so intent on having the goggles he grinned,_

_"Alright, time for today's challenge to commence!" Michael yells as he got an idea._

_"Just what absurd nonsense are you spouting about now?" Vali raised an eyebrow in question._

_"Don't play dumb. You know exactly what I mean!" Michael laughs, "For a chance to win, I hereby challenge you to a fight to determine who gets to keep these goggles!"_

_"A fight?" Vali said._

_"Yes, a fight me against you, mano-e-mano!" Michael saw the unsurprised look on Vali's face._

_"That sounds absolutely pointless, you know how this will end, usually with me being the winner." Vali looked away and crossed his arms._

_"Shut up! Like you'd ever be the winner this time since we're putting these babies on the line!" Michael indicated the goggles, "And just to warn you I have no plan on losing, these goggles will absolutely be mine and I will finally beat you!"_

_"Hmph! Like I said pointless you expect me to take part in some fight over some used goggles?" Vali asked._

_"Of course you saw them the same way I did, so you have to take this seriously! A man who doesn't even care to fight for what he wants isn't man at all!" Michael shouted._

_"You do remember we're only 11 years old, right?" Vali reminded._

_"Rrrgh! Enough of that! Are you just going to make excuses like the chicken you are, or are you going to fight for these goggles like a man!" Michael ignored Vali's last comment and urged the boy to fight him, an opportunity came up to actually go against a serious Vali with everything there's no way he can back out now._

_'I'm sick and tired of always losing today is the day I finally get a win.' Michael's steeled eyes grew with confidence._

_"So do you take the challenge or not, I won't back down no matter what and show you I'm not a loser." Michael sounded less like the arrogant boy he was now someone who meant business._

_"…!" Vali notices this and rubs his chin, something inside of him felt anxious and eager? What is that he was gaining some excitement from the black-haired boy?_

_'This feeling? Why do I suddenly feel the urge to actually fight this kid?' Looking off to the side, Vali begins to think things over about the offer, 'Before, I would've just shrug off his stupid challenges and get things over with but now I actually find myself curious to engage in combat with him.' Deciding things over Vali finally chooses to go along with his curiosity and figure out his sudden eagerness._

_Sighing while shaking his head Vali replied, "Fine you win, but it still won't change a thing, but knowing how the past results where I guess it won't last more than a single minute."_

_"Grrrgh! It's not going to be like the last time!" Michael raised his fist in anger, somewhere inside of him he felt a little happy that Vali accepted the challenge._

_"Right, like the other 47 times you said it, the end will always be the same and you'll just end up as a pitiful loser." Vali smirks and closes his eyes as he acted all smug._

_"You bastard that's it! Today is the day I school your ass, and I'll prove that I'm no loser and that I'm actually better than you!" Michael shouted once more._

_"I'm standing right in front of you, shouting constantly like that isn't a sign of being better than me." Vali shook his head._

_"Whatever let's do this for these goggles. We'll decide who's the better one out of the both of us!" Michael declares._

_Standing farther apart from one another both Michael and Vali stood on a field readying themselves before their fight begins. On a lone branch atop a climbable tree hung the goggles, their prize for whoever won. Looking at one another with serious expressions Michael was the first one to think,_

_'This is it, my time to finally show Vali up and prove I'm truly great.' Michael hardened his glare towards the young boy._

_"…" Vali remained quiet as he kept his usual neutral expression, which pissed Michael off since he couldn't read the guy's emotion at all._

_"Okay then since we're doing this let's start off with a countdown from 3 to 1." Michael explained._

_"A countdown huh? I never expected someone as uncivilized as you to come up with that. Honestly, I expected you to come barreling at me without warning. So, I must congratulate you for proving you actually do have an inkling of thought in that brain of yours." Vali mocked Michael hoping to get the boy's old angered response._

_But that didn't happen instead Michael just started,_

_"3…"_

_Vali looks up to see Michael trying to get into a fighting pose with the very little experience he has. He could actually see the boy wasn't playing around; taking this fight very serious. Getting that weird feeling of eagerness, Vali grew ready in his more leveled fighting stance and faced Michael._

_"Hmhmhm, seems like you really are serious, so I guess I'll go along with it…" Vali smirks._

_Suddenly the focus of the scene between the two boys was blinded by the sun up in the air which rays blocked the entire image until it started to die down to reveal something else…_

* * *

**(Present, 6 years later)**

***WHOOOOOOOOSH!***

The sun's light rays dimmed down to reveal a rocky wasteland with no signs of life whatsoever only the vast emptiness of the forgotten land. Shining upon two figures, the sun reveals Michael standing across from Vali. Both were glaring at one another with their opposing auras slowly rising.

_"If we're going to take things seriously, then let's start over because of my abrupt statement." Past Vali's voice echoed, "…3."_

Vali readies himself by raising his guard, he predicted that the one to make the first move would be Michael, so he decided to stay patient and watch things play out. He felt very assured that he could handle any attack that Michael throws his way. However, he still kept wary because of Michael's abnormal fighting patterns. The goggled teenager had a tendency to do things out of rhythm which could be used in his favor to catch his opponent off guard.

Smirking, Vali knew that to gain a better advantage would be to take things slow and manage to stay patient. By doing that he'll gain access to any openings, and from what he could examine from Michael's current stance; there were already multiple openings.

_"…2." Past Michael's voice echoed._

Taking a few short steps forward, Michael slowly crept towards Vali while holding his fighting stance. He tried sizing up his opponent before acting, but saw no current opening that he could take right off the bat. This could be one example of Vali's talent, especially, with close combat. Grinning, Michael decided if he couldn't find an opening, then he'd just have to make one.

**[Boost!]**

He starts to stockpile his strength just in case as he prepares to do a head on assault using the touki covering his body. Automatically, he starts to maximize the output as best as he currently can to enhance his physical abilities.

A few seconds of silence came over them as they themselves instinctively went off by a countdown, subconsciously. Getting close to the final count both unconsciously announced the last number,

""1!""

Michael kicked off the ground to initiate the first attack as he charges at Vali as he spins his body around while coating his entire right leg with touki. Increasing his speed, Michael made sure to aim the attack for Vali's head.

"Hm!"

***Thud!***

Vali raises his forearm to catch the kick with little effort even though it almost took him by surprise by how fast Michael was, "Nice try. You may have gotten faster, but that won't do much if you don't bother to put much power into the kick itself."

"Too bad for you, jerk. I wasn't even trying to get you with this feint." Michael mocked him, as he slowly pulls his leg back from Vali.

"What?" Vali questioned, until he realizes the flowing aura of touki around Michael's body which increased the fluidity and the speed of his reflexes. With a close-up advantage Michael lands on the ground, a couple of inches from Vali and clenches his fist.

"Because I was trying to get close enough to do this!" Michael leans in and dug his fist directly into Vali's gut.

**THUD!**

"…!"

Vali focused enough of his demonic energy to harden his muscles took the attack with no damage, but the notion of almost being caught off guard angers him quite a bit.

"You…" Unbeknownst to him a small magic circle formed itself on his midriff.

"Not strong enough eh? Then how about this!" Michael intended to attempt another kick to Vali's head.

"Hehehe! Don't think that I'll allow you to get away with that a second time." Vali copies the same action almost perfectly.

***KHIN!***

Both the kicks clashed and forced the two apart.

"What the-?" Michael gasped,  _'He copied that attack to cancel out my own?'_

"Hmph!"

***BAM!***

"Argh!"

Catching Michael off guard, Vali uses this chance to elbow the teen in the jaw, causing him to stagger back, but that wasn't enough to flinch Michael back as the teen continued to just barrel on in with both fists ready.

"Not yet!" Michael grunts as he fires his first few punches at Vali, who cocks his head back and forth dodging it. The rapidity of his blows was impressive and well thought out as Vali had to try and predict each attack's intended destination.

"Good, your hits are getting harder to read this time. You made some good progress over these last few days. But that still won't change a thing if you can't land a single hit!" Vali reaches out and grabs onto one of Michael's wrists stopping his punches.

"Guh!" Michael grits his teeth as he was forced to one side as Vali places a single hand in front of his face.

"Now fly away…" Vali's hand emitted a dangerous white aura.

He was about to fire a blast of dragon power at point blank range!

Learning from the last fight, Michael knew that he needed to get Vali to stay in one place or it'll be difficult to lay a finger on him. So, with a little trouble, he was able to latch his trapped hand onto Vali's hand as the other latched onto Vali's other wrist.

"Got ya now!" Michael roared as he uses his free hand and aimed it at Vali, who was unreactive to the incoming attack…no, he wasn't too slow to realize this, he was-!

"Do you honestly believe that the same trick will work on me twice?" Vali remarked as he stopped his premeditated attack and caught Michael's fist before it reached him.

"Uh-Oh!" Michael gasped.

"You're an idiot, if you believe that I'll be stupid enough to fall for that." Vali smirked.

"I know." Michael smiled out of nowhere.

"Excuse me?" Vali blinked.

"That's why I didn't use touki for it!" Michael grinned as he starts to lean back initiating his second part of the attack.

"…?"

**[Boost!]**

Michael boosted the power of his Touki and channeled it into a single point.

Vali's eyes widened as he just now realized how easy it was to catch the hit. So, if the touki wasn't transferred to the fist, then where would it have gone?

Looking down, Vali saw Michael slowly lean back and suddenly jump straight up, while now holding onto both of Vali's wrists with a grin. Realizing what was going to happen, Vali clicked his tongue.

"You clever little-"

***SWIIIISH!***

**"The Great Hanamura Kick: Boot to the Head edition!"** Michael flat out named another basic technique after his own name, he still felt proud of it no matter what anyone else would say. But that was to say he would feel mostly proud of it; if only it didn't fail to connect against Vali's chin.

"Crap!" Michael noticed how fast Vali released his grip on him, and used a pulse of demonic power to force his hands off the dark silvered haired male's wrists.

"Ngh…!" Vali grits his teeth as he was barely able to dodge the attack with how fast Michael shot his foot through their linked arms. Had he not figure out the attack beforehand, then it really would have connected and left substantial damage. The only thing that Michael's swift kick did was snip off a few strands of Vali's hair.

Seeing the apparent changes in Michael's fighting style, Vali started to look a little excited and showed a little smirk before calming himself down.

_'Yeah, if I continue like this I can make him get serious!' Michael grins as he lands a couple of feet away from Vali._

"Making a trick, within a trick. I should have seen that one coming, considering that you do tend to be stubborn when it comes to childish pranks." Vali insulted.

"Well, then that must make you an idiot because this childish guy pulled something over your eyes!"

Michael responded back much to Vali's annoyance as being called that by Michael was something he could not tolerate.

But ignoring that statement, Vali decided to finally engage his opponent.

"If you don't mind, I'll take my turn now." Vali starts to slowly lean forward while aiming his left fist to Michael's face.

_'He's going too slow. What is he talking abo-?' Michael thought as his guard grows lax._

**[Michael, focus! You'll get hit if you don't raise your guard!] Ddraig warned his partner.**

"But he's going too slow to eve-?"

***BAM!* *BAM!* *THUD!***

"Aaaaaaaagh!"

Michael received a sharp punch to the cheek followed by a jab to the stomach ending with him receiving a swift kick to the chin. Spiraling in the air, Michael was trying to understand what had just happened before he gets himself together and lands a couple of feet away from Vali.

"What the hell!?" Michael panted and wiped his bloody lip.

"It's sad that you actually fell for that. Honestly, I was worried that you'd at least catch on to my delayed stance. Well, I guess that's my fault for having the slightest glimmer of any expectation in you at all." Vali mocked.

"Grrr! Shut up!" Michael clenches his fist as he focused his dragon aura into his hand. The amount that he collected was far too great for him to control on his own, but luckily the arm bracelet that Azazel gave him managed to maintain the amount of power to a controlled form.

The bracelet shimmered with a bright pink light as it completed its function.

_'Isn't that one of…?' Vali examined the arm bracelet._

"Take this! One of my special attacks!" Michael starts to breathe calmly as he surrounds his entire arm with Touki along with adding the destructive effects to the dragon sphere as it now swirled with red and white aura.

"Special attack?" Vali repeated.

"Yeah, and it's been a while since I used it. Not to mention that you'll be the first one, that I seriously mean to use it on. Unlike…last time." Michael gritted his teeth at the bitter memory as a flash image of a crying Koneko flashed in his mind.

* * *

Watching upon realization of what Michael meant, Akeno exclaims, "That technique!" Akeno remembered that move it was the same one, he had used on Riser's Queen from the Rating Games.

"…" Koneko watched closely in silence, she had heard Michael had gotten angry over her sudden retirement during the rating game and used such a dangerous technique out of rage against the Riser's queen. Feeling compelled to watch, she wanted to see just how serious the move that he's about to use was really worth avenging her loss.

* * *

"Now eat this! My new and improved  **Dragon Burst Drill!"** Michael roared and fired the sphere which shot out a rapid, intense wave of red/white aura in the form of a beam, its appearance looked very dangerous. However, to Vali, he just shrugged it off as another attempt to intimidate him.

"If you're trying to scare me with such a showy attack, then you must be insane." Vali raises his hand and created a file of thick barriers protecting him from the front intending to negate the attack, but…

***PRAAANG!* *PRAAANG!* PRAAANG!* *PRAAANG!***

"What?"

Vali gasped as his barriers began to shatter as only a few remained while the rest that got broken dulled out the brunt force attack. Any more power backing it up, then it would have reached Vali in no time.

Intending to do just that, Michael continued to pour more power into his attack disregarding his increase of dragon aura.

***PRAAAANG!***

_'He's actually pushing me back?" Vali grunts as he tried to put more defense into his barriers, but the drilling beam hitting against them always seemed to whittle down their recovery rate._

"Hah! How do you like that, asshole? Don't underestimate, the Great Hanamura! Now all I have to do is-!"

***THROBB!* *THROBB!* *THROBB!***

Michael stops midway and gripped his arm in pain, "Gargh!"

* * *

Azazel exclaimed, "That brat! Didn't I tell him not to push it past his limits?"

"Michael-san." Asia worriedly cried.

* * *

The numb feeling of pain grew back in Michael's arm. It was severe, but it distracted his concentration with his attack which needs a whole lot of it if he wanted to boost its power to overtake the last of the barriers.

_'Did this seriously just happen?' Vali thought as he was able to hold back the blast which power has started to dwindle down in size until it dispersed, 'The added effects of the Touki produced a much stronger blast. How exciting. But for some reason, I dislike the notion that I've been almost caught off guard by this loser's attack more than once.'_

_Vali glared at Michael in annoyance as the creeping feeling of dissatisfaction slowly welled up within him, but he didn't feel it towards Michael, yet. So, he had no clue where it was directed to._

"Gurgh!" Michael's arm twitches in pain, "Oh come on! This again? But I'm wearing the bracelet!"

**[You are, but that still doesn't mean you can't go over the bracelets limits. You still receive the little amount of power it couldn't control for you.] Ddraig advised,**

**[Just look at it now.]**

Following Ddraig's advice, Michael looked to see that the dragon was right about the bracelet as it was starting to crack under the pressure that Michael applied to it with his Dragon Power.

**[Pushing your dragon energy unconsciously could have done much more than make your arm go numb. If you hadn't have used Touki to shield your arm, then it would have been much worse.] Ddraig explained.**

_'You're right. If it wasn't for that tip that the Ero-Ossan gave me it could have been much worse.' Michael clenched his fist and nodded, 'I've been getting help from him a lot lately, so I can't keep messing up like this.'_

"I have to give you props, Hanamura. That attack was impressive, but not completely effective. Do you seriously think using an attack that you can barely handle could beat me?" Vali raises both his arms once he sees Michael raising his arm in the air.

**[Boost!]**

"I don't know. Usually stuff like that works whenever I fight someone who pisses me off? Oh, and guess what? You're pissing me off, too." Michael swings his arm and uses another call along with his boosted energy.

**[Blade!]**

***SHIIING!***

"So, let's fix that." Michael growled as he charges at Vali as he brandished Ascalon.

"We'll see about that."

"Hyaaaaaah!"

***SHIIIING!* *WHOOOSH!* *SHIIING!* *WHOOOOSH!* *SHIIIIIIIING!* *BANG!***

Getting close enough, Michael swings Ascalon with horizontal to vertical arcs to assault Vali, but his inexperience with a blade was his downfall once Vali caught on to his inexperience to easily dodge his attacks.

"I take it that you have no experience with a sword do you, Hanamura?" Vali dodged a swing to his right shoulder.

"Hah! You must be joking! I've been practicing the way of the sword for a long time now! So don't think that this will be a walk in the park for you!" Michael shouted as he thrusts his blade at Vali, who all but leaned back to get away from its range.

"Oh, really? Then how long have you trained with that thing?" Vali asked.

"Well, uh… I mean, I've been using it for the past…" Michael tried to lie.

**[Day. He's been using for only the past day when he got it.]**

"Wow, how sad pathetic." Vali laughed at Michael's pitiful display of swordsmanship.

"Ddraig, why!?" Michael shouted, "You're supposed to be on my side!"

**[I am on your side, but dragging it on with your pointless gloating will just prolong the fight. Stay focused and pay attention.]**

"Why you…!" Michael seethed with anger.

"It seems you can't even control that dragon of yours, Hanamura. It saddens me to see how you, the host, are constantly getting support from your, partner. I mean rea-." Vali went on to talk about Michael's relationship with Ddraig until…

_'Now while he's talking!' Michael thought as he clenched his clawed fist, 'Element of surprise!'_

**{Vali, in front of you!} Albion warned.**

"Hm?" Vali opens one eye at the warning.

**[Boost!]**

"Extend!"

"Tch!"

Michael extended Ascalon's longer blade at Vali, who was didn't pay attention on time to dodge the blade's edge completely.

***SCHLICK!***

The edge of the blade grazed his cheek.

_'Hah! Got him!' Michael smirked._

"Tch!"

Seeing the blood trickle down from his face, Vali gritted his teeth in a little anger at being even grazed by the teen and suddenly disappeared from where he stood.

His speed was phenomenal, even when he wasn't using his sacred gear, he was still able to elude Michael's sight.

"Huh, where did he go?" Michael looked around frantically for Vali.

"Sshhh! I'm right behind you…" Vali whispered from behind Michael.

"H-Hu-!?"

***BAM!***

"Bluurgh!"

Instinctively whipping his head around Michael met the blunt side of Vali's elbow connecting against the side of his head.

"…!"

***PIIIIING!***

"Ugh!"

Vali forces his palm forward and created a pulse of demonic power that forced Michael back with his arms crossed over his chest.

"What's wrong, Hanamura? Can't keep up?" Vali wiped off the blood on his cheek then licked it off. He would make sure the punk wouldn't get so much as a scratch on him, unless he was truly serious in the fight. He just needed to gauge his strength before continuing.

"Hah, you kidding? I'm just getting started!" Michael wipes his lip as he decides to go in for another attack.

"Really? Then I hope that you're ready for this."

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

"Oh, you have got to be kidding m-!"

***BAAAAAAAAAANG!***

Vali extends his hand out and fires a merciless barrage of dragon powered energy volley blasts at Michael, who covered his upper body with his arms and guarded his entire body with Touki to deal with the brunt force of the attacks. Still rushing through Vali's ongoing attack, Michael still struggled to take even little steps to get through the almost endless blasts because of the continuous blasts the only thing that could be seen was a large cloud of dust which surrounded the entire field.

"Still needs a little more…" Vali muttered to himself as he increased the power behind the volley blasts and sent out a few more infused with different elemental attributes mostly: Fire, Lightning and Ice.

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!"

"There we go." Vali smirked as he saw that the damage being dealt was exactly the amount he wanted.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeag-ngh!" Michael screamed in pain as the endless barrage of magic bullet pelted against his body, but he still pushed through to gain at least some more distance from Vali and since this heavy, dense cloud of smoke was forming with every blast coming his way he had an idea ready to go.

* * *

Watching from the outside were the leaders, the occult research club, and part of the student council (Sona and Tsubaki), who viewed upon the huge crystal ball like image in the sky which revealed the two facing off. If it were possible the leaders would find, who was responsible for making that separate space. But with Azazel asking them to please hold off on the search surprised them as the man kept watching the two young men fight without looking away from the screen, understanding Azazel's wish the other leaders decided to just relinquish themselves to the request and watch.

"Michael…" Rias watched in worry as the fight seemed to be growing more in Vali's favor.

* * *

"That should be enough for now." Vali stops his barrage to look at the large cloud of smoke he created, "Now let's see what kind of state you're in."

Vali watched for a moment as the smoke started to clear only to see a bright red light emanate from within.

 **"Dragon Shot!"** A huge red beam of concentrated dragon power aimed directly at Vali.

"How basic." Vali jumps high into the air.

***DOOOON!* *CRASH!***

The red beam tore through at least 3 rock formations before exploding a distance away.

"Impressive, but you still lack control. Now let's see you reveal yourself, loser." Vali slowly lands back on the ground while looking through the smoke as it clears.

**[Boost!]**

"How many times do I have to tell you?"

Rising from within the smoke was a shining red light as Michael boosted up his strength while hiding within the smoke as it slowly lets up to reveal his somewhat injured body. The blows of the different attribute magic bullets could penetrate his Touki clad body, but it wasn't that harmful to completely defeat him.

Looking satisfied with how Michael was still standing after receiving that merciless attack, Vali smirked and could only grow more excited in what he was currently doing now.

**[Boost!]**

"I am not a Loser!" Michael grabbed onto his right wrist as a bright red, shining ball of demonic and dragon power floated over the tips of his index and middle finger. Slowly raising the ball of power at Vali, who stood ready to dodge it.

"Another attack like before? Keeping this up will force you to run out of energy." Vali sighed as he wanted this fight to pick up already.

***Bwoooooooooooon!***

"Hmm?" Vali noticed the ball of energy growing brighter.

**[Boost!]**

"Shut up…" Michael panted heavily as he mentally strained himself into concentrating a certain condition for his next attack,

"You should be worrying about yourself… You still haven't been taking me seriously, and I've had it! So, I'm going to make you get serious with this attack. I'm finally going to make sure you have to use your Sacred Gear."

**_[Remember, you should only pour enough power that you're comfortable with using.] Ddraig reminded._ **

_'Don't worry, Ddraig, I've got this.' Michael thought as he smirked once he saw the magic circle he placed on Vali's chest reveal itself once._

"You're going to make me use my Sacred Gear with just a single attack? I'd like to see you try." Vali narrowed his eyes, challengingly.

_'Okay, Michael remember... Use the demonic power as a trigger while allowing the dragon energy to shoot out like a shotgun!' Michael focuses his aims towards Vali, who was prepared to dodge the attack._

"If you honestly that believe such a straightforward attack will get me, then just do it. I'll prove you wrong like always." Vali instigated Michael to shoot.

Smirking, Michael laughed, "Okay…you asked for it! So, don't complain like a baby after receiving a taste of my  **Dragon Multishot x 5!"**

***DOON!***

A thin beam of red dragon energy shot itself at Vali who tried to make sense of the name,

"Multishot?"

Dodging it by jumping up in the air, Vali smirked, "It was easy to dodge, but by the looks of it. It didn't seem to matter if I did. Hanamura, are you sure you actually placed that much faith into this attack because I still have yet to use my Sacred Gear."

"Heh,  **Dragon Break!"**

***SNAP!***

Michael snapped his fingers and activated the small magic circle placed on Vali's chest.

***DWOOON!***

***SWEEERVE!***

The thin beam of energy redirected itself back at Vali, who was seen still floating into the air about to land.

"It's coming back?"

***SWOOOSH!***

Vali wondered then unfurls his 4 pairs of devil wings to evade the attack by flying side to side, looping around in the air, and even forcing it to crash and disperse against a rock formation, but the beam still endured and followed him.

"You can't escape!"

***CRACK!***

Michael shouted then bit his lip as the arm bracelet cracks once more, he had barely used it and yet the power that he used would always be over his limit.

**[Michael, you've used too much power again! At this rate not just the bracelet, but your body will sustain critical damage.]**

"Look, everything is fine. Besides with this attack, I'll make sure that Vali will get serious against me." Michael laughed, "And I can't pull anything lame looking, or else I'll look like a total chump compared to what Vali did to those magicians earlier!"

**[This is a battle between the Welsh Dragon and Vanishing Dragon. You shouldn't use it to show up your rival, in this fight you may lose your life. Wouldn't it have been faster to fight him with your Balance Breaker and force him to do the same?]**

"Hehehehe! Who said anything about me dying?" Michael grinned then sounded serious, "I know I sure won't. I finally got this chance to prove I'm just as better than Vali and I'm not going to blow it!"

**[…]**

"He's always been ahead of me in everything. From the simplest of skills to the most difficult of challenges. I couldn't even imagine myself accomplishing most of the things he does. He seemed perfect doing whatever he wanted, and I couldn't beat him even once." Michael clenched his fist,

"It was really frustrating, knowing that I could never even beat someone better at everything than me. I was jealous. I even felt that if he actually went all out in anything I challenged him in, then I would lose for sure. But after that day, we fought over these." Michael fixed his goggles,

"I found that he was actually taking me serious and I can't explain it, but I was really happy. I was happy that I found myself getting closer and closer to beating him. So that's why I've decided if I wanted to make him respect me, then I'll just have to force him to use all of his power!"

Michael nodded as his eyes shone with determination.

**[*Sigh!*]**

"I may seem selfish, but put up with it for a little while longer OK, partner?" Michael rubbed his nose.

**[I knew that trying to persuade you would be a waste of time, so I won't even bother. But it's because of that selfishness, you were able to get this far, so do your best, Partner.]**

"Osu!" Michael encouragingly nods as he readies himself in a stance, while raising up his touki to cover his body.

Still getting chased, Vali still checked on the beam, which was starting to catch up to him. He was sure his speed would outmaneuver it, but it appears it was catching up with him. No, wait, it was catching up and matching his speed to boot.

_'It's not getting shaken off. What is making it follow my body?" Vali wondered then realized a flashing glow on his chest to where he discovered the magic locator circle Michael placed on him. Smirking in astonishment, Vali thought,_

_'Using a marker to make sure his attacks would follow me? That's brilliant. You're making this really entertaining, Hanamura!' Vali stops his flying away and places his palm out towards the beam approaching him._

* * *

"He stopped?" Xenovia wondered why Vali would stop in front of an attack like that.

"Is he trying to take it on headfirst?" Irina wondered out loud as well.

* * *

"This will be too easy, if I can't just dodge it, then I'll crush it with my own hands." Vali gave a smug grin.

Upon it enclosing in on him, Vali grasps the thin beam like it was child's play. He would have dodged it, but decided to test it out himself as he tried to crush it and see how long it would last. But as soon as he did his finger suddenly were forced away from the attack. Widening his eyes, Vali could feel that this attack had hidden layers within itself with tons of energy.

"It seems you realized the secret of my attack!" Michael raised his hand about to snap his fingers, "It's different from my ordinary dragon shot, but don't worry its not that different. With the help of the boosted gear and my inability to control magic as well as my friends. I managed to multiply its power and explosive output to match that of a shotgun!"

"…!" Vali's eyes widen, "You mean…!"

"That's right! That attack has at least 5 Maxed out Dragon Shots crammed into one and your about to eat it!" Michael roared.

* * *

"5 Dragon Shots merged into one?" Raynare gasped at the thought considering she saw the destructive capabilities of one Dragon Shot before, but the thought of more compacted into one felt a little overwhelming.

* * *

_'This is bad. At this range it might cause me some trouble, I have to retreat and-!'_

_Vali made consideration to draw back, but it was too late._

"Blow away!"

***SNAP!***

***BAAAAAAAAAANG!* *DOOOOOOOOON!***

The beam intensifies as it grew larger and shot itself at Vali, sending the teen higher up into the air. Vali was unprepared and struggled to fix himself from being pushed back by the blast.

"Nrgh!" Vali gritted his teeth.

"Uoooooooooooh! That's not all! Here! Have another!" Michael roars louder and snapped his fingers once more.

***BAAAAAAAAAAAANG!* *DOOOOOOOOOOON!***

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoh!"

The Dragon Shot's power multiplied by itself as it exploded against Vali's hands a second time. Things were getting too drastic that the pressure forced Vali to catch the attack with both of his hands. Cursing himself for letting his guard down more than once, Vali roars and manages to stop the attack from advancing as it slows down.

_'He's starting to push it back? Then it looks like I have to use the remaining 3 shots in one go!' Michael attempted to do that but then a numbing pain entered his arm._

***THUMP!* *THUMP!***

"Guuuurgh!" Michael's arm recoils in pain as he gripped the arm he snapped his fingers with.

* * *

"What's happening to Michael?" Rias gasped as she watched Michael experience extreme pain, but from what he was the one doing all the attacking.

"He said that attack was equivalent to a shotgun, correct? Then that must be why he's feeling pain." Sirzechs answered.

"Shotgun?" Asia tilts her head in question, not very informative about guns.

Walking up besides Asia was Raynare, who was explained,

"A shotgun holds enough horse power to bring a large man down with one shot, but for every shot it makes, it has a drawback, or what you call a recoil. Usually there is a momentary waiting period before another shot is fired. There's also…Asia-chan?"

"Drawback…recoil…shot…" Asia muttered.

Raynare noticed the smoke coming out of Asia ears, who still tried to process the whole shotgun information while trying to connect it to Michael's situation.

"What she's basically saying is that the brat's attack is hurting his arm every time he uses that technique." Azazel simplifies the explanation.

"Then why doesn't the mutt just let the attack do it by itself, Azazel-sama?" Mittelt asked as she watched Michael's pained expression in worry. What? No, she wasn't worried over that stupid devil mutt! Don't get the wrong idea, you bakas! Silly BAKAS!

"I don't know. That's something you should be asking him instead of me." Azazel rubbed his chin the smirked,

"But if I were to make a guess, I think he believes his explosive power is more effective while being kept under control which is probably why he decided to use it like this. An untamed explosion is much simpler than just letting it do it by itself, don't you all agree?"

Akeno nods silently to herself as she remembered the magic lessons she had with Michael and once, he so much as tried to form and higher-level spells with little control it always ended in a big explosion.

"So, he was able to make due with one of his biggest issues and turned it into such a powerful attack?" Xenovia watched in awe.

"But the pain that he's feeling…" Rias had worry filled in her eyes, the thought that she couldn't help him in this battle and could just only watch as he gets hurt was torture for her.

"Must be the full brunt of those explosions, he lets loose with each shot of his attacks. His fingers are the trigger and the arm is probably the barrel where he controls the power shunted at Vali." Raymond takes it upon himself to say.

* * *

"Now once more!" Michael bites his lip to dull the pain, and snaps his fingers once more releasing a powerful ton of explosive energy at Vali.

"This is starting to look a little troublesome." Vali grunts to himself as he sees how far back he's being pushed up into the air, "Incredible, he's able to do so much of this after training for only a few days? He must have done something unusual after out last fight!"

Grinning with a battle-maniac expression, Vali could only laugh, "Hahahahahahahaha! Incredible, Michael Hanamura! You're meeting all the expectations of my plan completely!"

Yes, very soon…in fact, it's so soon that he could just let things play out after this attack is over!

"I don't know what you're laughing about, but prepare to take on my next attack!" Michael places both hands forward,  **"Double Barrel!"**

***SNAAAAAAAAAAAAP!***

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

The blast skyrocketed as it made Vali lose his grip on the blast and get hit by the attack, which now made contact with the magic circle marker on his chest. The blow from the energy was so dangerous that Vali gritted his teeth as some blood was forced to come out through them.

"Erck!" Vali tried to push himself away from the blast, but it still followed him no matter what he tried,  _'How careless of me...'_

***BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!* *DOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

***KABOOOOOOOOM!***

The massive energy beam carried Vali high up into the air and filled the sky with a giant red explosion.

* * *

"He got him!" Irina smiled happily for her childhood friend.

"That unstable amount of power was used to his advantage, but it still left a considerable amount of damage, and more…" Katerea adjusted her glasses.

"And more?" Serafall looked to Katerea, who points to Azazel, who looked at Michael with a disappointed expression.

Only groaning at the sight, he just shook his head,

"Idiot…"

* * *

Panting in exhaustion while trying to ignore the numbing pangs going through his arms, Michael shook his head and grinned, "There...now he'll have to take me serious." Michael felt accomplished as he watched the explosion still light up the sky after his attack. His arms felt double the recoil after that last dual shot. This power might have been beneficial, but it was also deadly for the user should he go over his own natural limit.

Touki would have held back the pain, but he chose not to use it or else the explosiveness wouldn't have been that effective. And knowing how using weak attacks only make Vali more of a smart-ass, Michael decided to shut his arrogant mouth up with one of his new powerful, signature moves.

**[Partner, the arm bracelet…]**

"I know…" Michael looked to see a few more cracks on the arm bracelet grow more and more before it…

***CRACKLE!* *CRACKLE!* *CLING!***

Fell apart and broke into pieces onto the ground, it tried its best to maintain Michael's power, but the poor thing just couldn't keep up with the boy's recklessness.

"Whoops! I guess that I should have been more careful with it, huh?" Michael laughed.

**[You fool this isn't the time to be laughing that was supposed to be used for your Balance Breaker. Now you'll be fighting in danger while having the chance of damaging yourself along with you going against an opponent, who can fully use their Sacred Gear!] Ddraig scolded.**

"Well, I guess we'll just have to make do. Am I right?" Michael chuckled and gave his signature grin, "So let's start that countdown and get serious!"

**[Were you even listening to me? I told you if you use your Balance Breaker now, you'll be at risk of killing yourself! If you had just used it in the beginning of the battle or released those restraints, you're master placed on you, then things wouldn't have gotten this bad!]**

"So, what? I wanted to fight him at his level without using Balance Breaker! It was a matter of pride, Ddraig…" Michael muttered and crossed his arms with a pout.

**[No, it was a matter of selfishness and being stubborn!]**

* * *

Looking at a mirror image of someone she knew, Katerea groaned and pinched her temples,

"Oh dear, Maou…"

"Huh, is something the matter Kate-chan?" Serafall looked back to her adviser.

"Yes, because apparently Kai has a servant as selfish as him." Katerea groaned.

"Really?" Serafall blinked then shakes her head, "No, that's not true! My Kai-chan is way more selfish and stubborn than anyone I've ever known, including me!"

"You shouldn't being saying that like it's a good thing!" Katerea sweatdropped.

A familiar voice suddenly laughs,

"I don't know...it's been working for me, a lot, and I've managed to live this far, so…"

"Not now, Kai!" Katerea turns to see Kai scratching his cheek and watching the brawl between the two Heavenly Dragon. But then takes a few seconds to register this before, she whips her head back to spot the man standing right near her, along with the others, who were shocked by his sudden presence, except for the leaders.

Everyone exclaimed,

"Kai/-chan/sama/Nii-sama!"

"Yo." Kai simply raised a hand and greeted everyone.

"Kai-chan!" Serafall tackles Kai, who withstood the tackles force and pets his wife's head to which she replied with nuzzling her head against his hand, affectionately.

"Nii-sama? When did you get here?" Sona asked.

"Well, it was actually by coincidence, but I made it just in time to help your peerage with an Evil Dragon case in the gym, see?" Kai points over his shoulder to the Student Council members, along with what seemed to be a battered Saji, who was leaning on the shoulders of Tsubasa Yura, and Momo Hanakai.

Nearby, a worried Ruruko Nimura watched out for her senior's health.

In the arms of Sona's knight, Tomoe Meguri was a sleeping Shura. While staring at the cute boy, Tomoe wore a content expression on her face.

"Everyone!" Sona and Tsubaki rushed over to the group.

"Shura-chan!" Serafall then casts Kai aside with a push and rushed after them as Katerea just gave up on restraining the woman.

"Kaichou! Please help, Gen-chan! His wounds are very critical!" Momo cried as she and Tsubasa placed the injured Saji on the ground for Sona to look over.

"His injuries looked grave, but they're healing fast, so he'll be alright. It would be best just to let him recover this way and regain all of his lost stamina all at once." Sona noticed the work of her brother-in-law already taking root on Saji's body and wished to leave it to heal normally so Saji would be back too full health.

"S-Saji-senpai…" Ruruko looked at Saji with teary eyes and held onto his hand while awaiting his recovery. She seemed to be fond of Saji.

"It's alright. Gen-chan, will be okay. I know he will..." Momo placed a hand on Nimura's shoulders and gave her a reassuring smile. There were some tears in her eyes as well, it would seem that she felt the same way about Saji and is going through exactly what Nimura is probably feeling.

"Just what happened in there?" Tsubasa asked.

"We don't know. Everyone was frozen the entire time, except for Saji-kun and Shura-sama. Anything else than that is beyond our knowledge, Fuka-kaichou." Reya Kusaka informed.

"I see, then the only ones, who would know are these two…" Sona decided to touch up on this issue later.

But meanwhile with Tomoe and Serafall.

"Awww~! Look at how adorable he is…" Tomoe blushed as she looked at the innocent expression Shura made while sleeping.

"Excuse me, may I please have my precious Shura-chan back now?" Serafall was impatient to hold her own child but asked nicely at first.

"Awwwww~! But do I have to? I just want to hold onto him just for a little while longer…" Tomoe rubbed her cheek against Shura's. Sona, who watched this just remembered about Tomoe's little thing for little boys.

Before Sona could intervene, she stopped once the atmosphere turned ice cold around them.

"Huh?" Tomoe looks up to see something terrifying.

"I won't ask you again. Give me, my  **son…"** Serafall had on a beautiful smile, but the strained/angry voice that she had beneath it was terrifying. Not to mention the rise of her icy, cold, blue aura surrounding her was flaring each second with annoyance.

"H-Hai! Forgive me!" Tomoe immediately concedes and hands Shura over to Serafall while everyone else who exhibited the scene just sweatdropped.

"My dear, Shura-chan! Don't worry, Mama won't ever let you out of her sight again!" Serafall cries loudly as she held Shura, so tightly that the boy's face was turning blue.

"Onee-sama, you're suffocating him…" Sona pointed out.

"Huh?" Serafall stops and freezes upon hearing that.

"Shishishishishishi! That's my beloved, Sera-chan for you." Kai doted on Serafall in pride.

"It's nice to see you finally arrive, Kai." Sirzechs approached his friend and adviser.

"Oh hey, how have things been going for you guys so far?" Kai greeted.

"You're late." Grayfia harshly stated.

"Ouch! Grayfia-san that was a bit uncalled for, don't you think? Besides I actually have a reason for tha-!"

Kai tried to explain himself, but then Katerea from behind pulled both his cheeks.

"No more excuses, you knew about the meeting and made things difficult by not showing up!" Katerea scolded.

"Yeash, I-I understahnd, pwease, let me gao." Kai nods not at all phased by the cheek pinches.

Walking up to Kai next was S. Michael, who smiled, "It's been a while, Son Kai."

"Hm? Oh, if it isn't Michael, or er… Well, since there's two of you now. I guess I'll have to call you something else…" Kai pulled himself away from Katerea's tiger like grip on his cheeks and rubbed them.

"I see, then how about Brother-In-Law?" S. Michael smiled innocently.

***GLARE!***

Suddenly receiving a cold glare from the back of his head, Kai shook his head and said, "No, no, that won't do at all. It seems rather long…and dangerous for me if you keep bringing that up."

Kai whispered the last part as he noticed that Serafall was staring at him with a couple of ice-cold, blue eyes which had a dangerous glint in them.

"I see, I understand." S. Michael nods.

"So how have Agnes and Gabriel-chan been doing?" Kai asked in a silent whisper.

"They're quite fine. In fact, Agnes just had a small cold on our trip to Japan, so we managed to take care of that a couple of days ago." S. Michael whispered back.

"Thank you… for taking care of them both, while I was forced into absence because of my…current disposition." Kai referred to his devil well-being.

"There is nothing to be worried about, she was actually thrilled with the thought of seeing you once more that see forced me to bring her along. It was the least that I could do for the son of…" S. Michael didn't finish as Serafall pops in between their conversation.

"Hmmm? Is there something you guys are talking about?" Serafall leans mostly on Kai with an accusing glare, "Kai-chan?"

"Nope, nothing, we're fine right, Michael?" Kai sweatdropped.

"Yes, indeed, Kai-dono." S. Michael nods in agreement.

"Hmmmmm?" Serafall said with suspicion.

"I see that you've been rather busy like always, Simian Brat." Azazel approached Kai with a familiar presence that the two knew each other.

"Yeah, a little, but seeing as to how you handled things I decided to take things easy you, Dusty Old Crow." Kai smiled with the same exact airs that Azazel was giving off about him.

Did the two know each other? These thoughts ran through everyone's minds.

"Kai, have you two met each other before?" Sirzechs who had no clue about the two ever making contact questioned.

Both of them shaking their heads at the same time replied,

"No, never met him before in my life."

"No, never met him before in my life."

Sirzechs sweatdropped and said, "I see."

Turning to Rias and her peerage, Kai greeted, "Oh, hello there, Rias-sama. How are things going?"

"Kai-sama, it's been…" Rias casts her gaze to the ground as she couldn't give a straight answer, not when someone she cared about was in a fight that could very well end with his life being lost.

"No need to say it. I understand." Kai shrugged then turned to Koneko with a serious smile, "Also, it's nice to see you too, Koneko-chan. I hope you have been doing well."

"…Y-Yes, Kai-sama…" Koneko answered with a strained voice.

_Noticing something, Kai narrowed his eyes as he thought, 'I sense that this orb and that dimension are a part of someone's senjutsu and since I can feel a presence similar to Koneko-chan's then it must be_ _**her...'** _ _Kai felt the hidden Ki surrounding the orb, it may have been suppressed before, but if the user were to maintain it for the spectators to watch while maintaining a dimension, then it would be obvious to track down the senjutsu user._

"Things seem to be oddly cheerful here, I'd expect everyone to be concerned with the dragons fighting in that dimension."

Hearing a new voice everyone turns to see an approaching Zethyr carrying a knocked out Kiba on his back. The man had placed his suit's jacket over the teenager's body to cover up a few of the untreated wound.

"So, you finally made it? I actually thought that you weren't going to reveal yourself." Kai said.

Looking up at the battle between, Michael and…yeah…the battle between the Heavenly dragons, Zethyr responded,

"Since he's preoccupied at the moment, I doubt that he'll have the time to focus on my presence being here."

Looking a little shocked to see the "Dawn Lucifer" himself, Rias took a glance at the injured Kiba on his back,

"Yuuto!"

"Kiba!"

"Kiba-kun!"

"Kiba-san!"

"Yuuto-senpai!"

Seeing the Gremory Peerage approach him, Zethyr placed Kiba down on the ground and backed away from the group. Gathering around him, Asia attempted to heal him, but was shocked when she saw that most of his wounds were already healed except for one. There was still a huge gash across Kiba's chest, which still bled out, but was reduced after a while. Asia tried her best to heal it, but the depth of the wound was too hard for her to make a full recover on it. The only thing that she was capable of doing was to slow the bleeding.

"So, did you have some trouble on your end?" Kai asked noticing the cut on Zethyr's cheek.

"It was more of a nuisance than trouble, but I guess you can say that it's been dealt with." Zethyr groaned.

"My, my, if it isn't the Original Lucifer's descendant it's quite nice to that you've chosen a different path than your fellow kin." Azazel smiled as he knew that there were a few smart devils, who chose to cast away their pride for the betterment of their race.

"Governor-General." Zethyr narrowed his eyes as he seemed to be familiar with the Fallen Angel.

"Z-Zethyr, when did you get here?" Katerea stuttered, she broke out of her professional facade.

"I've been here for quite some time now, but may I have a report on the current issue?"

"Y-Yes, right away. Well, once we engaged the enemy, we were able to-!" Katerea was interrupted.

"Zethyr."

"…"

Zethyr looked around and stopped when his eyes met Sirzechs'.

The two were both looking at each other with serious stares, this caused some dreadful tension to rise higher.

Realizing something, Kai turned to Katerea and starts to push her away from Zethyr a bit, "I forgot that these two don't really like each other…we should go now…"

Nodding in agreement, Katerea followed Kai away from the two "Lucifers."

"You seem to have given us false information regarding your family." Bringing up some past information, Sirzechs wanted an answer.

Zethyr closed his eyes, and remained complacent with his answer.

"…" Sirzechs analyzed the man for a few more seconds before stepping down, he didn't want to force any answers from him in their current situation, but he will need an explanation about the devil-halfling that was battling Michael-kun, later on.

* * *

With Michael, the teen still looks up in the air to see the explosion still light up the sky, waiting patiently for Vali for to make his move.

_'Did he honestly take that attack rather than just using his sacred gear?' Michael wondered but that guess was proven wrong once._

**{Divide!}**

A familiar call was heard from above the air as the large explosion was getting divided in half. Michael knew that meant Vali finally used his Sacred Gear, but what happened next was a real shocker to him.

**{Divide! Divide! Divide!}**

Being reduced the explosion compressed itself and flowed into the figure floating in the middle of the explosion. Soon disappearing, the figure was revealed as a white dragon armored man with his wings of light drawn out.

**{Vanishing Dragon Balance Breaker!}**

"He's using his Balance Breaker already?" Michael had expected him to use his Vanishing Drive, as Vali slowly descends, he approaches Michael, but still stays flying in mid-air.

Clapping his hands, Vali laughs, "Impressive! You were able to force me this far, I must say you've definitely improved over these past couple days, Hanamura."

Glaring at Vali, Michael remained silent as his eyebrows twitched, the pressure of aura Vali's balance breaker gave off was incredible, and from the looks of it he's finally taking him seriously.

"What's the matter aren't you going to spout on and on about how you made me use this form? Maybe gloat about how powerful you are while talking about yourself in the third person like you always do?"

Vali then kept making guessing before he says,

"Or is it, you felt as though you bit off more than you cou-?"

"Why are you in your Balance Breaker?"

***Whooooooosh~!***

A couple of seconds passed once Michael interrupted as the wind blew against them.

"Excuse me?"

"Why? Why are you in your Balance Breaker form already?" Michael said with a straight face.

"What do you mean you, loser? Isn't this what you wanted? I'm taking this fight seriously." Vali answered while holding an offensive stance.

Shaking his head, Michael said, "Why didn't you use your Vanishing Drive instead?"

"…? What?"

"I want you to use your Vanishing Drive, dumbass!" Michael shouted, "Damn, are you stupid or something? You can't rush this fight; there's all sorts of pacing you have to follow! You can't just skip to the final form already, ya dumbass!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! That is the last thing I want to hear from you!" Vali sounded offended, being called that insult was really damaging, especially, if it came from Michael twice.

"What's the matter with this now? We can actually get serious like you complained about before?" Vali questioned, "Why the sudden hesitation?"

"Yeah, you're right. I wanted you to take me serious, but…but…if we get too serious, then I won't be able showcase my new awesome technique against your Vanishing Drive ability, and I don't want to fight you in Balance Breaker, yet!"

Michael shouted his selfish answer which not only confused Vali but everyone on the outside as well.

"You're not serious, right?"

"Hm!" Michael nods in complete honesty, "Now change back into your regular form, so we can do this correctly!"

"What? Why should I listen to your orders, idiot?" Vali insulted and narrowed his eyes.

"Fine then, if you don't change back, then I'll have to compromise before we continue our fight…" Michael rubbed his chin in thought.

_'Is this really happening?' Vali thought in disbelief, at this rate his plans were at a standstill if things won't go his way, then it will get boring fast._

"Oi! This could go a lot faster if you helped me in the thinking, dumbass!" Michael shouted angrily.

Mad at the insult, Vali, fires a magic bullet at Michael and exclaims, "Didn't I tell you? You're the last person, I want to hear that from!"

Dodging to the left of the attack, Michael stuck out his tongue and pulled down his eyelid, "Beh! You missed ya, dumbass!" Michael then started to think once more,

"Now let's figure out a solution."

"…" Vali started to leak a dangerous killing intent towards Michael, who paid no mind to that.

* * *

Watching from the outside, everyone watched the scene with only 2 expressions most of the younger devils and bodyguards were taken off guard by Michael's selfishness.

"Is he actually serious?" Sona sweatdropped.

"That's Michael-kun for you, honestly, why can't he stop acting so selfish at times like this?" Irina shook her head.

"Michael-sama…" Raynare facepalmed.

"That idiot, if he doesn't really try against Vali-sama, then he'll die!" Kalawarner shouted in worry.

While the young participants of the meeting were skeptical of Michael's actions, but the leaders on the other hand.

"Hahahahahahaha! This is priceless! Even the brat's illogical selfishness can stump Vali's calm demeanor!" Azazel was busting a gut from his laughing, from behind him was Raymond who hid a smile while crossing his arms.

"Hmhmhmhm! Oh my, Michael-dono can't seem to take things seriously if it doesn't go his way." S. Michael gave a small chuckle.

"He's a very interesting one, isn't he?" Sirzechs gave an amused smile towards Grayfia, who even cracked a small smile, herself.

"Hahahahaha! He's so serious even though it's not that big of an issue!" Serafall laughed while clinging onto Kai.

"Shishishishishishi! It appears Michael-san is a lot more selfish than I am after all!" Kai laughed.

"I correct my last statement, the two of you are on par with each other when it comes to this." Katerea sweatdropped but couldn't help but crack a smile herself.

The only one among them, who wasn't laughing was Zethyr as he continued to watch the fight while make an observation about the current Welsh Dragon.

_'Not too long ago, the tension here was so high that everyone was choked up on it, but after a while when the red dragon emperor started spouting off nonsense in the middle of a fight determining life or death, everyone around here started to freely express worry and the enjoyment of his attitude.' Zethyr thought as he experienced this power before, the power to attract others around him whether they be ally or enemy,_

_'I have heard that the Red Dragon Emperor was possibly the Reckless in all of history, but for him to make a situation of potential death into a laughing matter isn't something that normal. He certainly holds a power many few as individuals have, and one of that very few is standing right next to me…'_

_Zethyr takes a glance at the laughing Kai,_

_'Son Kai, it seems that it's apparent that this boy is your student for him to hold the same attraction on others like you did before… No, it can't be that you must have realized this boy's talent all along since you possess this ability as well. Could it be that you knew of this happening because of your shared…?'_

Zethyr's train of thought stopped once the fool known as the Red Dragon Emperor spoke out once again.

* * *

"Wait, why not use Vanishing Drive while you're in Balance Breaker?" Michael suggested.

"Are you an imbecile? Vanishing Drive and Balance Breaker are two separate states. Vanishing Drive allows me to use as much of Albion's power in my base form, anything above that is meaningless." Vali explained.

"Is that true, Ddraig?" Michael asked.

**[Like I said, the Welsh and Vanishing Drive increases your base stats to the next level based on your specific Dragon. It would be pointless to carry out those abilities to the Balance Breaker.]**

"Well, that makes sense, so let's think of another new way…hm?" Michael rubbed his chin.

"Hmph! You'll probably come up with another useless idea with that tiny brain of yours." Vali tried to provoke Michael.

And it worked of course.

"Shut up! Once I get the right idea, I am so kicking your ass!" Michael shouted as he points at the flying teen in anger, but still remained stubborn to even attempt to fight back.

_Shaking his head, Vali sighed because he knew this level of strategy to enrage Michael won't work anymore,_

_'Simple insults just won't do it, anymore will they?'_

_Vali clenched his open palm and finally decides to commence his part of the plan to spice things up. The change in Michael's power from before may have been better, but it still wasn't near to the level Vali was at._

_The White Dragon Emperor has just barely revealed the peak of his own power inside of him. He finally felt he had a chance to fight seriously with no holding back. He personally sought out a challenge to quench his blood lust for battle, but nothing came his way nothing until he saw the past skirmish with the Gremory Family against Kokabiel._

_Yes, that explosive power which broke through even a cadre leveled fallen angel, he wanted to face that power and personally get a real challenge to excite him. This was what he needed after all those dull jobs the Grigori provided him. The tasks only got tedious as the years went on._

_Every job he received was to either subdue a bunch of weaklings about to revolt against the Grigori, or keep watch over clients allied with them. Honestly those he envied the most were the leaders who took part in the small scuffles against the other two factions just to enjoy a battle royale kind of fight._

_He realized from watching Michael fight Kokabiel that if he was pushed too far past his mental limit, then his power could really pose a challenge to him. Before all of this, he would barely even think to attempt this on some loser, but after gathering his intel about him, he just couldn't believe he would try this on a former human._

The thought brings a smile on Vali's face as he quietly laughs,

"Hmhmhmhmhm…"

"What's so funny?" Michael raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"Oh nothing, I just find our positions quite funny, no, ridiculous, don't you think?"

"What's so ridiculous about it?"

"If you hadn't of noticed already, we are separated by birthright. I as a half devil descendant of the deceased Maou, Lucifer, and you, just a feeble human. From the beginning this fated battle didn't seem to be in your favor, Hanamura." Vali displayed his power by having his dragon aura flare up around him.

"Yeah, we sort of talked about this already, so what's the point of telling me this now?"

Michael didn't understand the recap, what was all this leading up to, and why did he have about it?

"Hold on…I'll get to that, but I'm going to continue." Vali crossed his arms in a calm manner.

_'Damn, why does it feel like he's the one with the most control over this battle?' Michael bit his lip once he felt the shift in control focused on Vali._

"When we were children, you probably wouldn't have been beaten as much as you were usually used to had I not have my Sacred Gear, Divine Dividing with me. Your Boosted Gear had yet to awaken while mine was activated before I even met you or Azazel." Vali smirked, when he saw the frustrated face on Michael grow agitated,

"I've always been developing my Sacred Gear from the start while you were too late as usual just recently awakening it with no training whatsoever."

"You, son of a-!" Michael clenched his teeth as he was getting looked down by Vali.

"It's no surprise things have ended this way because after all, no matter how hard you worked, no matter how hard you tried, you can't reach up to my level because your title as a "loser" was decided once you were born the next Red Dragon Emperor."

Vali's harsh words stabbed into Michael, who trembled in uncontrollable vexation, unable to form any words in his words as he heard this.

"But you, you were just an ordinary human before turning into a devil nothing more and certainly nothing less. Hmhm! You weren't even that great of a high school student either. In fact, you were just an unnoticeable orphan with no redeeming qualities in that school."

"Well, who cares about what you have to say? I'm still going to prove to you that I'm your equal in this fight! Making it this far just proves that I can do it too, since I'm the Great Hanamura!"

Michael glared at Vali and looked serious, those words struck a nerve, but Michael tried to see what really made Vali laugh at him. As for Vali, the young man stared at Michael rather seriously from that comment.

"Oh, really…?"

"Of course, nothing will ever change that!" Michael nodded proudly, he may not have been good at most things, but one thing was for certain if he wanted something done then he could do it if he just works hard at it.

"Great Hanamura?" Vali remained quiet for just one moment, "So let me ask you would you honestly believe that if I tell you something you might want to know?"

"Pfft! Just cut the crap with all those manipulating words of yours, and besides, you don't have anything I want to listen to!" Michael wanted to continue a way to showcase his new technique

"Are you sure because what I'm about to say next could be the closest thing to a compliment that I could ever give you." Vali gestured with a roll of the wrist nonchalantly.

"You giving me a compliment? That's a first, I thought the only thing you could spew was bullshit?" Michael's insult was spot on, but Vali paid no mind to it.

"Your former human origin intrigued me. You've been making strides and achievements that no ordinary human should've been able to do if they were in your shoes. Like your fight with the Immortal Phoenix in that rating game."

Michael gasped as he heard Vali utter something that occurred before the Kokabiel fight.

_'He knows about that?' Michael's eyes widened._

"I can tell from that empty expression, you always wear that you're wondering how and why I know this, yes? Well, that's an easy question, have you ever realized how sensitive we dragons are whenever we feel the presence and cries of others releasing their power?" Vali explained his answer with some more facts.

"I was well informed of your devil status with the last report that fallen angel women left with Azazel. Also, the fact about how strained the heiress of the Gremory family has become reluctant of her marriage, and decided to fight for her freedom against getting together with the 3rd son of the Phoenix. My experience with you gave me the feeling that you would butt into the business of others, so it was easy to piece two and two together after that."

"You mean, you got all that from Ray-chan?" Michael aghast at how statistical Vali was with information gasped.

"Of course, you probably wouldn't have gotten it with that small brain of yours, but to me it filled out into a perfect image you see." Vali laughs lightly, "But enough about that, I just answered how I knew you were fighting that phoenix, next is what I meant about the sensitivity and easier way for us to sense the presence of other dragons. Of course, we are opposing sides, I, who holds the power of the White Dragon Emperor."

"And you, who possess the power of the Red Dragon Emperor."

Vali compared the two dragons as he went in depth about how he sensed Michael's spike in power.

"You multiply your power and transfer them to others while I divide and steal the power of others. Our opposites attract way more than you realize. Say if you were to gain something like a power up in the middle of a fight, then I would clearly feel it no matter the distance we are apart. When you first used your Balance Breaker against the phoenix in the rating game, I was able to feel your untamed dragon power cry out, signaling me about your burst of power."

"Wait, so you knew every power up I've gone through?" Michael sweated, he couldn't believe that he slipped up this much, "Whoa, wait a minute! Why couldn't I detect your presence whenever you go through that?"

"Hmph! Because you moron, I am the Vanishing Dragon hiding my presence would be child's play. I mean, you've seen a glimpse of it before." Vali shook his head recalling back to that fight on the bridge.

Michael puffed out his cheeks as he remembered too, but tried to suppress the memory. He was humiliated back then because of that power. Each time Vali vanished, so did his presence which made it hard to track him. Of course, Michael made a measure to stop that, but apparently, Vali wanted to be a jerk as usual to deny him the pleasure of using it!

**_[Are you still mad about that?]_ **

_'Yes, I'm still mad! I had a cool name made and everything… Why can't I ever get one moment anymore!' Michael cried hysterically._

**_[You'll get a chance to use it again. Don't get too worked up about it…] Ddraig tried to console his disappointed partner._ **

"And after that fight, you then went to take on a well experienced Fallen Angel, who fought in the war against God and even defeated him. How strange…"

Vali inquired acting like he didn't know why all these things happened, but Michael could tell in his tone that he was screwing with him.

"What do you mean?" Michael growled.

"Just strange, in general. About how you got this far, and not to mention your compatibility with dragons since that power signature you let out against that phoenix and Kokabiel grew stronger as time passed by. From all of this, I found you rather unique, but because of that I've been conflicted on whether if that was good or bad." Vali rubbed his chin,

"I hadn't the clue of what to make out of this until I decided to find out the reason you've made it as far as you could. What made you tick and why you were so different from the other humans. So, I helped myself to see some secret information from the Grigori's data about  _your_  lineage and connections."

"My what?" Michael wasn't sure what was happening.

"Oh, come on, surely you must know something this basic." Vali chuckled.

"Look, you! I don't know the reason why you brought up into this conversation, so then tell me already, or else you're just going to keep confusing the crap out of me!" Michael hated all this talking, and just wanted to continue their fight, but this topic personally pulled him in deeper.

"Fine, I guess you want the short and simple, don't you?" Vali opened his arms and looked down with an imperial smile as he revealed,

"What, I'm talking about is your family tree from your ancestors to grandparents and to your biological mother and father, too."

"What!?" Michael shouted as he took a step back at the sudden news flying right at him, "Right now, what did you just say!?"

"*Sigh!* Not even that you understand? Well then, I'll put it in a much simpler way for you to understand. When a man and a woman love each other very much they begin to have these urges t-."

"Oi, shut up! That's not what I meant! Just what the hell do you mean about my mom and dad? How are they even relevant to this fight!?" Michael didn't appreciate the childish way Vali treated him.

"Hm, they are completely relevant. They're the only reason why I took you up on this challenge. It was because of the information that I dug out on them,  _your parents."_

"…!" Michael's expression scrunched as he grew pale at the mention of his parents. Why were they suddenly a topic in this fight, no, why were they even talking about this in this fight at all?

This was supposed to be a fight to show Vali that he was someone worth calling an equal.

But now Michael felt his feelings go haywire he had stopped wondering about his parents since he thought worrying would only be a pain and make him always wonder why he was left al… Dammit, why is he thinking that now of all times? This was supposed to be a fight between the two of them not the time to reveal the unknown history of his family.

"What? Not even going to ask any further about your own parents? I thought every orphan would love to hear about their biological family." Vali played around with Michael, who was starting to tremble and look down with a disoriented look in his eyes.

**_[Michael, what's wrong? Your emotions are clouding your mind, get a hold of yourself!]_ **

_'That bastard bringing up this suddenly…but does he really know something about my parents… … no, that isn't important this fight should be the only thing I should worry about, but if it's true then… Dammit!' Michael's curiosity was getting the better of him as his emotions were conflicting with each other,_

_'I don't need to know... I'm doing fine on my own without caring about this…so…what is this gnawing feeling eating me up inside?' Michael puts a hand to his forehead and started to show a little panic._

* * *

"Wait? Did he say Michael's parents?" Rias questioned.

"Michael-san's parents?" Asia gasped as she was conflicted with worry over Michael and curious about his parents.

"Does he really know of Michael-kun's biological family?" Akeno watched closely.

"That young man holds too much data how much is he informed about us devils and the rating games?" Sirzechs stared daggers at Vali, someone who knew too much about forbidden information was even more dangerous than someone brandishing incredible power.

"Vali…"

"…"

Raymond looked to see Azazel crossed his arms and tapped his fingers across his bicep. The Governor-General had on a hard expression but was actually worried for what could happen next if Vali should take the wrong step with this.

"Shishishishishi! How exciting is he really going to reveal something about Michael-san?" Kai smiled as he watched more closely.

"Kai, this isn't the time for you to be amused this is serio-!" Katerea stops once she looked at the expression Kai had on his face, it wasn't that old lazy, mischievous smile he would usually pull. It was a face filled with deadly seriousness. He still had on his smile, but that was only a farce to hide something terrible should he let it down.

_'He's serious, isn't he?' Zethyr noticed Kai's change in composure and remembered that old look the man used to have whenever he intended to finish things quickly, and considering how this situation was going down he was intending to, kill Vali,_

_'No, if he were to, then he wouldn't be here trying to pull a fake laugh, he's actually waiting and observing what happens next. It will all depend on what is explained.' Zethyr looks back to the fight._

* * *

"What do you mean? You know something about my parents?" Michael growled, eager to know what Vali's goal with this is.

"Both your parents were of course human. It bored me to even try to look further, but the secret to your abnormal growth interested me to continue even further, and then there it was. The answer that I needed. It actually made quite some sense as to why you were so compatible with that Sacred Gear of yours." Vali explained.

"It has something to do with my sacred gear too?" Michael looked at the Boosted Gear.

"Michael Hanamura, have you ever heard of the Celtic Village of Dragons?" Vali brought up.

"Celtic Village?"

"Yes, the Celtic Village of Dragons a particularly famous village off somewhere near one of the western countries. There presides a proud race of special humans, who have innate talents with Dragons. Whether it be Dragon taming, or their main profession, Dragon Slaying. These humans were blessed with the natural ability to acquire the abilities of their dragons with sheer will, no strength, no magic, and no seals just sheer willpower." Vali went on to explain,

"With their willpower overcoming the prideful spirits of many dragons, who would rather die keeping their own pride than to submit to humans, they were able to be look up the sources of their weaknesses and better use that by creating a new power called Dragon Slaying Aura."

"Okay, so these Celtic guys are people who get pretty involved with dragons so?" Michael didn't know why this mattered in their fight.

"So, have you ever heard of a Clan in which is ranked highly amongst the others in that village, a clan that can utilize both their Dragon Slaying aura and-." Vali said with a sly smile,

"The destructive power of the Welsh Dragon itself."

* * *

"…!" Everyone were stunned at the sudden reveal of something so ridiculous.

"C-Can s-something like that happen?" Gasper looked to Koneko who continued to watch the fight more attentively. It could be the very presence who allowed for them to see this fight has shaken her up a bit. There was no telling what could happen so she left her guard up, yet this unease wasn't settled with the killing intent she could feel from Kai it may have been suppressed, but the suppression of something that big was too much for her not to be restless.

"Welsh Dragon's power?" Michael remembered back on what Ddraig said about children who would inherit his power if the user were to give or help aid give birth to a child.

"Correct. It is a clan which has even preserved the Welsh Dragon's former cut up body from after decades probably centuries of searching for it after the Great War to preserve of its memory in respect than let it be used for any disgraceful purposes." Vali chuckled, "This very clan itself had a next head to lead it and that head was your mother."

"My mom?" Michael repeated, he had never heard of anything involving his mom and right now he guess he would finally know something about her and probably himself.

"That's right and the name of this clan, you wonder? Actually, it's not that hard to figure out since you share its family name." Vali revealed,

"The  **Celtic**  Children who watch over the Welsh's domain, The Hanamura Clan."

"…!?"

Michael's eyes widen at the mention of his last name in some clan he just heard about.

"Once I found this, I became a little more intrigued about your mother's history and ancestors and this piqued my interest even further as you were actually related to one of the past Red Dragon Emperors, in fact, the Strongest Red Dragon Emperor in history, Belzard." Vali explained.

"Belzard…" Katerea recalled hearing the name of the infamous, Red Dragon Emperor.

"The only Red Dragon Emperor in history to have slain the White Dragon Emperor twice in a row." Serafall stated.

"For the strongest Red Dragon Emperor in history to have a descendant, who was my sacred gear's counterpart, actually made me felt some joy to confront the power that once killed two of my predecessors. Sadly, that couldn't happen, probably if you weren't casted off for being the child of an outsider then you probably would have been experienced with your power like, no you would have mastered it and taken it to new the next level." Vali went on with his own feelings in the matter.

_'Wait, Ddraig… Whenever you kept quiet about those certain children gaining your powers genetically... Was it that this whole time...you were talking about me?' Michael looked forlorn._

**_[… … …Yes.]_ **

_'Dammit...this is too much to take in right now. I have to try and stay focused before he tries to lure me into any more of his mind games…'_

Michael begins to sweat and shuts his eyes to calm the fast beating in his chest. This brand-new revelation about himself was too much for him to handle, and, yet Vali decided to go on just to break his already deteriorating composure,

"It seemed a little unfair that the head of the Hanamura Clan was able to give birth to Belzard's child, also, the child of an outsider, but when the generation goes through every new age to see new atrocities happen to them then it would be quite fair not to judge them. But then again, I guess that it's natural for individuals to grow more and more cautious to resorting to cast off any potential threat even if the threat is one of their own kin."

"Wait? Did you just say casted off?" Michael's face turned pale, he didn't want to hear this. No, he wasn't expecting to know any of this. He didn't even want to know about this in the first place!

"Hmhmhm! Oh, did I let that one slip? Excuse me for my carelessness." Vali laughed.

"Vali, don't play freaking dumb! What did you just say!? More importantly, why? Why bring all of this up now!?" Michael demanded, harshly. He didn't care about the games Vali was doing to toy around with him anymore, all he wanted to know was what Vali meant from earlier. But he can't control his nervousness, he felt conflicted with himself.

_'I thought that I'd finally convince myself that knowing anything about "them" wouldn't change anything. So why am I feeling so scared to hear it come from someone else's mouth?' Michael kept telling himself that figuring out what happened to his parents wouldn't matter right now, but still, he felt scared of what would happen if he heard some actual truth from someone else._

Ignoring the second part of Michael's question, Vali answered,

"…The Celtic Village of Dragons is a sacred ground filled with sacred secrets, draconic weapons, and treasures. If such treasures were placed out right for the picking then of course many hunters would do anything to take it from them. Whether it be by kidnapping, murder and for those who seek children to gain power, rape. These people sought out for the village, and caused many past horrific deeds to attain their greed. So, closing itself off, the village became reclusive to the world. Only allowing those of their own blood and kin to enter, no one else."

Vali explained as he watched Michael's eyes get covered by the shadow of his hair.

"The people of this clan have been reluctant to allow any outsider to take foot in their land. Anyone, who wasn't fully affiliated with them in blood would be thrown out without a second's notice. I don't have much data about him, but apparently your father was an outsider, and fell in love with your mother, which led to your birth. The elders of the village saw this as a possible threat, and decided to throw you out before you could do any damage. Apparently, your mother wasn't so defensive towards the idea, and decided to let you go without regretting anything."

Starting to tremble, Michael kept his eyes to the ground while being completely motionless. The heavy truth of being thrown away by even his own parent was enough to much for him fathom.

"I was thrown out...?" Michael thought with a shaky tone

* * *

"Michael…no…" Rias watched with teary eyes as the harsh truth came out.

"H-How can he be so cruel as to reveal that to Michael-san…" Asia too was on the verge of tears.

Everyone grew worried for Michael as for the leaders their expressions were completely different again.

"Whew! That's a relief…" Kai sighed in relief after hearing that.

"Indeed." Sirzechs nodded yet, he frowned, he still felt bad for the child to hear such harsh truths even if they were  _partially_ true.

"It saddens me to hear this being told, but it's not that much of an effective blow as the real truth." S. Michael placed a hand on his chest and sighed in relief.

"Seriously, that kid is unpredictable to think he would have me on the ropes to finish it with something like that." Azazel rubbed his chin, and looked at Vali closely, "Perhaps you know of the consequences of revealing the true story as well don't you, Vali?"

Azazel looked at Michael's current state and frowned,

_'The brat must be shaken up about this. I can't blame him though, for his family history to be revealed right out of the blue, I could understand his nerves getting to him.'_

* * *

"Now do you see, Hanamura? That is why I expect a challenge from you, whether, or not, you're human didn't really matter until I looked into your background which interested me. Your blood, your relatives. Everything about that unique power of yours has gotten me very curious about how they fare in a fight against me…" Vali's smirk grew.

"Shut up…"

Michael's voice grew deep in anger as his whole body leaked a dangerous amount of dragon aura along with the rising aura of Touki exuding his body, it seemed to want to break out of something restraining it. He was really pissed off. Any more of this would really make him snap and break loose.

"I'm going to shut that mouth of yours up, once and for all."

***WHOOOOOOOSH!***

***CHNNNNG!* *CHNNNNNG!* *CHNNNNNNG!***

A rough wind blows past Michael as the sounds of chains resonated through the wasteland.

"What?" Vali found the sight of something glowing on Michael's wrists and ankles.

***CHNNNNG!* *CHNNNNG!***

"So, he's finally going to unleash himself?" Kai smirked.

"Like I said before, I was saving this up for a secret technique to use against you, but since I'm past the point of caring, I'll just release the power that I had which would have allow me to use it!" Michael raised his arms in the air to reveal the sudden glow of the Spirit cuffs which were invisible.

"Restraints?" Xenovia said.

"Michael-kun was wearing that through the entire fight?" Raynare sweatdropped, she wished she could slap him right now, but considering the circumstances, she pushed that thought aside. He made everyone worry about him, only to reveal, that he was holding back the entire.

"And just what are those?" Vali asked.

"These are the Spirit Cuffs. I've been wearing them for these past couple days to strengthen my use over my Touki. I'm pretty sure the time to take them off is now, isn't that right, Shishou?" Michael explained as he remembered the safety word that Kai told him.

Raising his arms, Michael breathed in, and finally said the password,

"Aeron!"

***BREEEEEEAK!***

***WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!"

Once he uttered those words, Michael broke the chains and allowed the true strength of his Touki to flow out of him in large amounts as it was able to force raging winds to pick up around the area. This Touki truly revealed the strong life force Michael has been able to control through training.

"So, you've been fighting with restraints this whole time? I don't know whether to feel excited for what's to come, or…" Vali lied about his words, secretly, he felt mad that Michael would hold back this power. He couldn't explain it, but the thought that Michael intended to make a fool of him by holding back his full power made him clench his hands in hidden anger. He couldn't stop feeling so aggravated about this change of pace.

* * *

"Impressive. Way to work the kid in with those restraints." Azazel complimented Kai, and clapped his hands.

"It was nothing. I knew he would have used it, eventually." Kai waved his hand in a 'no big deal' gesture.

"And that password?" Azazel looked serious with a smirk.

"I know, I know, but if he doesn't know of its meaning then I don't think he'll mind." Kai shook his head.

"Huh?" Rias looks between the two and asked, "Is there something you both know?"

"Nope." Both answered while looking away which made Rias narrow her eyes in suspicion.

* * *

Gritting his teeth while holding his stance, Michael did his best to hold in the amounts of touki leaving his body. If it kept flaring out, then it would be hard to control it effectively.

With a little struggle, Michael was able to hold in just about enough to allow his movements to not be hindered. The flowing power coursing through his body was apparent. His strength, speed, and defense were raised and even better than his old state with touki. Now he will be able to land much stronger blows.

The pressure of power almost took Vali by surprise, but instead of backing away. He stayed in place and laughed,

"Interesting! Very interesting! You raised your proficiency with Touki to the next level in such a short time. See? You can do something not many would conceive of accomplishing!" Vali laughed as his voice was growing less like his usual calm tone, he truly was a battle maniac, "It may have angered me to see that you actually believed you had a chance of defeating me while keeping yourself restrained, but I can forgive that because after we go all out in this fight, maybe then you'll get to see some truth about your heritage!"

"Shut up!" Michael grinded his teeth and readied his Boosted Gear.

"In fact, the only thing that was a real shame was that you got abandoned before you could develop that power of yours!" Vali laughed as he decided to charge at Michael with his amazing speed.

"SHUT UUUUUP!" Michael bellowed as he clenched his Boosted Gear which flashed signifying his count was finished, "Ddraig!"

**[The count is already finished, but Michael remember you can't let your rage control you in this fight.]**

"Shut up, let's just do THIS!"

***SLAM!***

"BALANCE BREEEEEEEEAKER!"

Michael slammed his fist into the ground and took a knee as he allowed a surge of red dragon aura to cover his entire body.

***GOGOGOGOGOOOOOOOOON!***

The ground below was being expunged, and torn from the sheer power of the Boosted Gear. The dragon energy from within Michael's body began to take form of the silhouetted Boosted Gear's Scale Mail's upper half as it placed its clawed hands around Michael's body.

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

"VALI!" Michael roared as the figure of the Boosted Gear's Scale mail roared behind him.

It began covering Michael's body with the dragon's aura surrounding him as it slowly forms the red plated scale mail which took the motif of a dragon.

**[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]**

"Raaaaaaaaaaaargh!" Michael roared and unfurled his scale mail's dragon wings within the surging aura still covering his armored body, and presses them back with enough force to propel himself at Vali.

"Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Michael goes at Vali with his entire body covered in red dragon aura.

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

"That's it! Come at me!" Vali does the same while covering his body with white dragon aura.

***CLAAAAAAAAASH!***

***CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!***

Upon the two colliding, they both punched at each other and had their fists collide with one another, creating a powerful shockwave that destroyed the nearby Rock formations.

"Geh!"

"Hmph!"

The two backed away from each other, only for a moment. Before heading back in to the fray by unleashing their own barrage of punches at each other.

"Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora!"

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

Michael grunts as he fired many punches clad with enough dragon power and Touki.

**[Michael control yourself! You're just attacking him blindly!] Ddraig shouted, but his words couldn't get through to Michael as he just ignored the warnings.**

"Heh! Is that the best you could do, Hanamura?" Vali's speed allowed him to catch the punches before they could even reach him, after quite some time at seeing through Michael's sloppy attacks, Vali decided to use this to his advantage.

"You better do more than just attack me like that, Hanamura!" Vali leans into through Michael's uncoordinated attack and launches a strong right against Michael's stomach.

**{Divide!}**

"Urch!" Michael coughed out a moderate amount of blood from the blow before having some of his power drained.

"Now allow me to show you another technique of mine!" Vali engulfs himself in white aura and starts to zig zag around Michael with blinding speed which made it hard for Michael to follow.

***BANG!***

"Aargh!" Michael gripped onto the destroyed shoulder plate of his Balance Breaker.

**[This speed! Partner, you have to calm down now or else-!]**

_'Shut up!' Michael wasn't listening anymore._

**"Dragon Shot!"**

***DOOOOOON!***

Michael ignored Ddraig and made a guess of an attack as his beam missed Vali completely.

"Hahahaha! Futile, now where was I…oh, yes."

***BAAANG!***

A flash of light blinded Michael as he received another hit to the chest. Making him stagger back before he got his with the next attack, and then another, and another, and another before Vali uttered his moves real name.

**"Vanishing Dragon Flash Bullet!"**

***BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!***

Vali's superior speed toppled Michael's reflexes as the teen had received many gaping holes on his armor along with the increasing amounts of cracks on them.

"Bloooourgh!

Along with the armor's damage blood was being forced out of Michael's body with all of his fresh wounds.

"D-Damn, where is he now?" Michael panted then gasps as he looks up to see Vali was right in front of him with his palms extended out on his chest. Was he there the whole time? Michael couldn't tell since he didn't sense his presence at all.

"Fly away."

***DOOON!***

Vali fires a magic bullet against Michael's chest, sending the teen falling crashing into the ground.

_'Dammit!' Michael recovers at the last minute as he lands and gets on a knee upon the ground and looks up at Vali. The holes in the armor were revealing Michael's naked chest and damaged body. The blasts even burned off, the bottom half of his shirt from inside._

**[I'll handle the damage placed on the armor! Just focus on fighting and remember not to get too mad!] Ddraig steadily fixed the large hole in the armor.**

"Dammit...Dammit..." Michael clenched his fist in frustration as his aura started to rise up in a way to match his sullied mood of anger.

"Look, Albion, Hanamura's power has gone up exponentially." Vali began a conversation with Albion.

**{Sacred Gears simply use strong emotions as food for power. Hanamura Michael's rage is at its genuine limit, and is turned towards you. Only straightforward people can draw out the dragon's power. Well done, you were able to use his emotions as a key to bring this part of him out.} Albion explained.**

"Although it pains me to say this, but it looks like his Celtic blood makes him a much more suitable user of his dragon power than men. What a waste that he ended up an orphan before he could truly tap into this power." Vali clicked his tongue.

"You're pissing me off even more, douchebag!"

**[Jet!]**

Michael propelled himself at Vali and thrusts his fist out, "Take this!"

"Hmph! Another straight forward attack? You must be getting duller each time I blast you away."

Growing more and more enraged, Michael clenched his fist and shouted, "Ascalon!"

**[Blade!]**

***SHIIIIIIING!***

"Not bad!" Vali grunts as he narrowly dodges the sword thrusted at him as he backs away.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Michael thrusts the sword rapidly at Vali, who dodges the piercing attacks from left to right.

"Apparently nowhere with how terrible you are with that sword."

"Hey, let go!"

Vali decided to grab onto the blade with the risk of hurting his hand while cocking back his other fist. He covered it with enough dragon aura to instill enough damage upon Michael's body.

***BAM!* *BAM!* THUD!***

"Aaaaargh!" Michael received a punch to the face, an elbow to the chest and knee to the gut from Vali.

"Your proficiency with dragons may be greater than mine, but you still lack control over the Welsh Dragon's power, and that temper of yours!" Vali laughed as he placed his palm out and created large magic circle in front of Michael.

He was going to shoot at point blank range again!

"…!"

"Now try to recover from this…"

***DOOOOOOOOOON!***

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

***CRAAAASH!***

A concentrated magic beam shot Michael out of the air and sent him crashing into the ground.

"Dammit!" Michael grunts as he pushes himself up to try and stand.

**{Divide!}**

Having made contact with Michael, Vali halved his current power.

"Gugh! Dammit, he halved my power again..." Michael falls to a knee as the past attack inflicted on him broke through his armor. He wasn't able to set up enough Touki to cover his body because of his lack of focus and mindless rampaging.

**[Boost!]**

Getting up on a knee while his armor repairs itself again, Michael stares up at Vali with narrowed eyes and realizes that he'll have to do things differently now, "I have to calm down…"

Michael breathed in and out.

_'My parents...where I came from...they don't matter now. All that matters now is...' Michael looked up at the cocky White Dragon Emperor looking down at him._

"Taking him down." Michael said with a more calming voice as he clenched his fist and tried to tap into the Dragon Slaying Aura that Ascalon had.

_'Ddraig, sorry about before. I'm good now.' Michael apologized._

**_[Its fine, I'm glad you that could calm yourself before you did something rash that you would have regretted.]_ **

_'Yeah, can't be having this continue like that anymore, right?' Michael looked up at Vali who still waited for any attacks he would make._

_'If I could get a single hit on him with this, then I can guarantee it will do some mad damage.' Michael nods._

**_[But first, Partner, look at his wings.]_ **

_'Hm?' Michael looks to see that the energy Vali absorbed from him was being dispelled through his wings, 'What's up with his them?'_

**_[He sets the extra power, he steals from you through his wings. He may be more experienced, and powerful with the sacred gear, but he still has a limit to how much power he can hold.]_ **

_'Oh, really?' Rubbing his chin with his mouth growing into a wide grin, Michael laughed, 'That gives me an idea.'_

Looking around the wasteland, Michael spots a massive boulder and rushes towards it, "That one should do!"

**[Boost!]**

"What is he doing now?" Vali questions.

Boosting his strength, Michael manages to heft the boulder with both his arms, "Let's see you handle this!"

Throwing the boulder at Vali, Michael quickly encompasses himself with Touki and follows after the boulder.

"Such a barbaric attack, even I expected you to do a better attack than th-."

"Haha! Element of surprise, bitch!"

***DOOOOOOOOOON!***

Michael fired a red beam of demonic power straight through the boulder and directly at Vali.

"Clever, but not good enough." Vali sticks out his hand and creates a thick barrier to block out the attack.

Seeing the charging Michael from behind the blocked-out beam, Vali simply raises another hand and fires another concentrated beam of magic at him. Sadly, though it goes through Michael as he disappears like a mirage.

An afterimage attack!

"What? I was sure that was his presence right there! Where is he?" Vali's eyes widened.

***GRAB!***

"…!" Vali looks to his right to see Michael latching onto it.

"Gotcha, dumbass!" Michael laughed as he imbues his fist with touki and Ascalon's dragon slayer aura and punches it across Vali's face damaging his mask and leaving a huge blow against his naked cheek.

"…Gugh!"

***GRAB!***

"What?"

Vali coughs out some blood, then widens his eyes when he felt Michael grab his other shoulder.

"Now let's see how much power your wings can take from my Boosted Gear!" Michael grinned.

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Michael's body was absolutely covered in powerful dragon aura.

**[Transfer!]**

"Grgh! Hanamura…!" Vali gave a strained growl as the power he was injected with was literally burning his body out. He could even feel his scale mail start to shake from all the surging energy.

**{This-! Vali, you have to pull back! The system has to be restarted before it overloads!} Albion warned.**

**[Just where do you think you're going, Albion! My partner isn't finished with you two, yet!] Ddraig roared.**

"That's right because I need to clear a few things up with you before this fight continues…" Michael grunts as he struggles to hold the struggling Vali in place while cocking back his fused aura clad fist.

"First off, I could care less about my parents, and them abandoning me! Right now!"

***GOOOOOOON!***

***BAAGAAAAAN!***

"My armor!"

_'He was actually able to break it…' Vali thought in disbelief._

Vali's entire scale mail shatters once Michael slammed his fist into his chest with enough force to even force him to spew out a large amount of blood.

**[Partner, now when his defenses are low! Go all out!]**

"You got it!" Michael charges at Vali while coating both his fists with Dragon slayer/Touki aura, "Now let me continue! Second, the only reason that I got pissed was because you started to bring up shit that didn't matter in this fight!"

Michael fires 3 rapid punches before kneeing Vali's chin, sending him flying higher through the air.

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *THUD!***

"Ooooough!" Vali coughs out a large amount of blood while sustaining a lot of damage.

"And third of all-!" Michael roared as he flew after Vali from below.

"Damn…" Vali gritted his teeth and pointed his hand downwards and fired a piercing type of magic bullet to disorient Michael. Sadly enough, it was another afterimage of Michael's body.

_'Another one? How does each one carry his presence?' Vali gasped, then looks above himself and sees a shadow above him._

It was Michael with both his hands locked over his head.

"Ngh!" Vali crossed his arms over his head.

"This is for not going into your Vanishing Drive when I told you TO!"

***THUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!***

***CRAAAAAAASH!***

Michael slammed his locked hands against Vali's head and sent him hurtling towards the ground, creating a large crater from the impact of his falling body.

"Hah! Take that!" Michael rolled his arm and laughed, "That's what you get for trying to act all smart around the Great Hanamura!"

* * *

Michael may not have known, but he sounded angrier with that last comment which confused a few of the spectators, who noticed.

"So that was the main reason he was mad…? What a kid…" Azazel shook his head with a coy smile, he felt glad that was the case, instead of the reveal of his family.

* * *

Landing himself a few feet away from Vali, Michael says, "Ddraig, how much time do I have left in Balance Breaker?"

**[With the training that you did before, you've successfully gained about a total of 2 hours, well, about an hour and a half after that stunt you pulled.] Ddraig stated.**

"I guess that I overdid it, but at least I got a few good hits in!" Michael laughed as he takes off his Balance Breaker's mask and visor.

"Hahahaha, amazing! You blew away my Sacred Gear and managed to do this much damage to me! See? You could do it too, if you just tried…" Vali wiped his lip as he gets out from the crater looking bruised and with some blood dripping down from his forehead.

Removing his jacket, Vali stares at Michael with a smirk.

_'*GASP!*' Michael gasped._

**_[What is it, partner? Is he about to do something?] Ddraig asked._ **

_'His jacket!' Michael gasped._

**_[Yes! What about it!]_ **

_'Everyone knows when by anime that when you remove one of your clothes, shit gets real!' Michael clenched his fist as he could feel this fight picking up already._

**_[…Why? Why bring something that doesn't matter into this of all times?]_ **

_'Hmm? Maybe I should take off my shirt just to make it even, but… I'm wearing my armor so that won't work…' Michael thought._

**_[You're literally doing this right now, aren't you? *Groan!* Just focus on the damn fight you're in already.]_ **

"But I'm surprised how you did a well-planned attack when you were so angry."

"Okay, first off, I did some breathing exercises to cool myself down. Second off, fuck you for trying to mess with my emotions by bringing up my biological parents and revealing all that crap, I could definitely care less about. Lastly, you should take this fight seriously! Stop acting like you have complete control over everything." Michael adjusted his goggles while sounding serious.

Looking at Michael in question, Vali asked, "Hanamura, I want to ask you something."

"What is it? If it's another one of your mind games, then just stop. I won't be falling for them anymore." Michael shook his head.

"That's not it, you moron. I wanted to ask you something regarding your feelings about your reaction to hearing your mother abandoning you before and now. Why do you still feel the urge to be calm after hearing that? In fact, you said your rage before was because it doesn't matter. Just tell me, why aren't you still seething in rage anymore." Vali asked as he watched Michael's expressionless face.

"Hm? Well, it's because I don't really have an opinion on it, that's all." Michael shrugged.

"That can't be it. There has to be something more than that." Vali continued pushing Michael to answer.

"Okay then, if you really want to know then fine, I'll tell you." Michael groaned, "This is the reason why I've felt this way ever since I was little; Why should I even worry, or be angry, or even roll around in my own sorrow about some parents that I had no clue of know about?" Michael sounded very personal about this question.

"…" Vali stood neutral as he watched Michael give his answer. Somewhere deep inside, Vali felt mad again, but it wasn't towards Michael, he just couldn't figure it out.

"Was I lonely during the most important days of my life? Yes. But I also know getting into a fit or wallowing around in my self-pity won't get me anywhere. Besides, even if my real family wasn't there, I have other people to worry about." Michael held up his thumb.

"Really? Then tell me, who are these people?" Vali asked incredulously.

"Hah! Are you actually asking that? Man, and you say that I'm the moron, you moron!" Michael gave a cheeky laugh as he jabs his thumb to the left side of his chest, his heart,

"My friends, of course."

"…Friends?" Vali looked confused.

"Of course, friends worry over friends, so it's only natural to feel this way."

Michael smiled as he remembers his time with the Occult Research Club even the Student Council, and the human friends he made at Kuoh Academy. These very few groups of people that he befriended filled the hole of something he craved for more than anything. Connections.

Without connections, he would have been sad, depressed and always mad at everything. With the connections, he made he was able to attain so much from the very little things he did with them.

"My friends were able to make me happy whenever I felt down in the dumps or sad. Every path that I made was influenced by their kindness and concern over me. I can't help, but say this because I get this warm feeling in my chest whenever I laugh or smile with them. It's hard to even explain it yet, but I feel that I may lose that very feeling I got so obsessed with. So, I wouldn't mind protecting it, even at the cost of my own life." Michael grinned.

"So, what you're saying is that your friends are what make you strong? Hn! How cliché." Vali rolled his eyes, he couldn't stand hearing such trivial things.

"It may sound cliché, but what's so wrong about it? Conveying your feelings to people you love is what friends are there for." Michael still kept his smile.

_'So, if his friends are what he wants to protect, then how about…' Vali thought while coming up with another plan,_

"You're afraid of losing that warm touchy feeling in your chest?"

"...?" Michael blinked with an unaffected face.

"Well then, how about I decide to take that all away right in front of you? Those friends of yours, they wouldn't happen to have the names: Matsuda, Motohama and Kiryuu Aika do they?" Vali raised the question as he laughs upon Michael's face growing serious, but strangely calm.

"Seems I hit the bullet with that one. In any case, you're wondering about how I was able to gather enough information about everyone who has ever came in contact with you, including some of your closest friends? Humans, too. What do you think of this? Wouldn't it be terrible if something "unfortunate" were to happen to them?"

Knowledge was a very powerful weapon when it's in the hands of the enemy using this to bring out another burst of anger from Michael, Vali waits patiently for the sudden increase in power to blow up in his face.

But…

"Hahahahahahahahaha!" Michael laughed until his gut hurt, "Are you freaking kidding!?"

This confused Vali as he was taken back by the sudden laughter, why would he be so cheerful to hear that his own friends would die by his hand?

"*Snort!* Wooooh! Man, that's freaking priceless!" Michael wiped a few tears from his eyes, "Do you honestly believe that I'll let you do that, and besides, you have a few things wrong with this for one, I despise Kiryuu. She's like the brown stuff in my Lucky Charms, not wanted, but somehow always ends up in my spoon whenever I find something good. Second, even if I didn't protect the perverted duo, they would still die happy since they could either go to heaven and fail horribly as they get shot down by some angel chicks. Or since they are perverts, they can live their entire lives in hell, happily being tortured by some devil girls. Well, if there exists some who'd do that for them…"

Michael shivered as he remembered the S&M side of Akeno and tried to forget it.

"…What?" Vali absolutely had no comment on how to react to this. What he just heard was complete nonsense. Well, it would be nonsense if it came from someone else, but hearing it from Michael, he could feel that even attempting this would be a failure.

"Oh right, getting off track. So yeah, I can safely say that you won't be hurting my friends while I'm around." Michael thrusts his fist out.

"What makes you so certain that I won't do it? We are opposing sides, I'm supposed to do everything in my power to make sure that I can obliterate you both mentally and physically. You may not even realize it, but I may gun for your beloved master, Rias Gremory." Vali threatened, Michael felt a little off with hearing that Rias would get hurt, but shook his head.

"You can quit it with that because I sure as hell know that you won't reach, Buchou. Not while I'm still breathing! I promised that I would always be there to make sure she's always happy, so don't think you'll be able to do anything to endanger her or my friends, ya got it!?" Michael punched his open palm with a grin.

* * *

_'Thank you, Michael…' Rias placed both hands on her chest as she blushed._

* * *

Vali narrowed his eyes as he examined Michael's behavior. It was all wrong. After all that's been revealed to him about his past parents, the threats to his friend, and his verbal threat of him killing his lover. He should be mad, no, hell-bent in rage. Not smiling like everything will turn out well like a happy ending. In fact, that smile just pissed Vali off even more, but it wasn't towards Michael.

It was the same as before it kept on encroaching again.

_'I don't understand…' Was all Vali could force himself to think._

So, to solve this out once and for all, Vali said,

"Michael Hanamura."

"What is it? Anymore threats towards my friends? Because I can safely say, you won't be doing crap with me around." Michael confidently smiled as he takes a step back in a stance to fight.

"Do you hate me?"

The abrupt question caused Michael to do his usual "derp" face,

"Say what?"

"Do you hate me?" Vali asked the straightforward question once more.

"Geez! What's with you and asking weird questions in a middle of a fight? Are you planning to do one of your mind games again, because I already told you! I won't be toyed with again." Michael exclaimed.

"No, what I want to know is how you feel about me. Before we continue, the responses you've been making are befuddling my thoughts, and don't make sense. So, it's making me question about what you think of me. Everything I tried was supposed to get the right reaction from you since you act upon emotions like that of your red dragon emperor predecessors." Vali referred back to his past talk with Azazel bringing up the topic of the past Red Dragon Emperors, who fought and usually lived their lives with their emotions on their sleeves.

_'Could it be that this loser has an easier grasp over his emotions than his past predecessors? Or is he hiding something that I have yet to know because it will be difficult for me to continue this fight at this pace.' Vali narrowed eyes grew more focused._

"Your messing with me, aren't you? You must have been planning this out and acting this way to throw me off guard. Those past acts of being childish and a fool must have been a way to make me think up the perfect plan to unleash your rage, but instead you did the opposite to get my guard down." Vali stated as he felt like a fool to believe Michael's past acts as an idiot were actually true, but perhaps there was more to him than he thought in the end.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I haven't made a single plan since this fight started? And I sure know that I have no clue about what you mean when you referred to that plan of yours to make me mad. I'm just acting out the way I feel, that's all." Michael simply answered.

"Ludicrous, if you were, then why aren't you furious, confused, and torn apart about everything I've told you? Attacking me with no mercy and losing self-awareness of your own health? It's only normal that your emotions would double with that negative reinforcement and focus your hatred towards me. Yet you still act strange. Smiling without a care and having the confidence to say that I won't hurt your friends. Just what angle are you playing at?" Vali tightened his fists as he pressed Michael for an answer.

Michael grins and pulls down his eyelid,

"Because I know you won't hurt my friends, and we're fighting because of these!" Michael points to the goggles, "The other things that you said before was so difficult that I couldn't follow what you were saying at all. You say some big blocky words, you know?"

"I'm not satisfied with just that answer me for re-."

"Okay, fine. If you want my answer then here it. I hate you, honestly, from the bottom of my heart." Michael gave an honest answer with a very truthful smile, "You're a complete and total asshole, who's better at everything than me."

The straight up answer took Vali off guard, but he soon nods in understanding. But something about that smile felt off to him a little,

"It's understandable that you would think that, besides, we both hold the two dragons the-."

"But it's not that kind of hate though." Michael rubbed the bridge of his nose as he looked to Vali then back to the sky.

"What?" Vali was perplexed, this matter continuing was all confusing than before,

"Then what do you mean by "kind" what type of do you have hatred towards me is?"

"Well, it's sort of…" Michael turns away with his arms crossed, "Kind of…like, um… well, you know…" Michael turns around and folds his arms behind his head, "It's hard to just say, you bastard. I can't describe it since I don't know how it feels for something like this to really happen, so just accept it and let's move on with the fight!"

"I won't be satisfied with that. Tell me what kind of hatred, do you have towards me?" Vali stubbornly sought out Michael's answer.

"Well, it's…Mmmmmmmm!" Michael lowered his head as he tried to come up with a response.

* * *

"What's wrong with Michael-nii?" Gasper questioned as he saw Michael's rude behavior.

"He said he hated him, but he meant a different kind?" Kalawarner rubbed her chin in thought.

Watching the way Michael acted, Azazel's eyes got wide as he smiled with a big laugh,

"Ohohoho! This is too good, I'd never have expected this development to happen!"

"And that is?" Sirzechs looks over at the Governor-General.

"You'll see." Azazel snickered as he watched, Sirzechs even saw Kai snicker a little while Zethyr looked away completely uninterested with all the talking going on through the fight, but his expression was less stern than before.

* * *

"Well, are you just going to mumble like a buffoon the whole time, or are you finally going to tell me?" Vali crossed his arms.

Face palming himself, Michael's face grew red as he tried to find the right words to say. He honestly didn't like revealing personal feelings about himself to others, especially, if this ass is the one, he's telling it to. It's a feeling that he never understood or touched upon actually. It felt strange and it was something Michael couldn't forget or abandon. This feeling made him feel like it wasn't…

"Grgh! Fine then, you want to know then I'll tell you!"

Being hysterical, Michael points at Vali with his face completely red. Vali felt strange as well as what came out Michael's mouth shocked him the most,

"The hatred that I feel towards you is the same as a sibling hating his other sibling for being better than him at everything!" Michael spouted out a few surprising words which made Vali stagger back in shock.

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

"…!"

Everyone in general was speechless by Michael's outburst. The Red Dragon Emperor seeing the White Dragon Emperor as a sibling?

"W-What?" Vali exclaimed off put on how to react.

"You heard me. Don't make me repeat myself!" Michael growled, "You wanted to know and I told you! I hate you, like how brothers hate each other. You get it now!?"

"Brothers…" Vali grits his teeth as he clenches his fist, the mention of the word "Brother" didn't sit well with him.

"You may not think much of it, but you're good at everything! Every. Single. God. Damn. Thing! I couldn't even compete with you as a kid and that made me furious. Plus, with that smart-assed mouth of yours there was a time where I hated you in general for real!" Michael shouted as he starts to convey his feelings,

"I hated it. Some new kid appearing from nowhere showing the Great Hanamura up? No, I absolutely detested you for everything you were better at than me. But as time grew, I started to realize something. If someone as talented as you really existed, then why didn't you ever smile with anything you've accomplished? You were always so distant and lonely." Michael scratched his cheek,

"So, getting curious, I hounded the Ero-Ossan to tell me why you were always such a stick in the mud, and acting all emo every day, and once he told me the reason why… That was when I started to hate you in a different way because,"

Michael gave a sad smile with a little laugh,

"We're technically the same, you and I. Both of us with no parents, just your plain old orphans."

"…" Vali remained silent not bothering to spare a glance at Michael.

"Knowing that there was someone like me, made me feel strange. It made me realize that I wasn't the only one feeling alone, anymore. Kind of like the same person. Well, not entirely since I was human, and you were half a devil, but you get it, right? So, I tried to do more games with you like those challenges when we were kids just to get a response out of you, so we could try to be friends. But as usual, you were still a smartass, who talked down to me like a loser showing me up at everything we did. With you always ending up being the better one out of the two of us." Michael sneered then laughed,

"So those attempts of me trying to make friends with you ended up being real hostile challenges. It was to see, who was the better person between us. But you know, maybe it was because the Great Hanamura was jea-jea-jelly of you…."

Michael tried to play that off but knew it didn't make sense, he continued, "Yeah, soon enough. I forgot my attempts of trying to be your friend and focused on beating you, my rival."

Michael stated with a bright smile, as pictured an image in his mind. It was him as a young kid walking behind Vali, who was a few steps ahead of him. He tried to catch up, but Vali increased his pace to a run, Doing the same, Michael gets a few feet closer to Vali, before the dark silver haired boy got serious and ran farther away from the lagging Michael.

"You were always a few steps ahead of me as I always got left behind, and just when I felt that I could at least surpass you for a second, you speed up and leave me in the dust. It was frustrating, you know? Not getting to beat someone you didn't really like, but I still felt entitled that I should keep trying no matter what. Even if you did never take any of the challenges we did seriously." Michael then adjusts his goggles,

"All but one that is." Michael nods, "When we fought for these, you actually fought me with everything you had. It actually made me believe that you saw me as an equal, someone you saw that could stand against you on the same level. It made me confident that I could make a guy like you take me serious for once, and that I could have a chance to beat you as your rival."

Michael then got angry again and growled,

"But then you try and shrug it off thinking that this is not that big a deal. Thinking it as an inconvenience, but your wrong these goggles are much special than that. It's what held my connection with you up to this point. I know that we didn't really saw eye to eye, but you can't deny that you didn't feel the same, too. It does sound strange hearing it from me, but with what I got out of the time I spent with you and the Ero-Ossan, I started to think that what I was feeling back then and right now was like being in a family." Michael smiled gratefully,

"Like having a dad…"

* * *

"Chi! Like anyone would want to be the father of that moron."

Azazel shrugged, his words may say one thing, but his content expression said another.

* * *

"And a brother…"

Michael's calm voice reached Vali's ears. The latter of whom didn't get the reasoning Michael made.

Dragon aura seeping out of his body, Vali simply lowered his head and allowed his raw anger to stir up inside of him. How could a loser like this possibly believe that he had the gall to say they were equals after the many times he lost? And for him to even bring up the topic of them being brothers? That's absurd!

_'This must be a joke, right…? Him? Actually, considering me as his brother? An equal? This is just too ridiculous. He managed to sully my mood more than once today, he even spoiled the fun I was having before, now I can't even think straight without my rage blinding me.' Vali tensed his arms as his hair covered his eyes._

"So, there's my answer. Now can we get started? All of this talking is making me embarrassed."

Michael scratched his head until a strong pulse of dragon power which created a strong wind that took him off guard,

"What the hell?" Michael focused his eyes to see the silhouette of a Vali's shadow through the surge of aura.

***GLEAM!***

A pair of electrifying blue eyes emerged through and stared at him in hostility.

Suddenly the strangest thing started happening, Vali was laughing…

"Hahahahaha…"

"…?" Michael looked at Vali in hopes of learning what was so funny again.

* * *

"Is Vali-sama laughing?" Mittelt's face contorted in confusion.

"Has he finally lost it?" Kalawarner said.

"Looks that way, but really he's just mad." Azazel sighed, "But I gotta say, I've never seen him this mad in a long time."

Casting a knowing glance towards Zethyr, who still looked away from the fight.

Azazel tiredly groaned,

"What a pain. Now things will get even more difficult for the brat."

* * *

Surrounding himself with his dragon aura, Vali laughed,

"How ridiculous. For me to end up like this because I can't even enjoy this fight anymore because of you, Hanamura." Vali was in disbelief,

"You think of me as a brother, and believe you're my equal? Don't be naïve!" Vali growls as he slowly walks out of the mass of aura surrounding his body as he dons his now reformed White Scale Mail.

**{Vanishing Dragon Balance Breaker!}**

"Everything about you just doesn't make any sense. You've pushed away everything I told you about your parents abandoning you, the threats towards you and your friends, and yet, you still rabble on about that useless item through this fight!"

Vali couldn't understand what was going on anymore. Everything was planned out, perfectly. He was supposed to get the correct reaction for everything he said, he wasn't supposed to be the one who'd end up angered. It was supposed to be this moron, not him.

It was blood boiling, to see that smile still on that face of his even though he was abandoned, it was sickening and it made Vali lose his cool. It's only human nature to hold a grudge towards those who've wronged you, so why wasn't he mad?

_'Talking about family and saying you hate me as a brother how absurd!'_

_A brief flashback of a young Vali sitting in a pool of blood staring at a variety of swords impaling a woman on the ground, flashed through his mind._

**_{Vali…?}_ **

**_Albion felt a disturbance through Vali's behavior. It felt completely dangerous and unstable, a feeling which hasn't been felt in over a long time._ **

_'How absurd…!' Vali tightened his fist, he was livid and needed to let out this anger before it affects him any further._

This subject was very touchy with Vali as these questions swirled around in his head, the heated anger with the target he not could identify grew hotter in his chest. Just the sight of Michael right now is ruining his mood to even enjoy this fight, that's how extreme things have gotten.

"I have no interest in this fight anymore, or you… I'll engrave into that little head of yours, why you'll still be a loser compared to me!"

Vali roars and releases enough pressure towards dragon aura expunged the ground and created a large crater beneath him, he needed to get rid of this painful feeling going through his mind and the solution to ending it would be by taking down Michael with no hesitation.

"Heh, looks like you've gone off the deep end for once. Good, now we can start this fight for real." Michael chided with a smug grin, "But you know, it's much better seeing you mad than being a jackass with that smart mouth of yours. Helps me get a better read of what your thinking. Now, prepare to see the Great Hanamura go all out!"

Michael roars as he starts letting out dragon aura near the same output as Vali, he still wasn't good enough to be at the latter's level but he could compensate by using all the other abilities he has.

"I'm going to wipe that smile off that face of yours, Hanamura, by completely eradicating you without holding back! This petty little game of ours is over…"

***ZAN!* *ZIIN!* *ZAAAAN!* *ZIN!***

Kicking off the ground with light speed, Vali engulfs himself with white light and engages Michael while making complex maneuvers with his speed.

"Finally because I'm not playing anymore, either!"

**[Jet!]**

Propelling himself with the jets attached to his armor, Michael beats his dragon wings back and enclosed the distance between him and Vali with a powerful charge.

"Huraaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

***CLASH!***

Both clashed their elbows when contact was made creating an almighty push of shockwaves to clear away the many large rock formations surrounding them. Leaning in one more time, the two dragon users cocked back their fists and fired off a barrage of attacks clashing against each other.

***THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!***

Fist to Fist. Kick to Kick. Knee to Knee. Elbow to Elbow. Close combat being one of Michael's specialties, he thought he would have the edge, but with Vali's superior speed it was tough to keep up with the attacks. Vali, however, was able to get a few good hits in as they pierced through the armor and reached the defenseless Michael inside.

In unison, the two jumped back to get better, equal ground.

***FLAP!***

"Huryaaaaaaah!"

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Michael uses his wings to flap back while clenching his fist and creating a basketball sized mass of demonic energy and dragon energy in the shape of a sphere.

**"Dragon Shot!"**

***DOOOOOOOOOON!***

***SNAP! *SNAP!***

"Grrrchk!"

A humongous blast of red energy sought out Vali as Michael's arm twitches in pain as he felt a least two of his fingers fracture from using too much power.

**[Moron! I warned you not to use too much power, you'll just kill yourself before your opponent does!]**

"Sorry! I got too into the moment to realize what I was doing." Michael winced in pain as he tried to block out the horrible pain of his broken fingers.

**[Then don't get dragged into it! If you had the bracelet, then it wouldn't have had to come to this!]**

In terms of size, the blast dwarfs Vali's form, exponentially, but Vali still stood in place and raised his hand forward.

"Pathetic."

Latching a single hand onto the attack, Vali manages to hold it back and stop its progression.

"What? He caught it?" Michael gasped as the massive power he released was stopped like nothing.

"Albion…" Vali coldly ordered.

**{Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide!}**

Dividing the power into his own body, Vali makes sure to erase the mass of the dragon shot.

"Incredible, he stopped that blast without so much as flinching!" Michael gasped in awe.

Turning to look at Michael, Vali says threateningly, "Now you!"

"Here, he comes!" Michael raises his guard and blinks seeing that Vali disappeared from where he stood. Looking for the white armored individual, Michael allowed his guard to drop as he looks to the side of any sight of him.

Unfortunately, that was his biggest mistake.

Because appearing right over Michael's blind spot to his right side was Vali with his hand stretched out to his head.

"Uh-oh!" Michael gasped.

"Eat the dirt!"

***SLAM!***

Vali dunks Michael's head into the ground and holds onto it with enough strength to keep him pinned.

"I won't allow you to even make a move anymore." Vali proclaimed as he flapped his wings and kept Michael's face to the dirt as he dragged him along through it.

"Oh cra-Bblbblblblblblblbl!"

Getting his head dunked into the rough, dry ground and forced to move through it with his face, Michael received tons of damage as even the mask of his scale mail crumpled under the forceful attack. Using his wings to speed up the process, Vali only added more damage speed.

**{Divide! Divide! Divide!}**

"Dammit!" Michael felt even more power leave from his body as Vali picks him up by the broken remains of his mask and throws him up a few feet.

"Haah!"

***DOOOOON!***

Firing off a serious beam of dragon power mixed with demonic power, Vali sends Michael soaring through the air with the beam still pushing him back.

"Hmph!" But that wasn't the end of his assault.

***ZAN!* *ZAN!* *ZAN!**ZIIIIN!***

Using his speed, Vali tracks after the beam and his opponent while zig zagging through the air.

"Nrgh!" Michael recovers and uses his hands to try and push back the beam attacking him, "This is bad, he got me good with this one! Maybe I can knock this attack out of the way and get some breathing space no-."

"And just who the hell do you think will give you that chance?"

Michael looks back to see a crossed arm Vali, who managed to get behind him with his phenomenal speed.

_'Damn, I couldn't even sense him? How long has he been there!?' Michael gritted his teeth._

**_[I would be more worried about what he's going to do now!]_ **

Placing his palm out at Michael's back, Vali muttered with a dark tone,

"Fall."

***SHIIIIINE!***

A bright light emanates from his hand and a massive beam of energy engulfs Michael and sends him hurtling towards the ground.

"Not good! Not good! Not good! Not…GOOOOO—aaaaaaaaaah!"

***CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!***

***GOGOGOGON!***

Creating a colossal crater with nothing, but his body and the weight of the attack, Michael's fall caused the earth around him to shatter and break off into large boulders and rocks as a large pile of dust surrounded him.

"He's still alive…." Vali who watched the dust finally settle sees a guarding Michael with a body completely cloaked in Touki as it enhanced the defense of his armor.

"Whew! That was close and now!" Michael raised his Boosted Gear, "It's my turn!"

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

**[Michael, what did I just tell you?]**

"Relax, I'm not going to use it for any of my dragon power based techniques anymore. Because starting now, I'm transferring it to Ascalon!"

**[Transfer!]**

Fists covered in enhanced, golden dragon slayer aura, Michael propels himself at Vali with a strong bat of his wings.

"Here I come!" Michael's used his Touki to cover his body and level up his speed to the correct level he wanted. His mastery over the power has allowed him to stay in a full state of it for a long time even focus the power to strengthen one of his attributes in battle.

"Hmmph!" Vali flies down after Michael and flicks his wrist creating a white sharp shockwave intended to slice his opponent in half.

***PHASE!***

***SHIIIIIING!***

The shockwave passes through Michael's body as it cuts a rock formation behind him in half.

"Another one of those afterimages..." Vali realizes that there were more around him in the form of Michael flying around his form.

"Let's see if you can catch me now, Vali!" Michael's voice echoed from the collage of afterimages.

"It won't take much time as you think. I'll just sense you and finish you off right now." Vali senses the presence of Michael in one go and sighed once he knew this would be easy, but then another presence appeared then another and another. Vali widened his eyes as he looks at the still images of Michael around him he couldn't just sense Michael's presence in one of them he felt it in all of them!

"I can't predict where he is!" Vali growled.

"Coming right at ya!"

Appearing from one of the afterimages came a charging, Michael with his fist cocked back ready to fire.

"…!" Vali raises his arms to guard.

***BAGAAN!***

"Trck!" Vali grits his teeth as the brunt attack of Michael's imbued dragon slayer fist caused the gauntlets of his armor to break, easily.

"Woohoo!" Michael laughed as he returned into one of the many still images to wait for another chance to attack Vali.

"How is he capable of doing this? I don't understand?" Vali muttered.

"Your guard's down!" Michael roared as he leaps out from one of his still images and attacks Vali's shoulder.

***BAGAAN!***

The shoulder plate crumbled away as Michael punched it.

"Grrrrr!" Vali twists his body around before the punch reached his naked shoulder and blasted a beam of demonic energy at Michael.

"Haha! What a lame shot, you suck at this!" Michael dodges the attack and picks up the pace of his speed to match the still images he created around Vali.

Albion fixed the cracks and damage done to the armor while Vali thought more about the technique, and tries to put aside his growing frustration towards the idiot who's making a fool out of him.

_'This is testing my patience... How did he get this fast, he wasn't like this before…' Vali then realized the cloak of touki around Michael when he was picking up his speed, 'He's using that technique to increase his speed to get the best of me with this defensive measure to hide himself.'_

"I can't explain the multitude of presences around me, but I can say for certain that your still here among these images." Vali raised his hand.

"Hah! Just what can you do about it?" Michael laughed as he prepared to attack again.

"This!"

***FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!***

Vali created a blinding light which covered the entire battlefield.

"Aaargh! My eyes!" Michael covered his eyes as he stops his fast momentum and made the still images of himself around Vali disappear.

"There you are!" Vali quickly charges at Michael with his hand outstretched.

"Ngh!" Michael raised his guard as he sensed him right in front of him.

***SWOOSH!***

Vali vanished along with his presence.

"Huh, he vanished? But where did he g-?"

***GRAB!***

Grabbing Michael's head from behind, Vali darkly mutters, "Right here."

***CRACKLE!* *CRACKLE!***

A few sparks of lightning release from Vali's hand and lash around Michael's head.

"No…" Michael breathily gasped as he realized what will happen next

"Die…" Vali whispered.

***BAKAAAA!* *BAKAAAAAAA!* *BAKAAAAAAAA!* *BAKAAAAAAAAAA!***

"Agagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagaga!" Receiving more than a 1000 volts directly to the head, Michael experienced hellish pain as Vali mercilessly allows the stream of lightning to course through Michael's body.

* * *

"Michael!" Rias cries out at the sight of the young man experiencing excruciating pain.

* * *

"Agagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagagaga!" Michael screams out loud as the pain only continued. If Vali were to continue with this violent attack, he could've cause Michael's heart to explode with all the voltage.

"Now do you see how futile your belief in being my equal was?" Vali grunts as he stops the stream of lightning to hold up a badly burned Michael, who exhaled smoke from his gaping mouth.

***BAGAAAAAAAN~!***

The armor which covered around Michael's body completely broke apart as Michael hanged limply in Vali's grasp.

"Never stood a chance..."

***BAM!***

"Guuacgh!" Michael coughs out a large amount of blood as he received the armor cladded fist to the stomach.

"Now allow me to give you a full lesson in my power. What I just used on you right now was just half of it." Vali informed Michael about his power, "If I wanted to, I could have just continued and let the shocks kill you, but instead, I decided to take things slow before I finish you off."

Raising Michael high up in the air, Vali looks up, "Realizing your situation, I'm sure that you know the odds aren't in your fav-."

***SPIT!***

Michael spat blood on Vali's face.

"Whoops...s-sorry was trying to clean my mouth." Michael tiredly smirked, he forced himself to stay conscious just to do that.

Looking unamused but really mad, Vali takes it upon himself to calmly handle his anger.

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

So, he decided to release his pent up rage on Michael by senselessly punching him in the stomach and face for 15 minutes straight.

**{Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide!}**

He even halved all the power he needed from Michael just in case.

"Any other quips that you'd like to get off your chest?" Vali held up a battered Michael whose mouth had blood coming out of it and down his chin.

"*Pant!* I don't know do yo-Ugh!" Michael received a strong blow that knocked the wind out of him.

"This is enough, I suppose." Vali looked at the unconscious body of Michael and clicked his tongue, "What a waste, at least, I had some fun while it lasted. Well, time to end this."

***THUD!***

Vali drops Michael and lets him fall to the ground.

"Urgh!" Michael hits the ground hard with his body twitching, "Grgh!"

"This little game of ours truly is over. You should be honored Hanamura that you were able to make me get this serious." Vali lands in front of Michael, but raises an eyebrow when he sees him struggle to get up.

"Nhgh! Ugh!" Michael pants as he pushes himself up on all fours as his body gives the occasional twitch after receiving all that electricity.

_'Durable and stubborn as always…' Vali spat._

"You're still at it? I already told you things are finished, you can't possibly think you can fight me at your condition. Just accept defeat, and I'll end this suffering by making your death swift." Vali's hand surrounds itself with dragon aura.

"Ptooo! I'm not throwing in the towel just yet. I still need to at least get you to the same state I am before this fight is done." Michael spat as he stands up and holds his bruised stomach to lessen the pain.

Confused once more by Michael's strange behavior, Vali questioned, "Why, just why?"

"Why, what?" Michael grunts as his body spasms each time he tries to take a step.

"Why do you keep acting like that? You keep saying that you'll eventually wear me down to your same state, and it's infuriating! How can you possibly think you are my equal? You're just a self-proclaiming rival, that's what you are." Vali tried to bring down the boy a couple of pegs, but he still. Kept. Smiling.

"Call me whatever you like, but just know that this loser is the Great Hanamura, and he will be your equal whether you like it or not!"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

Michael grinned as he summoned the Boosted Gear.

"Okay, Ddraig, how much time do I have for Balance Breaker?"

**[About 15 minutes left.]**

"W-What, 15 minutes? Now I know your messing with me, right?"

**[No, you have 15 minutes. Your rival actually drained most of your energy, so that will be hard to get back up. Also, it doesn't help that you used the Transfer call and overused the Boosting power for the Balance Breaker in the first place!]**

"So, do you think I could get at least an hour if I sacrificed an arm?" Michael sucked in his lips.

**[No, 5 minutes.]**

"Are you sure it has to be five minutes? Maybe you could bump it up to at least 30 minutes?" Michael twiddled his thumbs.

**[5 minutes, no exceptions.]**

"Oi! Be considerate here! I could die, yeah, don't make me put that on your conscious, Ddraig. I've done it before, so why can't you change the number of minutes when I want to sacrifice something to you?" Michael growled.

**[Because that's how the rules work, you should be lucky that you're getting any more power than you already should.]**

"Oh, yeah? Well, I-you know what forget it. I'll make do with what I got and handle, Vali. 15 minutes is more than enough for me!" Michael smiled confidently and thrusts out his fist and reforms his Balance Breaker's Scale Mail save for the mask and visor.

_When Vali saw that smile creep up on Michael's face, he felt that he would lose it again had it not been for his calm disposition. He just couldn't tell why he's been feeling so mad since he started this fight with Michael, but with all the unexpected attacks he managed to pull off and even brush off the subject of his parents abandoning him with no trouble. He just couldn't understand. Being confused made him question how Michael was able to do it and questioning how Michael was able to do something that he couldn't just made him madder!_

_'Just what is it that makes him so positive? Why does he keep smiling when he knows things were never going to be in his favor from the beginning? He brushed off the very mentioning of his mother, who left him behind and still he's smiling. How can that be? It must be ignorance. Could he be denying it, no, if he was then he would be honest with his emotions like he has been before. Just what is it with this loser? How can he be able to do something not even I can-?'_

_Suddenly a flashback went through Vali's mind, the images of frightened little Vali backing away from the shadow of a woman standing right over him with a malignant smile on her face. Vali wore a disheartened look as he was backed into a wall, the tears streaming down his cheeks were more than enough to tell how much depression he was going through._

_Overcome with this feeling of anger, Vali had finally realized why he was so angry it wasn't pointed at Michael or his fast progress. It was because he started to feel a familiar weakness drag itself out of him, and the fact that Michael was easy to brush off something which took years for even Vali to suppress so easily. It made him start to feel mad at his own inability to overcome his weakness._

_But there was still the problem with him not understanding Michael's train of thought regarding this, but then remembered something, he was more interested on fighting over those stupid goggles than anything else that didn't pertain to it. Could it be those goggles were there to help keep up a façade through all the threats and cruel reveals? And if so what would happen if they were taken out of the equation, literally?_

Curious to know the reaction Michael would make, Vali crossed his arms and spread out his wings,

"Hanamura…"

Michael responded to Vali's call.

"You've been focused on challenging me for those spectacles you were wearing, so that means they are important to you, correct?"

"Of course, that's what we're fighting for right now!"

Michael wasn't sure where Vali was going with this; obviously, he should know that by now.

"Right, you did say that before, but if you would-." Vali suddenly rushes right past Michael before he could react and vanished from his sight.

_'Where did he go?' Michael panicked looking for the other sacred gear user, but felt off did his head suddenly feel lighter?_

"So, you managed to keep these so well taken care of."

Michael whipped his head back to see Vali looking down at a pair of goggles, his pair of goggles!

_'Wait, aren't those-?' Michael touched his forehead to confirm what he's seeing._

"You always boast about how these goggles are relevant to this fight, even more than the destinies of the two Heavenly Dragons, the Welsh and Vanishing. You even ignored everything about those who abandoned you, and yet, you cling onto this object, this piece of metal and plastic." Vali raises the goggles for Michael to see.

"Give it back!" Michael used his jets to charge at Vali, but he misses once Vali flies into the sky.

"Why are you so desperate to get it back, Hanamura? Is it really that important to you?" Vali shook the goggles around in his hand.

"I said give it BACK!"

**[Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Michael fired a Dragon Shot out of desperation. But Vali flies to the side and dodges it. The damage from the blast caused another few of Michael's finger to break under the pressure.

"Damn!"

**[Michael, what did I tell you? Calm down, or you'll waste more time in your Balance Breaker and hurt yourself!]**

"Hah, what's wrong? You're starting to lose your cool, Hanamura!" Vali starts to fly off with Michael gaining up on him.

"I said give it back, you bastard!" Michael prepares another sphere of dragon power in his hand to fire another Dragon Shot, but delays himself from doing so once Vali stops and places the goggles right in front of him.

_'That bastard!' Michael stops his attack and glares at Vali._

_Vali looks at the goggles and smirked, 'That important, eh?'_

Seeing the frustrated look on Michael's face, Vali laughed, he had finally done it, it truly was the reason why Michael was able shrug off the entire events through this fight was because of this thing after all.

_'So, let's test if everything he's holed up inside bursts out after this.' Vali tightens his grip around the goggles._

"S-Stop!" Michael yelped.

The look of panic still remained of Michael's expression when Vali playfully clenches his hand around it making it seem he's about to crush it.

"Why so jumpy, Hanamura? Don't worry, I wouldn't do something that simple to destroy it."

That didn't sit well with Michael since that means Vali will use another method of to destroy the goggles.

"J-Just g-give it back!" Michael's insecurity only made Vali more inclined to do so.

"You know only begging me will just make me want to do this even more. I knew a loser like you could break down when something you care so much for is taken. These goggles may not matter that much to me, but to you, they mean more than any possession you have. This may just be my only way to get a real reaction out of you."

Vali admitted his plans.

"Stop! Y-You can't just do that? We still have to fight for them just like befo-!"

"This isn't like  **before!"**

"Ngh!" Michael gritted his teeth.

Vali shook his head, tired of hearing the same thing over and over again, "Stop bringing up old news, the past was the past. We're in the present; this fight is happening because of our intertwined fates as the Welsh Dragon and Vanishing Dragon. Nothing else..."

"But-!"

"There are no but's at all. This fight should have been fueled by hate and anger with both of us trying to kill each other, not just fight for these insignificant things. This is a matter between dragons, not a fulfillment of some petty game that happened between children!"

Vali angrily tosses the goggles to the side, he even fired a blast of energy to destroy it once it touched the ground.

"No! Stop it!" Michael propels himself at the goggles in hopes of reaching them,  _'I-I can't let them be broken. Not now. I still have to prove myself first! I-I can't have them be destroyed before I can prove myself as his rival! B-Before I-I-I-!'_

_Michael grinds his teeth as he cries out,_

_'Get him to accept me like an equal he could_ _**respect** _ _!'_

Reaching out, Michael desperately cries,

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

***DOOOON!***

A huge explosion filled the air where the goggles were last dropped, nothing remained all that was left was a crater the size of human body.

"No…" Michael muttered as he lands onto the ground and stares at the empty crater with wide eyes.

"Finally, now we have no more nuisances." Vali breathed out in relief, now things could finally go underway like he had planned before everything got complicated.

"…" Michael continues staring at the crater.

"What's wrong? Have I finally broken you, Hanamura?"

"… …" Michael remained silent as he lowers his head.

_'T-They're gone…' Michael thought with a monotone voice._

"If you were so hung up on those useless goggles, then you should try and at least pay me back for destroying them. You can let it go. Let all of your hate, anger and rejection come out at me all at once. If you keep holding it all in, you're just going to die pitifully as the loser, you've always been." Vali's insults may not have reached Michael's ears, but his encouragement to let everything go did…

"Fine then."

***THROBB!* *THROBB!***

Michael stood up. His voice was strained and low. Releasing touki from his body, Michael's form starts to slowly change starting with the dark coloring of his aura as it slowly turns from white to black.

**[Michael?] Ddraig notices the imbalance of power flowing through Michael's body it felt completely furious and dangerous. It was happening again.**

"If you want me to let everything out, then fine…!" Hair turning unruly and wild. His teeth's incisors growing sharp along with the dark coloring of both his now Black Touki and dark reddish Dragon aura. Michael's entire form was warping into something else.

Vali arrogantly watches with his arms crossed ignoring the dense pressure Michael is exuding.

"If you really want all of these feelings unleashed upon you, then I'll make sure to break you. Make you suffer. Make you experience fear. Make you experience regret." Michael's attitude went 360 fast when he started out of character. Hardening around his left Gauntlet clad arm was the black aura his body was creating.

* * *

"This power it's just like with Kokabiel." Rias gasped as she remembers the same atmosphere from before.

"Things are getting to be real dicey, aren't they?" Azazel was foreboding Vali's decision on pushing Michael this far. The way things are playing out there will be an outcome no one will like at all. If Vali continued to feed more anger to Michael's temper then things will make a turn for the worst.

"Sirzechs-chan, this is the same as." Serafall looks at the battle with a rather reminiscent expression.

"I know, but we should have expected this to happen from the beginning." Sirzechs now narrowed his eyes at Michael ignoring the White Dragon Emperor for now.

"…" S. Michael bowed his head as he remembered the last time he felt such ghastly power ran on negative emotions.

Looking over to Kai Zethyr asked, "Shouldn't we be stopping this?"

Shrugging his shoulders and watching closely, Kai says, "We could do that, but only when things are getting  **too**  out of hand. I want to see how things play out from here."

"Fine, but you should know curiosity killed the cat." Zethyr narrowed his eyes at the fight.

"I know, but luckily for me, I'm a monkey youkai." Kai chuckled then thought,  _'Now Michael-san, show me how much anger and other emotions, you've suppressed to get this far with 'that' power.'_

* * *

Once Vali had committed the unjustified task to destroy the goggles the entire area felt cold and it wasn't just cold because of the wind it just felt.

***CHILLLLSSS~!***

The cold atmosphere was able to shake some of those, who were watching outside. But as for Vali, he still remained unfazed and was actually excited that he could finally see this side of Michael.

"That's it get angry! Show me some real fun, Hanamura!" Vali prepares to fire down a blast of demonic energy, but soon stops to realize he couldn't move his hand.

_'What, why can't I?' Vali whips his head back to see that his arm was being held by a black aura cladded hand._

"I will never forgive you…"

Holding Vali back was Michael, himself as his hair covered his eyes.

Looking to the ground, then to his side, Vali laughed at the impressive speed that Michael had to reach this close to him.

"Impressive, but don't think this will be enough to hold m-!" Vali attempts at using a pulse of his dragon energy to send Michael flying but to his shock he could tap into the power at all. Thinking this as just an inconvenience, Vali attempted to use Demonic energy to do the job. But it too still does not work.

_'What is this? Albion, explain what's going on!'_

**_{This is impossible! I can't read any power coming off of you at all. It's all gone!}_ **

_'What? how is that possible!?'_

_Vali gasped as he realizes, he couldn't fire any kind of magic or dragon power, 'Could it be this black aura?'_

Speaking up with a growl in his voice, Michael says,

"Didn't I tell you already? I will make you regret everything you did by making you suffer!"

***SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSUUUU!***

"…!"

Vali staggers back as he tries to cover his eyes from the large mass of dark energy enveloping Michael and his arm, Vali could sense it, the raw negativity the aura is giving off it was filled with sadness, anger, regret and loneliness. He couldn't fathom what kind of power it was since it was solely based on those dark emotions other than his dragon power.

Gasping out of surprise, Vali starts to feel himself sweat as he saw the now blood red eyes Michael was glaring at him with. There was something else too, a clear visible line of a liquid rolled down Michael's cheek. Were those tears?

"Those eyes…!" Vali tried to jerk back his hand but soon realizes Michael's strong grip was resilient making it difficult for him to even think about escaping.

***CRACK!* *CRACK!***

Cracking his fingers before clenching them into a fist, Michael reels back his arm as he holds onto Vali's arm tight so he wouldn't escape.

**[Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Boosting the dragon power in his fist, Michael was now prepared to use it.

"Rrgh!" Vali prepares to take the brunt hit of the blow.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Michael fires the first hit of his angered state across Vali's face, the hit's force sent Vali spiraling through the air as it blew off the mask and visor on his face as created a few cracks on the rest of his armor. The hit alone caused Vali to cough up a large amount of blood.

_'Tch, that really did a number on me.' Vali winced in pain._

**{Vali, get ahold of yourself before he makes use of your unguarded state!}**

"I know." Vali reforms the broken parts of his armor along with a couple of cracks and now flies steadily in pace, he soon realizes that the power he couldn't release before was back once more,

"It's all back again." Vali's aura slowly flows out his body once more.

_'Just what did he do, and what's up with his arm?' Vali watches closely as the black mass of energy surrounding Michael's arm started to change the form of the Boosted Gear's gauntlet._

_'What!?'_

The red armored gauntlet changed from red to pitch black with some of it red highlights still being left alone as the jewel on its hands turns completely blood red with a certain symbol in the form of an "M." inside of it. The ominous looking gauntlet placed on Michael looked very demonic and strange.

**[Cursed Gear Activated!]**

**[This power, how ominous... Michael just what did you do to unlock this?]**

"Doesn't matter right now. Must make Vali pay!" Michael growled focused on his one goal.

**_[Could it be that this strange power is affecting Michael's judgement like before?]_ **

* * *

"Cursed Gear?" Asia tilts her head at the strange name, but besides that she felt sympathetic knowing just how sad Michael was just made her feel the same way as well.

"Just what is that?" Raynare frowned and whispered over to Xenovia who shrugs.

"It seems really devilish if you look at it closely."

"Just what kind of power did it use for Michael-kun to make that?"

Xenovia and Irina looked at the strange Boosted Gear variation Michael just now made.

* * *

Mixing his surging black aura with his red dragon aura together, Michael angrily roars, "For you to do something that dastardly! To destroy those goggles from long ago! I'll never forgive you…Vali! I'll make you pay! RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW!"

Michael's energy skyrocketed; although this excited Vali he still was very cautious on what to do next.

"Albion, have you finished analyzing that black energy?" Vali knew Albion would take into account of things like this.

**{I couldn't identify what it is per say in origin, or how he made it. But it's very clear that it will nullify your abilities if he touches you with it. I advise you that attack from distances and use close combat when he's disoriented.}**

"That seems to be the only way to go at this point." Vali flapped his wings and elevated himself in the air to catch some speed before diving back down at Michael.

Placing his hands out, Vali fires a multiple barrage of magic beams at Michael from above.

***DOOOOOOOOOON!* *DOOOOOOON!* *DOOOOOOOOON!* *DOOOOOOOON!* *DOOOOOOOOOOON!***

**[Jet!]**

Taking the beams head on, Michael fires himself at Vali with his Cursed Gear faced up to grab it.

Vali could only laugh believing that the boy's anger made him a fool to take on these attacks.

Grabbing onto the first beam which reached him with a flick of his wrist, Michael dispersed it with nothing left.

**[Zero!] The new call echoed.**

"He can make projectile attacks vanish, too?"

Vali watched as Michael did the same with all of his other attacks raining down on him. Now with nothing to get in his way, Michael charges at Vali with a loud roar.

"VALIIIIII!"

"Chi!" Vali dives at Michael and fires a few magic bullets to blind him.

"Get that outta here!" Michael smacks his Cursed Gear into them and makes them disperse, but looking forward he sees that Vali was gone but later found when he was pulled back by the shoulder and into his attack.

He had managed to slip by his vision with the speed of his Balance Breaker.

***BAM!* *THUD!* *BAM!* *CRASH!***

Vali punches Michael across the face, knees his chest and uppercuts his chin and locks his hands together and slammed them on his head sending him crashing into the ground below. Each of those blows were brutal and weren't held back at all.

Standing right back up with a bloody forehead and a few cracks on his armor, Michael charges his power up again, "Raaaaaaaaargh! Vali!"

**[Jet!]**

***FLAP!***

***WHOOOOOOOOOSH!***

"He's not even fazed by that attack?" Vali grunts as he dodges a full speed Michael reaching for him.

"You're going down, Vali! I will never forgive you! Do you hear me!" Michael roars as he soars back at Vali.

"Heh, who said I even wanted your forgiveness at all, loser!" Vali raises his palm and prepares a full powered beam of his dragon power, if those last attacks weren't cutting it then maybe he could overcome that nullifying ability with his sheer output of power.

"Let's see if you can cancel this out!"

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

The gigantic beam of white dragon energy fires itself out at Michael from above who draws back his arm much to Vali's liking believing it was too much.

***INHAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE!***

"…?"

Vali's eyes widen as he saw Michael inhale a vast amount of air. What was he planning?

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Michael boosted the extension of air his stomach could hold as it over inflated.

* * *

Watching this closely himself, Azazel squinted his eyes before realization struck his face,

"Everyone, cover your ears!"

"…?"

"Just do it!"

**[ZERO!]**

Everyone watching did as they were told by the frantic Governor-General.

* * *

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

***BWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

Releasing a resounding, heavy roar which not only echoed through the wasteland space but also the outside world, Michael screamed with all his might as it pushed made the entire wave of dragon power, Vali fired at him to implode and vanish.

"Yeaaargh! Ngh!"

***THOOOOOOOOOM!***

The shockwaves of the roar managed to reach Vali, who raised his arms to guard which ended up in failure as he was forced to crash into the ground.

* * *

Unplugging their ears everyone was marveled at the sight they just saw.

"What just happened?" Katerea tried to pick out the ringing in her ear, the roar was still so loud that plugging her ears only lessened the damage.

"He managed to fuse his roar with the power of that new Gear of his... Impressive." Azazel closely inspected the Cursed Gear, "To think that he fused the Boosted Gear with 'that' power."

* * *

Struggling out of the huge crater his body created Vali stands up coughing a little before realizing something. His Scale Male was completely gone and he couldn't reform it like he had before.

"That shockwave must have had the effects of that new Gear of his…" Vali clenched his naked hand, feeling angered that he was getting overpowered by this…loser.

**{Vali, behind you!}**

***WHAM!***

"Urgh! Argh! Gugh!"

***CRASH!***

Looking back Vali walks right into a red armored fist which knocked him out into the air and tumbling across the ground until he hits a single rock formation.

Staring at the staggered Vali Michael starts running in and roars, "VALI!"

"For me to end up like this…ngh…" Vali grunts as he prepares for the final blow.

"Uoooooooooooooh!" Michael rushes Vali, but does something out of the ordinary. He reverts back to his base form. There was still a change of his appearance on his entire left arm which now had black tattoo marking with the same "M" symbol etched onto the back of his hand and shoulder.

_'Ddraig!' Michael shouted._

**_[If you're going to do something, then do it. I won't try and persuade you not to overdo anything anymore. Just know you only have 3 more minutes left in your Balance Breaker state.]_ **

_'Thanks!' Michael grunts as he held his fist tighter._

"What is he doing?" Sona exclaimed at the weird action.

Getting closer, Michael finally punches Vali in the face and away from the Rock formation.

"Gurgh!" Vali falls on his back.

Panting and trying to catch his breath from the strenuous running, Michael walks over to Vali and grabs him by the collar and shouts, "Get up… I'm not letting you off the hook after blowing up those goggles! Right now, we're going to still settle this fight as equals. Do you understand me?"

Vali wore a face of confusion, "You're still going on about that?"

"Of course. I may be royally pissed at you for what you've done and now hate you even more for doing it, but I still want you to fight me as an equal and as a spiteful brother!" Michael growled.

"…! Don't you ever say that again..." Vali was showing signs of getting pushed past his tolerance.

"Why not? It's totally alright to say it! We're both orphans, and we know how it feels to be alone, don't you get it? Just by that, we could understand each other's feelings like back then, so it's only natural that we-!"

"Don't you dare compare myself to YOU!" Vali roared in Michael's face, finally breaking his calm demeanor, "I am nothing like you! Compared to you, I'm not a complete loser, who didn't have a family to begin with. You were thrown away right when you were born. I was casted aside and experienced loneliness far more painful than yours because of my old ties with my old family!"

* * *

"Those two are…" Raymond commented worried that their picked up emotions will only clash further.

"Don't worry." Raymond looks to Azazel, who sighed in relief,

"They seem to be taking their frustration out on each other at this point. It's safe to say that this fight will come to an end."

* * *

Michael's angered expression turned into shock as Vali grabbed him by the collar and butted heads with him.

"What could someone, who's never known the love of a parent, ever going to understand anything from someone, who actually lost the love of their own mother!" Vali kicks Michael off of him and sent him falling a couple of feet away.

"Ugh!" Michael picks himself up and rubs his lip.

Rising up onto two feet, Vali spits out some blood. He looks spiteful at Michael,

"It's infuriating! Everything about you just pisses me off! Brother this! Equal that! I've had enough! Don't make me laugh! I already have enough problems with a detestable monster of a brother, I don't need another one making things harder for me!" Vali shouted.

* * *

"Hmph!"

"Heh!"

An unamused Zethyr avoided the look of a chuckling Kai.

* * *

"Sure, say that, but it won't change how I feel, and you should know that too since you obviously understand how I felt about those goggles. You can't deny it, which is why we should finish this fight. Not because we're the Heavenly Dragons or that we're enemies, but because we're Michael Hanamura and Vali Lucifer, two lonely kids, who only reciprocate their feelings through violence! As rivals." Michael picks himself up with a little struggle.

"There you are again! Talking about the same old thing! Why are you fixated on the thought of being my equal, you ignore everything that I've told you just to bring that up at every chance you get! How dense can you be? I have no interest on feeling the same way you do! We're not the same, and we will never understand each other! I can barely even understand your thought patterns throughout this fight!"

Vali couldn't believe how thick headed this guy was, it was like reasoning with a broken record.

"Yes, you do. You're just being an ass to even notice it!" Michael growls back.

"Yeaaaaaaaaaargh!"

**{Vanishing Dragon Balance Breaker!}**

Vali roars and surrounds himself with aura and charges blindly at Michael with his White Dragon Scale Mail.

"That's it! I've had about enough of you, Hanamura, you, stubborn bastard!"

"Uooooooooooooh!"

**[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]**

Now roaring himself, Michael now dons his own Red Dragon Scale Mail and takes Vali on in close range combat.

"See? If you already know about how stubborn I am, then you do understand how I think, bastard!"

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Increasing the density of aura around his fists, Michael engaged Vali very much well prepared.

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM*! *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

Unleashing a devastating barrage of attacks on one another, both boys attacked without any intent on backing down. Each of the punches, the two fired at each other always collided before they rebounded to fire at another attack.

With Michael's punches they were strong and able to push back any of Vali's deadly attacks with the increase of dragon power surrounding them. But his biggest weakness was his speed as he got few of the punches to rebound most of them were able to reach his armor and leave as many cracks needed onto them. There was also the fact that with Michael's boost in dragon power too much for the current him was damaging his own hands and bones with each attack.

Vali's punches were more diverse unlike Michael's he may be furious, but it still didn't impart on his talented skill when it came to fighting. Knowing that the attacks Michael made were too powerful for his fists to overcome. Now, he used quick punches to negate those attacks from reaching him and use that opening he made to his disposal. Vali made sure not to hold back against him using the most power, he could whenever an opening should be found. The only difficulty that he had trouble with was that new Cursed Gear which clashed with one of his fists. It usually shattered his armored hand when contact was made, because of it, Michael was able to get a few good hits on him.

"Uooooooooooooooh!"

"Oryah! Oryah! Oryah! Oryah! Oryah! Oryah! Oryah! Oryah! Oryah!"

Vali and Michael's barrage of fists colliding and hitting the other have only intensified. Only with Michael's fists getting all banged up from all the dragon power he's using. Literal splatters of blood were spraying out of his hands and falling on the ground in streaks, but still pushing on, Michael ignored the pain and focused on doing some damage to Vali.

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM*! *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM*! *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

Flash-ins of their fight while throwing their punches were shown.

"Hyah!"

"Uuuurgh!"

Vali kicks Michael across the head on his neck forcing Michael to spew out some blood.

"Tah!"

"Huurck!"

Michael lands a solid blow against Vali's gut with the aid of the Dragon Slayer aura from Ascalon.

"Disappear!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!"

Vali imbued one of his fists with a fusion of lightning magic and fire magic that managed to break a hole through Michael's armor leaving a huge hole in its chest and creating a massive bleeding flesh wound Michael's naked stomach.

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

"Suck on it!"

"Krchk!"

Vali grits his teeth as Michael imbues and syncs the boosted power of Ascalon's aura with the Cursed Gear to do some massive damage to Vali's armor easily breaking it apart and landing a devastating punch to the guy's naked solar plexus making Vali cough out a terrifying amount of blood.

Once the barrage of fists was too much for them to continue, both dragons separated only to charge at each other once more and attack each in the air with blinding speeds.

***ZOOOOOOM!***

***ZOOOOOOM!***

***THUM!* THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!* *THUM!***

The entire sky was glittered with red and white light as the impacts and shockwaves of their attacks clashed with severe intensity. Their movements were too hard for anyone except the leaders to follow.

"Hyaaaaaaaah!"

"Oryaaaaaaaah!"

***CLAAAAAAASH!***

With one final hit, both Heavenly Dragons separated from each other, breathing heavily with many cracks and some signs of blood flowing from out both of their armor.

Breathing heavily, Vali says, "For you to push me this far when I'm actually getting serious, you're doing pretty well, Hanamura."

"Complimenting me won't change anything, so just admit already that we're equals!" Michael panted in return.

"You're like a broken record, so I will only say this. I will never accept that notion. NEVER!"

Vali ascends higher into the air and expands his wings,

"Now this will be the last time that I'll finally show you how completely outclassed you truly are, Hanamura."

***ZHIIIIIIING!* *ZHIIIIIIING!***

**{Half-Dimension!}**

With his wings of light expanding out into a spread-out fashion, it released high frequency shockwaves which touched the entire wasteland from the ground to the mountains and rock formations.

"What is he doing?" Michael grunts as he flaps his dragon wings once to be at the same level as Vali in the air. He looks around himself to see that the dimension around himself was getting warped around in huge distortions.

**[Partner, that technique is known for its ability to distort and halve the forms and shape of any physical object!]**

"Seriously?" Michael coughs out some blood as he starts to reach his limit, the occasional use of his Touki has drained him, he may have lasted longer in controlling it but over using it along with the use of the dragon aura still harmful when he attacks takes too much out of him.

The only thing which still remained the same without drawing any defects was Michael's Cursed Gear but each time he would use it he'd get angrier than before and start attacking furiously. This new ability of his was what saved his life a couple of times throughout this fight, but it felt strange. He didn't know why it came out or what it actually is but for some reason the power itself felt like it was a part of him.

"Now watch as everything around you collapses!" Vali tightens his hand and warps the dimension they were in even further as a chain link of ripples lead to explosions happening around them.

"Gurgh!" Michael panics and starts to fly away from the destructive chaos filling the wastelands.

"You can run, but you won't escape!"

Vali made sure of that as he now used both hands to compress the area around Michael trapping him in a pressurized area about to explode.

"Oh, crap…" Michael gasped as he struggles to break free.

"It seems that you were only able to reach this point, Hanamura. I've barely begun to use this power. You're still too weak to be spouting off nonsense about being my rival!"

Feeling the space around him grow more and more unstable Michael raised both of his hands and activated the Cursed Gear's call.

**[Zero!]**

A black aura surrounded Michael's left arm as he claps both his hands together creating a black shockwave to cancel out the unstable space about to explode around him.

"Tch! That troublesome new power of yours…" Vali clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Y-Yeah...Whew! T-That's r...ight the Great Hanamura, ain't going anywhere…" Michael panted heavily.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Vali made that sound threateningly.

"Why so?" Michael looks behind himself to see the same chain of explosions coming right at him, "Oh well, FU-!"

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

A huge explosion filled the sky and distorted Michael's body along with it doing a far savage attack to visibly hurt Michael.

***THUD!***

Falling to the ground with his armor still barely on and completely cracked and covered in burns, Michael coughs out the equivalent of both vomit and blood after the high distortion attack hit him.

"*Pant!* *Pant!* Not yet, just a little more…" Michael panted as he could almost barely stand.

"You're testing my patience!" Vali fires a beam of magic at Michael.

"Toh!" Michael extends his palm out and nullifies the attack with his Cursed Gear.

"…" Vali glared at Michael's useless resistance.

Looking up with an exhausted expression Michael pants,

"I'm not done yet… I still have to prove that I'm your rival!" Michael glared back at Vali with half-lidded eyes and a tired posture.

Looking at the frail state Michael was in, Vali decides that things should be put to an end.

"Let's just end this…"

Vali focuses his Half Dimension and divides the area around to gain its energy into his wings as he extends his palm out to create a hand filled orb, compressing all the energy he absorbed into that one orb.

_'Ddraig, how much time do I have left in this form?' Michael thought._

**_[You only have about 25 seconds left, Michael.]_ **

_'25 seconds, huh, I guess I'm near my limit and by the looks of him. He still has plenty of power left to spare.' Michael gave a bitter laugh despite the damage, he had received along with Vali's, he realized that unlike Vali. He got exhausted a lot faster whenever he used his own attacks._

_This was the difference between the two, Vali didn't have to put too much effort with his attacks because they were filled with finesse and lacked any effort. While Michael had to put everything into every attack, he had if he didn't then he would have lost ages ago._

_Now he'll have to put everything, he'll have into one attack to match up to Vali's own final attack._

_'If I'm running out of time, then I'll just make every second count with this last attack…' Michael raised one of his semi-broken arms and focuses the black power from the Cursed Gear and the Boosted Gears Dragon Power into a spinning sphere of his own in size it was about the size of a baseball._

**_[That's the spirit, you can't just go out without a bang like, you would always say.]_ **

_'Right, so I'll use EVERYTHING, I have to overcome this last attack!'_

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

**[Magnum!]**

_Michael looks up at Vali with a glare._

"Futile, your efforts will be in vain, this last attack is one of the strongest I've created! Anything you make will be overpowered!"

"I won't know unless I try!"

Michael's sphere consisting of both Black and red aura steadily grew brighter as it spun over his hand in crazy speeds. In fact, the attack seemed too unstable as it kept vibrating and glowing along with the Boosted Gear.

***SHIIIIIIIINE!***

Finally finished with compressing the energy in his sphere with enough collected power, Vali starts to look down at Michael with a serious look as the latter does the same. Standing in the battle torn wasteland, the two could communicate with just their eyes before engaging.

**[JET!]**

***FLAP!***

***WHOOOOOOOSH!***

Taking a giant leap forward with the rocket boosters on his back, Michael jumps after Vali while directing his attack over his head.

***FLAP!***

***ZAN!* *ZAN!* *ZAN!***

***WHOOOOOSH!***

Using his unmatchable speed, Vali zig-zags in the air to create momentum before he propelled himself down at Michael, aiming to target his attack at the soon to be vulnerable teen.

"VALIIIIIIIIIII!"

Michael roared.

"HANAMURAAAAA!"

Vali roared.

Soon both attacks came closer and closer and closer… until they finally made contact with each other.

**"Rending Dragon Nova!"**

**"Vanishing Dragon's Compression Blast!"**

***CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!***

The entire wasteland crumbles away as the wicked force these two attacks have created a large enough shockwave to topple every mountain and rock formation in sight! The only things still left standing were Michael and Vali who were covered by a large bright light which was made by both of their attacks colliding.

"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"

Both males let out a battle cry as both of their attacks tried to push back the other with their individual attacks. Being forced back at first due to the sheer power Vali's attack had over his own Michael grunts and growls as he tries to at least keep himself from being moved another inch. Vali smirked, seeing the pain that Michael was under as he struggled only made him think that it was just a matter of time before his attack finally overpowered him.

**[Boost!]**

_'No! Isn't he finished already? How can he have that much stamina left?' Vali reinforced his attack before it was too late. But, well, sadly for him it was too late._

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

With the reinforcement applied to his power, Michael increased the dragon energy residing in his attack and forced back Vali's sphere with a burst in energy which shook back.

"How are you…!?"

"It's just like my Multishot, but this time it goes off by itself with a little added on power…!" Michael bites his lip as he draws blood, the recoils must have been doubled as well.

Now finally being the one in control, Michael's bursts of energy were able to push Vali back and make his attack waver as it goes down in intensity compared to his own. Vali visibly showed some struggle as he had finally been pushed back for once with his own special technique as well.

"Fine then, I'll just vamp up my own technique as well!" Vali doubles the power by infusing more demonic power into his sphere to match the same power output that Michael's attack was giving off.

"Oh no, you don't!" Michael growls as he pours more power into the attack.

"You little-ROOOOOOOAR!"

"ROOOOOOOAR!"

The bright light surrounding them now filled the entire space to the point to where it collapsed around them and nothing left was there it was completely white until a huge explosion fills the space and completely destroys it.

* * *

Seeing the orb that they were watching the fight through start to glow bright, Sirzechs raises a barrier around everyone,

"Watch out!"

***PRAAAAAAAANG!***

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

Within the smoke was a small compact space filled with the light and the attacking Michael and Vali who managed to get each other with their own attacks.

***BAGAAAAAAAAN~!***

***BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!***

Michael's attack making contact with Vali's own armor and naked chest broke his balance breaker apart and caused colossal damage to Vali who managed to endure the hit while coughing up a large amount of blood.

"Urcccchk! Haaaaah!" Vali forces his attack into Michael's torso and let it dig in before.

***GOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

The compressed sphere compressed the left side of Michael's torso into a big bleeding gaping hole.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuurck!" Michael coughs up a disturbing amount of blood which you would rarely see a person release. Feeling everything grow cold, Michael started to remember something very important which drove him to fight against Vali this hard.

* * *

_(Flashback)_

* * *

_"Haaaaaaa!"_

_"You stupid, loser!"_

**_*POUND!*  
*POUND!*_ **

_Both punching each other across the cheek the kids Michael and Vali fell back and tumbled on the ground. There was a quick shot of Michael's eyes flashing red at that moment before he got pushed away._

_Now fallen face down on their faces both a tired Michael and a tired Vali were covered in bruises none of them wanted to let the other win so neither fell until the last blow which decided the entire fight._

_"I-I can't move any farther than this…Ngh!" Michael picks himself up with shaky arms, "And looking at you, you seem to be the same way as well?"_

_"Ergh…!" Vali muttered something under his breath as he tries to stand._

_"Ehehehehehe..." Michael gave a childish laugh as he grins, "Well, I guess this means that the winner has to be the one who drops first, huh?"_

_"Y-Yeah…" Vali smirks as his arms grow shaky as well._

_"Y-Yup! Hahahahahahahahaha!"_

_"Hmhmhmhmhm…"_

_Both boys couldn't stop their laughter as they got onto one knee._

_"Hahahahahahah…urh…"_

_"Hmhmhm…uh…"_

***THUD!***

***THUD!***

_Both boys fell down at the exact same time._

_About few hours later, mumbling something under a tired breath, Michael could hear 2 footsteps as he slowly opens his eyes._

_"Huh? Where am I?"_

_"Well, well, look at that. Your still alive aren't you, loser?" Vali said as he continued looking forward._

_"You… and what are you?" Michael sees his arm slung over Vali's shoulder as he was getting dragged somewhere._

_"Azazel told me to take you home afterwards, so I decided to comply." Vali sighed._

_"That's not what I was going to say. What I want to ask is why are you helping me? I can walk on my own!" Michael struggles to break free._

_"Careful, or else you'll just mess up those goggles."_

_"Goggles? What do you mean?" Michael tilts his head._

_"The ones around your neck, idiot."_

_"Around my-? Hey! What are they doing there?" Michael gasped as he saw the goggles right there,_

_"Oi! What is this? Why am I wearing these?"_

_"Because you won the fight, I don't want them anymore." Vali said._

_"Nuh-uh! I didn't win anything, it was a tie!" Michael shouted._

_"If you keep shouting, then I'll drop you." Vali said with one eye open._

_"What do you mean, you don't want them anymore? That was supposed to be a fair fight over this prize, and I won't accept that you'd let me win like this. So, I can't take them!"_

_"Well, I don't want them. I said you won, and I could care less for them anymore, so take it!"_

_"No, because neither of us won! We'll have to fight again right now!"_

_Vali groaned at Michael's stubbornness._

_"You can barely stand. It wouldn't be that hard to knock you down."_

_"Who cares! At least I'll be satisfied with the fight's outcome, and actually be awake and argue against you to see how it turns out!"_

_"Hehehehe." Vali chuckles._

_"What?"_

_"So, you're really that determined to fight me again?" Vali smirked._

_"Of course! I'll kick your butt no matter how many tries it ta-!"_

_"Then I'll accept any challenge that you'll give me." Vali answered from out of the blue._

_"Hah, don't think that you can avoid my challenges anym-! Wait, did you just say you'll accept any of them?" Michael's eyes widen._

_"Yeah, if it's a challenge regarding those goggles, then I wouldn't mind taking you seriously when the chance comes up again. But if it doesn't involve them, then don't expect me to take you literal at all." Vali explained._

_Michael looked at Vali with awe._

_"Is there something wrong with it or are you just thinking of how futile it is to beat me?" Vali insulted._

_"Hah! You wish! I'm going to kick your butt 7 different ways to happy hour, you jerk!" Michael excitedly declares._

_"Yeah, yeah, say what you want, you loser." Vali and Michael come at a crossroads in the housing district, looking from left to right, Vali asks, "Oi, los...Michael, which way to your apartment?"_

_"What?" Michael gasped at hearing his first name be called by Vali for the first time._

_"I asked you where your house was, loser." Vali narrowed his eyes, "I guess that I made a mistake with believing you could know simple directions. Seriously, even a dog has more sense than you."_

_With the moment gone, Michael roared, "Hey, just to have you know I, the Great Hanamura am smarter than any dog you can think of, and you should try to be respectful since it's completely dark at this hour and I can't recognize my way back ho-!"_

**_*THUD!*_ **

_"Ow~!" Michael was dropped on the ground, "Oi! Why did you drop me?"_

_"I warned you to stop screaming, or else I would drop you." Vali picked his ear and walked ahead of Michael._

_"Wait, no, you can't leave me like this!" Michael reached out for Vali, "Damn it, come back here, bastard!"_

_Turning around give a fake stunned expression, Vali said, "Hey, let's make this a challenge. If you can reach your place before I do, you're the winner!"_

_"Winner…" Michael eyes gleamed as he started crawling after Vali, "Move, sucker! I'm winning this!"_

_"Of course, that would work…" Vali shook his head and made a leisurely pace back to Michael's apartment where he presumes Azazel was._

_"Gah! Must! Nyah! Win! Arms, don't fail me now!" Michael pitifully cried as he strained his arms to overexert himself._

_"My, my, how odd." Leaning behind a fence away from the two boy's view was Azazel with his arms crossed. He wore an amused expression._

_"I wonder what these two are doing, or what Vali did going to the lengths of helping the brat here. I guess, I'm one of the very few, who get to see this interaction between these two kids." Azazel muttered to himself._

**_*GLEAM!*_ **

_Michael's eyes gleamed._

**_*GLEAM!*_ **

_Vali's eyes gleamed._

_The two looked behind themselves and said in unison,_

_"I'm not a kid."_

_'Shit! They heard me, and what was up with that? They both said it at the same time!' Azazel covered his mouth and ran off to meet both boys back at Michael's apartment._

(Present)

Clenching his teeth through the pain as he remembered that very impactful memory, Michael uses what's left of his remaining energy and raises his arm to latch onto Vali's shirt while cocking back his left black tattooed arm covering itself with black aura.

"Not yet!"

"What? Impossible, how are you-!?"

Both are now standing in the middle of the school field of Kuoh Academy after the space they fought in vanished. However, the explosion they created caused a lot of dust to surround where they stood.

Breathing heavily, Michael still held himself up and forced the pain his now gone torso provided and continued to hold Vali around the collar.

"Ngh…Grgh! Damn you! *Gasp!* Hanamura...! How can you still stand after taking that hit? Just stay down and keel over!" Vali grunts and breathes hard as he tries to shove Michael off of him. That last attack Michael hit him with nullified his ability to conjure his demonic power and dragon power. He couldn't even form the base form of his sacred gear, Divine Dividing.

His breath was quivering under the pain of the huge gaping hole in his torso, he could barely stand without leaning that much on Vali. All of his energy was gone and there was no longer any stamina he can muster to move his body, all that he was relying right no was sheer willpower, "N-Not yet..."

"Let go of me!" Vali grabbed Michael's wrist and tried to pull away from him, but found that the tired teen's grip was unbreakable.

"R-Remember? I told you that I'd get you to be in the same *COUGH!* *GAG!* s-state as me..." Michael vomited some blood as he stayed standing, "Now I'm going to end this and finally settle this fight..."

Michael raised his fist.

"Your already one foot in the grave, you won't be settling anything!" Vali was faster and prepared to slug Michael in the face, he may have lost his powers, but his injuries weren't severe enough to stop him from knocking this annoying pest loose.

***GLARE!***

***BAAASH!***

"Gyuarck!"

"Ergh!"

At the last minute, Michael head-butted Vali's chin and winced in pain.

"You! ...!" Vali was stunned when he saw Michael's fist approaching his face.

"I won't go down so easily because...! I'm your-!"

"…!" Vali staggers back but gets pulled in by Michael to avoid dodging his attack.

"RIVAL!"

***WHAAAAAM!***

***THUD!***

***THUD!***

Michael jams his fist across the side of Vali's face and sent him flying through the dust and into the open where everyone could see him. Once Vali fell, the sound of another body dropping at the same time was heard as well.

On his back, unable to move an inch Vali grunts,

"Grgh! Damn, that strange ability of his...it can even disable my movement?"

"Isn't that the-?" Raynare gasped.

"Hakuryuukou? H-He's actually down." Gasper blinked in amazement, "Then that would mean that Michael-nii has-?"

"Baka-senpai…" Koneko casts a look of worry as she looks through the dust.

"Michael?" Rias called out as the dust finally settles down to reveal a fallen Michael face down in a pool of blood belonging to him.

"I'm definitely sure that we could really call this a tie this time, right, Vali?" Michael raises his head and weakly smiles as blood runs down the side of his lips.

"Michael!"

"Michael-kun!"

"Michael-sama!"

"Michael-san!"

"Michael-senpai!"

"Michael!"

"Michael-kun!"

"Michael-nii!"

Rushing past the immobile Vali, Rias, Akeno, Raynare, Asia, Koneko, Xenovia, Irina, and Gasper to check up on their friend and comrade was in a terrible condition.

"H-Hello, everyone…hehe…" Michael weakly laughed as he was turned over and had his head placed on Rias' lap.

"Asia, quick heal him!" Rias hastily orders her Bishop.

"H-Hai!" Asia nods timidly and rushes to Michael's side.

Setting up her healing magic with Twilight Healing, Asia rushes to heal the bleeding hole on Michael's torso while crying a few tears out at seeing someone she heavily adored get a terrible wound like this. And it was not just her a few of the others cried for Michael's condition as he tries to play if off like it didn't hurt,

"Hey, come on, guys. It's not that bad, I mean, remember who I am, The Great Hanam-!"

***Pull.***

"Ouch! Buchou, what are you doing?" Michael was surprised that it was a light pinch to the cheek, but still whined.

"You idiot…" Michael looks up to see a crying Rias with tears down her cheeks. He frowned, that was a face that he didn't want to see and what made it worse was that he was the one who caused it this time around.

"You can't just go rushing off all by yourself like that. I was afraid that you would have died, and-and if you did, then I wouldn't know what to do…" Rias started to break down and scolded Michael for his reckless behavior, "You promised that you would make sure I stay happy, but what you just pulled almost scared me to death..."

"I-I'm sorry for being selfish, Buchou…" Michael apologized giving a sad smile to try and cheer her up, luckily for him it worked.

"You should be. Making your master worry this much for you should deserves a severe punishment."

Rias grows a smile and wipes the tears away from her eyes, accepting Michael's apology as of now. All that mattered to her was that now he was safe.

"Well, you could consider the fight that I was in punishment enough, and I sort of feel like passing out at any moment." Michael sweatdropped and rolled his eyes, "So…could I be let off with a warning this time."

"No."

"Figured it was a long shot." Michael sighed with an exhausted expression.

Looking over to the group surrounding Michael, Vali remained silent until a shadow hovered over him.

"I guess that since you both fell at the same time. I'd call this a tie between you, am I right?" Vali looks to see the face of a smiling Kai, "Why hello there, Hakuryuukou-san. Nice to finally meet you."

"…" Vali remained silent.

"I see that you're not much of a talker, huh?" Kai sits by Vali's paralyzed body, "Don't worry, he still doesn't have that much control over that power of his. It's still maturing, but I don't think even he knows that he can use it at all. You'll regain your natural abilities in about an hour, 2 tops if you took more than 10 hits. But well, that's that. I guess you chewed off a bit more than you should by provoking him like that."

Looking at Kai closely, Vali says, "You know something about that power?"

"You can say that I'm "Well-informed" when dealing with that kind of power. It isn't something you're gifted with, but something you have to born with instead. I'm just glad things didn't go haywire or else things would have been drastic if things went any further," Kai brought up the topic of Michael's revealed family, "Anyways that stunt you tried to pull earlier was rather a little extreme, don't you think?"

Vali couldn't really move his head, but he could tell that this man wasn't very pleased, and considering how he can't move, he's found himself in a very dangerous situation with all the leaders of different factions around him. Usually, he would be excited at the prospect to fight them, but after fighting Michael, he found that his mood had changed, he felt passive. His maniac obsession with fighting has ceased to reemerge at the moment.

"Don't worry. I'm not mad because you didn't actually tell the whole story or rather you just saw the story that Azazel allowed you to see with the information, he collected. Or could it be that you wanted to spare most of Michael-san's feelings and became considerate?"

"I only say what I find necessary, that's all." Vali gave a cold answer.

"Hahii! Cold and mysterious as ever. No wonder it was easy to realize that you two were brothers."

Kai suddenly feels two daggers aimed directly at him, it was an ordinary feeling he used to feel but it was towards him directly. Directly? No, more like indirectly for bringing up a topic which shouldn't have been brought up in the first place. The killing intent was purely dangerous, and as Kai looked down at Vali, he could literally see the darkness hidden inside of Vali's eyes.

"You know of that  **thing?"**

Vali's use of the word thing made Kai question how severe, Zethyr treated this boy.

"Well, you can say that he's sort of my acquaintance that I've known for a while. We used to hate each other and fought each other many times to settle disputes, but because of those fights, we've learned how to understand one another much better. And soon the hatred started to disappear. I mean it's still there, but not as much as it used to be, you get it? Oh, and plus, I've managed to handle my own against him, I even defeated him a couple of times."

Kai whispered then gave a sly laugh. Vali wondered what kind of person this was if he could handle beating that "thing" in a fight. Not even he was confident that he could handle that "thing" on his own.

"Just who are you?" Vali asked.

"Hm? Well, for your sake. It would be best to tell you that I'm Son Kai, Queen to the Maou Leviathan, and Martial Arts master to Michael-san over there. It is a pleasure to meet you, Vali Lucifer-san." Kai bowed.

Remembering the name from a comrade of his Vali said, "That name...yes, I've heard of that name from Bikou when he was regaling us with a couple of his old stories."

"Oh, you mean Bibi-chan~? Oh yes, he was my favorite cousin 6 times removed. He makes the best subordinate if you know his fears, insecurities, faults, weakness, and not to mention how easy it is to blackmail him. If you're having trouble with him, then I can give you a couple of pointers?"

"No…No…No…No! No! No! No! No! No! NOO!" a voice cried out from above in the sky.

Kai offered the chance to humiliate his young cousin even more, before Vali could have answered "yes" the sound of shouting was heard from the sky.

***PRARARARARARARAAAAAAAAAANG!***

Shattering the barrier covering the entire academy, was a brown haired young man wearing Chinese armor with a Bo staff in hand. Everyone now focused their attention back on the White Dragon Emperor, who was right beside the man and Kai.

Raymond would have jumped at the sight of Vali and capture him then and there, but Azazel stopped him from doing so with a shake of his head.

"Yes, sir." Raymond begrudgingly complies.

"Kai, please don't say anything unnecessary!" The man extended his hand out looking rather alarmed.

"Oh~! It's Bibi-chan, you're here! How have you been?" Kai walks over to the man and lightly taps his staff on his hand in an impatient manner,

"Also, it's really rude for a subordinate not to put the honorifics "–san" next to their boss's name."

Stuttering back the one known as Bikou says, "K-Kai, I'm my own man now! I do not follow your orders anymore!"

He looked terrified as he held his stance to defend himself.

"Oh, I see. You're a man now, are you?"

Bikou nods with a gulp as he still stays on the defensive.

Looking down with a scary smile, Kai cracks his knuckles,

"I see that my subordinate is lacking respect, so would you rather test how much of a man you are against me? Just remember, I don't hold back against men and when we men fight, we do it to the death. Do you wish to test your manliness against me, Bibi-chan?"

"P-Please forgive me, Kai-san!"

Just like that Bikou throws in the towel without even fighting back. He was on his knees, bowing to Kai.

"Now that's a good subordinate~! I'll leave you two to your business. Just make sure to hurry or everyone here will take this as a chance to get rid of both of you. I'll overlook you being with the White Dragon Emperor since you two are obviously working together. But if the  **Old Man**  comes looking for a stand in for his position, and comes to me because he couldn't find you, then don't be too sure that I won't drag you back either dead or alive to him because trust me, both results will end in complete and total hell... for you, at least." Kai chuckles, both he and Bikou knew who they were talking about and can make a guess about what would happen if that  **Old Man**  were to get angry at them.

"Understood?"

"H-Hai!"

Bikou nodded like his life depends on it. Because it does.

"Good, now if you'll excuse me."

"Wait."

Kai waved his hand as he starts to leave, but stops when Vali called him.

"Hm?"

"Tell me, why are you letting me escape? What reason do you have for this?"

"Reason? Well, it's nothing too complicated."

Vali seriously looks at Kai who rubbed his chin.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't really care about your issues. All I want is for you to stay alive because after this you surely must wanna get stronger and improve upon your weaknesses, right?"

"..."

"Thought so, and Michael-san really needs a rival to push him harder to get stronger. Dying or being captured here would be a huge waste for so much potential in the future. When you two have traded enough blows after multiple battles, your intuition for fighting and your power will really sky rocket to new heights. For you see, the future that I envision shouldn't be just drab old drawn out fights or wars, but absolutely challenging fights which get the heart pumping. For you see, Vali Lucifer, you are just another part of the big picture that I hope to see in the future."

"So, I'm being kept alive because your using me?" Vali narrowed his eyes, but smiled at the same time, though he didn't like the notion of being someone's entertainment. He still found the future that Kai envisioned to be something to hope for, too.

"I am a devil after all. So, make sure to stick around longer. Or not. I can come up with more things to brighten my day." Kai's smile was wide and mischievous,

"Also, here's a little tip, being talented may get you far with most things, but talent alone just isn't good enough. Especially, if it can't help you understand others. In fact, that is the only thing Michael-san surpasses you in." Kai waved goodbye as he walks off, "Try taking my advice, and train to work on that for next time."

"Man, that guy can be downright frightening at times." Bikou mutters to himself as he stands up.

"Bikou, what are you doing here?"

"Well, Kuroka had to go attend a summit with Arthur to discuss the future battle against the Northern Gods. When you're fight destroyed the space that she created for you, she forced me to stay and help get you back." Bikou helps lift Vali up with his shoulder slung over his own.

"I see."

"Kakakakaka! You seem to be pretty banged up! Did your rival really do all of this to you?" Bikou laughed at his leader's current state.

"Rival…" Vali looks over to the healing Michael and remembers what that weird man named Kai told him, and what those goggles had meant to Michael. Seeing no other way to start understanding anyone, Vali calls out,

"Michael Hanamura."

"Hmmm?" Michael looks over at Vali with lazy eyes and says, "What do you want?"

"…Today, this battle was undecided with no winner. I admit that you may have gotten stronger, but it's still not good enough."

"Yeah, and-?"

Michael breathed out, expecting more than just that.

"But the next time that we meet, I expect you to grow stronger, so we can finish this one day. My, rival."

Michael gasps then grins, "Hah! Who do you think your talking to? I am the Great Hanamura after all!"

"Yes, you are. Sadly, that will never change." Vali sighed.

"What the heck does that mean!?" Michael shouted angrily.

"That's all I needed to say. Let's go back to Kuroka and Arthur before they get into another spat. I, for one am not in the mood to restrain them both." Vali groaned as Bikou creates a portal leading to who knows where.

"Kakakakaka! You know you're so popular, Vali, you should be happy that you have two women fighting over you like that." Bikou laughs as he leaves along with Vali through the portal, he then gasps as he pulls something out, "Oh, and look at this, Kuroka managed to snag it."

"…! Meddling as ever, I see."

"Kakakakakakaka!"

Vali sighed as he and a laughing Bikou vanished from the school field.

_'I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get Vali to somehow accept me, so that's a start.' Michael thought._

**_[Yeah, and all it did was cost you the inability to use your arms for 15 days or more and a huge hole in stomach. Yeah, seems like a pretty fair deal to me.]_ **

_'S-Shut up, Ddraig! You're ruining the moment!' Michael cried as he snuggled his head closer to Rias' lap with comical tear._

Smiling with happiness that her servant is safe Rias resigns herself to lovingly stroke the resting Michael's cheek,

"My adorable Michael…"

Watching most of what's happened from afar, Kai stood next to an uncloaked Zethyr, who hid his presence and physical appearance from sight.

"What a surprise. I was sure you would have been tailing them by now." Kai said amused.

"There is no need. If they were to try and pull the same stunt like this with that level of preparation again, then I'll make sure to eradicate them, completely." Zethyr turns away to walk to the leaders.

"To even fathom you had a half-brother, who possessed one of the Heavenly Dragons within him. You must feel rather stressed with all the trouble that he makes you, right?" Kai smirked.

Stopping his brisk pace, Zethyr fixes his glasses and looks back at Kai,

"You're one to talk, Son Kai…"

Zethyr takes a glance at the beaten Michael then continues walking away.

Kai looks up and grins as he stares at Michael interacting with his friends.

_'Maybe…Maybe…' Kai chuckled with a big white grin on his face similar to a certain someone's, 'But my workload has gotten much heavier compared to yours.'_

* * *

**Next Chapter- The Three Factions Conference comes to a close! New Doors to a Brand New Beginning starts now!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this chapter you guys it took me a long tom to type 30,000 words so please understand why it took too long. Also, if you're starting to question what Bikou said, then, yes, Arthur is a woman in this story, but if you're knowledgeable about a certain VN series then you'll be able to figure out that she'll look a certain mascot character.
> 
> Well, that's all that I have to say thanks for reading! Wooh! Finally, Season 1 for the story is over now onto SEASON 2!
> 
> Just a heads up, what I will do next after the next chapter will include a fun extra chapter for other characters to develop them. But to appease any curiosity you may have, I'll make sure to place in a very special preview of what you would expect!
> 
> Have a nice day and please be safe! I'm Out, so Peace Out!


	33. The Three Factions Conference comes to a close! New Doors to a Brand New Beginning starts now!

The commotion with the Vanishing Dragon, Vali, now settled. The 3 factions now do what is necessary to repair the damage of Kuoh Academy's campus as a whole. With the combined efforts of the 3 forces, they were able to fix any destruction caused by the magicians and their leaders throughout the endeavor.

They even cooperated with cleaning the school field of the mages's corpses and went over the battle's events and what took place for future reference if the Khaos Brigade should attack again. This would bring them to a guess on what they're attack strategies may be later on.

For now the leaders are giving orders to their own individual subordinates as they discussed the past situation.

"The Drayfus incident was because of our internal problems with the Old Maou Faction." Sirzechs tried to apologize for their own problems getting into their outside matters.

"No need to take the blame. It was our side's fault as well, regarding Vali…" Azazel sighed and scratched his head tiredly.

"So in the end, he truly betrayed you…"

"It was my own mistake with being too lenient with a guy, who poured so much of his time on power." Azazel shrugged it off with a smirk, but the look of sadness in his eyes was clear to see,

"Though his collection of gathered power is frightening enough. Who would have thought that he would take the descendant of Sun Wukong along with him, and I even heard the name of Arthur as well, so I guess he has the descendant of the Victorious fighting Buddha and the descendant of the King Arthur with him. What a frightening stack of power he has indeed. I can only imagine who else he recruited."

But right now he had other things to worry about.

"Gaaaah! Get off me! I told all of you, I'm fine!"

"…Baka-senpai, you should just give up…"

"Never! The Great Hanamura will not submit! I still have to take care of something!"

"Michael-san please hold still your arms still haven't healed completely yet."

"But they're fine, you see? They may not be healing faster than before, but they're good a little, so just let me go already!"

"No."

"Grrrrahh! Just you watch! I'll knock you off in no time!"

"Michael-sama, you already wasted enough power in your fight. Please just stay in one place and relax."

"Hah! You think I, The Great Hanamura will fall for that? Never! Now tell this flat-chested kouhai of mine to unhand me!"

*Chills~! *

"No, wait, I was just kidding! I was just kidd-*CRACK!* ARGH!"

"You sure are a glutton for punishment aren't you, Michael-sama?"

"Ray-chan, you've got to help me! Don't just let them do this to me!"

"Forgive me, Michael-sama, but this is for your own good~!"

"Traitors, all of you traitors!"

Azazel glanced at the recovering Michael held in the suplex position by Koneko as a tearful Asia continued to heal the rest of his wounds while Raynare knelt by his struggling form. The large hole in his stomach was managed to get healed, but the arms were another story. Their likability to be completely recovered were low when compared to last time when Michael fought Kokabiel, their healing factor probability was at 84%. So now with all that has happened the chances of his arms getting fully recovered are at 61% percent, so it will take a little longer for him to heal them.

Azazel rubbed his chin as he starts to think of Michael's current state,

 _'_ _Vali's situation for now could wait, his betrayal may have dealt a hard blow to us, but at least I won't be worried about him since he can hold his own. But for Michael, he should have my full attention for now. He still needs to work on controlling that dragon power in him, so future threats like this won't easily overtake him, hell, he even poses a threat to himself, especially, now because that 'power' has decided to force itself out like that.'_

"But that matter could wait. I still have this issue right here." Azazel picked up the severed arm which belonged to the hooded figure, "I still need to take this back and examine it's aura. It seems I may be working on a project later on in the future."

"Azazel, you…" S. Michael looked at Azazel regarding the origin of where it came from.

"I know. I'll be sure to properly inspect who that was. I might even get a lead if half of their blood flowed through this arm."

Placing the arm in a pocket dimension through a magic circle, Azazel makes sure to hide the detached arm, especially from Michael's sight.

"I never expected that this terrorist cell would get their hands on those forbidden things including that form of…" Sirzechs looked conflicted at the memory of the hooded figure and the words she spoke.

"We can't do anything about it. Now all we can do is hope for the best, and besides it's not like you're the first one on her hit list." Azazel laughs it off and turns away,

"She'll most likely be coming after me first, so I'll be sure to take the matter into my own hands and settle it once and for all when the time comes." Azazel sounded resolute.

"Just remember not to overdo it, you old Crow." Kai patted Azazel on the shoulder.

"Coming from you, that should be the last thing I would want to hear, and our next course of action right now should be making sure the Khaos Brigade didn't leave us any more surprises." Zethyr alienated himself away from the leader's group. He stood with his arms crossed facing away from the group.

"He's right, you know? They may have did something while we took care of the mages right in front of us." Katerea brought up.

"That is a possibility. It would be wise to check the area completely before we leave." Grayfia nods.

"Okay, but Zethyr, I expect an explanation about that certain "relative" of yours when matters here are finished." Sirzechs still pushed for answers from the Lucifer who turned away and said,

"I'll explain once this matter is over, Sirzechs- _sama._ "

The way Zethyr responded to Sirzechs with a strained and insulting tone of voice as he used a magic circle to teleport to an area around the school.

"I can still see that those two won't be getting along for a while." Laughing at the two, who held the name Lucifer interact; Kai looked out towards Katerea who nods tiredly.

"Well, we should go and check the area, too." Katerea turns to Kai.

"Nah, you guys go on ahead. I still have some business to do here."

"Mmmmmmm… my dear, Kai-chan."

Kai gestures to the arm hugging Serafall who snuggled tightly to his arm

"Normally, I wouldn't let this go, but good luck." Katerea teleports away to survey the area as well.

"Hey, you, Old Crow, I need to talk with you about something later, so don't go anywhere." Kai walks off with Serafall and Sona with Tsubaki to the student council room.

"Don't worry, wasn't planning on it, yet. This town is really fascinating, so I've decided to stay for a while." Azazel placed one hand to his hip.

"Now then, I'm returning to heaven at once and will work on a plan for the matter of peace and countermeasures against the Khaos Brigade." S. Michael raised his hands as he unfurls his golden wings.

"Please forgive me, for this poor choice of time and place for the conference."

"Oi! Oi! Sirzechs, relax. You shouldn't feel so responsible for everything. I for one think that in the end, it was worth it. The three great powers walking side by side down the path of peace. With this any conflict between all of us will decrease."

"Azazel-sama."

Raymond along with Mittelt and Kalawarner bow to Azazel from his left.

"We'll gladly follow you through this path, and so will everyone. Right, Men!"

Raymond turns to the rest of the Fallen Angel guards behind them as they roared in agreement.

"Heh! I was sure that a few of you would disagree and just leave. I wouldn't have actually cared if you did, but with all of you staying. I guess I'll have to try my best to live up to your expectations. Chi! Man, this will be a lot of work." Azazel looked exhausted while wearing a lazy smile.

"In the past, we were enemies, but now we stand as allies. Divided, we would have destroyed each other and fell into ruin. But now, united, we can hope to eliminate our common threat, the Khaos Brigade."

Both Azazel and S. Michael nodded in agreement, the time to defend themselves against future terrorist attacks was drawing near and each faction needed the support and cooperation if they wish to prosper and longer.

"Then I'll return to heaven at once, so the formal peace agreement can finally be concluded."

"Excuse me, Angel Boss."

S. Michael turns to Michael to see the panting teen stand in front of him with bandaged arms and fatigued body.

"Yes, what is it, Michael-dono?"

"I still have that favor I needed to ask you…"

"If it is within my power, then I'll gladly grant it."

"Koneko-chan, how did Michael-kun get away from you?" Raynare blinked as Koneko looks to see her senpai had slipped from her grasp.

"…Slippery." Koneko muttered as she watched the interaction between S. Michael and Michael happen.

"Ngh…Grgh!" Michael forces his tired body onto his knees, the strain from his past fight really did a number on him. As soon as he placed both his arms down, he had opened a few wounds and caused blood to flow out of them.

"!" Everyone was surprised as they saw the boy push himself.

"Michael-san!" Asia rushed to Michael's side.

"If it isn't too much, please allow Asia and Xenovia to pray to God once more without feeling pain. I may not know what it's like to truly pray your heart out to God, but they really loved to before being devils, so could you make that happen. Please." Michael breathed heavily as his body started to tremble.

"Hm…" Kai gives an amused smile along with Azazel and Sirzechs.

"…" S. Michael's eyes widen which turns to a bright smile, "If that is all, then I'll just rewrite the system for two people. It's fair, since they can't get near churches, but Asia and Xenovia will you still pray even when the God, you loved, is now absent?"

"Yes, I want to pray even if the Lord is gone."

"Me too. I'll give thanks to the Lord, and to you, too, S. Michael-sama."

Both of the two smiled and happily answered.

"I also speak on their behalf, Chief Michael-sama." Irina spoke up.

"Irina…"

"I didn't know about the circumstances, but I thought you had betrayed us. Forgive me." Irina apologized.

"It isn't something for you to apologize about."

Xenovia accepted the apology, either way.

"Asia-san, I said terrible things to you, too."

"Oh no! It wasn't a big deal for me."

Asia tried to be polite.

"It was for me…" Michael brought up.

"Be quiet, Michael-kun, I'm not talking to you, now am I?" Irina exclaimed.

"Jeez... who ate all your cocoa pebbles?" Michael sweatdropped, he couldn't tell why he was receiving that much heat from his old friend, something he'd have to look into later.

"Now before I was rudely interrupted, I want to say I'm really sorry." Irina apologized with sincerity in her eyes.

"That's… It really doesn't bother me!" Asia still tried to be polite.

"Very well. I'll do that as soon as I return to headquarters it should be fine for at least two devils to pray. Fufufu!" S. Michael laughed.

"T-Thank you…" Michael still remained with head bowed.

"Its fine now, child, you needn't lower your head anymore." S. Michael knelt down and puts a hand on Michael's shoulder.

"I wish I could, but I appear to be stuck like this." Michael whimpered.

"That's what you get for acting reckless!" Kai laughed at Michael's misfortune.

"A little help?" Michael squeaked.

"Don't worry, Michael-san."

"Allow me, Michael."

Asia and Xenovia used their shoulders for Michael to lean on.

"Michael-san, I-I!" Asia begins to cry as she hugs Michael's side closely.

"See? Now you don't have to worry about getting hurt anymore. I'm glad for you, Asia."

Looking Michael dead in the eye, Asia smiled with unbelievable adoration and cries,

"Michael-san, I love you!"

***CHU!***

"Ah! Asia…" Michael looked at Asia in surprise.

 _'_ _So wait, what do I do now? Asia just confessed to me ,and so did Buchou so…'_

**_[Just think about it later. For now you should relax. You need it after what you did, partner. Even though it was stupid and reckless, I guess even fools deserve some praise.]_ **

_'_ _So you're okay with me being called the Most Reckless Sekiryuutei in history?'_

**_[Meh…it could've been worse. At least it's not a degrading title about breasts.]_ **

_'_ _Hahahaha! I know that sounds absolutely terrible. If that were to happen, I guess you would die of embarrassment!'_

**_[Yeah, well, this title for you is technically true and you've gotten this far with your methods, so I'll just do what I can to make sure an idiot like you lives long enough to enjoy yourself. And who knows, you may even get some old pointers from that certain ancestor of yours along the way.]_ **

_'_ _Wait , so that voice from the Kokabiel fight was-?' Michael placed two and two together._

**_[Enjoy your rest, Partner.] Ddraig cuts the connection and entered a deep slumber._ **

"No, even Asia has!" Raynare gasped as another one has managed to get closer to Michael.

"Oh dear." Rias giggled.

"Ara, ara, Asia-chan has gotten so bold." Akeno giggled as well.

Everyone couldn't help, but smile at the sight in front of them.

 _'_ _It appears, I was a little wrong. His dragon power may not have been part of the reason why he is the person, he is now. He may act selfish and unreliable, but still his kindness, it's the reason why Buchou, Asia and Raynare admire him.' Xenovia thought._

"Oi!"

Xenovia opens her eyes to be looking Michael dead on as he wore a serious expression. The close proximity that their faces were at was at least 2 inches.

"Y-Yes?" Xenovia's cheeks start to go red.

"What are you so down for? You can pray again, so be happy alright?" Michael's bright smile caused Xenovia to white out and look away in embarrassment.

"R-Right, I will do just that."

"Hey, what's with you? Your turning red... are you all right?" Michael looked at Xenovia who tried to hide her face away from Michael.

"I-It's nothing."

"Hm?" Michael grew a "?" over his head.

"They're both strange sources, but not entirely bad. Don't you agree?"

"You mean Michael-kun's source of power?"

"Yeah, he the Red dragon forms connections with others as the White Dragon focuses on just sheer power alone. They may not be complicated, but they are so pure that it isn't as simple to gain." Azazel chuckled, "But that's the way I see it."

"I guess you're right." Sirzechs watched as Michael received more healing to his arms from Asia,

"Hmhmhmhm!" Sirzechs's laughter gains Grayfia's attention.

"Is something the matter?" Grayfia looks to her master.

"No, I just stumbled upon a great idea." Sirzechs smiled.

Once his arms were back to ordinary past state of progressive healing and his bandages were changed, Michael walks over to the passed out Saji and Kiba laid out next to each other. They both had bandages and wrappings on their bodies, the same as Michael's own.

 _'_ _So I guess I wasn't the only one who fought hard, too.' Michael breathed out then growled,_

"Man, I can't believe they slept through the entire thing." Michael groaned as he walks over to Kiba's side.

"Now, now, Michael-sama, you don't have to wake them up. They're still trying to-."

"I'm sleepy…"

Michael just falls down and allows his body to rest.

"He truly tired himself out."

"He sure did the stupid brat…"

"Kiss my ass…Ero-Ossan…" Michael snored.

"And he still has the energy to move that damn mouth of his. I'll leave everything to you to explain the situation to Valhalla, then Mt. Sumeru, okay?"

"Yes, it would be difficult if either the devils or the fallen angels did that. I'm already accustomed to giving reports about God after all."

S. Michael nodded as he flies up in the air with his subordinates and fly to heaven in a large pillar of light.

"Now it's about time I leave. I'm tired~!" Azazel yawned as he starts to walk off.

"But sir, you still have paperwork along with informing the others back at the institute of what happened." Raymond informed.

"Chi! I can never get a break! It's not easy being a Governor with you around, Raymond." Azazel complained, "But you go on ahead, I still have to discuss some things with Sirzechs and Kai."

Azazel uses a magic circle to teleport back to his base.

"All right, men, let's move out!"

[Yes, sir!]

The subordinates used magic circles to leave the area.

"You two, too. Azazel-sama has a mission in store for you once we get back."

"Yes, sir!" Both Kalawarner and Mittelt bowed.

"W-Wait." Raynare runs over to the three Fallen Angels with Raymond facing his back to her.

"Raynare?"

"Raynare-oneesama?"

Panting with her hands on her knees, Raynare walks over to the pair and says,

"I just wanted to say goodbye to you, two before you left. Make sure to be safe on your missions, and think rationally or you may end up like me." Raynare winked with a giggle.

Both females nodded, but expected more when they saw their superior walk forward.

"I'll wait for you two, back at the base." Raymond said stoically as he starts to teleport away.

"Wait."

Raymond stops as he doesn't move an inch, the call of his sister stopping him.

"I know you did bad things in the past, and that you won't change that much if I asked you to." Raynare started to tremble as she started to speak.

"Is that all? I have business to attend to?" Raymond sounded cold as he tried to cut the talking short.

"O-Oh? I see…" Raynare looked off to the side still with a little fear but also a little sad.

"Yeah." Raymond starts walking off again, but what he heard next really made him stop.

"Thank you, Elder Brother."

"…" Raymond turns back to Raynare to see she was giving him a genuine smile with a small hint of fear hidden behind it. This sight warmed his heart a little, before he shakes his head and said,

"Just don't cause any more trouble for the Red Dragon Emperor, got it? Kalawarner and Mittelt let's move out."

Raymond disappears through a magic circle.

"Phew!" Raynare sighs in relief it may have frightened her to step up and speak out, but at least she made the first step after all he did for her friends then she could give him a chance after all.

"Good job." Kalawarner pats Raynare on the shoulder.

"Yeah, you two will make up in no time, especially when-!"

***MUNYUUU!***

Mittelt hugged Raynare and nuzzled her face between her breasts.

"Kya!"

"You're coming with us!"

"B-But Mittelt, I can't. I still need to take care of Michael-sama here!" Raynare stuttered.

"Oh, I understand." Mittelt giggles as she releases Raynare.

"You do?"

"Of course!" Mittelt creates a light spear, "I'll just settle this once and for all by killing him, but don't worry right now he's in so much pain after fighting Vali-sama. He won't feel a thing! Puhuhuhuhu…Ack!"

Mittelt laughed maniacally until Kalawarner chopped her behind the neck and dragged her unconscious body away.

"It was nice seeing you again, be safe." Kalawarner waved goodbye as she creates a magic circle and teleports back to the Grigori institute.

"Y-Yeah, you too." Raynare sweatdropped wondering why her friend didn't react to Mittelt's murderous behavior normally.

"They look so peaceful." Gasper knelt down besides the resting Michael, Kiba and Saji.

"Especially Kiba." Xenovia nods.

"Eh? But isn't that a little too peaceful?" Asia blinked.

The scene placed right in front of them was that of Kiba sleeping by Michael with his head on his chest. The image looked so wrong but the girls and even Gasper found it a little too weird to leave them like that.

"Shouldn't we move them to get proper rest?" Akeno asked.

"No, I believe if they didn't feel comfortable then they wouldn't be in that same posture, so let's just leave them like that." Rias found the sight of her two servants amusing,

"Right, Koneko?"

***FLASH!***

Koneko with her phone out took a picture,

"…This is going on my blog."

The next day, everything from the conference battle was cleaned with no differences that the normal students could notice. With their wounds and stamina slowly returning to them, the young devils went back to their normal school day lives. Michael, for one felt really off about going to school without his goggles and felt bitter about them being destroyed, but that bitterness was a little sweet since he finally got Vali to admit they were rivals. So as a substitute for them, Michael decided to wear some black sunglasses with blue lenses.

Returning to their own realms, the 3 leaders told their corresponding races of the formed peace treaty amongst themselves. Now it will just take some time before things start to settle in between everyone before actual defensive measures can be set more solidly.

Those who were present in the meeting such as Irina returned to the Vatican to resume her duties as an exorcist. There was a cheery goodbye between her, Xenovia and Asia, who have taken quite a liking to each other. Michael could see they were getting to be the closest of friends, but for some strange reason, he feels a sudden coldness from Irina. Whenever he tried to say bye, she would give him a glare with teary eyes as she kept repeating,

"Forgetful sinners are the one's who'll receive God's harsh judgement."

Michael sweatdropped, feeling her spite towards him was because of his outburst about him and Rias having a very intimate moment together. Still despite her anger, he felt sorry and he didn't know why exactly even when she used the word "forgetful" what could that mean? Well, thinking too much about it placed too much strain on him, so he decided to push it to the side for later.

Now dealing with his biggest ordeal, he needed to learn how to bear with the pain that came with his arms. He had regained the ability to use them, but they stung every time, he so much as lifts a finger. Simple movements aren't that much a pain than before but if he overdoes it then his bandages will get loose and some wounds start to open up. Another ordeal he's gone through were with the girls, he was currently living with at home. All three of them were now really pushy when feeding him food.

This started once Michael tried to use his chop sticks to eat some rice, but winced in pain as his arms was a little numbing. It was so strong that he dropped his chop sticks upon feeling the pain. Seeing this, Rias volunteered to feed him, but then Raynare steps in and feeds him in the same gentle manner Rias was, and soon Asia interrupts her and helps feed Michael as well. Very soon this process alternated until the single flare to war commenced:

Rias ate a piece of rice from Michael's lip.

So from now on, he had to think of a plan to divert himself from eating food with his hands, mainly by eating soup out from the bowl like a dog. It may have been sad and pathetic, but at least he wasn't taking any light spears or demonic blasts to the face.

Still recovering themselves, the other two young men who fought bravely, were resting slowly by themselves. Kiba, who managed to get healed a little quicker than Saji was met with a familiar face once more as he awakens. He was given a note and a very important test along with an item, he must learn to utilize if he wishes to pass that man's lesson to further his swordsmanship. The man only left one thing for Kiba to go off of, and it was written on the note:

 _"_ _It is very crucial for a swordsman to not only train his body, but also the internal strength of his inner being too."_

Accepting this new test, Kiba takes the advice from his new mentor and past opponent, Drayfus, to better himself both spiritually and physically.

As for Saji, he was slowly recovering, but he still felt out of place. Understanding, no matter how hard he tried he couldn't put a dent on the monster, he faced that day. If Kai weren't there at all, then he wouldn't be standing here today. But thinking positively, he felt relieved his efforts were able to hold back a strong opponent long enough for help to arrive. He had even communicated with what seemed to be a fragment of Vritra's soul, so that was a start, and yet it still felt like the progress, he's making is a little slower compared to Michael's.

But still that nagging feeling of being unable to do as much like the others bothered him even more.

Watering the pansies outside of the new school building, a patched up Saji solemnly gazes at the flowers he's watering. Feeling things go back to normal after what happened felt strange him.

 _'_ _Everything is so peaceful now.' Saji sighed, 'I don't know how to feel about that, after what just happened including with the new treaty.'_

_Saji looks at his hand which would held Absorption line if he needed it, 'But I still don't feel all that happy with what I did during that fight with Rallen. I still feel like nothing has changed about me, and even when I tried my hardest against him it was useless, and to top it all off, my connection with Vritra was short lived.'_

_Saji sees what appears to be a black dragon's head tattoo which seemed incomplete on his right arm fade in and out of his sight,_

_'_ _After that fight, he still hasn't attempted to respond to me.' Saji sighed in disappointment._

"I guess I'll just have to wait… and watch Mike get stronger again, as usual…" Saji felt that any little advancement he'd make was dwindled compared to Michael. While he lost to his opponent, who was also an evil dragon. Michael was able to get a tie against the strongest White Dragon Emperor in history. He felt any gap he would try to fill would get larger by every passing day.

Waking him out of his slump was a stern voice, "Saji."

"K-Kaichou?" Saji's eyes widen as he looks to see Sona staring at him with her usual steely expression.

 _'_ _Crap, I spent so much time moping around that I let myself slack off.' Saji gulped._

"Why good morning, Kaichou, don't worry. I wasn't lazing around. I was just thinking of some stuff." Saji tried to play it off cool, but his fast talking killed his façade.

"Really, because if you focused more on your duties than you were daydreaming then I would see some vital changes." Sona gestured her hand to the flowers that have yet to receive further watering.

Looking at Sona and the flowers in tandem, Saji gasps,

"R-Right, s-sorry Kaichou, I'll get right on that!"

Saji begrudgingly waters the flowers while cursing himself of looking like a fool in front of Sona who puts a hand to her forehead and shakes her head,

"As you should have been."

 _'_ _Damn! I'm really behind Mike in terms of power and my relationship with my master. Now it will be harder to even think of a way to make this day better.' Saji sighed as he continued watering the flowers, but noticed something._

"Hm?"

"Is something the matter?"

"N-No, it's nothing. Forgive me."

Saji looks behind himself to see that Sona was supervising him. It was rather strange since the Kaichou would always be busy and had many jobs to do on campus constantly. So why was she still here?

"Saji, you forgot to water these ones over here." Sona pointed out.

"Right." Saji watered the flowers he forgot about. Saji now noticed how close Sona was to him. Well, it wasn't that close it was just a couple of feet away, but still it was very close to him. He felt ashamed that he was getting this worked up over this proximity he was near to her but still he felt that it would be later to worry over it.

 _'_ _I wonder what the Kaichou is doing? I mean it's not bad, in fact, I'm a little happy she's near me for once, but why is she doing this so suddenly?' Saji thought as his cheeks turned a little pink._

"How are they?" Sona still looked over the flowers near Saji.

"Eh?" Was all Saji could think of as he still tried to process this moment.

"Your wounds. How are they? Are they sufficiently healed?" Sona asked.

"Well, uh… actually, they are doing quite well as of lately, but it still hurts to move a little." Saji scratched his head while averting his sight from Sona.

"I see, that's a relief." Sona nodded.

"T-Thank you for asking though Kaic-" Saji gratefully smiled.

Sona interrupted with, "Because I have a few jobs regarding some tasks involving some rabid animals near the school's locker rooms. It appears a family of raccoons have stumbled their way into the men's locker room and are scavenging for any traces of food. So I expect you to deal with them before the day ends do I make myself clear?"

Looking a little sad at the sudden professional tone Sona took, Saji sullenly nods,

"Hai, Kaichou."

"Good, now, I'll leave you to your business." Sona starts to walk off.

 _'_ _Well, it was great while it lasted…' Saji tiredly went back to watering the flowers once more._

Taking a couple of steps away from Saji, Sona stops. Taking notice of this Saji pauses, but still continues to do his job, he wondered if there was something she needed to do. It couldn't possibly be him since she already told him what his next job should be.

But that took a complete turn when Saji heard something that made his heart beat faster,

"You did well."

"!" Saji stops watering to slowly look up at Sona with bright eyes.

Sona felt Saji stare at her back as she continued, "Nii-sama told me about your efforts regarding your fight while protecting my nephew, Shura, and the others. For someone like him to notice your efforts it's rather surprising. To receive actual praise of joy from Nii-sama is pretty rare especially when it comes to my servants."

Sona remembered Kai doting on her skills as a King for taking well care of a promising devil. She had only received little praises from him regarding some of the things her queen, Tsubaki accomplished, but the praise she received over Saji's prowess was what gotten her attention.

Turning back to face Saji, Sona bows her head in gratitude,

"You still need a lot of work done on, but you did well. Since your opponent was an evil dragon himself I can only say that you did amazing. As your master, I can only say this to you, you did well to live up to the Student Council's name along with the House of Sitri's name as well, Saji Genshirou."

Saji who was at a loss of word still looked at Sona with an astonished expression. Doing the only thing he could think of Saji lowers his head,

"T-Thank you, I really appreciate your praise, Kaichou! And I swear, I'll do my best next time!" Saji lowered as he held in a few tears. Thankful that his actions were getting praised no matter how small they were.

"You'd best." Sona nods as she takes a few steps to him and pulls out an envelope. She hands it to Saji.

"A letter?" Saji takes it and opens it up to read.

"This is for you. It's a letter from the Governor-General, he seems to have given you an offer to receive the other pieces of your Sacred Gear."

Saji perks up to try and deny the letter, but Sona stops him,

"Saji, it may be difficult to just accept this invitation, but I've noticed you've been frustrated with the little progress you've been making for quite a while. Let me guess, you've been comparing yourself with Rias' pawn, Michael Hanamura, am I correct?"

Saji's expression answered her question.

"You are not Michael Hanamura. So you shouldn't be comparing yourself to him, you are Saji Genshirou. You must realize that you must go through your own pace or you'll continue to stumble. So I recommend you actually take this chance to think on whether you want to keep going on as you are now, or consider taking the offer and see if you can actually make some noticeable change."

Sona gave the options to Saji while turning her back to him, Saji looked at the letter with a troubled gaze.

Looking up, he hears Sona's last words before she leaves, "I'm placing some trust in your decision. Whether or not you take it is on you. I'll follow your judgement because if Nii-sama sees something in you that I couldn't have from the start, then I will attempt to look harder and see if his interest in you is completely true."

"Kaichou…" Saji sees his master walk off as he looks down at his letter to contemplate on what to do.

"Why hello there Michael Hanamura-kun and Kiba-kun."

Saji looks up to see Sona greeting a grinning Michael and a sheepishly smiling Kiba.

"Good morning, Kaichou." Kiba waves his hand as he walks out of his hiding spot with Michael.

 _'_ _Were they spying on me the whole time?' Saji's eye twitched._

"What brings you two here?" Sona questioned then narrowed her eyes at them both, "Don't you two have class?"

"We were definitely not spying on you if that's what you were thinking." Michael shook his head.

"Hm?" Sona rubbed her chin.

 _'_ _So they were spying on us!' Saji groaned, he looks up to see a winking Michael, who was giving him a thumbs up._

 _'_ _You idiot, you already gave yourself away. Don't look at me like that. Just die…freaking die!' Saji face palmed and shook his head._

"I'll let it go...for now."

"Really?" Michael gasped.

"Are you sure?" Kiba asked.

"You two were able to protect the school from any serious damages, so I guess letting this go wouldn't be too much." Sona allowed the two 2nd years to get scott free without punishment.

"Alright! See, Pretty Boy? I told you, we could get away with it!" Michael laughed as he folded his arms behind his head.

"I'm sorry for having any doubts." Kiba sighed in relief, he was actually pulled from class by Michael who happened to stumble his way into this scene with Sona and Saji. Kiba wanted to ask why Michael was wandering around the campus but considering the crazy thing Michael had in plan before this he decided to let it go.

"But don't get me wrong. If you are caught doing the same offense again, I will be forced to report your reckless actions to Rias, and take your punishments into my own hands. Just think about that next time when you skip class, do I make myself clear?" Sona adjusted her glasses and stared at them sternly.

Michael gulped as Kiba nodded in exhaustion.

"Crystal clear, ma'am, now if you'll excuse us…" Michael pushed Kiba past Sona who looks back at the 3 servants talking with one another.

"Hm." Sona gave what appeared to be a little smile before attending to her other duties as Student Council President.

"Seriously, what were you two doing there?" Saji scolded both Michael and Kiba.

"Hey! Can't a friend spy on his other friend without getting judged!" Michael huffed.

"No, actually that's not even a friend at all. It's more like a stalker." Saji shook his head.

"Well, too bad I'm not that because I'm the Great Hanamura! Haha! Walked into that one, am I right!" Michael tried to get a High five from Saji.

"No, no, you weren't that made no sense." Saji refused to give the high five.

"Okay, then what about you, Kiba? Don't leave me hanging!" Michael turned to Kiba.

"I'm sorry, Michael-kun, but I don't really understand what you said either." Kiba didn't give the high five.

Sitting near the flower bed, Michael crossed his arms and growled,

"Well, you two are no fun at all!"

"Okay, I'll just go out on a limb here and say you're ditching class as usual." Saji asked.

"Bingo!" Michael snapped his finger, "I had trouble writing so Raynare, Asia and strangely Xenovia, who'd have thought she would be involved with them now, fought over who should do my assignment for me. This would make me happy since I didn't have to do any classwork, but this earned the ire from male colleagues, who wanted to drag me around with my entrails."

Saji and Kiba looked at Michael with a look of shock,

"Wow, that's completely terrifying."

"Then how did you escape?"

"Easy, it's an old trick used by our upper classmen. Yes, a trick that has gotten students to leave the classroom and always appear once class would be over…!" Michael sounded dramatically.

"So you asked to use the bathroom?" Saji sweatdropped.

"Bingo, again my friend! I would give you a prize, but for me to do that would also imply that I'd actually have money to use!"

Now with three girls living with him, Michael now had to leave financial issues to Raynare since he would have bought games and junk food in the past.

"Er…well, why are you here, Kiba?" Saji asked.

"Actually I was told there was an issue outside, so I made sure to bring a new sword I was given to help, but when we saw you talking with the Kaichou, then I decided it wouldn't have been necessary to use it. What a shame." Kiba actually sounded disappointed.

 _'_ _So you're actually disappointed that you couldn't use a weapon after all that has happened?' Saji deadpanned._

"So we saw what happened with the Kaichou, so how did things go?" Michael playfully nudged at Saji's shoulder.

"I actually think I made a good impression on not just her, but also Kai-sama as well." Saji looked at the letter in deep thought.

Michael catches sight of this and blinks, "So you even had Shishou's attention that's cool."

"Yes, indeed it's strange that Kai-sama would find interest in something in the past I heard he barely involved with things that proved to be "no fun" but that's been changing with you two." Kiba further explained Kai's nature.

"You think so, because whenever he's training me to death, he doesn't seem that way." Michael wondered out loud.

"That's because he's actually putting the effort to doing it, Michael-kun. If he were bored, he wouldn't have bothered to train you." Kiba explained.

"Oh." Michael sucked in his lips at the thought.

"Dumbass." Saji shook his head.

"Well, either way, Shishou sure can't stay in one place when I really need him." Michael shook his head then clenched his fists before stopping in pain, "Ouch…I really need to train, so I can take on Vali again on equal terms."

"You're still on about that? Aren't you at least satisfied with the tie you two made?" Saji said.

"No, since now that he admitted we're rivals. I have to step up my game to prove to him that I'm truly greater than a Half-Descendant of the Maou. Also, if I can tie with someone that holds half the power of the old Maou, then it will be a sure thing for me to be one." Michael grins with a determined look.

"It may not be close to what your goals are, but I agree with you. If there was a chance the Khaos Brigade attacked us again, then we should get ready along with the others." Kiba too wished to better his skills, so that he could stand up to Drayfus and any threat which would threaten his comrades.

"Get stronger, huh?" Saji takes a look at the letter again before Michael snatches it from him.

"Oi! What are you doing?" Saji growled.

"Opening it, duh! You won't know what's inside until you rip it open. Now allow the Great Hanamura to see what's got you so serious, Saj!" Michael laughed as he opens the letter and reads it contents.

"Michael, that is an invasion of property!" Saji growled.

"So what? I'm a devil I can do whatever I want!" Michael stuck out his tongue and pulled down his eyelid.

"Kiba say something!" Saji sought Kiba for support.

"Hm…so you were given an invitation from Azazel how odd…" Kiba read the letter along with Michael.

"The hell? Even you, Kiba? I thought you were the good one out of your club!" Saji bulged out as he saw the two Occult Research Club members reading the letter intently.

"So the Ero-Ossan, huh? I wonder why he wants to implant the other Vritra based sacred gears in you all of a sudden?" Michael remembered back to the Ero-Ossan meeting everyone and Saji, he recalled the two exchanging facts about Saji's absorption line. Could that be why this is being brought up again?

"I don't know, plus, I'm thinking about whether to accept or flat out deny it." Saji rips the letter out of Michael's hands.

"Accept it. The Ero-Ossan may seem sketchy, but he's okay!" Michael shrugged and gave a smile of the utmost confidence.

Saji crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah? What are my chances of actually leaving his institute with no mental scars or physical harm done to my body?"

"Accept it. The Ero-Ossan may seem sketchy, but he's okay." Michael repeated the same line with the same smile.

"Don't just repeat what you said before! Answer me!" Saji shouted as his decision was tipping towards denying the offer.

"Look it may seem horrible at first, but then it will dial down to...meh, nngh..." Michael looked up in though before snapping his fingers, "Terrible! Yeah, terrible, so is that a good enough answer to do it?" Michael raised both his hands in defense.

"That sounds horrible!" Saji gasped.

"Ah, ah, ah, it'll soon be terrible." Michael positively pointed out. But it still wasn't encouraging in the slightest.

"Er…Michael-kun, I don't think that's making it better." Kiba points to a shaking Saji who was about to rip up the letter.

"Wait, stop!" Michael shouted.

"After what you told me, why should I?"

"Just look. If you want to get stronger, then you'll have to endure at least that much pain. This deal could benefit you, you know. Besides, I know you'll come out of it okay… Well, sort of okay. You know what, you'll be able to function properly on the outside if it suits you." Michael could see Saji pause.

The young man looked at the letter then back at Michael before sighing,

"Fine, I'll accept. I guess I'll get to see a lot of Azazel from now on." Saji sighed.

"Huh? No, you won't you'll just see him whenever you get that upgrade with your sacred gear." Michael was confused by how Saji phrased that.

"No, Mike, "we're" seeing a lot more of Azazel than we should, including you." Saji starting to tell Michael something he might have missed.

"Eh?" Michael tilts his head.

"Oh that's right. Michael-kun, you fell asleep when the announcement was made." Kiba chuckled nervously, "Seems fair since Buchou was by your side when you recovered, I believe you both will be in for a surprise."

"What? What exactly did I miss? What is going on?" Michael exclaimed he didn't like being kept out of the loop.

Kiba and Saji looked at each other.

"Should I tell him or should you?" Kiba was amused by Michael's confusion.

"You do it, I don't really want him screaming near my face." Saji groaned.

"Okay, seriously, what the hell is going on?" Michael panicked.

"Well, you see…" Kiba leans in and whispers into Michael's ear the details.

Eyes widening, Michael swerves away from Kiba and screams,

"WHAT THE FU-!"

Later inside the old school building's clubroom, was the entire research club plus Raynare, who met a couple of familiar faces right in front of them. In fact, one of those familiar faces were sitting in Rias' chair, to whom the owner demanded answers.

"And so starting from this day forward, I have taken it upon myself to become the new Club advisor for the Occult Research Club." Sitting with his feet on the desk, a suit wearing Azazel introduced himself to his new students, "So now properly call me by my new title, Azazel-sensei or governor if you prefer. I'm fine with either one."

"You can't be serious." Rias couldn't accept this new change along with the new attendants with the Governor-General.

"From now on we'll be acting as Azazel-sama's bodyguards during our stay here. So call me Kalawarner-sensei, from now on I'll be your school's 2nd year Math Teacher." Kalawarner bowed as she now wore a purple suit and dress with red heels.

"As I will be attending this human school as a 1st year as you all may call it. So let's all get along well~!" Mittelt who now wore the standard girl uniform for Kuoh Academy leapt after Raynare and hugged onto her tightly.

"M-Mittelt!" Raynare tried to pry the girl off of her, but she still felt glad that she could still see her friends even more than before.

"Wait, so the Ero-Ossan will be working here? Wait…wait…when did you get a teaching degree!?" Michael exclaimed.

"Hohoho…well you see, brat, after living for as long as I have, you apparently have enough time to do visibly almost everything." Azazel gave a cocky laugh, "So as of now I'll be your class's chemistry teacher."

"Tell us why you're here." Rias demanded an answer and she wasn't liking this new nuisance.

"Now, now, don't give me that look, if it will clear things up I asked Sirzechs for this gig before applying. Even was recommended by Kai himself to talk to Serafall's little sister about it. It must be my charm that got me this job. See? I can be a cool guy if I want to." Azazel ran his finger though his hair while grinning.

"No, not at all, you're far from cool. The only reason you got accepted here was probably because of Aniki and Shishou." Michael waved his hand in a rude gesture while giving an insulting expression.

"So you allowed this, Sona? But why?" Rias turned back to Sona who tried to act solemn, but was shown to actually be sweating a little.

"If I didn't allow it, Big sister threatened… I mean begged… to enroll as a teacher here instead…" Sona tried to avert eye contact with Rias.

"So what you mean to tell us, is that you sold us out." Rias stared knowingly at her Best friend, seeing she was in a tight spot like that is understandable with her sister but to rat them out?

"Anyway, you won't be the only one paying for this Rias since I too have to take a penalty as well from Nii-sama." Sona adjusted her glasses before she whispers, "…He always seems to make things difficult for me even at times like these."

"You mean Kai-sama?" Rias blinked.

"Yes, he even said to me,  _"I can't allow you to gain what you want with just the easy way. If that other choice concerning Sera-chan won't suffice for you, then you'll just have to endure something else instead."_ Then he left laughing after he told me what I…no, what the entire student council should do as a whole." Sona tried to hold in a sigh of self-defeat.

"Seems fair. An eye for an eye, like most would say." Rias tried to imagine what penalty she had to do in exchange for this one, "What must you do?"

"I'd rather not say any more. Well, I leave the rest to you." Sona rushed out with Tsubaki by her side as she muttered something.

 _'_ _Huh? Could have sworn I heard her say something about packing her things.' Michael caught wind of some of Sona's muttering._

Looking back to Azazel, Michael noticed something weird, he had two arms.

"Wait, Ero-Ossan. How come you have your arm back? Did you sow it back on or...?"

"Sow it back on? Are you insane, who would do that?" Azazel pulled back his sleeve and clenched his fist, suddenly firing out the arm and hitting random areas in the room.

"I just replaced it with a multi-purpose mechanical arm that I made from my sacred gear research of course, duh!" Azazel tried to make sense of that while it really didn't.

"Whoa! Cool, you have mechanical arms, can I get one?" Michael's eyes were clear as they sparkled in excitement.

"Sure. First lose an arm, and I'll be sure to give you one in a jiffy." Azazel gave a thumbs up.

Looking to his left arm slowly, Michael wore a dull expression before he did something which frightened almost everyone in the room.

**[Dragon Booster!]**

**[Blade!]**

"Michael, NO!"

Everyone surrounding Michael stopped him from detaching his own arm.

"Don't stop me, I need this!" Michael tried to force Ascalon to sever his left shoulder. He was hell bent on getting an arm like Azazel's. He could be like Edward Elric despite the short stature of course.

"Michael-sama, you'll die if you place more stress into your arm!"

"I don't care! If I die looking cool, then I'll gladly accept death!" Michael was now beyond reasoning.

"Koneko!"

"…Hai, Buchou!"

***WHAM!***

Subduing Michael with a single blow to the gut, Koneko held back the recovering teen by the arms.

"Aaaaaargh! My arms! Let go, they hurt!" Michael cried in pain.

"You were about to cut your own arm off either way!" Xenovia scolded.

"It would have been over after a few seconds! This just hurts in general, and she's not stopping is she!?" Michael cried pitifully.

"Baka-senpai, should just listen to what's about to happen." Koneko scolded her senior while relenting her grip just a little.

"Hahahaha! This will never get old. I can tell I'm going to like it here!" Azazel laughed but wore a steeled expression, "But I can't laze around while I'm here because for me to stay at this school, I'll have to do my real job that pertains to Sirzechs' conditions."

"Onii-sama?" Rias repeated.

"Conditions?" Gasper who was hiding behind Koneko popped his head out from his box, he seemed to be wearing Kuoh Academy's boy uniform thanks to Michael's influence on him. In fact, Gasper copied the style Michael wore his uniform while wearing the same sunglasses he has. It showed how much he admired his senior that he dressed after him as well.

"My job here is to help you all develop your immature Sacred Gears. The mysterious Boosted Gear, whose power seems to evolve with every reckless action it's idiot user makes."

"Bite me!" Michael growled.

"The anomaly known as the Holy-Devil Sword, or how you'd call it, Sword of the Betrayer."

"…" Kiba kept quiet, but listened in interest.

"And lastly, the Forbidden Balor View, whose user has little to no control over its power." Azazel brought up as Gasper hid a little in his box.

"Actually, he's doing better because of the Great Hanamura's talents." Michael rubbed his knuckle on his chest.

"Uh…Koneko-chan, you…" Raynare pointed out Michael slipping from her grasp.

"…He did it again." Koneko opened and closed her hands.

"Like I was saying. You all need to improve your sacred gears. Don't worry, my known research is here to evolve them, individually. Your family/peerage has gotten popular for deterring the Khaos Brigade the other day, so from now on this group will lead future defensive measures against them should they reappear." Azazel explained.

"What about Vali? Will he attack along with them?" Michael asked as he crossed his arms.

"It's still uncertain whether he's with them or not, but we can safely say he's a neutral force to both their side and our side. He could very well be an enemy considering that you two hold the Heavenly Dragons within you."

"Meaning, I'll get to fight him again in the future." Michael ignored the pain and clenched his fist in excitement.

"Just know this, the only reason you've been able to tie against Vali was because he was too arrogant in the beginning of that fight. That led to you getting the advantage and with the addition to S. Michael giving you Ascalon, you can say you got that far with a little luck and tons of help. Next time, you may lose since he won't be holding back anymore."

Azazel could tell when Vali was serious and in the end of that last fight if Vali were to have used that strength in the beginning, then Michael wouldn't be standing where he is today.

"Good, that's what I want. He'll fight me seriously, and until that day comes I'll get stronger and take him on with my full might!" Michael just had to get stronger so he won't get taken lightly ever again.

"Now about that other Variation of your Sacred Gear. Have you been able to summon it since then?" Azazel recounts back to the Cursed Gear.

"What other variation?" Michael blinked.

"Eh? Michael-kun, you were using it against the Hakuryuukou. You don't remember?" Akeno questioned the befuddled teen.

"I seriously don't know. Are you guys pulling my leg?" Michael scratched his cheek.

"No, Michael-nii, you were able to touch attacks and make them vanish." Gasper just made things complicated.

"I could do that!?" Michael gasped.

 _'_ _I see, so he can't remember at all, I guess his negative emotion from that gear even makes his past memories of using it disappear. This could pose a problem, if further used, it didn't feel life threatening, but if his memories get erased then it will be a bigger issue for everyone.'_

_Azazel thought back as he resolved himself to later tell Michael to refrain from using the Cursed Gear._

Changing the topic before, Michael gets confused even more than he usually is, Azazel turns to Kiba,

"Devil Sword kid, how long can you hold your balance breaker?"

"My limit as of now is one hour." Kiba explained.

"Not good enough it should at least be about 3 days even more if you train hard enough." Azazel sounded like a drill instructor as Kiba nods with a fierce resolve to do better.

"Hah! Sucks to be you, Pretty Boy. I can enter my Balance Breaker for 2 hours." Michael laughed.

"And you, Michael, you are doing absolutely terrible than Kiba."

"What how!?"

"Compared to Vali, you're still an ant against an elephant with your control of Balance Breaker."

"Oh yeah, how?"

"First off, your control over the dragon's power is atrocious. You attack in bursts of power that hurt you indirectly. Next, your stamina is quite remarkable for a low classed devil, but compared to Vali it's more of a grain of sand. You may be able to hold your form for 2 hours, but Vali can hold his for a month."

"…!" Michael held his chest as everything around him shattered as he slumped down to his knees.

"M-Michael-san." Asia was stopped by Raynare.

"He'll have to accept this one on his own, Asia." Raynare looked at Michael with sad eyes.

"Now do you see the difference that you two have in terms of power?" Azazel asked.

"Yeah…" Michael chuckled with a dark tone.

"M-Michael-kun?" Kiba blinked in worry for his friend.

"If Vali can hold it for a month, then I'll just top him." Michael clenched both his fists and shouted, "I'll train my ass off, so I can hold it for 2 months and a day!"

Everyone sweatdropped wondering why he would add on a day but they laughed at the pawn's usual competitiveness.

"That's the spirit if you keep trying to do better than Vali, then you will get better. But just to warn you, I only know that he can hold it for a month since he told me 4 months ago. For all I know now, it could have risen."

"I don't care. I'll surpass that bastard and show him whose greater!" Michael declared.

"Good. Now onto another matter we have yet to clear." Azazel turned to Akeno.

"Do you still hate us? No, do you still hold contempt towards your father, Barakiel?"

 _'_ _Akeno-senpai's dad?' Michael remembered her disdain for him._

"That man doesn't deserve forgiveness not after he left my mother to die."

"Akeno, you must realize that when you became a devil, he didn't object to it."

"Hm! How hysterical, as if he could believe that he had a say in the matter."

"No, your misunderstanding it, but I can't intervene between the spat of a father and daughter."

"…I have no father."

 _'_ _Ouch! Even I can feel that, does Akeno-senpai really hate her dad that much?' Michael thought as he felt sorry for whoever this Barakiel guy is in person._

"I see. I for one see you joining the Gremory family as a good choice, but I wonder what would Barakiel think of the matter?"

"…"

Akeno kept quiet no longer interested in talking about the matter anymore.

"I see that this conversation is a bust, so I'll go back to the brat."

"Me?" Michael points to himself.

"Of course, who else would I be talking to?" Azazel asked.

Michael slowly points towards Koneko, who angrily stared at him.

"If you want that finger, I'd suggest you put it back."

Michael slowly drops his hand.

"Baka-senpai…" Koneko shook her head.

"Like I said before, you're not a virgin, especially, when you admitted it in front of everyone in the conference." Azazel had on an amused smile.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that- Fuck you!"

"My, my, why so hostile? I don't think I appreciate that."

Both Michael and Rias had on red faces as they scolded the Fallen Angel Leader.

"You shamed me right in front of Onii-sama and the other leaders during that conference!"

"What she said!"

"Well, excuse me for stating the obvious. I mean almost everyone could tell by how close you two were during the conference. I mean holding hands, the looks you gave to each other. Please tell me I'm not the only one who figured it out."

"It's true." Everyone in the room replied except for a stunned Michael and Rias.

"Was it really that obvious?" Michael sweatdropped.

"Of course, but now that you're a man who has given up his virginity how do you feel?"

"Idiot, how should I know…?" Michael actually felt enlightened that he had gotten to share an intimate moment with his master, but it was something you can't really put to words.

"That's a lie. Well, all I can say is that you may have taken the first step, but you're still inexperienced when it comes to sex in general. If you were to engage in it again, you would probably hesitate, am I right? What a coward."

"Tch!" Michael grits his teeth at being looked down upon.

"That's why I'll teach you the pleasures you can gain from devouring a woman. Starting with my two subordinates, who volunteered to get as close to you as they can." Azazel gestured to Kalawarner and Mittelt.

"I wouldn't mind if I can give my virginity to him right now, he's proven to be quite powerful than before." Kalawarner licked her lips seductively.

"I'm only here for Raynare-oneesama!" Mittelt snuggled her head in between Raynare's breasts.

"Mittelt, I already told you to stop this already!" Raynare tried to pry Mittelt off of her.

"Or better yet, why not use your Fallen Angel along with my own two in a foursome that can be really exciting, and you can gain EXP twice as fast." Azazel held up four fingers.

"Ddraig, start the count down." Michael growled.

**[Michael, I think you're over reacting just calm down, okay.]**

"I said start the count down!" Michael was fed up with Azazel's shit and wanted to end things once and for all.

Getting flustered by Azazel's words, Rias embraced Michael from behind and said,

"Please wait a moment, Azazel! Please don't influence Michael's mind with bad ideas!"

"It's only fair, he already gave you his chastity so what right do you have to deny him to take the chastity of others? Or is there something wrong with your servant being close to other women?"

"As his master, I'll take it upon myself to watch over how much intimacy Michael spreads around!" Rias cried.

"What?" Michael blinked.

"Michael-sama, even if you are now limited by Rias-san always remember, I'll be happy to give you my body to devour whole." Raynare blushed as she placed a hand to her chest.

"Wait, I don't understand what's happening?"

"Michael-san, please tell me whenever you seek t-to release y-your urges. I-I-I'll do my best to sate them, too." Asia stuttered with her face getting redder than a tomato.

"No, Asia, you shouldn't be saying that!" Michael panicked but things just got worse for him.

"Ara, ara, Michael-kun just know that I'll be prepared anytime, place, and moment whenever you feel like it." Akeno had her usual giggle but her cheeks also blushed.

"Akeno-senpai, not you too." Michael gulped.

"With limited time it will be difficult for us to create a child… I must make a schedule to better use the crucial time I have." Xenovia started to show signs of worry.

"You're still hung up on that, really!?" Michael shouted.

"Whoa, Michael-nii, you're so popular. As your kouhai, I can't help but aim to be just like you!" Gasper's eyes gazed at Michael with admiration.

"No, Gasper this isn't what you should aim for!" Michael gasped as he felt the killing intent all the girls gave to each other.

"After having these many females after you, you can't make fun of me for my looks anymore." Kiba remarked.

"Kill yourself!" Michael insulted Kiba.

"Hahaha! Oh that's right silly me, I forgot that Dragons usually form polygamies, so you'll experience everything on your own now, brat. Well, this place holds the location for the three way alliance, so let's get along everyone. One of our objectives are to help the brat learn how to control his dragon power in Balance Breaker and help him achieve a form that took even Vali a while to get the variation of the  **Vanishing Drive** , the  **Welsh Drive** during summer break. With that he will be a worthy enough deterrent against the Khaos Brigade." Azazel recapped the whole summary of this meeting.

 _'_ _Welsh Drive, so I finally start training to use it, huh? I just hope I can achieve it before my rematch against Vali or any other creatures that may still be around here.' Michael thought then remembered what Vali said about his family,_

 _'_ _No, right now I need to focus on what's in front of me before looking back. Otherwise, I can't focus on my dream of becoming the next Maou as the Great Hanamura!'_

"So wait, since you're our teacher from this point forward, I'll need to make a new name for you!" Michael laughed.

"Like I said Azazel-sensei works for me."

"Nah, I'll just call you…hmmmmmmm Oh! I got it, Ero-Sensei!" Michael created a new title.

"Ero-Sensei, well, its better than old man. So it's a step up, I guess." Azazel folded his arms behind his head before sitting up to stand realizing something he forgot,

"Oh that's right, Sirzechs also gave me a message for you, Rias. In fact, all of you."

"O-Onii-sama?" Rias released Michael and listened closely.

"It seemed when he stayed at the Sekiryuutei's place, he felt that it needed a little more atmosphere and that close camaraderie is what he needs to grow. So do you hear that brat, it seems you'll have the chance to grow stronger with your home being as livelier as ever." Azazel turns to Michael with a smirk.

"Livelier? What do you me-?" Michael looks to see the walls of the room filled with luggage and backpacks and each one amounted to every member in the club.

"No!" Michael could tell where this was going.

"I, Azazel, order you in the name of the Maou Lucifer…"

"No! No! No!" Michael shouted.

"All the members of the Occult Research Club…"

"No! No! No, shut the hell up, you, old perverted fart!"

""Are to now live together with Michael under the same roof." Is what he decreed." Azazel shrugged.

"NO!"

"Eh?"

Both Michael and Rias were off put by this sudden order.

* * *

 

The very next day everything changed as everyone from the club moved into Michael's small apartment.

"Michael-kun, Akeno has arrived!" Akeno rushes to hug Michael tightly as he eyes looks so excited that she could cry.

"A-Akeno-senpai?"

"Ufufu!" Akeno giggled as she enjoyed the close proximity she'll now get to be in with Michael.

"What a mess." Raynare sighed as she didn't enjoy the thought of more competition living with them.

"Uuuh…This is really unfair." Asia whimpered, jealous that Akeno was bold enough to hug Michael so tightly.

"We'll just make camp out here in the living room." Kiba already made himself comfortable by laying out a few futons for him and for Gasper.

"Being able to stay next to Michael-nii will be so much fun. It'll be like a sleep over." Gasper's eyes gleamed as he sat inside of his box.

 _'_ _Wow, these guys sure got comfortable fast.' Michael gave Gasper and Kiba the stank eye, he still didn't feel ready for this sudden move in of so many people._

"It appears, everyone really is moving here, but since it was Onii-sama's orders I can't object to it." Rias felt regret for this to suddenly happen.

"Asia, is it fine if I share the same room as you?" Xenovia brings in her luggage but her answer was held on pause as Asia looked at Michael and Akeno in watery eyes.

 _'_ _Well, looks like my cheeks won't be surviving tonight.' Michael sighed, 'Just how the hell am I going to fit so many people in my apartment it's just impossible.'_

"Michael-kun~, I want to sleep with you tonight." Akeno whispered in Michael's ear.

"H-Huh?" Michael gulped as he looked up.

"Ufufu! I want to really do tons of naughty things with you in bed all in one go. So what do you say~…?" Akeno breathily whispered closely to Michael's neck.

"W-Well I…" Michael's was flustered.

***PUUUUUUULLLL!***

"And here we go again…" Michael winced in pain as both of his cheeks were being pinched by Rias and Raynare.

 _'_ _Well, at least Kalawarner and Mittelt are staying with Azazel-sama back at his mansion as their job instructs them too.' Raynare thought._

"Koneko will arrive tomorrow, but I believe this small place won't benefit us, so I'll just reconstruct it so that it will fit us all as summer vacation approaches." Rias suggested.

"Reconstruct?" Michael blinked, how would she reconstruct an entire apartment filled with other people into a home suitable for everyone in the club?

"Yes, I'll just have Onii-sama construct a home fit for the name, Hanamura Residence."

Sighing with a deep groan, Michael slowly cracks a smile,  _'Well, at least things won't get dull like they used to now I'll have tons of friends living with me now. So I can't say this was all just a bust after all. Now the next thing after this is to…' Michael catches sight of Rias looking at him._

_The two realize their eye deadlock and turned away with blushing cheeks as they hid their joyous smiles,_

_'_ _Take Rias out on our first date…' Michael revealed his future plans as he grinned to himself._

* * *

Sitting on top of the Apartment complex was a sky gazing Kai who breathed in and out.

"So can you hold down the fort while I'm gone for a while?" Kai chuckled as Azazel stood behind him.

"Of course, I've been able to watch the brat since he was a baby thanks to my men. With the way I've been doing it, it will be a cinch." Azazel crossed his arms.

"Good. Because I've just caught notice of the syndicate involving "her" in it." Kai stands up, "I won't know how long I'll be, but I can handle a little recon while I'm out. Just tell Michael-san that I'm sorry for leaving his training incomplete like this."

"I understand just make sure not to overdo it, you simian bastard." Azazel didn't meant for that to be an actual insult.

"Hah! That sounds boring, I'll take as many risks as I please to enjoy myself." Kai whistled, "Stratus!"

The purple cloud he usually rides comes to him, sitting on top of it, Kai waves to the Governor General,

"Make sure to be cautious of the Khaos Brigade and more in the future!"

"Tch! I don't need to hear that from someone who brings just as much trouble like Michael." Azazel clicked his tongue.

***WHOOOOOOSH!***

A strong wind blew against Kai, which made his usual messy brown hairstyle break out of its former shape like a spring being uncompressed. His shadow revealed the true shape of hairstyle retaining a trident pointed type of shape like Michael's.

"Well, your right about that one. But what did you expect? We do share half of the same blood as brothers after all, so until we meet again, ya Old Crow!" Kai laughs as Stratus zooms off into the sky leaving a tired Azazel to scratch his head.

"Geez… just like your father, the both of you always find a way of leaving me with the dirty work of watching this troublesome kid."

Azazel trots off to prepare future training regimens for the Sacred Gear users.

Hearing those last words from above, Kai darkly grimaced and muttered, "That thing is no  **father** of mine..."

Without any of their knowing there seemed to be a magic circle with the image of Japanese symbols written on them. It felt like magic while at the same time it didn't its aura radiated with a natural energy. Such as nature itself.

Echoing out from it only a voice said,  _"So that's the Red Dragon Emperor that not only defeated the Cadre Class Kokabiel but had a draw with this era's strongest White Dragon Emperor. Will take note of this for…future references…Nya~!"_

_Disappearing, the magic circle that was observing Michael and his friends vanished into thin air._

* * *

**Preview# 1 of Season 2**

* * *

"Gyaa!"

"Dodge!"

Both Michael and Shirou grunt as they dodge another rush coming from their assailant.

"I'm getting real tired of this shit!" Michael shouted as he and Shirou stand to think of a plan.

"You and me both." Shirou wiped his lips as he stands up.

"Heh, looks like we can agree on something." Michael smirked.

"Yeah, I guess but maybe we can talk about that later we still have these fucking handcuffs on our wrists now what?" Shirou examined the handcuffs which sealed their dragon based sacred gears with a powerful ki empowering the dragon-slaying aura around it.

"Hm? A way to break out." Michael rubbed his chin then snapped his fingers, "I got it!"

"Oh yeah, what is it?"

"How about we play rock, paper, scissors!?" Michael's foolish idea made Shirou look blankly at him.

***SMACK!***

"OW! What the hell was that for!?" Michael received a slap to the face.

"You dumbass, we don't have time for this childish shit!" Shirou scolded the teen for his unconventional ideas at the situation.

"Oi! Just hear me out first we play the game and whoever wins has to chop both our hands off as we wait to meet Asia again to heal them back on!" Michael's idea sounded insane acting like it was normal for their body parts to be severed.

_'I-Is he serious?' Kiyome sweatdropped, 'Why is he acting like they are both dolls. At least I know this reaction will be normal.'_

"Deal." Shirou agreed without hesitation.

"Oh my goodness..." Kiyome covered her face at the depravity of her situation, she was allied with these two strange men while fighting some strange cat chimera in the middle of a private island. How could things have gotten this terrible.

"Hou? Look who has a pair! Just to warn you, the Great Hanamura is a champ at this." Michael smirked.

"Chi! Bastard, this game is based on chance don't think I'll let you off if I catch you cheating." Shirou spat.

"Hah! Me, cheat you must be crazy the only one I'm worried about is you, what if you decide to cheat and just cut my hand instead?" Michael accused, he didn't trust the Queen as much as he could throw him. They may be allies but he still couldn't bring himself to trust him with his actual life.

"So are you backing out?" Shirou shouted in Michael's face as he wanted to get this done with.

"No way I'm just checking my options before I decide to actually trust your white-haired ass." Michael insulted.

"Same for me you Red Dragon Asshole its not like I can believe your gloating ass will live up to your own conditions!" Shirou insulted back.

"U-Um, guys..." Kiyome beckoned for the two men's attention.

Very soon the two men butted heads glaring at each other.

"Why don't you go suck the fattest of dicks!?"

"I can't blow myself, genius!"

"Oh, look I was right you are a woman, who doesn't know any better!"

"Why, you son of a-!"

"You GUYS!"

Michael was about to engage in a brawl with Shirou then and there but the call of Kiyome who walked up and shouted in both their ears caused them stop and rub them in pain.

"Agh! Kiyome-senpai, what was that for?" Michael picked his ear.

"Yeah, that was totally uncalled for." Shirou casted Kiyome a glance or irritation.

"Look!" Kiyome lowered her head and pointed towards two black figures dashing at them predatorily as their stalking patterns seemed much experienced. It looked like they attracted more attention while arguing. Both Shirou and Michael grew pale at the prospect of handling one more opponent while handicapped like this.

"Well..."

"Shit..."

Both boys finished each others sentences.

* * *

**Preview # 2 of Season 2**

* * *

***GOOOON!***

"Raaaurgh!"

"Alright, I did!" Michael panted as he successfully breathed a giant ball of flames at the Earth Dragon he targeted. Feeling so elated that he managed to do his first successful attack, Michael gloated his success to Tannin, "Hey Gramps, what do you think of that? I sure created a big one that time!"

Watching Michael's steady progress, Tanning shook his head and said,  **"You still lack firepower try one more time."**

"EH!?" Michael complained, "But I just took care of one of those dragons right now!" Michael pointed to the Earth Dragon, who got up, unaffected by the boy's last attack. Stamping it's feet the Earth Dragon charged at Michael with its head lowered.

**"Kukukuku! Are you sure youngling?" Tannin quietly laughed as he expected what happens next to be funny.**

"Huh what do you-Uwaaaaaaah!" Michael was sent flying as the Earth Dragon tackled him so hard that he was literally spiraling in the mid-ar.

"ROOOOOOAR!" The Earth dragon even fired a beam of concentrated earth power at Michael which caused the boy to spurt out a mouthful of blood and fall to the ground. Seeing it's business done, the Earth Dragon goes on with its business as Tannin looks down at the wincing Michael sitting up while wiping his lip.

"Ouch..." Michael rubbed his lips.

**"You won't be able to harness the Dragon's Power within you if you keep gloating. For you to get more in depth and control over your Welsh Drive you must first get in sync with the Dragon energy within your body, or else this will take even longer than it should be." Tannin instructed as he could see the progress the boy was making steadily growing slower. The Dragon power within him is still uncontrollable, so to give him that needed control he'll need to learn all the basics of a dragon from scratch.**

"Look, Gramps, I thought I already took that sucker out once I hit it, okay?" Michael rubbed his head in pain.

**"That itself is the problem. You must attack harder if you want to penetrate the thick armor of an Earth Dragon, that blast of fire you shot was probably less than an irritation for him. At this pace, you'll only be able to complete the training with the Low-Ranked Dragons."**

**Tannin tiredly sighed as he knew the hierarchy of his mountain revolved around respect and if you weren't stronger than most of the dragons here then you wouldn't earn their acknowledgement at all. So to develop Michael's power while teaching him a few teachings from fighting actual dragons, he could actually develop the control Michael needs over the Dragon's Power inside of him. This youngling still has a ways off to go. This month of training would benefit him physically and spiritually if things run well.**

"What are you talking about? The Great Hanamura knows his attack was stronger than that!" Michael shouted at his attack being criticized, he placed his complete strength into that ball of flames.

**"Still weak. The current you still isn't strong enough to talk to me about their flame output."**

"Oh yeah!" Michael inhaled and fired a huge ball of flames which decimated a huge boulder within seconds,

"What about that? My flames could be even stronger than yours Gramps!" Michael grinned at the 15 metered dragon.

**"Hou! You believe so? Then follow me, youngling." Tannin guided Michael to the Cliffside of the mountain as they faced an even bigger mountain that belittled the one they were staying in.**

"So what is it? you trying to show me another part of your territory?" Michael looked at the mountains to see no dragons inhabiting it.

_'That's odd there are no dragons there what is he thinking of?' Michael looked up at his master to see him taking a deep breath which extended his stomach._

_'Oh crap, he's not showing me the mountain! He's about to show me what he'll do to it!' Michael gasped._

**"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!"**

***GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

"Awowowowooh!" Michael was stuttering as Tannin fired a massive sea of flames which destroyed the mountain's head in just seconds. That was some absolutely strong firepower this old dragon had in him and what made it scary was that it wasn't even his max output that he used.

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU~!***

Smoke emerged from the piles of ash that once was a tall mountain.

**"What do you think of that?" Tannin smirked as he looked down at the stunned boy, who looked up at the dragon with a look of excitement and enviousness on his face. It seems he felt a little overwhelmed of what power he could gain if he trained to Tannin's level which could take almost 50 or more years of self-training, but felt excited to know he has enough time to almost make it to a level that would almost compete with it.**

"I-I'm sorry for underestimating your power, Gramps, but…" Michael sweatdropped as he looked at the remains of the mountain, "You really shouldn't blow up mountains like that."

**"Kukukukukukukukuku! You're right! I got a little too excited myself, forgive my hastiness! Kukukukukuku!"**

"Hehehehe…Hahahahahahahahaha!"

Both the 15 metered Dragon and the regular sized teen laughed with each other at the Old Dragon's attempt to show off a little too much. On that day, Michael was relieved to know that even veterans just like Grandpa Tannin, could get a little reckless from time to time.

* * *

**Next Chapter- (Filler) Let's go on a Ghost Hunt!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, guys that is the end of Season 1 of High School DxD: The Tale of the Gutsy Sekiryuutei! I'm so glad, I was able to get this far with it and I'd like to thank you for making it this far with me, too, if you tolerated...some, okay, most of my grammar mistakes in the past.
> 
> Well, it's going to take me a while but I'll be sure to start Season 2, once I get caught up with my school work. 
> 
> I'm out, so Peace Out, and have a nice day!


	34. Let's go on a Ghost Hunt! (Filler)

**Let's go on a Ghost Hunt! (Filler)**

* * *

"Are you almost done?"

"No, just give me a couple of minutes."

"Dude, we've been here for about 15 minutes are you done picking that lock or not?"

"Like I said, give me more time. It's been a while since I tried to do a breaking and entering without kicking the door down, which would have been quicker if someone would let me do it."

"For the last time, Michael, I'm not going to let you kick the Kaichou's office door down. We are doing this inconspicuously and that's final."

"Fine then…just give me a little more time."

"How much time? We've been here for almost half an hour!"

"Then stop rushing me!"

Whispering and arguing at the same time, Michael and Saji were trying to infiltrate the Student Council President, Sona's office. Looking out for anyone, who would enter the student council's room, Saji stood in front of Michael, who was busy trying to pick the lock to Sona's office.

Earlier that day, Saji had asked Michael to help him retrieve something from the office regarding a file. He decided to make a pass to allow Michael to leave class early. Accepting the request because he was bored and didn't want to do any more schoolwork, Michael decided to help Saji.

"So would you mind telling me why you need this file?" Michael asked.

"It's something really important that I need to see and confirm, myself. It's impossible to ask the Kaichou for it, so this is my only option." Saji said.

"So you're breaking the rules that sounds like something I would do…" Michael started to sniffle and wipe some tears away from his eyes.

"Mike, are you crying?" Saji sweatdropped.

"I'm sorry, it was just so sudden that I never realized my own best pal would stoop to doing something this crazy… I'm so prooooud! You're becoming like me by the second!" Michael wailed, "I'm the best influence ever!"

"No you're not. You're actually the worst." Saji shook his head, "And don't think I'm doing this for glory like you would, I'm actually doing this because I'm worried for someone."

"You are for who?"

"Well…"

_'_ _That bad, huh?'_

Michael noticed Saji's casted down gaze, Michael didn't want to pry anything else while doing his job so he focused more on opening the office. Putting more effort into picking the lock Michael managed to open the door in time.

"There...I got it."

"You did?"

"Just make sure to get whatever you need before we get cau-."

"Huh, Saji-kun? You're here early. Did you finish your duties? A-And H-Hanamura-kun? Why are you here, too?"

Both Michael and Saji froze and turned around to see it was Sona's rook and 2nd year, Tsubasa Yura. Looking sketchy both males looked to each other with dry smiles warranting suspicion from the rook.

_'_ _Okay, just come up with a good excuse and we'll be home free.' Saji's eyebrow twitched._

"Well, you see. We were asked by the Kaichou to acquire some paperwork for her." Saji lied.

"Yeah, that's right and my Buchou wanted me to see how things were going over here and provide any help if you guys needed any assistance with the school after the whole meeting incident!" Michael laughed, piling a lie over another lie.

"Really?" Tsubasa wanted to confirm things.

"Of course, I mean I am the Great Hanamura, so sending me to handle things here would clear any trouble you guys have here!" Michael pounded his chest proudly, "It's not like we're trying to break in or anything! Hahahaha!"

***GLEAM!***

Michael gave Saji a thumbs up and a white grin. Saji face palmed in response.

_'_ _You idiot, now you are making this harder to get away with. I wouldn't be surprised if you blew our cover.' Saji looked over to Tsubasa._

"Whoa...I mean since it's you, then I guess that makes a lot of sense." Tsubasa muttered with a slight flush of her cheeks.

"Eh?" Saji looked at his fellow servant in disbelief. How come she was so accepting of their lies and Michael's constant babbling?

"Hehehe! See? Someone notices my cool abilities!" Michael laughed excitedly while lightly punching Saji's shoulder.

"Y-Yeah." Saji groaned then examined Tsubasa's change in demeanor.

_'_ _Tsubasa-san looks quite different than before. What is making her act this way? ...! Could it be that-?' Saji notices Tsubasa fidgeting while she was in the middle of a conversation with Michael, her words came out in little stutters._

_Remembering the events after the meeting, Saji quietly thanked himself for realizing this, 'That's right, I heard from the others that Tsubasa-san grew to like Mike after his fight with the Vanishing Dragon, I also heard she likes men who fight and get muddy afterwards.'_

_Seeing this as his chance to look around for the file, Saji gave a huge smile and patted Michael behind the back._

"Say Tsubasa-san, why don't you and Mike speak for a while as I go get the paperwork that Kaichou needs, okay?"

"W-What?" Tsubasa gasped as she looked between Michael and Saji at the same time.

"Dude, what are you on about?" Michael found it strange to be left alone with someone he barely talked to.

Leaning close to Michael's ear, Saji whispers, "Listen, Mike, I need you to stall her and anybody who comes in while I go look for the file, all right?"

"Mmmmm…fine, but you better hurry. I hate awkward pauses." Michael whispered back.

"I'll be right back." Saji rushes into the office.

"So…"

"So…"

Both Michael and Tsubasa said in tandem as they were left alone.

_'Damn you awkward pauses!' Michael screamed in his head._

Michael decided to break the ice, "How's working for the Kaichou it seems rough to me."

"It is tiring, but being her servant is quite fulfilling." Tsubasa answered, "And you, what about your master, Rias Gremory-senpai?"

Giving a thumbs up and a grin, Michael responds, "Well, of course, I wouldn't have any other master to serve as the Great Hanamura!"

"Then we both feel the same way towards our masters. They both are really strong."

"Yup!" Michael chuckled in agreement.

Seeing that Michael was in a good mood, Tsubasa decided to stop beating around the bush and ask,

"But you're strong as well."

"You think I am?" Michael questioned.

"Of course, I've heard a lot about you from the Kaichou and saw some recordings from your past fights."

"Wow! I even have recordings of my fights? That's awesome! Finally, I'm getting the attention of everyone who watches it, right? Right!?" Michael's eyes gleamed brighter than stars.

"Actually, it was more private to those who were around. Only a few of us watched it while the others were satisfied with the result and chose not to watch the whole the recording." Tsubasa explained, "I believe some don't know or care about the struggle you had to be put through to win, so they didn't put much thought into most of your wins."

***SHATTER!***

Tsubasa saw the now depressed Michael holding his chest after having his expectations shattered,

"N-No one cared?"

"I-I mean...I wasn't one of them, I really enjoyed your fights. Especially, the ones where you got a little dirty." Tsubasa's cheeks flushed.

"You do?" Michael begins to lighten up.

"Mm! Yeah, I mean you looked, well, pretty cool when you fought dirty, it's very inspiring too. To see a man whose constantly pushed down get right back up and fight a grueling battle is something I admire." Tsubasa said under her breath,

"Even though we of the student council have our duty to protect the school, you did a better job of doing that, twice, and so I kind of think your pretty…pretty neat for getting that beaten up for this academy."

Tsubasa mentally beat herself up for failing to come up with a better compliment than that. But luckily for her, Michael didn't mind he felt that hearing that was good enough.

Hearing that Michael grins and laughs, "Wow, thanks. You know what, Tsubasa? I didn't really have an opinion of you before since we never actually talked, but I kind of like people like you!"

"W-What?" Tsubasa gasped as he cheeks flushed even red, her face turned red as well.

"Hehehehehehehe!" Michael laughed.

Playing around with her fingers, Tsubasa coughs, "Well the Hanamura-kun, if you're okay with it, then would you mind if I…I mean if you want to…it's not like I'm forcing you or anything to go out on a da-."

"Oh my god…"

Tsubasa stops herself once Michael's face turns pale and he starts sweating in fear.

"H-Hanamura-kun?" Tsubasa turns around to see the direction Michael was so afraid of seeing but in turn sweats as well.

"Ufufufufu! Michael-sama…just what the hell is this?"

Smiling while exuding a demonic aura from her body was Raynare, she was worried for Michael's wellbeing after he got pulled out of class and pretended to go to the nurses to look around for him. Though finding him so close to Tsubasa while she was blushing gave her the only answer she needed.

"R-R-R-Ray-chan, how are things going with you?" Michael noticed that look of anger in Raynare's eyes as she approached him.

"Oh, nothing~! I was just worried that you were getting yourself into trouble." Raynare takes a cold glance at Tsubasa before smiling with her demonic aura growing sharp, "And lookie here, I guess I was right…"

"W-What do you mean?" Michael gulped.

"Oh, you know what I mean, so don't lie. Mic-hael-sa-ma~!" Raynare sang with a creepy tone in her voice.

"Oh my god-ow! Seriously, there is nothing going on here just ask-!"

"You're LYING!"

Everything in the room went quiet as Raynare shouted that in Michael's face. Closing in on him, Raynare said with her same frightening smile,

"And do you know what happens to bad little boys who lie, Michael-sama?" Raynare whispered close to Michael's ear.

"Uh…t-they get a little warning to never do it again?"

"No, Michael-sama, they get punished like all little boys who do bad things and  ** _you're_** that little boy." Raynare forms a light spear in her hand and holds it behind her back, "So how will it be? Do you want it painlessly fast, or do you want it to agonizingly slow~!"

Taking a stuttering step back, Michael started to sweat buckets something Tsubasa noticed after watching the two interact.

Rushing out the office with the files in hand, Saji says, "Okay, I got it now let's head ou-! What's going on out here?"

Saji looks between the terrified Michael and the terrifying Raynare and comes to a realization on the situation. Tsubasa rushes to Saji in a panic.

"Saji-kun, you have to help Hanamura-kun right away before something terrible happens!"

"What do you mean? We could just explain to her about how I left you guys alone for a while to talk while I handled some busi-Oh! Yeah, now I see why it would be hard to just say that." Saji pinched his temples.

"Help me…" Michael whispered in distress.

Raynare, who was instinctively ignoring Tsubasa and Saji's presence, drew closer to Michael with her light spear in hand. Things were about to go over the deep end real fast!

"Ufufufufufufu! You can't get out of this one, Michael-sama!" Raynare laughed as she approached slowly.

"Please…" Michael strained his voice in another whisper. He is in need of dire help.

Separating the two, Saji turns to Raynare to try and soothe the angered woman, "Raynare-san, look Mike here was here helping me with a job of retrieving something, so you shouldn't be getting the idea that he was doing something despicable well more despicable than what he normally does."

"Hey!"

"Don't try and save face, Michael, you know its already too late for that!"

Saji groaned, "Anyways, could you please overlook this small incident and allow him to go free?"

Raynare glared at Michael then Tsubasa, weighing her options heavily, realizing an idea she said,

"Only on one condition." Raynare pulled Saji closer and whispered something to him. By the pale and terrified look on Saji's face it must have been terrifying.

"Ufufufu! Are we clear?"

"Y-Yes, we are no need to worry. I'll take care of that soon." Saji nods while swallowing a huge lump of saliva. That bad!

_'_ _I don't like the looks of this…' Michael gulped._

"Well, since everything is settled. I'll take my leave, so until you return home, Michael-sama, I wish you the best of luck with your job with Saji-kun!" Raynare waved goodbye.

_'_ _I'm not going back!' Michael shook his head and waved goodbye._

"U-Um, Raynare-san, I hope that this doesn't put any bad blood between us." Tsubasa scratched her and approached the fallen angel.

"WHAT? No, no, of course not. So come give me a hug!" Raynare opened her arms.

"T-Thanks for the offer, but I really don't need o-." Tsubasa stops as Raynare suddenly hugs her with a tight grip.

"See everything is good, can't you tell?" Raynare giggled.

"I-I guess…" Tsubasa muttered a little frightened.

Putting her lips near to Tsubasa's ear, Raynare whispers eerily,  _"If I find you trying to make any moves on Michael-sama again I. Will. Cut. You._ _ **Bitch…"**_

"Hiiiiiiii!"

Tsubasa starts to yelp in fear, but Raynare tries to calm her down with a calm stroke to her hair. Which made it scarier to allow happen.

_"_ _Ah, ah, don't make any sound now play it cool in 3…2…1…"_

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! Did I do too much? Well, you could have said so Tsu-chan, we'll be the bestest of friends, don't you think?"

Holding her stomach in fear, Tsubasa looked like she was going to throw up, "E-Excuse me, I really need to go to the bathroom."

"Hey, Tsubasa, are you okay? Wasn't there something you wanted to ask me?" Michael asked with concern.

Tsubasa felt herself elated to try and ask out Michael, but the piercing glare coming from Raynare silenced her ability to continue. Though it pains her to stop when the going was good, Tsubasa felt more inclined to be patient for a later time.

"N-No, don't worry about that Hanamura-kun." Tsubasa smiled sadly and left the student council room.

"Well, that was strange." Saji muttered as Raynare walks out the door waving goodbye smirking.

"Don't forget, Saji-kun, you have to live up to your bargain of the deal~."

"I know." Saji tiredly sighed.

Now being left alone, Michael looked to his friend and said,

"Dude, are you okay? What did she ask you to do?"

Looking rather serious, Saji places a hand on Michael's shoulder and says,

"Mike, remember to put any favor over my head after what I had just agreed to."

"Eh? That doesn't sound good at all!" Michael panicked, "What are you going to do?"

Looking displeased with his rash decision, Saji breathes out, "Let's just go, Mike."

"Oi! Come back! What did you promise to do!?" Michael shouted at his friend in worry.

After a few minutes of walking down the corridors of the school, Michael and Saji meet on a single bench outside of the school to discuss what was in those files. But after being scared to death by his friend, Michael had gotten an appetite and decided to bring his lunch with him.

"You know lunch won't start for another hour, right?"

"No, no, no, you don't understand as soon as we were done with Raynare, I rushed to the bathroom because she literally scared the ever living piss out of me, so I need to rehydrate myself." Michael sounded distressed, the thought of returning home frightened him the most because if one of those girls know then they'll all know eventually. Taking high measures to ensure his safety, Michael decided it would be safer not to return home for a while.

"Alright, but don't say you're hungry later, or-."

"Devil warrior needs food!" Michael starts chowing down as Saji sweatdropped.

_'_ _Is this really the guy I'm asking for help?'_

"So what are so special about those things?" Michael pointed towards the file.

"These." Saji tosses down a stack of files on the table with stacks of missing people who looked to be wearing traditional Japanese wear. Like old feudal priest traditional wear. And last but not least there was a picture of a muddied crest on the ground with the appearance of a necklace. The crest looked to be rather old and traditional looking too.

"What are these?" Michael examined the photos.

"Missing people reports, the Kaichou received these from a certain clan leader whose entire clan's purpose is to dispel the evil spirits in japan or other countries." Saji explained.

"A clan, huh, so what is their name?" Michael looked at each file and realized a few of them did look the same a little like most clans citizens do.

"The Shinra Clan."

"Wait, the Shinra Clan? That sounds familiar I wonder why though."

"Because it's the same clan that Tsubaki-senpai was in."

"Oh, you mean the fuku-kaichou?"

"Yes, and their clan is in dire trouble. To contact devils for a job like this isn't ordinary. They say that they're clan members are being taken away by some ghosts. A few have even spotted those members stalking around this area lifelessly with no light in their eyes."

"So you mean we're dealing with ghosts, huh?"

"Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but it's actually true." Saji found the concept of ghosts a little strange since most are rarely seen nowadays in this era. Especially, those who terrorize humans except for familiars who take the form of one.

"I know, I believe you because stranger stuff has happened like that time where I met a dragon king who tried to kill me, fighting off a flaming chicken, getting trained by a monkey youkai, and can talk to a voice in my head who tells me to do things. Personally, this is child's play." Michael laughed.

"When you put it like that, I have no words to describe how right you are." Saji places down the files looking rather sad.

_'_ _There it is again…' Michael noticed this._

"So why are you so concerned about this? Shouldn't this be a matter you as the whole student council should do?" Michael asked.

"Well, you see the thing is only Tsubaki-senpai was chosen to handle this job alone." Saji clenched his hands on his legs.

"Only her?"

"Yes, you know how there are some humans who detest sacred gear users?"

"Yeah, of course that same thing happened with Asia, for someone to be treated just by the power they have instead of their own being as a person just makes me mad." Michael growled.

Saji nods in agreement holding the same resentment against people like that, "Tsubaki-senpai, who used to be a part of that clan, was shunned by it and ignored by everyone even her own parents."

"What?" Michael couldn't believe this, even the parents neglected their own child? Wait a minute, Tsubaki can use a sacred gear?

"Fuka-kaichou can use a sacred gear what is it?" Michael was interested to know.

"I haven't really seen it yet, but I heard that it's a sacred gear which reflects the attack of a user back at them with double the damage."

"Whoa, that sounds troublesome for a guy like me. I'd probably get taken out in a fight if I use all my strength in a single attack!" Michael could feel that a sacred gear like that could hinder a lot of his team during a rating game should the Gremory family go up against the Sitri family.

But most of all he worried for Xenovia, he could describe her as a real power freak, one day after the meeting incident she was so astonished with him using his explosive power that she started to ask him to spar every now and then. He found sparing with the Durandal wielder beneficial for his usage in Balance Breaker and common knowledge to defend himself against a weapon using opponent. But once Xenovia had started asking questions about how to overcome technical moves with absolute power, Michael tried to explain that overpowering an attack won't always win a fight and that she could think of another way to overpower the enemy. She still wouldn't heed that advice and kept hounding him until she decided to just train harder with him to attain the same level of destructive power he holds.

_'_ _Man, sometimes, I just don't get her, but I guess I would think that way too if I weren't trained by Shishou.' Michael gave a big sigh, 'I just can't believe she didn't bother to listen.'_

"Huh, is something wrong?" Saji noticed the disappointed look on Michael's face.

"No, it's nothing, but anyways why would a clan ignore the Fuka-kaichou for something as trivial as mirrors it seems rather stupid."

"I don't know the details either, but you have to remember ordinary people aren't so comfortable with those involved with the supernatural."

"Yeah, I guess that's a reason."

"First, they ousted her for having a strange power? Next, they come crawling back to begging for her help after all that they did to her. Those guys sure know how to act proud of themselves the bastards!" It sounded like Saji went through a rough experience when they arrived to ask for help, "But senpai wasn't mad or anything she looked neutral about the whole thing so she took the request." Saji was mad at the gall of the Shinra clan acknowledging a member they shunned only when a situation required it. Sounds like they were using her as a momentary tool before shunning her once more.

His anger being tempered Saji looked sad as he continued,

"Though she may look it. I can tell when she's off on her work, too. The Kaichou had to give her some time to think before accepting the job, and within those few days she wasn't that strict Onee-sama, who would scold us for slacking on the job because her mind was probably cloudy of the thought of helping her old clansmen who made her an outcast to her own family. Senpai has been acting rather strange with a few us too I could tell in her eyes that she's really bothered." Saji looked to Michael and pleaded,

"Which is why I'll need your help to take care of this issue."

Laughing to himself Michael exclaimed, "Of course, I mean anything to get out of school!"

"I knew it would be that easy to get you on board." Saji deadpanned his head against the table.

"But just call this fair because of the Kiba thing from earlier, I still need to pay you back after all!" Michael gave a thumbs up.

"You sure as hell better. I got my ass spanked thanks to you!" Saji glared.

"Hey! Hey, we could talk about the past or assemble our "M" team!" Michael struck a heroic pose.

"The "M" team?"

"Yeah, the Michael team good name, right?" Michael thought if they were doing this then they needed more help like last time.

"No, why would we need a team name its ugh… we'll discuss the name later." Saji already got someone on board so he shouldn't worry over that stuff.

"So who are we taking with us?" Saji propped his head up against the table with his arm.

"Of course I do, and they are…!" Michael began.

* * *

6 hours later, standing near the woods of town were Michael and Saji wearing their normal clothing aside from their school uniforms. But that's not all because there were 2 others with them as well.

"Pretty Boy, and Gasper!" Michael threw up both of his arms as he introduced both the smiling knight and frightened bishop who too were wearing their normal day off clothes.

"Really? You had to stay quiet and drag those two here to finish that sentence?" Saji wondered why Michael didn't say a thing throughout their endeavor to find Kiba and Gasper.

"Yes, its way more fun than you think." Michael turned towards his fellow servants, "Alright, guys! You get the gist of our plan after Saji filled you in?"

"We'll do our best to provide support for fuka-kaichou." Kiba nods in agreement.

"H-Hai! I'll do m-m-m-m-my best!" Gasper was shaking in his boots after Michael explained the job to capture some ghosts Gasper felt frightened to go, but then he decided to swallow up his massive fear to try and provide some help if he could. He didn't want to disappoint Michael who he looked up to.

"Yeah, and keep an eye out for ghosts too. We could be famous if we snagged one and showed it to the public!" Michael raised his net high.

"Is that why you brought that?" Kiba asked.

"Of course. I bought this online from an honest to good salesman he said no ghost could escape this net!"

"M-Michael-nii, I think you got scammed." Gasper who was hiding behind Michael commented.

"No, Gasper, its real. He even proved it to me in a video he sent it looked so real that the camera caught the green ectoplasmic aura around the ghost, it was so huge the entire screen was green."

Michael was starting to look gullible that even Gasper commented,

"Huh? A green screen that projects images of computer models onto the surface of the wall."

Michael was confused he knew Gasper was knowledgeable about computers, but he had a feeling that if he accepted that it was a trick he would look like a big idiot.

"And how much did he charge?" Saji couldn't believe his friend bought that malarkey.

"Oh nothing, I gave him 60,000 yen using a debit card." Michael laughed.

"You spent that much using your debit card!?" Saji exclaimed.

"Saji! Saji, listen I didn't say my debit card. I said  ** _a_**  debit card." Michael winked at Saji.

Saji was confused, "Why are you winking at me?"

"Oh, no reason…" Michael then pulls out a card from his shorts, "Here's you debit card by the way. You dropped it in your mom's kitchen, she gave it to me to give it back to you, so there."

Saji takes the card and laughs, "Why thank you…wait a minute you fucking BASTARD, you used my money!?"

"Technically, it was my money because I had to show I.D. when I used it so…" Michael pulled out Saji's student I.D. as well, "You have got to take better care of your things, Saj."

"Why you…" Saji lunged at Michael.

"Okay, let's settle down now." Kiba separated the two 2nd year years and looked to Saji.

"Saji-kun, you said that the disappearances were sighted here?" Kiba asked.

Discussing this incident with money later, Saji confirms Kiba's question,

"Most members of the Shinra clan have been sighted here at this very location. Some have been shown to be silent and wouldn't respond to their clansmen's calls."

"Could they have been taken over by the ghosts?"

"That's a slight possibility."

"Hiiiiiiiii! Getting taken over that sounds very scary!" Gasper whimpered in fear.

"Come on, Gasper. As the Gremory boys, we have to show them how great we are by pushing through." Michael encouraged his kouhai. Gasper starts to grow determined but there was still a hint of fear in his eyes.

"H-Hai, Michael-nii!"

"Okay, so our goals here are to find the ghosts and capture them are we clear?" Saji wanted to confirm things one more time. Everyone nodded.

"Good."

Everyone started mobilizing down the forest. No matter what happens they must do they're best to support Tsubaki through this.

"Yosh! Let's move out, everyone! Team M.K.G.S is on the move!" Michael cheered.

"M.K.G.S. what does that mean?" Saji asked.

"You know!" Michael rubbed his chin, "It an anagram of our first names Michael, Kiba, Gasper and Saji."

"How come your name gets to be the first one?"

Michael would have expected that comment from Saji, but surprisingly it was Kiba who said that.

"Well, because I'm the Great Hanamura."

"That's not a reason at all, Michael." Saji smiled proudly, "As the one who took this job and formed all of you here, I think I should be the one with the first name in front."

"Well, do you have a Longinus classed sacred gear and 8 pawn pieces?" Michael smirked as he hit a stinging wound towards Saji's pride.

"W-Well no, but-!"

"Of course not, so shut the hell up, and I'm the first letter so get used to it." Michael growled.

"In actuality, I believe I should be the first letter since K goes before M and S." Kiba suggested.

"Quiet, Pretty Boy!"

"U-Um… since I've been a devil longer than all of you, maybe I should be the first letter."

"What? Gasper even you!"

"S-Sorry!" Gasper hid behind Kiba.

Now an argument ensued for 23 minutes as they trudged down the path coming to a solution.

"Okay, so here is what we'll do for each of us. We'll use our first lettered name in the anagram when we address ourselves."

Everyone nods at Saji's suggestion.

"Good for example, I will say mine as S.K.G.M. is that good do we have everyone jotted down as okay?"

"I'm fine with it."

"M-Me too."

"How come my name is the last letter in your anagram?" Michael had to be that guy.

"Grrrrrrrrr!" Saji growled.

Rustling unexpectedly a few bushes were being moved. Was somebody there?

"What was that?" Kiba carefully readies a Holy-Demonic sword for any attacks.

"Hiiiiiii! It's a ghost!" Gasper cried.

"I didn't expect, we'd run into one of them here." Saji wondered if it was really what they were looking for.

"Alright! Time to do this!" Michael readied his net and charged at the supposed ghost.

A white light starts to appear from the bushes as it walks onto the trail. The white light revealed a man wearing a white traditional yukata worn by the Shinra clan.

"Wait, Mike, stop!" Saji reached out.

"Gotcha!" Michael waved his net at the man and completely missed. No, it went through the man and so did Michael.

***THUMP!***

"Ouch! My net didn't even touch him!" Michael picks himself up after his fall.

"So it is a ghost, but why is he in the form of one of the Shinra clan's members?" Saji asked himself.

"Either way it's still one of those ghosts reported, so we should at least detain it any way we can." Kiba readied his holy-demonic sword.

"No, maybe we could ask it anything it knows before that." Saji recommended.

"Yeah, that could work…" Michael snapped his fingers in front of the glowing man's face and said, "Hey, big guy, you know why you and your pals are kidnapping the Fuka-kaichou's clan members?"

"…"

The man held the same neutral expression like before.

"Oi! Speak up already, or else I will!" Michael growled as he entered a long rant about the ghost with empty threats.

"That's odd." Saji said.

"What is?"

"That ghost, it resembles a clansman from the Fuka-kaichou's clan right, but I'm not feeling any similarities in his presence that matches Tsubaki-senpai."

"Y-You're right, I don't sense anything like that at all." Gasper looked at the man for a second and once again saw that this presence seemed different.

"Ghosts are still souls with individual auras and presences and since its base quality is not like the Fuka-kaichou, who had this aura as a past clansmen, what could that thing possibly be then?" Kiba said.

Michael was losing his patience, he couldn't punch the guy cause his fist would go through and his provocative insults didn't work too. About to turn to the others, Michael looks down to see a 4 leaf clover underneath him.

"Cool."

While he was bending down the glowing man's eyes flashed red as he formed a katana in one with using the glowing aura around his body.

"Mike!"

"M-Michael-nii!"

"Michael-kun!"

"Intruders!"

The man swung his katana for Michael's head, who bends over to pick up the leaf clover entirely missing him completely. Standing back up, Michael holds his leaf clover and said,

"My lucky day."

"Mike, you have to get out of there!"

"Huh, why?" Michael asks but hears the sound of his net chopped in half and falling towards the ground, "How did…?"

Michael looks behind himself to see the glowing man hold his katana over his head.

"Oh, crud…" Michael gasped.

"Gasper-kun!"

"H-Hai!" Gasper's eyes shined as he used Balor View to stop the man's arm momentarily as Kiba rushes in and pushes Michael out of the way into a thorn bush.

"Aaaack! The hell, Kiba!?"

"My apologies, Michael-kun!" Kiba catches the man's katana with his holy demonic sword once Gasper stopped his hold on it. Kiba attempts to test his theory if his blade could reach this man by thrusting it forward. It still went through him completely.

"Intruders must die!" The man pulls back and effectively performs a deadly head-on attack with strikes that a professional can pull off. Of course, Kiba was more skilled, but he couldn't parry and attack because his opponent was intangible already.

_'_ _How am I supposed to fight an opponent I can't touch?' Kiba grunts as the man's effort of pushing him back were starting to work._

_'_ _If we can hurt this thing physically, the least we can do is completely freeze it.' Saji looked towards Gasper._

Hearing a loud roar, Saji stops to look over at Michael, who was rushing at the man with his fist cocked back.

"Alright, enough of this time to kick some ass!"

"Mike, wait, you can physically hit it!"

"Saji, just believe in me!"

"Mike, we've been through this before you don't want to go through this again!"

"Saji…Believe…" Michael whispered that last part as he engaged the glowing man in place for Kiba.

Walking back to the others, Kiba asked, "Should we be doing something?"

"Yeah, just follow my lead and keep chanting believe." Saji groaned.

"A-Alright, let's put faith in Michael-nii."

"Doing something a little strange can be fun sometimes."

Both Gasper and Kiba were on board.

"Believe…believe…believe…believe…believe…"

Saji started chanting.

"Believe…believe…believe…believe…believe…believe…"

Kiba followed along with him.

"Believe…believe…b-believe…believe…"

Soon everyone was chanting.

"Yes, the power of your faith has strengthened me!" Michael roared as his movements have improved with the chants of his friends. The support was building up his power.

_'_ _Just a little more…just a little more!' Michael lunged at the man and cocked back his fist ready for an attack. With his spirit being raised Michael believed he could do it…_

Too bad it wasn't enough because his attack went straight through the glowing man who slashed his katana against Michael's back, barely grazing him. Good thing he could use touki or that would have been dangerous.

"Gaah!" Michael fell on his knees and hands.

"Well, didn't we all see that coming?" Saji face palmed.

"M-Michael-nii, are you all right?" Gasper looked out for his senior in worry.

Picking himself up, Michael groans and looks back to his group with narrowed eyes,

"All right, which one of y'all mother truckers didn't believe hard enough?"

"Pretty sure I did."

"So did I."

"M-M-Me too."

Everyone answered the truth.

"Then who didn't believe?" Michael exclaimed loud enough for everyone around the forest to hear.

**[Hmmm? I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention for the entire day. What did I miss?]**

"Ddraig, you didn't believe in me!?"

**[What are you talking about I've been resting since our fight with Albion, so excuse me for not being aware of your social life these past days. Besides, there wouldn't be any change to it anyways.]**

"Hey!"

**[So you're fighting a spirit, huh?]**

"Yeah, I am, so tell me what I should do I can't hit it using physical attacks." Michael picks himself up to face the glowing man.

**[…Partner, do you know what Touki is?]**

"Yeah, it's a fighting spirit which allows the user to enhance their speed, power and any other skills they have."

**[Goooood! Now what are ghosts?] Ddraig started treating the boy like a toddler.**

"A spirit…?"

**[Very good. Now what if you used a spirit to fight a spirit would that be effective?]**

Getting the gist of it, Michael slumped down, "Ddraig…"

**[It's so basic like 1 plus 1, oh... Do you need a lesson on that too, well, first addition is…]**

"Okay, you don't have to be an asshole about it!" Michael coats his fists with Touki.

**[It's the only way you'll learn.]**

"Intruders!" The man raised his katana over his head.

"Suck on this ghost freak!"

***WHAM!***

Michael's fist sent the ghost flying into a tree. Ddraig's method of fighting back actually worked!

"Woohoo, I got him!" Michael cheered.

"So our plan to fight these guys rely on using spirit based attacks?" Saji scratched his head.

"Seems that way." Kiba replied happily.

"Now Mr. Ghost you're our prisoner, so don't try any funny stuff, okay?" Michael points at the glowing man with pride.

"Intruders…" The ghost simply stood up and tried to fight once more.

"Hiiiiiiiii! It can still fight!" Gasper screamed in fear after seeing a ghost shrug off one of Michael's blows like it was nothing.

"It can still fight? But I made sure to put half of my strength behind that attack."

"No use to question that, we still have to capture it! Line on!" Saji summons his Absorption Line and extends it to latch onto the ghost but to no avail, "Well that failed."

"Intruders…must…die…" The ghost muttered.

"Michael-kun, I'll back you up whenever he attacks, I'll block and you use your touki to counter attack." Kiba was about to rush in.

"Gotcha, and if things get too hairy we can have Gasper use his sacred gear to stop the bastard completely. We may not get answers, but it would be a start." Michael decided to accept Kiba's support.

"Hah! Good luck with killing us dude, I'll just flatten you again in no time!" Michael raised his fists.

"Intruders…will…be terminate-!"

_"_ _Return to me at once we have more company!" A voice rang out from the entire surrounding._

"A voice?" Saji looked around for the source.

"Yes, master." The ghost slowly phases into the ground and retreats.

"He's escaping don't let him get away!" Michael roared.

"OI!"

All the guys leapt after the ghost all at once and failed as it had already escaped following the boys piling up over each other.

A few seconds of awkward silence later.

"You know after thinking about it. All of us jumping after a ghost, we can't touch at the same time. Not our best idea." Kiba groaned.

"I concur." Saji groaned.

"Yeah…" Michael groaned.

"I-I-I can't breathe…" Gasper gasped for air as all the older boys were crushing him.

Gathering their bearings after that nonsense happened the boys followed the trail further downwards to a clearing up ahead. There was an ominous light just up ahead. Getting down into the bushes the boys looked out to see a strange sight of a row of glowing silhouettes in the form of the Shinra clansmen ranging from men to women.

An eerie arrangement of candles covered the clearing as a wooden alter stood in the middle.

"W-What is this place?" Gasper gulped.

"Those people, they look like the ones from the files." Saji said.

"So does that mean they were killed?" Michael gasped.

"Not exactly, look behind them." Kiba pointed out.

Behind those ghostly silhouettes were the real bodies of the clansmen unconscious and oblivious to their surroundings.

"The bodies! Hey, guy,s I found the bodies right over th-Mmmrph!"

"Shhhhhh, somebody is coming!"

Saji covered Michael's mouth and shushed him to stay quiet. They heard the sound of footsteps approaching the clearing.

"Could a human be behind this?" Kiba narrowed his eyes.

"It could be, but what would allow them to use ghosts as a weapon?"

Coming into a clearer view all of the guys widen their eyes to see it was none other than the vice president of the student council herself, Tsubaki Shinra.

"It's the Fuka-kaichou!"

"Quiet! She may hear you!" Saji hushed Michael again.

"Out of all the people, they could have sent they asked for you, a devil, to take care of me. But I'd rather have you do that than any of those other weaklings."

A shadow from behind the wooden altar walks into the light. It was a middle aged man who had black hair and a goatee. His clothes were also resembling the Shinra clan.

"Under the order of my master, Sona Sitri, I have been tasked with your removal, Terumi Shinra surrender yourself now to save yourself from any further trouble." Tsubaki uses a magic circle to summon her naginata in hand.

"Trouble? Now why would you suggest that? All I wanted to do is live a normal life, nothing more, nothing less." The man sounded nonchalant.

"If you had wanted to do that then why kidnap members of your own clan? Are you not the next head to succeed the current leader?" Tsubaki said neutrally, belying her agitated expression. She seemed rather familiar with this man.

The man narrowed his eyes and smiled, "Simple really because I finally realized how faulty our clan's rules really are my beloved niece."

"!"

The boys hiding in the bushes hid their questions and continued to listen in on the conversation. So not only did they find the culprit for kidnapping the members of the Shinra clan but they also learnt that it was someone related to the vice president!

"Don't call me that, we may be related by blood but I've discarded my past links with you and even my parents to become a devil." Putting a stop to any further talk about familial matters Tsubaki shook her head.

"But that's what I mean Tsu-chan ,our way of doing things have pushed away more valuable people from the clan making ourselves more weaker than before."

"What are you getting at? And tell me why and how you gathered so many of the others and what part they play in this?"

Terumi chuckled with a jovial smile at the questions.

"You know the very same rule that excludes any outsider within the possession of supernatural items and powers. To isolate those who would soon befell the clan's name and bring it to ruin if they got too involved."

"Of course I do." Tsubaki said bitterly once having been subjected to it.

"Indeed, and you saw fit to leave the clan to join with devils. That's how terrible the effects of our rules have on others such as yourself so I decided to make a change. I too unlocked a sacred gear just like you have."

Tsubaki couldn't believe what she just heard.

"You have?"

"Indeed, and just when I confessed to having it while pleading that I would do no wrong, the clan still shunned me, I had already lost my position as the next head, who would want a leader who would be ignored because of his strange power?" Terumi looked a bit conflicted by the treatment he endured.

"You…" Feeling sympathetic Tsubaki became hesitant, she felt what the isolation of one's own family could have, but she still raised her naginata not letting her emotions get the best of her.

Catching the hesitation she felt Terumi smirked, "That's why I intended to create a new path, a path with this power I was given. But don't worry it will not only benefit the clan and those already in it, but also the ones who were isolated from it." Terumi focuses his sights on Tsubaki.

"…" Tsubaki remained quiet as she continued to listen.

"That bastard, he's trying to lure senpai into his plan." Saji clenched his fist about to snap. He was losing his cool already.

Looking to Michael Kiba asked, "Michael-kun, shouldn't we handle this before it gets out of hand?"

Michael looked at Tsubaki with a neutral face and said, "Nah, lets continue to watch. I don't feel like making an awesome entrance right now."

Kiba didn't understand why Michael was so laid back but decided to heed his advice. If Michael felt that the situation wasn't urgent enough to interfere with then he should let things play out for a little longer.

"Tsu-chan." Terumi raised his hands towards Tsubaki and smirked, "Come with me and together we can reform our broken clan into something better, newer. You can see your parents again without fear of them ignoring you again. If you stayed longer then you may even overthrow that devil master of yours. So what do you say?"

Tsubaki looked at Terumi's hand then his face as she lowered her naginata. Shaking with anger at his senpai being manipulated Saji's shook with anger.

"No, no! She can't do this come on we have to stop her!" Saji starts to get up but was stopped by Michael.

"What now, Mike? Now isn't the time to play games."

"Not yet. Our entrance has to be more epic and on time."

"Are you freaking kidding me? This is serious we have to stop, Tsubaki-senpai!"

"Why? She seems to be doing a good job on that herself." Michael laughed.

"What are you getting at?" Saji growled.

"Have faith in her, Saji." Michael crossed his arms.

Saji would have ignored Michael and jumped right out to help Tsubaki, but something else caught his attention.

***SHING!***

With a wave of her naginata, Tsubaki pushes Terumi back closer to the altar. The man looked unamused with this.

"So will that be your answer?"

"There was no need for one. I am here to accomplish my duty as the Queen for Sona Sitri and Vice president for the Student Council. Any devil jobs, I receive are top priority. I would never abandon my own master for my own goals. And Reform the clan you say? You're so ignorant. The clan itself isn't the issue it's only those who seek selfish desires away from the clan that actually ruin it. Terumi Shinra, you not only underestimate my loyalty towards my master, but you fail to realize the honor that the Shinra clan holds."

Tsubaki spins her naginata overhead and directs at her uncle,

"For that you will meet your downfall!"

"Heh! Figures this would be your answer, but sadly for you I can't let you leave here now."

***SNAP!***

"Get her."

"Intruder!"

"Kill!"

With a snap of his fingers Terumi sent after his ghostly silhouettes, in the form of the kidnapped Shinra clansmen after Tsubaki. They were using katanas and even naginatas which resembled Tsubaki's.

"So you're resorting to use these things to fight for you?"

Tsubaki rushes the ghosts and entered combat with them. Since her weapon was mid-range to handle close and distanced combat, she had the edge in the fight. The movements of these silhouettes were rather advanced in technique, but that wasn't something she could worry about since as a queen she was more advanced and better in combat than most of her fellow servants.

"Hyah!" Tsubaki managed to knock back a few of the katanas but when she attempted to strike it down, she gasps to see that her weapon went through it.

"What?"

"Intruder!"

"Gugh!" Tsubaki evades a close call as another silhouette attacks with their katana only to miss by a hairsbreadth. But that wasn't all another came up from behind her and brought down their blade for her head.

"Having trouble?" Terumi mocked.

"Erh!" Tsubaki uses the shaft of her weapon to catch it on time as more opponents start to surround her. They all roared and charged at her with their blades ready to run through her. Seeing the odds against her she manages to push back the silhouettes blade and use her devil wings to glide high into the air and imbue the blade of her naginata with enough demonic power.

"If regular attacks won't work then how about this?" With a single swing a large wave of demonic power came out her naginata and attacked the ghosts below.

"Did that work?" Tsubaki lands to see the smoke clear only to reveal the silhouettes were still standing unscathed.

"What, but how?" Tsubaki gasped then felt the creepy presence of two silhouettes phasing up the ground and pointing both their naginatas towards her throat. Even with how far skilled she was Tsubaki knew that these beings were still professionals with these weapons and any slight move will get her killed.

Terumi walks up in front of Tsubaki and says,

"Strange, isn't it? This is all my sacred gear's doing its named the  **[Polter-guise]**  with it I'm able to make ghostly duplicates of any victim I use this on and copy all their techniques with it. Oh, another perk, is that you can't hit them with ordinary attacks or demonic and holy attacks, so you might as well face it and see how invincible this power is."

Terumi surrounds himself with an eerie white aura which forms at least a single orb of white aura in his hand. Tsubaki knew what he would do next with that power right now.

"With your sacred gear being at my disposal, I could only imagine the things I would do with so much power on my side." Terumi prepared to push the orb through Tsubaki's chest.

But…

**"** **Hanamura Roundhouse!"**

"What the deuce!"

Jumping outside of the bushes with his body cloaked in Touki, Michael kick the man's hand away from Tsubaki. Thus saving her.

"The Great Hanamura has arrived!" Michael grinned.

"Hanamura, Michael?" Tsubaki gasped at the unexpected surprise.

"Damn, so you did bring along extra help! Get him!" Terumi ordered the two silhouettes to take care of the intruder.

"Intruder!"

"Boosted Gear go!"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

**[Boost!]**

**"** **Dragon Shot!"**

Mixing Demonic power and his touki together, Michael created a softball sized mass of power in his hand and fired it at the two ghostly creations of Terumi.

It was a direct hit which sent the two beings flying in opposite directions.

"Two in one!" Michael cheered.

"He was actually able to hit them, but how?" Terumi couldn't believe his eyes.

"Yeah, that's right asshole, so bring them all at once I can take 'em!" Michael smirked as he prepared himself in his battle stance.

"Hanamura, Michael-kun what are you doing here?" Tsubaki was thankful for the help but wanted some answers.

"Oh, hi, Fuka-kaichou!" Michael greeted.

"I need an answer, no time for trivial greetings." Tsubaki sweatdropped once she saw Michael's dull expression, "What?"

"…"

"What are you doing?"

**[Forgive me, but he won't reply unless you say hi back.]**

"Well, now isn't the time for this. Just tell me what's going on?"

"…" Michael crossed his arms and turned away.

**[Yeeeeah, he won't budge because of his stubbornness until you say hi back.]**

"Fine…hello Hanamura Michael." Tsubaki huffed.

"See was that so hard?" Michael chuckled lightly.

"Now would you please tell me why you are he-?"

"Stop ignoring me, you brats! I don't know who you are, but I will make certain you will pay for touching my wri-!" Terumi growled.

"Hey, sir! Sir! I'm in the middle of a conversation would you mind!?"

"But you attacked me so I-!"

"Sir! SIR! Have I ever interrupted you when you talked to a friend before?"

"No, but-!"

"I know I don't, so SHUT UP." Michael turned back to Tsubaki before looking over his shoulder at Terumi and chuckled nervously, "Oh, that's right we're supposed to be fighting you…Hehehehe! My bad…"

"Get them!" Terumi ordered more of his ghostly men to attack the pair.

"Haha, bring it, I'll take you all out by myself!" Michael charged at the ghosts and initiated a brawl with them headfirst.

"He still didn't answer my question." Tsubaki sighed slowly being aware of a ghost trying to use its katana on her she was quick to turn and retaliate but see another unlikely face appear.

"Good evening, Fuka-kaichou." Kiba smiled as he used his holy-demonic sword to defend Tsubaki.

"Yuuto-kun?" Tsubaki wondered why there were more devils here.

"Another one!?" Terumi growled in annoyance, "How many of you are there?"

"If you'll excuse me, Huraah!" Kiba gave his handsome smile before pushing back the ghost and initiate in combat mostly of parrying the ghost's blows. He couldn't attack but he could keep it at bay while Michael handled the rest.

**"** **Hanamura Punch!"**

Michael knocks a single row ghostly silhouettes away in one punch.

**[Do you really have to name your attacks after yourself?]**

"Hey, you don't tell me how to name your thing I don't tell you how to name yours!" Michael managed to kick another silhouette in the face while uppercutting another next to his side.

**"** **Soryuuken!"**  Michael laughed.

**[Okay, so are you referencing moves from other people now?]**

"Ddraig, I have no idea what you're talking about I completely made that up just now."

**[Michael, that was from that Street Fighters game you literally played yesterday, night. I'm pretty sure you took that from someone in that game!]**

"Ddraig, I have absolutely no idea what you're saying to me right now. I mean if you could be more specific I could…"

Michael entered into an argument with his partner. A few of the ghosts took this as their chance to attack with katanas.

**[Michael, you played as Ryu and Ken, they basically use that move!]**

"Honestly, Ddraig, you don't have to be right all the time. I'm just saying I was able to come up with a technique which conveniently matches to what you're explaining."

"Hanamura-kun, watch out!"

Michael hears Tsubaki's warning and sweatdrops to see the ghost about to stab him.

"Whoops!"

The katanas were about to reach him but they suddenly stop all of a sudden thanks to the help of Gasper who's eyes gleamed from behind the bushes. He didn't want to get out and face those terrifying ghosts one on one so he stayed behind to watch.

"Line go!" Saji who appeared from behind the bushes pulled Michael back in time for Gasper to release his time freezing ability on the ghosts.

"Phew! That was a close one I had almost lost my head there if you hadn't had done that. Thanks guys!" Michael laughed at the notion of that attack almost hurting him.

"Idiot, don't laugh you're the only one who can hold these guys off!" Saji reminded.

"Yeah, you got a point thanks Saji, and you too, Gasper!"

"A-Anytime M-M-Michael-nii!" Gasper happily responded as he returned to supporting his allies.

"Saji, you're here too?"

Saji flinches as he got caught and smiles bitterly,

"H-Hello, Fuka-kaichou, what a surprise seeing you here."

Tsubaki walks up to Saji with a stern face, "Saji, I need answers right now."

"W-Well, you see um…we were kind of…urh…" Saji tried to stall for time as the others were disposing of the ghosts in ease.

Kiba was rounding the few, who attacked him into Michael's powerful attacks as Michael was just going in with heavy hitting blows with his touki enhanced fists and demonic powered blasts. While Gasper simply watched in the bushes as support. Whenever a ghost tried something sneaky, he froze it and allowed either Michael or Kiba deal with it.

"N-No way, this can't be happening how are these kids able to decimate my ghosts that are untouchable so fast!" Terumi who stood at the top of his altar gasped in surprise then took a quick look at Michael and Kiba while focusing his sight on a pair of gleaming eyes in the bushes,

"If these guys are that strong, then I'll just use their ghosts to fight for me!" Terumi forms 3 eerie orbs of white aura and fired them at the 3 devils below.

"Alright, we're almost done!" Taking notice of the orbs approaching them Michael tilts his head, "What the heck?"

"Michael-kun, what's the matt-urck!" Kiba was struck by one of the orbs which phased through him after identifying the contents of his being.

"Pretty Boy!" Michael shouted in worry and started to evade the orb coming after him.

_'_ _I can't let these things get to me!' Michael grunts as he runs towards both Saji and Tsubaki._

"Kyaaaaaa!"

Getting struck by the orb also Gasper screamed from behind the bushes as the orb phases out of him and returns near Terumi.

"Tch! That bastard, what is he doing with tho- Oh crap!" Michael quick drops as he realized he was getting far too close to the pair in front of him.

"Well…urh…you…know…I…err…" Saji continued stalling.

"Saji, are you stalling?" Tsubaki narrowed her eyes at the Pawn.

"Weeeeeeeell-Urgh!" Saji continued his stalling but until the orb that was meant for Michael hit him instead right on the chest and phased through his back.

"Saji!" Tsubaki helped the young man up who coughs for a while.

"D-Don't worry, I'm fine, it just felt like it violated my soul." Saji frowned and patted his chest.

"That was rather odd." Kiba gathered his bearings while getting up.

"Auuuu! Something strange crawled through my body!" Gasper had chills go down his spine.

"Woohoo! Glad, I didn't get hit by that! Hah, suck it Mr. Goatee, you can't get the Great Hanamura with amateur techniques like that." Michael gloated as he stood straight back up and gave the peace sign.

Terumi shook his head and groaned, "Damn, I missed that boy with the boosting ability, but nevertheless I still have the other two and that boy conversing with my niece seems to have a strange ability so it could compensate for that loss."

"That attack did barely anything to the others so you might as well give yourself up, or let me whoop your butt either is fine with me!" Michael pointed at the man.

"Watch your mouth, boy, you'll soon see why it didn't do much to your friends." Terumi's twisted smirk shook Tsubaki back to her senses to remember what he was about to do to her with those orbs.

"No… he was able to copy all of you with those things."

"What copy?" Saji blinked.

The three orbs he used flew down towards the ground and formed about 3 silhouettes in the form of a handsome young man, a small androgynous boy and a blonde, normal young man. They each resembled the appearance of Kiba, Gasper and Saji.

"That's right, now all of your abilities are mine to control! Now get them!"

The Kiba silhouette created its own ghostly form of a demonic sword and rushed the real one. The two fought in a high speed battle that took those who couldn't follow their movements and made them confused. It was like a mirror the copy was doing everything Kiba could do with each strike he made.

"It will be risky for me to go in, and hit an opponent who can phase through my attacks!"

Kiba was having his share of trouble.

"You bastard!"

"How delightful they seem to be holding back their original's quite nicely." Terumi laughed with glee.

"That's it, I'm taking you out!" Michael rushed Terumi with his Boosted Gear ready.

ChiChiChiChiChiChiChiChi!

"Mike look out!" Saji sees the ghostly silhouette of Gasper turning into a flock of bats chasing after him.

***GLEAM!***

The silhouette copied Gasper's Balor View and stopped the movement of Michael's legs from moving any further.

"Crap!" Michael struggled to break free.

ChiChiChiChiChiChi!

The bats was starting to swarm around Michael. They were about to suck him of his blood and drain him of his power.

"M-Michael-nii! Get away from hiiim!"

ChiChiChiChiChiChiChiChiChiChiChiChiChiChiChiChiChi!

Fending off the copy's swarm of bats Gasper entered his vampire form to fight back as a whole legion of bats started filling the night sky. The young boy could hold his own but to keep up with his copy which could kept fighting back at the same pace made it difficult for Gasper to maintain his form for very long.

"Gasper!"

"Haihii! D-Don't w-worry, Michael-nii, I-I can do this!"

Michael could only feel proud at his kouhai's confidence but feared he would get tired real soon.

***WRAP!***

"Crap!"

Michael whips his head back to see Saji was captured by how own ghostly copy's absorption line as it wrapped around his body.

"Saji!"

"Saj!"

Both Tsubaki and Michael cried out.

"For me to get careless!" Saji dug his feet into the ground to stop the retracting line his copy made. Releasing the line and letting Saji fall forward then retracting it again, the copy pulled him up into the air and slammed him back into the ground with a surprising amount of strength.

***THUD!***

"Arck!" Saji coughs up a small amount of blood as made contact with the earth below.

"Crap! Things are just getting terrible!" Michael scratched his head furiously, he watched his comrades slowly get overtaken by their own doubles and the fact that Terumi was starting to produce more Shinra ghost silhouettes made things even more difficult.

"Hahahaha! This is the power I need with all of your ghosts on my side I'll be able to even defeat the cursed devils in this territory!" Terumi cackled.

"You jerk, like you'll ever defeat Buchou and everyone else!" Michael growled, "We'll stop you with everything we got!"

"Maybe you, but them?" Terumi pointed out to Michael's friends.

"…!" Michael's eyes widened as he saw many shocking things.

Getting exhausted with his speed slowing down Kiba was starting to get overtaken by his copy who didn't seem to be stopping any time soon in fact it was going way faster than before.

"Erck!" Kiba held his bleeding shoulder as he still tried to defend himself.

"Hiiiiiiiiii!" Crying within a swarm of bats was Gasper who was too tired to even fight back in his vampire form. His copy was scratching him and began covering him within a veil of its own shadows.

"Guuuuargh!" One more time, Saji sustained damage to the head as he was smashed into the ground once more by his double. The damage only got bigger with each slam it made.

"Grrr!" Frustrated with the way things were going Michael clenched his fist.

"Now do you see, child? Your efforts have been for not! Now hold still while I get to work on your double." Terumi focused his sights on Michael.

Raising his boosted gear while standing in front of Tsubaki, Michael said, "Fuka-kaichou, stay behind me."

"Hanamura-kun, what are you doing?" Tsubaki questioned the gesture.

"I'm about to go all out on these guys with my Balance Breaker." Michael looked to his boosted gear, "Ddraig, start the countdown."

**[Alright, partner, but don't overdo it.]**

The count soon began.

"Now we just have to wait patiently and get through these guys until the count is over." Michael growled as the approaching silhouettes enclosed on both him and Tsubaki.

"Geez, things seem to have escalated fast here." A familiar voice popped up next to Michael.

Looking to his right, Michael saw Azazel who came straight out of freaking nowhere holding what looked to be a pink bazooka!

"EH!? Ero-Sensei!?" Michael screamed out loud.

"Azazel-sensei?"

"Hello, kiddies. Seems like you were in the middle of something very important." Azazel looked at the legion of ghosts approaching them.

"Just what are you doing here?" Michael's eyes bugged out, "And how did you know we were even here in the first place?"

"For the first question, I came here to give you this." Azazel handed Michael a piece of paper.

"My test from last week?" Michael questioned.

"Yeah, you failed with a 35%. I recommended you for tutoring, and FYI the Big Bang theory isn't about a television show." Azazel laughed, "Also for the last one it's magic."

"But how with magic?" Michael asked with a dumbfounded expression,  _'Please don't say what I think you're going to say.'_

"Magic." Azazel could only answer with that.

_'_ _Dammit!' Michael cursed._

"Again, why is that the only answer for everything!" Michael growled in frustration.

"Because it is brat." Azazel then turned towards the encroaching ghosts, "But besides humiliating you with that god-awful test of yours."

"Bite my Devil ass!"

"I came to test out this new weapon of mine that I got permission to make." Azazel smirked as focused his attention to Kiba, Gasper and Saji, "Now seems to be the perfect time!"

"Oooooooooh! Are you gonna launch a rocket out of that bazooka!?" Michael was so excited that he had stars for eyes.

"No, I made a bazooka which can swap the places of who it's used on for 5 minutes with their future selves 10 years in the future!" Azazel declared out loud.

… …

"What?" Was all Michael could utter.

"I call it the "10 year bazooka" a I got the idea to make it after reading a manga called Katekyo Hitman Reborn and-!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! You decided to use your research to create something from a manga?" Michael looked disturbed at the prospect of that.

"Yes."

"…Okay, if you're going to do that would you mind helping me create a training space at my house to be like the hyperbolic chamber or that gravity room Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z uses because…" Michael tried to get his own profit from the idea of using Azazel's research for that.

"Hanamura-kun, we still are in danger." Tsubaki kept her focus on the approaching ghosts. They are taking forever to reach them!

"Oh shoot! That's right, but Ero-sensei how will this thing help us!?" Michael smacked the cannon multiple times.

Looking at the copies of his students overtake the originals, Azazel said, "Their clones are able to use their powers at their best in a constant state, so they won't tire out like you guys will. So for you to actually win this I'll use my bazooka on them and allow they're future selves to duke it out with their present copies."

Now stepping up with some concern Tsubaki says, "But isn't that messing with the laws of time and space, you can get in some serious trouble for even having that device used."

Shrugging Azazel says, "Don't worry, I got permission from the God of Time himself with a limited time limit of 5 minutes."

"Y-You made a deal with the God of time? How? The price to do that must have been rather unreasonable." Tsubaki gasped.

"Not really. I just have to do something real quick and it involves your autograph, brat." Azazel pats Michael's shoulder.

"What me, why?" Michael didn't mind the offer to give an autograph but it was strange why the God of Time needed it.

"All I can say is your strangely becoming a catch with the girls as of lately and the results are starting to surprise me you know." Azazel was too vague for Michael to understand.

"Huh?" Michael tilts his head.

"Either way time to make the magic happen!" Azazel prepared the bazooka.

"So are you going to shoot them with missiles?" Michael gasped.

"Of course not, it wasn't made to do that." Azazel shook his head then threw it up in the air over the exhausted Kiba. He threw something that important without a care in the world!

"You do it like that simple, right?" Azazel smirked.

"The hell is wrong with you? How is that even better it could mi-!"

"Huh!"

***PWOOOM!***

The bazooka engulfs Kiba and releases smoke.

"You were saying." Azazel smirked.

"Well, it won't get the others in a row so…" Michael trailed off.

"Hiiiii?"

***PWOOOM!***

"What is tha-!?"

***PWOOOM!***

The bazooka also engulfed Gasper and Saji while releasing smoke as well.

"Oh, come on!" Michael threw his arms up in the air. He would feel mad that Ero-Sensei was right about his invention slightly defying physics like that but another thing popped up in his head, curiosity. It was his first time or rather it will be a spectacular sight to see his friends from the present look different in the future.

_'_ _I wonder what they will look like in ten years.'_

"What is this another trick of theirs?" Terumi questioned.

With the smoke clearing over in Kiba's spot there revealed a rather toned but muscular, handsome blond man with powerful arm muscles who was wearing a suit with a blue long sleeved dress shirt underneath and a white tie. The man had a scar over his right eye as a smaller one was shown over the bottom left of his chin. Strapped to his hip was a single katana with a black hilt with hexagonal patterns. The man's eyes looked to be kind and sharp.

"A forest?" The man muttered to himself.

Next where Gasper stood, once the smoke cleared there was now a very handsome man with platinum blonde hair styled and cut to be short and another thing was he was almost as tall as Ero-Sensei. He wore a black suit as well, but with a red long sleeved dress shirt and a black tie. The man's facial feature looked more confident than any face Gasper could give as his eyes looked to be more mature like a real MAN'S should.

"Huh, where am I?" The young man looked from left to right in confusion.

Finally the last one the bazooka was used on was Saji, who was replaced by a tall and moderately handsome man wearing glasses while having a good muscular build that Michael found was cool. He wore a black suit with a white long sleeved undershirt with a black tie, there seemed to be 3 scars on the right side of his neck reaching all the way down to his chest. The man seemed to have a sophisticated atmosphere about him while he seemed approachable at the same time. His eyes were also filled with wisdom as he observationally took a single glance at the forest and sighed before cleaning his glasses.

"Could this be the forest around Kuoh Town, but how? It along with the city was…?" The man looked confused about what was going on.

_Identifying each of the men as his friends, Michael could only gasp, 'Is this really happening are these really Kiba, Gasper and Saji from the future?'_

"It seems the test was a success. I guess a 35% chance of succeeding was well worth the risk." Azazel said something so careless that made Michael sweatdrop.

"You mean it had a high chance of failing?"

"Well not fail per say just not working like I intended it to, if it failed they would be toddlers about 10 years in the past." Azazel said.

"If that had happened they would have been killed." Tsubaki shouted.

"But they aren't, so let's just enjoy the show." Azazel catches the 10 year bazooka that was propelled high up in the sky.

"What kind of trickery is this!?" Terumi hissed in anger.

"Kiba-senpai?" The platinum blonde haired man walked to Kiba from out the swarm of bats with ease. Not even Terumi could catch the man even forcing his way out, "Do you know what's happening?"

"Gasper-kun, you're here too? I haven't the clue to where we are." Future Kiba shook his head but looked around at the enemies surrounding them, "But I can only say that it was probably for these things."

"It's more than that." Walking up to the pair the bespectacled man crossed his arms and fixed his glasses, "We're back in Kuoh Town, or at least the woods near it."

"S-Saji-sama?" Future Gasper was off put at the presence of the now revealed Saji walking towards them.

"There's no need to refer to me like that…yet, I am still an ordinary devil just like the both of you." Future Saji reminded with a calm smile.

"Even when you say it like that it seems better for us to call you that because sooner or later you'll…" Future Kiba's handsomeness didn't go with age at all it actually grew even more as his smile was on a different level. If he were to smile like that to the girls at school then he would cause them to faint on sight.

Watching a conversation between these three was really refreshing, but by the way they were talking Michael couldn't make most sense of it.

"Still I'm not quite used to using such titles so please refer to me as normal." Future Saji requested then continued, "But more about this situation, don't you feel some nostalgia?"

"Yes, now that you mention it." Future Kiba rubbed his chin and rests his wrist on his katana.

"As am I, I don't really understand it, but-." Future Gasper was interrupted.

"That is it! I have had it with being ignored! Kill them all!"

Terumi sicked his ghostly silhouettes after Michael and Tsubaki who were pushed to a corner.

"Ddraig, how much time for my count?" Michael pressed his partner for answers.

**[7 more minutes.]**

"Damn! It's still not done yet?"

***FREEEZE!***

"What the hell!?"

Michael cursed loud enough for the future selves of his friends to hear. Next was that copy of Gasper's past form using its Balor View to freeze his lower body from moving.

Turning around slowly all of them said one name, as one of them rushed in to help without hesitation.

"Mike?"

"Michael-kun?"

Saji and Kiba remembered why this place felt so nostalgic before but feeling slow they sigh when they see that Gasper had already leapt to action.

"Crap!"

***FREEEEEEEEEEEEZE!***

Michael prepares to fire a dragon shot but then the enemies rushing towards them stopped completely.

"Huh?" Michael looked up to see the back of Future Gasper protecting him. He was able to stop all the enemies from reaching.

"You will not be allowed to reach any further." Future Gasper said with a slight one of anger in his voice. Raising his hand Gasper summons a massive amount of darkness and shadows below the group of ghostly silhouettes along with his clone, overpowering it without mercy, until it formed a giant demonic hand of shadows underneath.

**"** **Vanish." Gasper's tone of voice turned dark and low as he clenched his hand which allowed the demonic hand to swallow up the group of ghosts and erasing/destroying any trace that was left of them.**

"I-Impossible, all of them were erased without a trace…" Terumi shuddered as he felt a bad vibe coming from those shadows and the way Future Gasper's eyes glowed red made him shiver in fear.

"Gasper?" Michael walked a little closer to Gasper with a little hesitation.

Standing motionless for a while, Michael thought he was being ignored until Future Gasper snaps back and placed his hands onto Michael's shoulders while frantically examining his body for any injuries.

"Michael-nii, are you alright? You're not hurt are you?"

"No, I'm fine." Michael sweatdropped, he didn't know what to do at a situation like this, it was just too uncommon for him to have his kouhai who was now an adult worry for him.

"That's good to hear." Gasper wiped his forehead in relief before he stands straight up with a heavy sigh, "I'm so glad, you weren't hurt."

"Wooooow! Gasper you got biiiiiiiig!" Michael pointed out the height of his kouhai.

"Really? I still feel small compared to the others, but I still feel I can grow a little more don't you think?"

Michael could hear the confidence brimming from Gasper's voice along with his composer as well because he's actually talking like a social person. It made him happy to see that the boy eventually broke out of his shell.

"Excuse me for acting too excited, I'm just really happy to see you again since you kind of…" Future Gasper's gaze turned towards the ground.

"Huh? Did something happen to me?" Michael asked.

"Well…" Future Gasper trailed off.

"Ah, ah, ah, no spoilers seeing that you're healthy is good enough that things are where they should be." Azazel intervened not wanting a butterfly affect to happen.

"Azazel-sensei, it's really good to see you again too…standing…" Future Gasper whispered that last part to himself.

"So were you responsible for this happening?"

"Yeah, but don't mind me just make sure to rampage your heart out against those guys over there." Azazel pointed towards the ghosts and the man standing at the top of his altar.

"Right, we'll handle the most we can just leave it to us. Make sure to watch closely too, Michael-nii!" Future Gasper sounded excited at the prospect of fighting in front of Michael once more.

This excited personality of his to show off in front of people he admired reminded Azazel of Michael, himself it seems the man picked up a few things from the boy.

"Fools! Who said that this is over? I still have your other friend's copies by my side! Gooo!" Terumi ordered the Kiba ghost copy to attack the occupied Future Gasper along with those he's talking to.

"Gasper-kun, look out!" Tsubaki warned.

Like a shadow appearing out of thin air stood a taller figure behind Gasper who raised his sheathed katana to guard the attack.

***GIN!***

Pushing back the copy, Future Kiba responds with, "Gasper-kun, you mustn't get too side tracked from battle or else it will cost you, your life."

"Hai, forgive me for my carelessness, Kiba-senpai." Future Gasper was flustered by his mistake.

Directing his attention towards his younger copy, Future Kiba closed his eyes and said, "That attack was well timed, but it lacked the strength to even push my sheathe back."

***CRACK!* *BAGAAN!***

The copy's ghostly imitation holy-demonic sword crumbled in its hand.

"W-What?" Terumi was also confused, today was just not his day.

While fending his past copy off Kiba started to lecture it like a teacher, he even sounded used to it too, "You also failed to notice how many times that I used your open form when attacking to my advantage. Now who would like to answer how many times I unsheathed my blade to cut him down? You, Michael-kun."

"What me?" Michael points to himself.

"Yes, please, tell me how many times I cut this copy down."

"Er...well it's still standing in one piece, so I'm guessing zero?"

"Boo! I'm sorry, but that's incorrect. The answer was one. Honestly, I already cut him down it just took a while for my attack to register in, but now I think it's ready." Kiba nods.

"What do you mean?"

***SNAP!* *SNAP!* *SNAP!* *SNAP!* *SNAP!***

Getting not just decapitated the ghostly copy lost both its arms and legs in the process of Future Kiba's attack. Michael couldn't even tell if he attacked at all since he didn't see the man move.

"Holy crap!" Michael shirked back.

_'_ _Whoa! Kiba gets a whole lot faster in the future I barely saw him unsheathe his blade!' Michael cries out impressed._

"Oh my goodness." Tsubaki covered her mouth.

"That was just one time? But you diced the guy into 6 pieces!" Michael couldn't believe that.

"N-No, even that one failed…" Terumi muttered with fear in his voice.

"Yuuto-senpai, you shouldn't be showing off too much…" Future Gasper sighed a little disappointed he couldn't have shown Michael his growth.

"Hahaha, forgive me. My body moved by itself, and the chance to show this era's Michael-kun my abilities was too much for me to resist." Future Kiba laughed bitterly.

"But wait I didn't sense you use any Touki how could you cut that thing without it?"

Unsheathing his katana to reveal its black and red edged steel blade Kiba shows to Michael a very special thing about it. Exuding off of it was a pitch black aura of demonic energy focused into a fine and amplified to sharpen his blade.

"I'm able to heighten my blade's edge if I focus enough energy into it, with it sharpened with my demonic power too, there wouldn't be anything I couldn't cut. Even the souls of my enemy would get torn down if I they were to meet the cold steel of my sword."

"Whoa…" Michael could tell that the years have made Kiba a lot wiser.

_'_ _These men are too powerful, what happened to those kids from before did it have something to do with that mysterious man and that bazooka? No, I can't panic. I still have a way out if they have powerful attacks then I'll counter it by using a certain mirror.'_

Terumi silently ordered the copy of Saji to use its line on Tsubaki so he could make a copy of her.

"How bad for you…" Future Saji said.

***GRAB!***

Without anyone noticing at first Future Saji grabs the line his past copy made before it latched onto Tsubaki.

"You're all out of options." Future Saji smirked.

"Tch!" Terumi gritted his teeth.

"Now is this my copy? How sad. I'd expect more from this from my past self, but I still was a child back then, so I understand." Future Saji pulls back his suit's long sleeve to reveal his bare arm which formed a black Asian dragon tattoo on it, "But what I don't understand is why you're going after my past senpai like this, it makes me furious, you could say it even makes my blood boil."

Future Saji's body emitted a very creepy black aura which felt similar to a dragon's but it still had that different factor other than Michael's. It felt very terrifying to even look in further to it. That was how scary that power was and the fact that Michael could feel Future Saji's immense output of power surprised him because this much power made his feel like his own output was a puddle while his was a lake. No, maybe an entire ocean.

The dragon tattoo on his arm starts to inject black flames into the line that travels up to the copy who tries to release the line but to no avail as the flames started to engulf its entire body. The copy was now engulfed in a prison of black flames and shadowy aura combined.

"For messing with things you shouldn't have, prepare to be damned for eternity by my black flames."

With one of his eyes turning into that of a dragon's Future Saji raises his hand in the air and bellowed,

**"** **Infernal Flame Dragon's Judgement!"**

Forming over the shadowy barrier was a massive magic circle which brings down upon it a giant Asian dragon made of black flames. It exuded a terrifying aura which belonged to a Dragon, but a certain type of one.

***BOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

The dragon explodes upon contact with the barrier as it decimated everything especially the ghostly copy within it.

"There." Future Saji sighed in relief before turning back to Tsubaki who watched him intently, "Are you okay, Tsu-ta-, I mean Tsubaki-senpai?" Future Saji almost slipped up and extended his hand out to Tsubaki. who blushes at the mature kindness future Saji exuded, he sure charmed her a bit.

"Y-Yes, thank you." Tsubaki tried to avoid Saji's sight which earned a smile from him.

"I'm glad, you're safe." Future Saji patted Tsubaki's head.

The gesture was weird since the Saji, she knew was younger than her and more fearful to attempt something like this. But the notion that the future one was setting for her was strangely okay for her to go along with.

"Doctor Science!" Michael shouted out to annoy the Future Saji sadly it didn't work.

"Hmhmhm! How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Saji chuckled to himself remembering the old times Michael would and possibly still call him that.

"Not the reaction I was expecting." Michael huffed, "But good to see you're in one piece in the future, Saji!"

"And you too, my friend." Saji takes a closer look to examine Michael with a frown.

"Huh, is something wrong?" Michael noticed this.

"It's nothing you shouldn't worry about it." Saji shook his head.

"Hm? Well, okay then." Michael noticed something about Future Saji, he felt the same sort of presence he received from Sirzechs and possibly Serafall when they first met. He couldn't tell how but it felt that he had a certain superior atmosphere that made Michael feel small when he compared himself to him in power. He's really grown!

_'_ _I wonder if I've grown…' Michael wondered._

Leaning in with a sly smile, Michael asked, "So care to give me any spoilers about how the future admires how great I am?"

"Nope, you have to live and find out for yourself the normal way." Saji shook his head.

"What? But we're best friends though! I'm the Great Hanamura!" Michael cried.

"No, you're incorrect. The Michael Hanamura in my time is my best friend, you're just a small part of him until he grows up, so I'm not giving you any special treatment." Saji talked to Michael like he was a child.

"Argh! Stop talking like you're older and better than me it's weird!" Michael stamped his feet like a child.

"But I am older than y-."

"I don't care! Sheesh! Excuse me for trying to ask this bastard for any favors." Michael turns around and crosses his arms.

"Some things don't change do they?" Future Saji sighed.

"No, but its good like this, right? Now about him." Future Kiba directed his attention towards the fear stricken Terumi.

"It will be troublesome if we leave him alone for these ones to handle." Future Gasper sounded resolved to handle this.

"Let's take him out swiftly, but don't end his life it may cause a butterfly effect in the future." Future Saji reminded.

"Right!"

Both Kiba and Gasper nodded.

"Now let's go!"

Future Saji surrounds himself with a pitch black aura which resembled a dragon's.

"W-Wait please show mercy!" Terumi winced but heard a familiar sound.

***PWOOOM!* *PWOOOM!* *PWOOOM!***

The three future versions of Kiba, Gasper and Saji disappeared to reveal their present selves. But this time they were a little different, Kiba was holding a bokuto like he was in the middle of a training session, Saji was holding a tea cup and plate dish with pink designs with his pinkie stuck out and Gasper was on the floor with an ice bag on his face. He looked frightened to death. Just what happened to them?

"Huh, looks like I'm back." Kiba looked from side to side.

"Where did we go?" Saji sipped his tea before stopping upon realization.

"Hmmmm? That was about 5 minutes, well, my interest here is dead, so see you kids!" Azazel unfurled his wings and just flew off.

"You aren't even going to explain the-! Okay, you know what never mind that will be for later anyways we got through the copies of yourselves because of what happened so now we can take out that smug turkey up there." Michael looked up at the scared Terumi who took a step back after he witnessed the power those young boys had.

"I may not know the full details, but I'm ready."

"Me too. You're not getting out of this especially since you decided to try and manipulate the Fuka-kaichou and make her worry for her missing clan members!" Saji declared.

"Saji, you…" Tsubaki was surprised Saji noticed the way she acted these past couple of days.

_'_ _No, this can't be happening, but calm down Terumi you can do this these kids were easy to handle now you just have to do it again and everything will be in your favor…' Terumi tried to dredge up any positive reinforcement he needed to continue._

**[Partner, counts done.]**

"Really? Freaking SWEET!"

**[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]**

Michael cheered loudly as he entered his red dragon scale mail and used his wings to fly up in the air.

"Now prepare yourself, Terumi, as you face me, The Great Hanamura the user of the Boosted Gear and the Sekiryuutei himself!"

Staring at the powerful imperial looking armored boy Terumi's self-reinforcement dropped drastically as he bowed down in defeat.

"I surrender." Terumi cried out pitifully, his spirit was completely broken.

Michael could only blink for a while until his eyes popped out the mask of his scale mail's helmet exaggeratedly,

"EEEEEEEEEEH!?"

After rounding up Terumi and holding him captive with no resistance, the devils used a magic circle to transport the missing Shinra clan members back to the student council to be properly handed back to the main clan itself. But feeling cheated that he couldn't get a real use of his balance breaker Michael decided to make an explosion near Terumi's face burning off all of his hair and especially his goatee. This gave him a couple of laughs and cheered him up.

Gathered around each other the group of male devils regrouped after that little…event of theirs. Kiba explained when that bazooka got a hold of him he was transported to the Gremory Castle, the home of Buchou, and was standing in front of a group of children who looked rather familiar as he was teaching them how to use a sword.

Saji, however, was sent to a tea party with a little girl inside a princess styled bedroom, he felt that she had the same presence as the Kaichou so he deduced it was someone from the Sitri clan, but also she exuded a different kind of aura he couldn't identify.

As for Gasper, he was still shivering in fear and couldn't get his story straight. On his forehead was a new ice pack, to replace the one he had received before, to calm him down. All he could bring up about his experience was 'T-T-Too m-m-many p-people…too p-p-powerful…t-t-t-too scaaaaaaaary!'

"So we were swapped with our future selves?" Saji asked.

"Yep." Michael nodded.

"From 10 years in the future?" Kiba asked.

"Yep." Michael nodded.

"So are you going to tell us anything about them?" Saji asked.

Michael looked at Saji and remembered what Future Saji pulled on him and did a mischievous smirk,

"No way! You're going to have to go without knowing whatever happens to you."

"I feel as though you're mad at me for some crazy reason."

"You have no idea." Michael sighed.

"Saji."

Turning back to see Tsubaki approaching the group, everyone froze.

"I've been patient long enough. Now explain to yourself why you…no all of you are here."

"Well…urh… yo-."

"Don't try to stall." Tsubaki sounded pissed when she heard the stalling begin.

"You better just tell her, dude." Michael shrugged.

"Fine."

Sighing in defeat, Saji looked up at Tsubaki and said, "Tsubaki-senpai we sort of taken a file regarding your job here from the Kaichou's desk, without her permission to find this place."

The expression Tsubaki wore was that of hidden anger, to do something like that deserved complete utter punishment. But she kept her cool and kept her stern stare at Saji.

"So you did, eh?"

"Y-Yes, but we only came to-."

"No excuses. To have done something like this without the Kaichou's consent is unworthy of a devil meant to be her servant. Expect to be punished heavily once we returned."

Tsubaki turned away from Saji.

Raising his hand about to say something, Saji dropped his head and said, "Hai…"

Looking at Saji then at the angered Tsubaki, Michael trembled with impatience as he shouted, "Aaaaaaargh! I can't take it anymore!"

"What is it, Hanamura-kun?" Tsubaki questioned.

"The way you're treating him is the problem here! Why are you doing that!?"

"Because it is my job to punish those who break the rules of the Student Cou-."

Michael interrupted.

"No, not that! You can actually do that later, but after all of this you still haven't thanked him!"

"Breaking the rules shouldn't be encoura-."

Interrupting her again, Michael shouted,

"Well, he broke the rules because he was worried about you!"

"What?"

Tsubaki gasped.

"Mike, you don't have to…" Saji shook his head.

"But it's the truth! I can't just let this go without you getting a thank you. You risked your own life with ours to do this, so you at least deserves a thank you!" Michael growled then pointed at the Fuka-kaichou,

"And senpai he's been worried sick for you because you weren't acting yourself these past few days so he decided to round us up and help you! And didn't you say something about not abandoning your comrades not too long ago? Well we couldn't do the same, so don't deny it!"

"I-I..."

Michael pushed Saji closer to Tsubaki, who was speechless from Michael's long rant,

"Now chop, chop! Make with the 'Thank you's' and 'Your welcome's' while I go change and Gasper's ice pack!" Michael shouted and left as Gasper's tired moans were heard in the background.

Looking rather awkward, Saji said, "Well, that happened…"

"Yes, yes it did." Tsubaki sounded weird as well.

"Look, Tsubaki-senpai its fine. You don't have to-." Saji gave a sad smile.

"No, it isn't. I should apologize and properly thank you."

"What?"

"I should be grateful that you came when you did or things might have ended out terrible." Tsubaki bows her head and smiles, "Thank you, Saji, I really appreciate your concern for me."

His cheeks tinging pink in embarrassment, Saji scratched his head, "Well, you know it was nothing. I just felt strange without you keeping tabs on me is all, I mean, I prefer it if you were by my side without getting sad, you know."

"Eh?" Tsubaki blushed when she heard what Saji said about 'being by his side'.

"No! No! I mean when you're watching me work to see when I messed up, I didn't really mean it like that at all!" Saji started to fumble with his words as he tried to make a good excuse.

Tsubaki didn't mind actually after being reminded of how the future Saji saved her, she smiled and giggled, "To make this a fair thanks I'll keep this incident a secret from the Kaichou, but you have to promise to work more diligently, do you understand?"

Tsubaki sounded strict when she brought up work.

"Hai! Fuka-kaichou!" Seeing a break Saji finally showed some vigor and saluted.

Wearing a small smile, Tsubaki said, "Good."

Yawning, Michael said as everyone looked to him, "Well, guys today has been a success for Team M.K.G.S so let's go rest up at home! Oh, Saji, could I crash at your place tonight? I kind of can't go back to mine for a while."

His face slowly turning guilty, Saji walks up to Michael and places both hands on his shoulders,

"Sorry, Mike, but you can't go back home with me." Saji shook his head.

"Hey, you can't let me sleep out on the streets I just helped you!" Michael shouted.

"I know, but you can't go back with me. You have to go back with…"

***SHIIIIIIIIIINE!***

A large magic circle created for teleporting appeared behind them. It had the Gremory seal right on it!"

"Them."

"No…! How did they?" Michael noticed something glowing on his shoulder, it was a small magic circle used for tracking him down and it was being created by Saji!

"No, even you betrayed me, but why?" Michael gasped.

"I'm sorry, Mike, but I really needed your help on this one, and Raynare said that this was the only way she'll allow me to borrow you. Please understand…"

Saji walked away from Michael and looked up at the moon filled sky.

"Dude, I can't understand at all, you just threw me under the bus…come on, man, you can't let them do this to me." Michael sounded dramatic like an actor in a movie.

"Things look to be well handled here let us leave, Gasper-kun."

"Y-Yes…"

Kiba carries Gasper on his back and starts to run off.

"You cowards!"

"Excuse us for today, Michael-kun, I hope we'll meet each other again if you survive!"

"S-Sorry, Michael-nii!"

"I'm about to die…" Michael's face went pale.

Echoing out from the magic circle were a couple of voices, voices Michael knew very well.

[Michael, my adorable Pawn, please don't move from that spot~!]

[Ufufufu! To punish my cute kouhai, I can only feel exhilarated!]

[…Farewell, Baka-senpai.]

[Mi-cha-el-sa-ma~ it's time for your punishment!]

[Michael-san, please run!]

[They look actually serious about this, they really intend to kill yo-!]

The connection for any communication ended as the portal shined brighter about summon the angered women from the Gremory family.

With his hair overshadowing his face, Michael remained quiet and pale.

_'_ _Ddraig…' Michael whimpered softly._

**_[I'm sorry, partner, but even I can't help you here…goodbye.] Even Ddraig felt sad for his possessor as he cuts off the link between them._ **

Looking at the moon while shedding tears, Saji smiled,

"It's been fun Mike, thanks for the memories, even though they weren't so great."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Michael ran crying towards the forest, like a scared child about to be punished, in a futile attempt to escape his inevitable fate.

He was never heard from again…

* * *

**Next Chapter- My exciting Life as a Devil goes to the next Level with Tennis Balls and Youkai!?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys, and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! Remember this is filler so most of it won't be mentioned again in the story except for a few factors regarding the dialogue the future Kiba, Gasper and Saji made. You can make your guesses, but I won't reveal anything~!
> 
> Also for those of you who know about the 10 year Bazooka, I just have to say that you are awesome for getting this piece of anime equipment from one of my favorite anime ever!
> 
> Now we're getting back into the main story so make sure your minds are read everyone because they are about to be blown with the changes I'll make for the next arc and beginning opening to season 2!
> 
> Well, I hope you have a nice day! Be safe! I'm out, so Peace Out!


	35. My exciting Life as a Devil goes to the next Level with Tennis Balls and Youkai!?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Opening #2 (For this arc)
> 
> Song- "Chu Bura" (Bleach Opening #8)
> 
> [10 Second Instrumental] Running along the beach wearing their summer clothes the Occult Research club enjoys the sunny day by playing in the ocean, as slide for each character is shown individually along with group photos of the Student Council wearing their summer clothing, and Michael's human friends consisting of the Perverted Duo and Kiryuu Aika taking a picture with him, before Michael runs with a mallet in hand to smash open a watermelon, which splatters on everyone.
> 
> As everyone berates the laughing Pawn, the camera pans up into the sky to show: HighSchool DxD: The Tale of the Gutsy Sekiryuutei!
> 
> [Onaji dorama wo nandomo miteru] From a bird's-eye-view, the Kuoh Academy campus is shown before the scene changes to inside the Occult Research Club, everyone (minus Michael) going about their normal business.
> 
> [Youna sonna kigashiteta zutto] While going through some papers, Rias receives a phone call, and, after picking up, gains a tired expression, sighing as she listens to the caller.
> 
> [Kimi ga warattekureta shunkan ni] Within the hallways of Kuoh Academy, Michael is running as fast as he can, being chased by an irate Saji bent on giving him Hell.
> 
> [atarashii sutourii ga hajimatta] Time slows down as he passes by Natsuru in the hallway, Natsuru smirking secretly and Michael's eyes widening in apparent shock
> 
> [Chu-bura-rin na aseta hibi ga] In a field under a darkened sky, Natsuru uses her hands, coated in a heavy aura, to swat away one of Rias's attacks before unleashing a powerful sage spell at Rias, causing a huge explosion that causes heavy dust to envelop the area.
> 
> [Irozuiteiku no ga wakattanda] The smoke clears, revealing Michael, clothed in Scale Mail, his helmet opening to reveal Michael's angry gaze which only causes Natsuru to smirk in amusement.
> 
> [Saa mabuta wo akete] Kiyome runs through the halls of an unknown facility, pulling Makoto along by the hand before they are suddenly surrounded by several chimeras. Kiyome hugs Makoto and tries to shield him when Koneko appears in front of them to defend them, looking uncertain of herself.
> 
> [Kodoku ni surikaeteta] After a few moments, her uncertainty fades and she summons her nekomata appendages, conjuring a blue flame in her hands.
> 
> [Nakushiteta yuuki wo] Standing atop a large hill, the dark sky hanging ominously above, Shirou looks passively at the horde of chimera beasts surrounding him, placing the hand of the hilt of Grand Chariot's sword while a black demonic power covers him.
> 
> [Kono te ni kakageyou] He gains a battle-hungry grin as he quickly draws his blade and lunges as the large mob, whiting out the screen with his strike.
> 
> [Koraeteta namida] Michael (in Scale Mail) moves as high speeds over the remains of a crumbling building, clashing with Natsuru, clothed in a powerful aura, repeatedly before being blown away by a powerful blast that shatters his armor. He is blown back several feet, landing next to an equally wounded Shirou before they look on at Natsuru and a black-robed figure behind her.
> 
> [Ima omoidashita kara] The Sekiryuutei pushes himself onto one knee before turning and sharing a mutual smirk with Shirou, both quickly donning their respective armors. They both quickly rush forward, Shirou charging and Michael following behind, the red Scale Mail armor blacking out the screen.
> 
> [Kimi no te wo nigitte] Michael sits up amongst the rubble of the destroyed building, letting out a tired sigh before turning to see his friends on the ground below, equally battle-worn, all smiling up at him.
> 
> [Monogatari wa hajimaru] Giving a confident grin, he pushes himself up to his feet and runs before jumping down to meet them, the camera panning up to the sky.

**My exciting Life as a Devil goes to the next Level with Tennis Balls and Youkai!?**

* * *

3 weeks had passed since the 3 Faction Conference had come to a close. Peace seemed to have filled the grounds of Kuoh Town once more, but with a few new changes. The Leader of the Fallen Angels is now working at the school as an adviser for the ORC club to develop the latent powers of their Sacred Gears.

This was needed for any future precautions with the Khaos Brigade who could attack at any time and any moment. The issue was still being discussed among the Top leaders in each faction right now. Seeing no problem with letting the young ones enjoy their ordinary school life, Azazel explained that they wouldn't have to worry about heading into war until they graduated from college. Meaning they still had enough time to get better and stronger. Even with the chance of all of them growing mature in the early future.

In the hallways of Kuoh Academy, the students were in their little social groups planning what to do after school. Rushing into that very hallway was our very hero panicking like a child.

"What the-!?" A student gasped as Michael grabbed him by the collar.

"They're coming! You gotta hide me!" Michael shook him excitedly.

Running past Michael, Motohama and Matsuda fearfully screamed,

"Michael, they're almost upon us!"

"Run, you fool!"

Steering their way around the corner of the hallway were a group of female students wearing their archery uniforms who were just about ready to start firing their arrows at the three stooges.

"There he is the "Beast" Hanamura and his Duo Pervert Sidekicks!"

Throwing his arms up in the air Michael, "Oh come on, they're the ones who started the rumors. Don't lower my standings any further by bringing them into this!"

"Ready!"

The females readied their bows and blunted arrows.

"Oh, dang!" Michael pushes the student away and chases after his two partners in crime, "Wait for me you turkeys!"

"Aim!"

"Not good! Not good! Not good! Not good!" Michael pumped his legs as he was so close to making a turn from the hallway.

"Fire!" But he was still too late as blunt tipped arrows either flew past him or hailed down on him from above.

"Agh! Damn! That hurts! Damn! OW! Don't you know it's dangerous to use those indoors?" Michael cried as he rubbed his lumpy head and rushed around the corner as he finally caught up with Matsuda and Motohama.

"Quick, get them! Don't let them get away!"

The Archery Club were right on their tails!"

"Michael, you asshole! You said that the archery club wasn't going to finish practice for another 15 minutes!"

"Yeah, we were just about to secure another locker for future oppai-scoping!"

Grabbing their friend, in the middle, by his collar, the Perverted Duo were wearing expressions filled with tears of anger and regret!

_'Damn you, Kiryuu, you set this whole thing up, didn't you!?' Michael growled as he remembered the past events which led up to this moment._

It has been a week since Michael's reputation has started to worsen because of Kiryuu Aika spreading rumors and pictures of Michael and Kiba hanging out together. She made it sound so terrible with the photos of them eating their lunch together, with Kiba trying to feed an annoyed Michael, who could obviously see how wrong that was between two guys. Now instead of rumors about him molesting half the females in the Occult Research club, the dominant topic spoken about him were the BL comments of MichaelxKiba now.

Michael himself tried to deny it as simply saying they were just friends hanging out with each other not because he was slowly having feelings for Kiba. In fact the only reason they were getting so close than before was because they were Sparring Partners at home. Azazel saw both young men as potential roundhouses for the Gremory Team and suggested they fight together to develop their Balance Breakers. Of course this was beneficial for them to see their flaws in battle as well.

And from that the two have started to bond like comrades should, if only the public could notice that then this issue wouldn't be happening. So to get back at Kiryuu, Michael decided to sneak a prank that would blow up in her face as she opened her locker, sadly he didn't know whose locker was whose. That's where the Perverted Duo comes in having extensive knowledge on every female in Kuoh Academy's lockers from their combinations to their locker numbers.

Impatient to see his revenge exacted, Michael decided to set the prank up before P.E. began so they snuck into the locker room right before passing period. Unfortunately, their mission was apprehended by the arrival of Archery Club, that ended early for a rival school match in the following day by orders of their club manager, Kiryuu Aika, who obviously used the club to chase the three out and punish them.

"Dammit! How could I, the Great Hanamura, fail to set up a prank without realizing club practices end early? I must be losing my touch!" Michael was disappointed with his poor performance.

**_[If only you can judge yourself like this during school to save yourself the bad grades you make...]_ **

_'Shut up! I can focus when I want to!'_

**_[Then why aren't you dodging that arrow?]_ **

_'That wha-!'_

"Dow!" Michael's neck gets shot at by a blunted arrow.

_'You know Ddraig asking questions is a lot less helpful when you should be warning me directly!'_

**_[I know. It's just entertaining seeing you struggle this way.]_ **

_'Oh, you son of a-!'_

"Look up ahea-Gah!" Motohama gets spiked by an arrow too.

There was an intersection leading to two different hallways and a window in the middle.

"There are two ways we can go!"

"Remember guys, we have to stick through this as a team got it!"

"Yeah!"

_'Like hell I'm doing that!'_

_'See you later, suckers!'_

_'Screw these bastards! I'm ditching their rumor spreading asses!'_

"Make sure they don't escape, get them!"

The archery club was out for blood at this point.

"Heh!"

Michael, Motohama and Matsuda wore traitorous grins as they sought out their own plans to escape this predicament.

"EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!"

Taking their individual escape routes each of the young men. Motohama took the left hallway while Matsuda took the right.

And as for Michael, he...

***SHATTER!***

"Parkour!" he jumped out the window and landed on both knees.

"Hah! I made it! Suck on that Archery Club, your flimsy arrows can never catch the Great Hanamura! I wiiiiin!" Michael lets out a hearty roar.

***GACHA!***

"You were saying?"

"What? But how?" Michael couldn't believe how the group of girls caught up to him so fast.

"Dude, you just jumped out a 1st floor window right next to the school's main entrance!"

Michael looks over his shoulder to see that right by the window was the school's entrance. And the window he jumped through was on the 1st floor too.

Nodding with a finger on his lips, Michael said, "Well, shouldn't you guys also go after the other two?"

"We could, but we've decided to take you out first!"

They all pointed their bows at Michael.

"Huh, but I'm not the only culprit!"

"You are in our case, you lowlife!"

"For what!?"

"You! You stole from us our Handsome Prince, Kiba Yuuto!"

Looking from side to side with a blank face, Michael said, "Are you serious?"

The whole club was in tears as the leader nodded.

"You ruined our chances of ever asking him out with your stupid forbidden love!"

"Whooooa! Don't even go there! I don't even let the guy hug me, let alone shake my hand without permission! Is this seriously why you're specifically chasing after me!?"

"YES!"

Michael scratched the back of his head, "Well, that's just not fair…"

"Look, I don't like Pretty Boy that way and it's never going to happen you got that!" He tried to clarify things but it still wasn't getting through to them.

"We won't buy your bullcrap! You can't escape justice anymore! Prepare to fire!"

"I see." Michael stands up to cross his arms.

"What you're not going to run this time?"

"Of course not because if I do you'll just think that I'm trying to cover up that me and Kiba are lovers. While we aren't. So to prove it, I'll let you fire all your arrows at me!" Michael needed to show them his resolve.

"Come at me with all you got. I'll show you that I'm telling the truth!"

"Hm! A foolish choice, girls, bring out the big guns…"

"No matter what you have I'll just take i-what the hell!?"

Pulling out of their quivers the archery club now sported metal tipped arrows. Which shocked Michael.

"Why the hell are you using those, and how come the school allows this?"

"Because we get better aim with these during practices, and to make sure you never be a threat to us again!"

The archers prepared to finish things off with the boy.

"Ready!"

Rushing footsteps could be heard approaching Michael.

"Aim!"

Throwing his arms up in the air, Michael gave his last words, "I regret nothing!"

"Fi-!"

"Michael-tan~!"

Casting over him was a shadow he was too late to notice.

"Huh, who are yo-? Mmmmph!" Michael was silenced by a couple of breasts to the face.

"Stop!" The archery club stopped to take a gander at what glomped their target.

"Michael-tan~ I finally found you! Parting with you this morning was torture, I couldn't hold myself back once I laid my eyes on you! Hey-Hey~! Did you miss me? Did you~?"

Holding Michael's head between her breasts was a very buxom figured 19 year old girl wearing the Kuoh Academy Uniform. But there was more to her uniform than that because it was a little risqué with the buttons for her top undone revealing most of her cleavage along with the length of her skirt being shorter than most girls in the academy, made to keep those curious to imagine because it was long enough to hide her panties from plain sight. She has light blue eyes and medium-length black hair tied back in a ponytail using a golden hairband. She looked to have a cute cat smile expression with a blush on her cheeks as she motor boated Michael's face with her large chest.

"Mmmmmho..hhhre…Mmmmprhou?" Michael's voice muffled between the breasts.

"What do you mean, who am I? I'm your lover! Natsuru-tan~!"

_'Wait, lover and why is she using the –tan honorific, I barely know her…?' Michael sweatdropped, not knowing why this girl was saying stuff like that,_

_'Wait a minute, how does she even know my name?' Another question popped up into Michael's head._

Dawning on her face was a brighter blush with a seductive smile as she raised Michael's head up with a finger on the chin to look him eye to eye.

"Ufufufu~ I see…you're really such a pushy lover, Michael-tan, do you want me to call you by the title you forced me to utter  _last_ night?"

This particular scene of Michael getting coddled by the beautiful girl has gotten the rest of the females crying out in jealously and anger. They sure didn't like Michael now.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaah! No, not Abe-senpai!"

"N-No! Even Natsuru-senpai was influenced by the "Beast" Hanamura's lecherous ways!?"

"First our Beloved Prince now this? It just isn't fair anymore!"

"-Tan? Did she just call him, Michael-tan? I can't believe my ears! I wanna be called that by Natsuru-senpai too!"

"I want to also put my face between Natsuru-senpai's breasts too! Curse you, Hanamura-kun! I hope you die terribly for this!"

_'What's going on with them?'_

The Archery club started to ball their eyes out as Michael looked at them in confusion. He would expect to hear this from guys but why are girls saying so much about this girl hugging him.

"Hey-Hey~! Michael-tan, pay attention to me!" Natsuru straddled Michael's hips and placed her arms around his shoulders.

"O-Okay!" Michael was startled by this.

"Now where were we? Ah, that's right just like last night, I should refer to calling you by that title you love so much." Natsuru's low tone of voice was loud enough for others to hear as her face was closer to Michael's.

"Um…? Title?" Michael wasn't what was going on anymore.

"Of course, silly, but let me show you a preview to remind you why you loved it so much." Natsuru's hand ran across Michael's cheek as she cutely purrs,

"Master~ p-please, don't hold back anymore, as your beloved pet I'll take everything you can give me,  _nya~!"_

***Lick!***

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" The girls of the archery team screamed in fright as Michael froze from the lick to the cheek from Natsuru.

_'Did she just lick me?' Michael felt a chill go up his spine._

Crying their hearts out, the archery club couldn't handle the sight of the vulgar beast having the complete affection from one of the School's Top Onee-samas.

"I don't care anymore…"

"With this, how can we even act now?"

"I feel dead inside…"

"For Hanamura to-to get someone like Natsuru-senpai while we can't even attain that level is so unfair! How? How is it that this nobody of an idiot was able to gain the attention of Abe-senpai! How!?"

The females wailed out as they dispersed with flustered expressions. Michael grabbed his chest once he heard one of them call him a "nobody" but he puts that thought aside for now as he realized their aroused expressions. It seemed they weren't filled with just despair but unhidden lust as well. Forgetting that quickly Michael now angrily cursed them for being hypocrites for blaming him for being in a BL relationship while they can't even hold back their urges for a female student.

"They bought it."

Standing up with a wink, Natsuru looks off at the scattering Archery club, whose remaining members were crouching on the ground hugging their knees with a depressing aura.

"Huh?"

"You're lucky that I came when I did, or else things would have gotten ugly." Natsuru helps Michael up.

_'Oh, I get it! She was helping me!' Michael grinned._

"Sorry if I made things too convincing. Once I got into character, I just couldn't stop myself from going deeper with it, you know?" Natsuru inched closer to Michael who steps back.

"Yeah, I think so." Michael looks off to the side.

_'She's getting way too close.' Michael sighed._

"Well, thank you for the help miss, uh…Natsuru?" Michael wondered out loud.

"How silly of me. How could I forget to tell you my name? Hello, Michael-kun, my name is Natsuru Abe a third year here, so I hope we can get along well." Natsuru properly introduced herself.

"My senior, huh? Looks like I'll have to be polite with you even more since you helped me and all." Michael scratched his head, "And how do you even know who I am?"

"Ohohohohoho! How could I not, you're a good catch with those rumors going around school about Michael Hanamura, the "Terrible Beast" defiling every school beauty on campus. I'm afraid you're becoming rather infamous with that title." Natsuru put a hand to her mouth and laughed.

Michael had to remind himself to catch the Perverted Duo for making the rumors strong enough that seniors have started to take notice of them.

"Yep, that will do it…" Michael groaned, "Well, not like I don't appreciate the help since I, the Great Hanamura, could have dealt with them easily, but if you knew about the rumors why didn't you just leave me to get my ass kicked?"

Giggling to herself, Natsuru started to walk around Michael,

"But first I have a question."

"What? No, you have to answer the Great Hanamura's first because he asked it! That's just not fair if you ask one out of the blue!"

"Oh, come on~!" Natsuru pouts, "Couldn't you answer a small teeny tiny question for your senior who saved you?"

Mulling over this conundrum, Michael gave in with a groan, "Fine, since you did save me, I guess you can ask a question."

Nodding, Natsuru tilts her head and asks, "Don't you ever get tired of saying your last name? Is it like a catch phrase for you?"

Michael was off put because no one had really asked that of him, usually they would ignore it or make a small comment but never a full on question about it.

"Well, I only say it because it's true. I am Great, so I can call myself the Great Hanamura anyway I want to. Why you have a problem with it?"

"No, it sounds like something that will get old and annoying fast." Natsuru frowned.

"Well, it's not because it's my name and I think it sounds cool!" Michael stamps his foot into the ground, "It even boosts my spirit, whenever I need to be encouraged!"

Deep down, Michael had to admit what Natsuru was saying isn't that far off. Since he joined the Occult Research Club, he felt calling his name like that has started to have less of an effect on him. And as more people started to join the club the saying was starting to get a little dull to him.

He had only spoke in the third person because he used to be afraid of never hearing people say his name since they would always just call him 'brat' and any other rude names. He was afraid that no one would ever call him by name except for a few people. But after gaining so many friends who call him by name and actually cheer him up when he's down, the boy's act of calling himself the Great Hanamura has started to lose its former luster.

_'Maybe she is right…should I really think of something new to raise my spirits?' Michael thought deeply about this._

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry into something personal." Natsuru apologized.

"No, don't worry about it, I guess I needed that to remind me of something I couldn't find out." Michael reassured Natsuru with his usual grin and a thumbs up.

"What a relief, I thought you were going to get mad." Natsuru placed a hand on her chest and sighed.

"Now back to my question. Why did you help me despite knowing I was included in those rumors?" Michael still was shocked a student much less a girl decided to help him.

"Because rumors are just rumors, so them being true is hard to tell, definitely when most of the people here tend to get jealous of couples rather fast, don't you think?"

"Well, it is pretty obvious, isn't it?" Michael noticed the glares from other students seeing him talk to Natsuru.

_'Seriously, you guys need to find a new hobby other than trying to kill a guy who's at least making contact with a girl!_

Michael could understand that logic considering the VVV is always tailing his ass.

Suddenly, being thrown next to his feet was a hunter's knife with a small note stabbed onto it with the dangerous logo "VVV" written on the back.

"Ara, what is that?" Natsuru tilts her head as she watches Michael sigh going through a daily threat like normal.

"Oh, it's just a few assholes, who have it out for me and it appears they sent me my threat of the day." Michael tears the note off to read it,

"Ah, it appears they went with the old classic "DIE!" honestly, I would expect something much more harsher while not too complex to tug at my heartstrings, but I guess that dictionary of theirs is running short with insults."

Michael tosses the note away, with a snort of laughter.

"Don't you get tired of receiving these threats?"

"Nah! I've lived this long since I'm so sturdy! I've handled worse things than these guys anyways." Michael laughed.

A hidden smirk placed itself upon, Natsuru's lips as she whispered, "Considering what you've done till now, I certainly can't doubt that statement…"

"Huh?" Michael didn't quite catch that.

"Nothing~!" Natsuru winked and stuck out her tongue, "But to clarify this, I actually came to help you since you didn't seem to match with the rumors I've heard. I'm glad too, since you are a rather peculiar junior that I can't help but find adorable."

_'Just like Akeno-senpai, huh? I guess that's how seniors, who can tolerate me, see me as.' Michael didn't quite catch the meaning of her words._

"Thanks, I guess?" Michael was blunt with the compliment. He had no idea what was happening.

"Hmmmmmm…"

Natsuru inches her face closer to Michael's.

Looking around awkwardly Michael said, "Urh, what is it? Is there something on my face?"

"No, nothing. Just getting a better look at you is all." Natsuru circled around Michael.

"Okay." Michael shrugged, strangely fine with the girl looking at him. He started to feel that she was praising his mighty visage like someone who is greatly looked up to.

He was partially right with the thoughts going through Natsuru's head.

Michael felt something strange from the girl, but he just managed to ignore it feeling it wasn't important. Narrowing her eyes playfully at Michael's behavior, Natsuru continued to observe his outward appearance which made him feel uncomfortable like he was being sized up by a predator.

_'Strange, he doesn't seem that affected by me and I've been letting out enough to affect those girls from earlier. Next time, I should push out enough of the effects to slowly get it to work.' Natsuru smirked with a kitty faced smile as she smelled something more alluring about the boy,_

_'But if I doubt that will be any more help since he's already…claimed.'_

"Um… Natsuru-senpai."

"Yes?"

"I'm glad you helped me, and I got to meet you and all, but…" Michael tries to inch away from Natsuru with impatience. He had a meeting to get to and it was almost time for the bell indicating it to start. Michael thought by telling her about it would be a good excuse but…

"Don't tell me you have a club meeting don't you?"

Michael gasps in surprise, "How could you tell?"

Walking closer to Michael's side, Natsuru holds his shoulder and says, "You can just say, I'm very observant with people that I find interesting."

Something seemed to glow on Michael's shoulder as a pink glyph surrounded his shoulder.

Michael was still trying to understand her words, but as the latter releases her hold on him, she winks,

"Now as much as I appreciate you getting to know me, shouldn't you be getting back with your friends in the Occult Research Club for that meeting?"

Michael's face froze as he looks back at the leaving women who walks off with a slow wave.

_'Wait, how did she know that? I didn't mention the club I was in.'_

_Michael could have shouted out that question but a faint wind picked up and blew through the area. This gave Michael an unexpected peek under Natsuru's shortened skirt. He quickly averts his eyes with a shocked expression as Natsuru, who didn't dare turn back, couldn't help but smirk at the boy's reaction towards her revealed panties._

_'This will prove to be more fun than I thought.' Natsuru continued on her merry way._

"Uh…what just happened?" Michael blinked, altogether forgetting his question. He literally had no words after that happened. Despite that Michael decided to put that at the bottom of his priorities as he remembered once more.

"Aw crap I forgot my meeting with Buchou and the others are about to begin I better book it!"

* * *

 

Intending to make it on time, Michael ran fast enough to make it to the old school building. However that effort proved useless since Rias was off handling serious business in the Student Council Room. The Kaichou had to call her right away due to some news she received. So biding their time together everyone decided to wait for Rias to return.

To keep themselves busy everyone did their daily thing with Akeno making tea, Koneko eating her sweets, and Gasper playing a video game while sitting in his box with the lid open, it wasn't closed, so at least he was starting to…open up at least (Eh? It was a joke…ah…you all probably got it). While Raynare, Asia and Xenovia watched both Michael and Kiba playing chess. Michael was obsessed on winning. Hoping all his losses in the past would end today!

"Checkmate." Kiba moved his piece and took Michael's king.

"Wow, that game was so fast!" Asia has been watching this game go on for at least 10 minutes. Usually it would take more but Michael just placed pieces anywhere he wanted without thinking.

"Impressive, this is the 30th time Kiba has beaten you at this Michael." Xenovia looked over the teen's shoulders.

"…" Michael looked at Kiba and back at the board game before tossing it off the table and walking away.

"Michael-kun, don't be such a baby!"

"I am not!" Michael crossed his arms and looks away.

"Oh, you're just mad because you still don't know what piece does what." Kiba chuckled lightly.

"Shut up!" Michael says with frustration.

"There. There. Michael-sama, I know you can beat him someday."

"Michael-san, if you want, you can practice with me and I can show you how to play the game correctly."

Patting his back in support, both Raynare and Asia decided to raise his spirits. Reminding him of his conversation with Natsuru, he was quick to thank them and sat on the couch in thought of what he should replace for his old saying.

"Hmmmmmmmm…" Michael closed his eyes and dug deep within his mind for the perfect spirit raising phrase he'll need.

Approaching, Michael with a tea cup, Akeno notices his deep concentration.

"Michael-kun?"

Breaking focus, Michael looks to Akeno, "What's wrong Akeno-senpai?"

"Would you like some green tea?" Akeno offered the tea cup.

"Of course! Akeno-senpai's tea is the best!" Michael was quick to accept and happily drinks it. Letting the calm taste soothe his troubled mind.

"Ah, so refreshing with this it will be easy to think of what I need…" Michael sighed in relief.

"I'm sorry for interrupting you while you were so deep in thought." Akeno apologized.

"No, I really needed this and besides I have to thank you for doing that since I was getting nothing from thinking that much." Michael sits back exhausted.

"…As usual."

"Grrr…!"

_'Okay, was that really called for?' Michael wondered why Koneko said that._

Michael growled at a cake eating Koneko sitting right next to him. The girl was still pulling out quick jabs towards his intelligence.

"If I may ask, what were you thinking so much about?" Akeno wondered.

"Well, I've been thinking about making a new phrase which fits me other than saying the Great Hanamura all the time."

"!"

Michael surprised everyone in the room even Koneko.

"What?" Michael looked around at everyone, they all went back to their own things.

"N-No, it's nothing."

"Sorry, if we were showing any misunderstandings."

"I can't believe…no, it's nothing really."

"…Strange."

"H-Hiiiiii! Michael-nii is actually stooping to that?"

Everyone voiced out their own apologies except for Koneko and Gasper who couldn't believe what he just heard.

"But Michael-kun, why the sudden change all of a sudden?" Akeno wondered.

"Well, because I found that old saying lost its meaning I mean I know I'm great and all but I feel like I should do better." Michael clenched his fist and looked up at an invisible ray of light, "I need a good catch phrase which will knock the socks off of all the catch phrases others have! A catch phrase which defines me with nothing but a single word!"

"Ignoramus." Koneko insulted Michael with a single word.

"Gah! I wasn't asking for your input, Koneko-chan!" Michael shouted at his junior.

Pulling something out from a nearby shelf Akeno produced a dictionary and hands it to Michael. Everyone almost gasped at the sight of something they never would have seen in years. Michael holding a book!

"This should have enough words for you to try out until you're satisfied with the choice you want."

"A dictionary, huh?" Michael closely looked at the dictionary with a engrossed expression which caught everyone's interest.

"I guess this will be a good place to start. Thank you, Akeno-senpai!"

_'I can't believe it.'_

_'Michael-sama, is really going to read a book on his own free will?'_

_'No matter how desperate he is, I would never have thought…'_

_'The nature of devils are a mysterious thing…'_

_'Michael-nii, you're changing way too fast in one day…'_

_'…'_

Kiba, Raynare, Asia, Xenovia, Gasper and Koneko were all stunned at the unusual phenomena.

"All right now let's see what the first page holds."

About to open the book, Michael stopped once he heard the door open. It was Rias and she was returning with a file in hand.

"Hello, everybody, I'm back."

"Buchou is here! Booyah, now we can start the meeting!" Michael hands the dictionary back to Akeno and excitedly goes to greet her.

All slumping down, everyone groaned out in disappointment.

"Hm, what's wrong?" Akeno asked.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Everyone shook their heads, reminding themselves to prepare for any future anomalies like Michael wanting to read a book, should it happen again.

And so the meeting commenced with Rias looking rather disturbed as she places the file on her desk.

"I'm sorry for keeping you all waiting like this, I had to deal with a quick meeting with Sona."

Curious to know, Michael asked, "So what was it about?"

"First, it was about our Club's activity report."

"Activity report, but isn't that what you do normal on a normal basis when you have a club why is it so important?"

Sighing with a tired look, Rias, "This report that was just turned in was the actual club activities we've doing as devils. With so many things popping up this year, I forgot that the submission date this time was so early."

"Devil Club activity?"

"Allow me to exp-."

"No, sit down!"

"But-!"

"You beat me at chess! I don't want to hear you speak right now!"

"Michael-kun, it's just a ga-!"

"SIT!"

Kiba immediately sat down on the couch after Michael stated his clear distaste for his explanation. Groaning, Rias looks over to Akeno to explain what the Devil Club Activity is used for.

"Buchou, a pure blooded devil was required to go to a school in the Underworld for High-Class devils, but since she chose to study in japan as a special privilege student she has the responsibilities of collecting her needed amount of units for Kuoh Academy."

"What happens if she doesn't collect them on time?" Michael felt a bad feeling about this.

Looking over at Rias, Akeno relinquishes her position for Rias to answer.

"I will be forced to return to the Underworld."

Michael stuttered back then thought,  _'What? Is that what would really happen? Rias will be forced to go home in the underworld?'_

"Attaining credits. Buchou must acquire them through other means than making pacts with humans. Another assignment she must do would be to research the types of monsters and youkai in Japan. This privilege she has been given allows us, servants the freedom to freely live here in the Human World."

_'Wait ,then all of us would have had to stay in the Underworld? Man, that's really inconvenient especially with the way things have occurred here. I couldn't imagine this place not being under the protection of Rias.' Michael rubbed his head._

Looking around at everyone, Rias says,

"My report is due today, and I must know the present state of monsters and youkai living in town. The only source I can look into will be the knowledgeable Kappa who lives in the swamp on the outskirts of town."

"Wait, a Kappa!? Wait, whoa! We have a swamp directly out of town!?" Michael was more impressed with that last statement.

Raising his hand, Kiba prepared to say something until he caught notice of Michael glaring at him.

_'Say something I dare you!'_

Resorting to using Koneko to say out his words, Kiba whispered for Koneko to announce.

"Yuuto-senpai says the Kappa returned to his homeland to inherit his family business."

"A business? What kind of business." Raynare asked curiously.

Yuuto whispered again for Koneko to respond,

"… …A Cucumber cultivation business."

"Yup, that's a Kappa alright." Michael was quite familiar with those youkai from old Japanese lore.

"… So he returned to his homeland. It's a much more stable career than being a rapper."

"…A what?" Michael didn't quite get that last part.

Raising his hand at Michael, Kiba wanted to answer the full question.

Fed up with the guy's attempts to be the know it all, Michael let him spoke with a nod.

"Unfortunately, the Kappa left home to work on his rapping career. His songs were rather good actually especially, 'Shirikodama Rhapsody.'"

"That name doesn't even make sense!" Michael shouted.

"…The light of the town which dries my plate, my anger which cannot be conveyed, I will just take your Shirikodama."

"Oh my goodness! Koneko-chan just rapped that is so cool!"

Michael gazed at Koneko with shining eyes, who would have thought that she was so good at something so unexpected for her usual quiet behavior.

"Koneko was a fan of his." Kiba pointed out.

"Wow, that is so… unexpected."

Michael sweatdropped as Rias stood up and walked around her desk.

"But due to a disease his father received called 'plate shortening disease' his entire family was able to pass on the tradition to cultivate cucumbers to him."

_'After all this talk about cucumbers, I'm starting to grow a hankering for them about now.' Michael grimaced as his stomach grumbled._

"So it looks to be the gossip loving Dullahan that lives in the old mansion in the fourth district." Akeno says, making Michael stop to think about the monster she just described.

"Wait, Dullahan? Isn't that a headless rider from those Halloween stories? Those are actually real?"

Xenovia answers,

"Yes, they are headless knights which seem to carry their detached heads while they ride around on their intimidating horses. I was able to slay a few in a couple of missions in Europe."

_'Oh, so she's just like a Monster Hunter then, how many weird jobs did she do as an exorcist?' Michael blinked at the Blue haired girl in question._

"Picking up a dusty thick book, Kiba walks past Michael and slams it on the table.

"Excuse me." Kiba opens the book and says,

"This is the Monster encyclopedia, any monster you can name will be found here. It has a convenient function to automatically take you to the page you want, for example, Dullahan."

Almost like a machine the book flipped to the page without question.

"Whoa, that's so cool! Can I see?" Michael tried to touch the book.

***SMACK!***

"Ow!"

"…You're seeing it just fine with your eyes right now."

"You little…"

Michael rubs the hand that Koneko smacked away.

Glossing over the book there was only a picture of a headless knight with devil letters around it explaining the necessary information. However Michael couldn't read this.

Ignoring his useless attempts to read the spelling, Michael zeroed in on the picture.

"So that's what we're looking for, huh? Sounds like a piece of cake for the Gre- I mean me." Michael stopped himself, finding a new catch phrase will be harder than he thought.

"The Dullahan that we need just had a hernia a couple days ago, so its head is in the hospital now."

Akeno reported.

"How troublesome. Now we have to use a different approach to this." Rias didn't look that thrilled with the new change in plans.

"A different approach, but how?"

"…Baka-senpai…"

"Huh-Gwack!"

Michael rubbed his chin before being strapped down by ropes and pinned by Koneko's foot.

"Koneko-chan, what are you doing!?"

"…Buchou allow baka-senpai to take its place as the topic for the report. 'An Idiot Dragon' is rather rare to infer to them."

"WHAAAAAT!?"

Michael panicked.

"…Michael-senpai, stay quiet. Your only valuable when you only speak when spoke to."

"Oi! I'm not an object, you kn-Goooogh!" Michael coughed once Koneko stomped on his back.

Ignoring the conversation along with the others, who just sat there and watched the senior and junior bicker. Rias came to a conclusion,

"There doesn't seem to be any other way, so we'll go to her for the information."

Asia tilts her head, "Um… who do you have in mind."

"Someone who is very knowledgeable about monsters in this academy, a monster tamer."

"By the way Buchou what was the other part of the meeting about."

Dawning on Rias' face was a serious expression. Now comes the grave news she had heard from Sona.

"We're going to receive a personal message and a request from another Pure Blooded Devil family."

"We are, but don't they usually use a magic circle for that why a messenger?" Xenovia decided to ask.

"That's the problem for why a worthy messenger, who can better defend himself, is needed because any use of our communication using magic in this area has been getting jammed or bugged by someone else."

"!" Everyone in the room were stunned.

"Really, but who could it be?" Michael grunts and picks himself up, "Is it the Khaos Brigade?"

"We haven't the clue on what has been going on except for the trading of information and supplies the Devil Faction and Fallen Angel Faction have been experiencing. The transportation units that are used to guard the supplies have been redirected through their teleportation circles to unknown areas. The only good from this was that most of every unit was only injured to the point of them losing their ability to fight."

"So I guess that's why Ero-sensei isn't here." Michael assumed since Ero-sensei has been absent at school for quite a while now along with Mittelt and Kalawarner who have used magic to have permission to leave school. Raynare told him they had to act as the bodyguards for Azazel while they returned. Michael was still jealous that he couldn't use magic that way to get out of his own classes, but knowing Rias and everyone else he would have been forced either way.

"Exactly, he intends to see why there are bugs affecting with the transportation of his Artificial Sacred Gear data being stolen in parts and pieces." Rias explained.

"The information they're collecting are from that research?" Akeno muttered to herself looking troubled.

"And their past attacks haven't had any casualties right? So we can only assume this isn't part of a terrorist attack from the Khaos Brigade." Kiba placed 2 and 2 together to receive that outcome.

"It's still too soon for us to say anything. It is odd that they seek so many supplies we want to give to the Grigoris as a show of our promise to share any resources we have for the exchange of research from Azazel's Artificial Sacred Gears." Rias additionally explains, "From now on, we must be careful my adorable servants until we find the one responsible for all of this. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Everyone responded.

"Buchou-san, what kind of devil family will send a messenger?" Asia questioned.

"We have been given a message and asked a request by the House of Agares." Rias puts a hand to her forehead, she could already feel the stress to come from this. And she wasn't the only one as Kiba and Koneko looked perplexed. As Akeno giggled to herself quite able to tell who they're talking about, but strangely she seemed to be wearing a determined expression saying 'I won't let them have any chance to beat me.'

"Hey, Buchou, just who is coming to give us the message?" Michael asked.

"A Peerage member from an old friend of mine named Seekvaira Agares, she like me will soon be the heiress of the Agares clan. She's sending her [Queen] to inform us about the issue behind these ambushes and defective magic circles."

"A new devil? Wow, I wonder what they're like?" Michael wondered out loud.

_'You can't meet him.' Rias along with her elder devil servants thought._

"A [Queen], huh? Whoa, a chance to see a new devil around here! Meaning a whole new slate… I want to make them feel so unwelcomed, and show them just how great a person I am!" Michael grinned and laughed to himself.

_'Then you definitely can't meet him now!' Everyone thought while sweatdropping._

"Michael, allow me to clarify that you are not to engage this guest in any way possible as he arrives." Rias was setting down ground rules.

"But Buchou whyyyyyy!?" Michael whined.

***PUUULLLLL!***

"I don't have to explain my reasons just don't engage this Queen no matter what. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yweah vwery sho pwease strwop pwing my chweeks!" Michael cried out loud.

* * *

Traversing to the Tennis Courts, Michael accompanied Rias to search for the Monster Tamer. Looking at the courts filled with tennis players having practice matches Michael was lost in thought for his new catchphrase.

_'A new phrase for me to use…' Michael thought intently._

"Michael?" Rias breaks him out of stupor.

"Huh? Oh sorry, Rias. I was thinking way too much and I gotta say it hurts." Michael casually called her by name.

"No worries just make sure not to overexert yourself, okay?"

Smiling from being called by name, Rias has grown quite elated with how forward Michael was in their growing relationship. He started to call her by name more often. He's also taken notice of her more often as well, and she was able to talk casually with him when they were alone. Although there may have been a few new challengers in the home that everyone shared, she still felt that she was in the lead. She felt a little lax with some of the teasing Michael was receiving from Akeno, but whenever things escalated too fast, then she made sure to cut things off before they got out of hand.

Michael was still a little flustered when trying to get the hang of things as he noticed significant changes when he was alone with Rias. She was very dependent on him as of lately as she made cute gestures of not being able to sleep unless he kisses her good night. There were times she even asked him to spoil her more by holding her gently in his arms and sitting on his lap.

He was still immature when it came to certain things that couples, do but he still tried his best for her. Which is exactly why he still needs to figure out his future plans for a date with her coming soon.

He lost focus as he heard the jeers of the many tennis players who caught him with Rias.

"Kyaaa! It's the Terrible Beast Hanamura!"

"Quick, don't let him look at you or you'll be his next victim!"

"G-Get away from Rias-senpai, you vile creature."

"Oi! Stop treating me like a sick animal, and get over yourselves! I'm not even interested in your crummy practice of handling so many balls! So there, Meh!" Michael pulled down his eyelid and insulted the girls.

Turning back to Rias, Michael sighs, "Man those girls have no idea who they're talking to like that. Sorry for that, Rias."

"You don't have to apologize. I understand your position with them as of late. I don't mind this at all so don't worry." Rias managed to save Michael of his guilt. Feeling so grateful that this was the girl he came to confess his feelings to.

Thus bringing up a topic.

"Say Rias." Michael folds his arms behind his head and looked up.

"Hm?"

"I've been wondering, what's your favorite place to go to in town?"

"My favorite place? What brought this up?"

Rias slightly enjoying the lone company of Michael besides her talking in his usual fashion.

"Well, it's sort of, I was hoping to plan ahead for our…*Gulp!* date, and I kind of want to know where you want to go, so I can plan ahead." Michael's face turned a little red.

"Oh, oh..." Rias' was surprised and coughed, "Well…" Rias now turned red as well, she mulled over any possible places she likes then giggles, "Actually, I'll leave this to you since you did ask me out, Michael."

"What? Are you serious?" Michael gasped, once he knew Rias was playing with him.

"Of course. You're the gentlemen, so I believe in your judgement to pick a place I'll enjoy." Rias winked while sticking out her tongue.

_'So cute.' Michael blushed a little then shook his head._

"But are you sure you just can't tell me a little hint? I mean come on, it doesn't have to be an obvious one I can do vague too!" Michael muttered in frustration.

Rias started laughing to herself with the light conversation they were having while searching for the Monster Tamer in the school.

"Hmhmhmhmhm!" Rias giggled in her hand.

"Hm? What is it?" Michael didn't notice why she was laughing.

"Oh, its nothing."

"Eh? What now? You can't even tell me why you're laughing?"

"Hmhm! Like I said its nothing."

"Hmph! Fine, then don't tell me. I'll just find out for myself later."

"Ufufu, Okay then I guess after hearing that I didn't need tell you I was kidding."

"Man…!" Michael clicked his tongue in annoyance but laughs to himself afterwards, enjoying his time with Rias.

"So Rias, who exactly is the Monster Hunter around here and are they aware you're a devil?"

"Tentatively. This campus holds humans that come from special backgrounds that correlate with devils. So they should be aware that this school is our base."

Coming closer to the benches, Michael and Rias sat down together while waiting for someone Rias can infer is the Monster Hunter. She had called them before hand to meet there.

"I wonder when they'll get here."

***CLOP!* *CLOP!* *CLOP!***

***Hiheeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!***

Catching the noise of clopping and neighing in the distance, Michael looked towards the court to see a woman with brown hair twirled in a roll elegantly, with brown eyes wearing the Kuoh Academy girl's uniform. She was riding in on a huge black horse with red glowing eyes.

"Ohohohoho! Rias-san, how rare of you to visit me here! Welcome, and how have you been doing?" The girl spoke with a high and mighty tone.

"Okay, who's that?" Michael pointed.

"That is the Tennis club's captain, Abe Kiyome, a 3rd year just like me."

"Wait, Abe? But isn't that the same name that…" Michael remembered back to this morning with his encounter with Natsuru who shared the same surname.

_'Eh!? So what you're telling me is that Natsuru-senpai is related to Kiyome-senpai!?' Michael's shock was written on his face._

"And it seems she brought along her Dullahan as well." Rias crossed her arms.

"Wait, really?"

***CLANK!***

The Black headless suit of armor jumped off the horse with Kiyome and waved at the tennis players as they approached Michael and Rias.

"So what do you think? It's a fine horse wouldn't you say? Mr. Smith, my Dullahan, caught some hernia, so I was tasked to watch over it until he recovered." Kiyome spoke with so much pride.

"And this here is Mr. Smith's body." Kiyome introduced the Dullahan, who waved and bowed its headless head to the two in respect.

"Whoa…" Michael waved his hand over the monster's armor and said, "You really are headless."

_'How do they allow someone like this to walk around freely?' Michael thought._

"Ara, bringing a monster is against school rules, remember?" Rias reminded.

_'I don't think there should be a rule to tell you not to bring monsters into the school.' Michael shook his head._

"That's been taken care of since it's in my care, I gave it a job to do while its head is hospitalized. He is now our tennis club's mascot! Dullahan, the "Headless Honda-kun"!" Kiyome introduced the monster while holding a watermelon, "As a replacement, we decided to use this. Don't you think it fits with the season?"

Michael about to sass it up in 3…2…1…

"Ahem! Mascot...? But he literally has no head yet! How can a watermelon compensate for a head I mean sure it's delicious, but not a substitute for a real human head! And why the hell did you call him Honda!?"

"It's fine, a mascot is an okay excuse." Rias nodded, easily convinced.

"But this thing has no head!" Michael tried to explain but Rias was still fine with that notion.

"Michael the head isn't the problem here."

"No, the head is the only problem here!"

"Kaichou, herself was willing to agree with this." Kiyome shrugged.

Groaning in defeat, Michael decided to lay off and said, "You know what? Fine. Honda, the Dullahan, is the perfect mascot. I'll leave it like that."

"Kyaa! Honda-kun! Your armor from the west is so shiny today!"

"A headless mascot is a new type of trend these days! So cool!"

***SHATTER!***

"What that's not fair…" Michael gripped his chest as he watched the popularity of Honda raise up with each cheer. He couldn't believe it a monster with no face and no head was actually doing better than him. And this thing hasn't even been here as long as he has!

_'He's a headless monster! How come he gets all the positive attention while I get-!'_

"Hanamura drop dead!"

"You filthy beast get away from Rias-senpai! Beast! Pest!"

"Honda-kun! Take Hanamura's head!"

"That's just not fair!" Michael shook the headless monster and cried, "How can you be so popular? Come on, tell me your secret! PLEASE!"

Honda rubbed the back of Michael's shoulder slowly soothing his depression.

Slapping the arm off of him, Michael cried, "I don't need your pity!"

"Calm down, Michael. It's fine that he's popular that way, yes?" Rias was concerned about Honda being feared by the students as an actual monster, being a mascot actually covers any future misunderstandings.

"I know, but it's not fair. I am the great one. How come some monster without a head is so much famous?" Wrapping her arms around Michael Rias calms him down.

"It's fine. Just take a breather… to relax okay?"

"Alright." Michael sighs before turning to Honda who seemed to be looking at him.

"What are you looking at?" Michael narrowed his eyes.

**_[You do know he can't actually see you, right?]_ **

_'Not now, Ddraig!'_

*CLANG!* *CLANG!*

Honda pounded his chest and gestured 'are we cool?'

Translating that Michael responds bitterly, "Yeah, I guess."

Honda raised a fist towards Michael who happily bumps it in return. The two were already becoming friends.

"Noooooo! Hanamura is slowly corrupting Honda-kun towards his side!"

The tennis players cried.

"Shaddup!" Michael picks up a nearby basket of tennis balls and hurls them at the team who scattered in a vain attempt to run within the gated courts.

Returning to business Kiyome asks, "So then, Rias-san. What business do you have with me?"

"The captain of the tennis club, Abe Kiyome-san. I'm sorry to bother you, but may I interview your work as a beast tamer? I would also be happy if you would tell me a few things about the monsters and youkai that you have under your control."

Rias asks her.

"No, I don't want to."

Abe-senpai denied the request immediately.

"Why do I have to explain myself to you, a devil? I'm grateful for having been accepted onto this campus, but this and that would be two different things wouldn't you agree? It also seems like you have connections with many people from different industries, so there won't be any reason for you to interview me specifically, correct?"

Rias tries to negotiate with Kiyome Abe who tries to avoid any agreement.

"So won't having a connection with me be beneficial then?"

Abe-senpai laughs loudly, while putting her hand on her mouth.

"Ohohohohohohohoho! You have quite the confidence in yourself! But having a connection with you feels like it will become troublesome afterwards! So at the same time I've decided to also have a relationship like this with the Kaichou, distancing myself from you devils. A trade with a devil needs to be done carefully, or else I might have my soul taken away, correct?"

"…"

Buchou put on an astonished face at Kiyome's thought out reply.

Still in this to get the report Rias says, "Nowadays, we don't do such drastic actions. I will just invite you for tea or dinner normally. What do you say?"

"Hmmmm…" Kiyome looked over Rias' shoulder to see Michael and apparently Honda chucking tennis balls at the screaming tennis team. Her smile turns to that of a lecherous grin.

"Ufufufu, I just thought of something fun. How about instead, we have a tennis match between me and my monsters against you and your devils in that Occult Research Club? The loser will have to obey whatever the winner says for free."

Smiling when a compromise was brought up, Rias crossed her arms.

"Ara, this seems fair. I know how to play the sport rather well. So if we win how about you cooperate with the interview? And what do you desire if you win, Kiyome-san?"

Rias was nudged to the side by Rias as she points at Michael,

"Him. Is that the famous Welsh Dragon rumored to have defeated a Fallen Angel Cadre and tie with this generation's Vanishing Dragon?"

Kiyome noticed the displeased look on Rias' face and smirked, "It is, isn't it?"

Her interest was like a collector of some sorts. Those eyes seemed very dangerous.

"That is what I want. If I win, I will borrow him. A rare dragon would have been the pinnacle of my collection, but since he's your servant I don't see any problem with just borrowing him for a while. So do we have a de-?"

"No." Rias rejected the same way Kiyome did not too long ago, "He is my important servant and I don't feel like giving him over to you that way."

"I see then let's forget that this discussion never hap-." Kiyome was about to leave until a voice stops her.

"We accept your terms."

"Akeno? Wait just a minute!"

Rias tries to argue with her queen, who was watching this scene from far away in case things got rough.

"Buchou, you must understand if we simply win, we could solve everything without any doubt."

Looking back at the tennis ball throwing, Michael and Kiyome who stood there with a smirk altogether fine with either choice made. Rias decided to go with the gamble on her activity report and her pawn.

"I understand. We accept." Rias turns back to Kiyome who laughs that mighty laugh of hers.

"Ohohohohohohoho! Then it is settled! The truth is, it would be foolish for you to challenge me who is the captain of the tennis club! So train as much as you can! My adorable monsters will control the outcome of this match perfectly!"

"Don't underestimate us. I will show you how high-class devils dominate this sport. I absolutely will not hand over my Michael to you!"

"I'm looking forward to it! Ufufu. Of yes, if I get Hanamura-kun, then I will be able to adore him in ways you'd never even imagine."

Sparks clashing between them the two girls wore scary smiles while filled with murderous intent.

"Hehehe! That'll show them." Michael snickered and returned to everyone else, "Oh, Akeno-senpai, you're here? What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Michael-kun, but it seems like you'll be a prize for Abe-san for this match in Tennis." Akeno apologized to Michael and hugging his arm while Rias was busy clashing heads with Kiyome.

"Wait, prize?" Michael eyes widen.

"If I didn't accept, then Buchou wouldn't progress, so I'll do my best for the tennis match to ensure we win." Akeno pressed herself closer to Michael, showing how much she was determined to win as well.

"So a game of tennis, huh…hehehehehehehe!" Michael laughed loudly, "Finally, I can show my skills, "Don't worry, Akeno-senpai, I'm a pro at this game!"

"That's really assuring, Michael-kun, I hope to see you show your cool side out there."

So with everyone practicing their skills for the oncoming match the day for it actually came in the following 2 two days they agreed to.

Walking onto the tennis courts the Occult Research Club wore tennis uniforms with the mark of the Gremory family on their backs.

_'Alright, the time to show what I'm made of is here! Now I get a chance to show how awesome I am to the fans!'_

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

_'Or the monsters, yeah, lets go with that.' Michael looked over the fence to see many other monsters watching them. They were of course Kiyome's due to their aggressive demeanor towards their master's opponents._

"Ohohohoho! I applaud your courage for even arriving!"

Kiyome wore a haughty smirk as she sized up the entire team."

***CREAK!* *CREAK!***

Honda who was beside her waved at Michael. Michael gave a thumbs up at his new buddy he was able to gain through tormenting those vile tennis players who Michael said, "They had it coming."

"We are the Gremory Family, any challenge you impose on us will end in our victory."

Rias standing firm against her enemy declared her intention to win.

"Hmhm! For a devil, you have a lot of nerve thinking you can win so easily. So let's make these matches fair. Two single matches and one double match. The team with two wins get the complete victory. Of course, Rias-san and I will participate the other players will play by playing lots."

Kiyome pulls out said lots and allowed the Gremory team to pick them out.

"Ara, ara, I guess I have Singles."

"Me too."

Akeno and Xenovia pulled out blue topped lots signifying they are with single matches.

"Now it's my turn." Rias reaches out and pulls a red tipped lot.

"It seems I'm doing a Doubles match."

"Yosh, now it's my turn!"

Now it was Michael's turn, he pulls out a lot with a red tip.

"Hah! I got a doubles too, Buchou!"

Michael laughed as Rias smiled at the prospect of working with Michael.

"Yes, let's do our best Michael!"

Starting off with Akeno's match. She went up against a Harpy as her opponent.

"Let's do our best." The female monster with wings and bird-clawed legs bowed with respect to her opponent.

"Yes, let's." Akeno bowed.

"The harpy race. They are winged monsters with a high gender ratio of females." Rias stated the harpy's race data.

"Come on, Akeno-senpai, you can do it! Show her whose boss!" Michael cheered with all of his heart.

This greatly boosted Akeno's performance once the match began.

"Ara, ara, If I'm getting cheered so much from Michael-kun, then I should definitely make sure this match is in  **my** favor!"

"Eh? W-What's going on!?"

The harpy was amazed as Akeno executed a perfect swing she couldn't even counter.

"I'm sorry, Harpy-chan, but you're so full of openings. You better do something or else this match will go a lot faster." Akeno giggled.

"T-This devil lady is too p-powerful! I-I can't even keep up with her…!"

"Ah, Another opening!" Akeno giggled as she scored another point, "My at this rate I'll be the dominant one out of the both of us. You should consider trying harder or is it you actually want to submit to me…"

Akeno licked her lips. Her Sadist side was starting to show up.

"Iyaaaaaan! No, I'm going to lose!"

_'I don't know why, but I feel like I should cheer for the harpy now.' Michael watched with pity for the losing monster._

**_[If you did, then that women would surely probably punish you for not cheering for her.]_ **

_'That's even terrible! I don't want that to happen to me! But still…'_

Michael watched as the match was decided with Akeno as the victor as the disheartened harpy was seen traumatized by her powerful Opponent. Poor little thing. But with the first match out of the way it was now up to Xenovia to win the next match to finish it.

"Now it's my turn." Xenovia walks onto the court spinning her racket.

"Xenovia's got this in the bag!" Michael knew just how athletic the girl was to most his age and was confident in their win.

"Actually, Xenovia-san is still inexperienced with these kind of sports especially ones with balls." Kiba reminded.

"Really?"

"Huh?" Xenovia, who noticed the tennis racket she was spinning was gone looked around for it.

***BONK!***

"Ouch!"

"Oops, forgive me, Michael." Xenovia rushes back and retrieves her tennis racket.

"Xenovia, do you even know how to play this game?" Michael rubbed his head.

"Of course I do. It's a game where you must make a powerful serve and strikes to overwhelm the opponent, correct?" Xenovia answered with that power idiot mentality of hers.

Michael turned to Kiba and mumbled, "Yeah, we're boned."

Slithering onto the court was Xenovia's opponent, a lamia.

"This one is from the Lamia tribe, another female dominant race."

Kiba explained.

"Wow, a half snake lady…" Michael noticed the slices of watermelon that Honda was handing out to them. He freaked out and shouted,

"Dude, this is supposed to be your head, I don't think you should be handing this out!"

"Heh, this one seems to have the expression of a brute, I'll get an easy win for sure." The lamia was able to see through Xenovia so quickly.

Not taking so kindly to that insult, Xenovia readies her racket, "A brute? Don't think I'll allow you to walk off after saying thaaat!"

The match commenced once Xenovia threw her serve. She actually placed all her might into that strike of hers giving the ball extra speed.

"Childs play~!" The lamia used her lower snake body to easily secure the tennis ball and made a curve ball hit which was out of Xenovia's range.

"What?" Xenovia was shocked.

"Your serve was quite powerful, but you still lack control. Like I said before this will be an easy match for me." The lamia's snake tongue flickered out her mouth playfully.

"Thank you…" Kiba who pinched his temples agreed with the lamia's state. Just like Michael he tries to persuade the girl into thinking about using more technical attacks.

And so the match was ended with the lamia using her abilities to stretch around the court with tenacious attacks overpowering Xenovia's strong strokes. Ironic isn't it?

"I was too weak, please, forgive my weakness." Xenovia apologizes to the team.

_'She brought this on herself.' Was all Michael could think of._

Now with the last match almost over the team went on to the last match up between Michael and Rias and Kiyome with one of monsters as her partner.

"With Michael and me working together this match was already settled! So all of you don't have to worry!" Rias' spirit raised with so much resolve.

"Hehehehe! Now it's time for me to perform a technique no one before has done!" Michael's eyes gleamed.

"What could you mean?" Rias question as she saw the smirk on Michael's face grow.

"For my partner, I picked… my adorable Yeti!"

***STOMP!* *STOMP!* *STOMP!* *STOMP!***

"What the fu-!"

"Hokyoooooooooooooooooooooooou!"

A large white gorilla stomps onto the court with a loud howl.

***BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!***

It banged its chest with large muscular arms like a drum.

Kiyome introduced the gorilla.

"Now allow me to introduce to you, Chris, the Yeti. Say hello to them, Chris."

***STOMP!* *STOMP!***

The gorilla waved hello to both Michael and Rias.

Michael looked at the Yeti with a blank expression before pointing out, "So you expect us to believe that this giant bastard will play for your team?"

"Yes, of course. If you must know Chris' father was a very powerful Yeti, who drove away groups of mountain climbers disturbing the peace of his mountain."

Kiyome informed.

"Meh, I don't need the details because anything you throw my way will be blown away once I unveil my super amazing secret technique!" Michael points his tennis racket at the Monster Tamer and yeti.

"Go! Michael-sama! Go!"

"Give it your best, Michael-san!"

Both cheering for him in the same cheerleading costumes from the dodgeball game, Raynare and Asia gave their full support for him.

"You can do iiiit! Michael-niiii!" Gasper also put in his two cents as well.

Walking over to the Yeti, Michael extends his hand, "Well, let's have an intense game, Chris!"

The yeti pulls out a banana.

"Aw, he wants to share with me!" Kiyome backs away as Michael looks at the banana, maybe this yeti wasn't so bad.

***SPLAT!***

"Uhohohohohoho!"

The yeti splattered the banana on Michael's face and laughed at him. Nope, like all apes he was an asshole.

Calmly wiping the banana off his face, Michael politely responded like any ordinary responsible adult would,

"THAT'S IT MONKEY MAN, YOUR BALLS ARE MINE!"

"Well, Michael-kun, I think you're confusing the type of animal it is, since it doesn't have a tail it isn't necessarily a monk-."

Michael glared at Kiba tired of his smartass comments.

"I'll finish my explanation later then." Kiba returns to his seat on the bench.

"Chris, make sure not to hold back." Kiyome turns to her Yeti who starts winging a huge ass racket like it was normal. It seemed to be a weapon more than a racket.

"I see you're getting used to your new specially made racket." Kiyome watched her monster swing it around with ease. It was very happy with it's easy to use grip.

"I don't care what kind of racket or weapon you may have, all I know is that by the end of this match I'll flatten you both!" Michael declared.

"Ahem!" Rias coughed.

"I mean we'll flatten both of you!" Michael corrected himself.

And so the match began… with the first one to serve being Rias.

"Hyah!"

**BOUNCE!**

"Toh!"

**BOUNCE!**

The match between both seniors were starting to heat up when they're skills on the court finally matched one another's. If even one of them screws up then the other would pay dearly for their blunder.

_'Come on…how come I haven't had my chance to strike back yet?' Michael growled impatiently as he and Chris watch the two go at it._

"Chris! The ball is coming your way!"

Kiyome's Yeti reacts to the shot and swings back its racket with it's mighty arms.

"Uho!"

***BANG!***

The sound of the massive racket and tennis ball making contact caused it to explode and launch itself at Michael.

"Whoa!" Michael barely shirks to the side to dodge.

***BOOOOOOOOOOM!***

"Luv 15!"

The referee announced.

"Are you serious?" Michael looked back at the crater, Chris made with the ball and couldn't see the tennis ball that was fired like a cannonball.

"Unbelievable, that yeti was able to blow up that tennis ball! That goes to show that monsters like that are powerful!" Kiba said impressed with the yeti's power.

"…If it were to have hit, baka-senpai, then it would have been quite fatal." Koneko said something morbid.

"Buchou, it seems like I'm going to need to unveil my secret technique…" Michael grabs an extra ball.

"You seem so confident in it, so I won't stop you. Make sure to show them the true might of the Gremory family!"

"Osu!"

Michael readies his serve as he bounces the ball up and down.

"So you're relying on your devil servant to play? I doubt he even knows how to play the sport correctly."

"Don't underestimate him, Kiyome-san, or you may just be in for a surprise." Rias defended her pawn, who slowly closed his eyes to breathe in and out.

Calming himself, Michael surrounds his body with a sufficient amount of touki.

_'So that's his angle.' Rias smiled proud with his clever thinking, it won't be proven as cheating since it's basically Michael's life force being used._

_'Rias needs to win this match, or else she'll be sent back to the underworld. I can't let her lose or else I'll lose my opportunity to take her on a date!' Michael motivated himself as he opened his eyes with a serious glare._

_'Wait, this feeling don't tell me he's…' Kiyome's eyes widened as she remembered this nostalgic feeling from a certain someone._

"Here I go!" Michael throws the ball up in the air.

***HIIIIIT!***

The ball was sent flying fast the other side of the court after making contact with the ground, it even made a small crater.

"So he is using Touki!" Michael wondered how Kiyome was so knowledgeable about that.

"Chris quickly counter it!"

"Uhoooooooooo!"

***BAAAAAAAAAANG!***

Another mighty swing of Chris' racket sends the tennis ball hurtling at Rias like a rocket!

"Buchou!" Michael uses his enhanced speed to appear in front of Rias and return the hit.

Kiyome had plans for that.

"Chris, now use blizzard!"

***BUUUUUUUUUUN!***

Chris exhaled an icy blue wind which threatened to freeze Michael's hand along with the ball. Forcing back the icy wind Michael struggles to return the tennis ball still forcing its way through his tennis racket.

Gritting his teeth, Michael growls, "Don't think I'll let you win that easily! Buchou really needs this report for her to stay here and I won't let you do what you want! I'll show you just by becoming more and more stronger!"

***STOMP!***

"…!" Kiyome was off put by the teen's sudden burst in energy.

"Let's go!" Michael adjusts his stance and leans forward and places more strength behind his racket reinforcing more strength into it with touki.

"Huraaaaaaaah!"

***BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!***

"Uho!?"

***SNAP!***

Michael sent the tennis ball flying with a single hit as it went at a more dangerous pace than Chris' earlier strike. The ball was so strong that it broke Chris' racket in the process.

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

Firing through the fence behind them the tennis ball explodes upon making contact with a tree and the ground behind it. It was so powerful that the tree itself wasn't able to lessen the hit!

***Ssssssssssssshhh~!**

Smoke coming out from his tennis racket Michael stands up and sighs, "And that's a point for us!"

"I-Impossible, how can you…? I thought only…" Kiyome was conflicted with the thought of Michael using touki knowing that only a certain "race" can use it only.

"As expected of Michael, he's started to burn with more passion!"

"Michael-nii, sure knows how to be intense at certain moments, it's so scary but cool at the same time!"

Xenovia and Gasper were impressed with Michael's passion growing.

"…" Koneko nodded approvingly. Probably the best reaction, Michael will get from her for a while.

"Alright, now the real fight begins now! Give me everything you've got! If I don't go all out now then I'll always regret it!" Michael declared.

And so the match waged on with the Gremory team winning with the combined strength of Michael and Rias dominating the court.

"It is our loss. It can't be helped after everything so as promised I'll do your interview." Kiyome sighed in defeat; she really wasn't expecting this turnout.

"Thank you, I hope to see you tomorrow then." Rias with a satisfied smile crossed her arms.

"Of course." Kiyome noticed Michael striking poses to his friends while gloating about his victory then sighed, "I have to admit. It was a real shame that I couldn't borrow that servant of yours, he seems to be rather outgoing when it really matters. At first, I thought he would joke around with that prideful idiotic look on his face but after seeing things change so quickly, I only have to say his actions were quite  **gutsy."**

"Gutsy? When you put it like that then I guess I can't really disagree with you." Rias smiled.

"Seems to be the one thing we both can agree on." Kiyome nods.

***STOMP!* *STOMP!***

"Huh?" Michael looks to see the yeti, Chris, approach him with his head lowered.

"Uho…Uho…"

"What is it doing?" Michael tilts his head.

Drawing something on a white board, Honda replies, [After such a display of power, Chris has started to gain some respect for you.]

"Eh? Really?" Michael blinked then noticed the banana Chris was giving him.

"Uho…?" Chris looked up apologetically for his past actions.

Looking at the banana and Chris, Michael grins and takes it, "No worries man, I forgive ya, but you know if your truly sorry how 'bout doing a job for me."

"Uho?"

"Yes, I need you to take care of a certain someone *cough!* Aika! *cough!* by slinging some crap at her. And that "crap" part could be literal or figurative for random crap if you want…Muahahahahahaha!"

Michael slung his arms around Chris' shoulder and laughed with an evil grin.

_"Ufufufu, you're a rather fun one aren't ya, Michael-kun?" A familiar smile giggled as the pink glyph on Michael's shoulder glows once more but brighter before disappearing after its use was done._

***WRAP!***

"Huh?" Michael looks at his right leg to see that it was a snake's tail binding him in place, "Whup!" Having his leg pulled back, Michael falls flat on the ground.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Michael notices it was the lamia from Kiyome's monster team.

"I-I can't help myself after watching such a strong male put on that display, makes me want to push you down and strip you naked! I-I really want to mate with you!" The lamia pants as a heavy blush appears on her face.

"Excuse me!?"

"No, fair! Let me at him first!" The harpy who was also red with frustration started to get into a fight with the lamia over Michael.

"Can someone explain to me what is going on?" Michael blinked.

Writing something on the white board, Honda quickly answers, [Oh no! That show of power must have forced them into a breeding frenzy, female monsters are taken with strong mates!]

"Wait, did you just say mate?" Michael panicked.

"Uho! Uho!" Picking Michael away just in time from the lunging Lamia and a few other monsters, Chris carried him on his shoulders and ran away saving his new friend from harm.

"Chris, you're helping me?" Michael sniffled, what was once his enemy is now his biggest ally. Suddenly remembering the Dullahan, Michael screams, "Crap! No, Honda, we have to go back for him!"

[No keep running! I'll hold them off for now!] Honda tried to fend off the monsters but was soon trampled over by them.

"No, Honda!" Michael reached out with tears coming out his eyes.

[No, Michael-dono, you must live…you must…must not succumb to these lustful monsters…please remember my sacrifice…] Honda scribbled those last words before dropping his marker and board after passing out.

"HONDA! NOOOOOO!" Michael rubbed his tears as the image of the headless knight appeared in the clouds. On that very day, a hero known amongst our generation has fallen.

"S-Should we do something?" Asia was worried for Michael's safety.

"No, I'm sure Michael-kun will be quite fine as he is." Akeno giggled.

"Huh?" Gasper looked around noticing something was amiss.

"What is it, Gasper?" Kiba asked.

"It's Koneko-chan, she's gone." Gasper frowned.

"She must have left early to ignore Michael-sama's usual shouts of glory about himself, I'm sure she'll be fine." Raynare reassured the Half-vampire as the entire ORC club left the tennis courts.

Sitting from atop the academy's roof was a smiling Natsuru, who watched the groups disperse the area.

"Oh my, what an intense display of a tennis match. I should have warned Kiyo-tan about touki being available for those with a strong grasp over their life force. And for even this Red Dragon Emperor to control it freely, I wonder just how much more power he has."

Natsuru watched the struggling 2nd year run away from the monster girls in fear of getting caught. She knew placing that glyph of enhancing his pheromones along with secretly pulling out his dragon aura would attract those monsters. Yes, those tricks were below her once she reached a mature enough age but it was still so much entertaining watching this aftermath go down. The glyph would only last for a couple of hours before his pheromones were returned to normal.

"Now all I wonder is if I can get that power for myself." Kiyome giggled as she watched a panting Michael finally shake loose those monsters with Rias in front of him. The crimson haired woman helped him up and gave him a beautiful smile as he grinned back in response.

Scowling with an obstacle in sight, Natsuru says, "But first that little bother has to go in order for me to effectively make a move."

Catching notice of something, Natsuru sees a rushing Koneko panting against the side of the academy building away from Michael. She seemed to be rather flustered with her entire body growing red. Natsuru could even notice how sharp Koneko's eyes were getting as well.

Coming to a perfect conclusion, Natsuru giggled,

"Hou? Hm! How amusing Miss Gremory has gotten herself a couple of rare servants on her hands. All the more for me to take them away as my own…" Natsuru's once cute cat smile turn to that of a mischievous Cheshire smile giving off a terrifying aura around her.

"…!" Koneko gasps as she suddenly felt that familiar power that once made her body shiver in fear. Looking around, Koneko wondered who could have emitted such a dangerous power like that around this school.

* * *

Later in the night, in between an alley was the dead carcass of a large creature which resembled a Wildcat. It looked to be a mixture of a very muscular man but with the twisted features of a cat with its sharp claws, wild cat face and hind legs as the entire body was covered with fur. It was a Wild Cat Chimera.

After a failed attempt to ambush their target one of the was unfortunate enough to lose its life. As evident because of the large gaping hole in its chest. Its blood and guts were spilt out on the ground behind it. A blow that was able to spill out that much blood must have been very precise and powerful.

"Dammit!" Another Wild Cat Chimera screamed as it tumbled back with a broken nose. Its target was very powerful for even it to handle alone as its claws were broken from a futile attack.

Walking through the alley was a black armored figured with the specific appearance of a black, full-body armor with blue streaks and a phantasmagoric defensive film behind its back. The armor had the motif of a dragon but more sleek and defining for the wearer's body.

"Is that all you got, dipshit? If you wanted to do an ambush next time I would suggest you don't laugh like dumbasses!"

The Wild Cat whimpered back in fear before lunging forward to attack with it's broken claws, "Damn you!"

"Chi! Is that all?" The figure caught the Chimrea's hand with ease and then proceeded to crushing it.

***CRUUUUUNCH!***

"Gaaaaaaargh!" The Chimera cried out for it's now broken hand.

"Now tell me, who is it that ordered you to do this shit for brains!" The figure apparently had a dirty mouth as they forced an answer from the Wild Cat Chimera. This earned a small laugh from the mutated creature.

"I don't know, what's funny? The fact that you think I'll give you an answer and you'll let me go, or that my leader will let me live if I told you anyway-Aaaaaaah!"

"I'll take that as a "no" then." The figure further disfigured the Chimera's with another bone crushing grip, "And who said I would let you live…"

The figure's voice turned dark and violent as the Chimera sweated in fear as the black armored man stood over him imposingly.

"You were the ones who attacked me first. You were aiming to kill me is that right? So you wouldn't object to me doing the same to you, right?"

***SQUEEZE!***

"…Geheh!" The Chimera gasped as the armored figure clenched his fist in shuddering anger.

"Meaning your life is already forfeit for me! Right!?"

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii! P-Please, let me go! I promise to not reveal your whereabouts if I dooooo!"

"Coward! You were out to kill, so expect to be  **killed!"**

"Noooooooo! Pleeeeeeease!"

The Chimera cried and watched as a blaze of blue aura was now encasing itself on the figure's fist. The sight of such an intimidating opponent literally cared the piss out of him.

**"Grand Arc!"**

***BANG!* *SPLATTER!***

With just a single punch. One punch. The figure was able to blow the chimera's head clean off its shoulders with a shockwave shaking the entire alley and the objects within it flying out, effected from the mighty punch as well.

"Shitty freak." The figure had the Chimera's blood on its armor before releasing it to reveal their true appearance.

Walking out the alley, the figure faced the moonlight and looked back at the bodies of the Chimera slowly turning to dust and spat,

"If you weren't willing to stake your life and die, then don't expect you'll walk away without losing your head, dumbass."

The figure was illuminated by the moonlight which showed the appearance of an average looking high school student with a well-toned build and snow-white hair which was mildly spiky. He wore a black boys' gakuran (school uniform) with the bottom few buttons of his uniform's jacket undone, revealing the hem of his white dress shirt underneath and white sneakers. Looking back his light-blue eyes glared daggers at the remains of the Chimera.

Scratching his head tiredly, the young man walked off while muttering,

"Damn bastards, shaking me up like that. I wouldn't have been bothered if you had at least put up a better fight until you died. Asking for mercy while you wanted to take my life… bitch please, you're still too early to even think you can take my head."

Pulling out a letter given to him by his master, the young man sighed, "Now all that's left is to deliver this and take care of these damn creatures infesting this place. I just hope other than that Handsome Prince-guy that Gremory-sama didn't pick up any more annoying servants."

(With Michael)

"Achoooo!" Michael wiped his nose, "Was someone talking about me?"

Michael took a few moments to think about before jumping out of bed and throwing his arms up, "Yes, finally, someone is talking about how great I am!"

**[I find it depressing how you think you got all of that from a single sneeze.]**

"Shut up, Ddraig! Let me have this!" Michael shouted.

* * *

**Next Chapter- Kiyome-senpai has a little brother!? From Tennis Matches to New Meetings! The Gremory Pawn and the Agares Queen finally encounter each other!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the chapter, guys! I hoped you enjoyed it.
> 
> Also, Shirou Fujimura, thank you for helping with the creation of the OC, Natsuru Abe and for the other new OC, who will be unveiled in the upcoming chapter. Word of warning to you readers, this will be my first ever Original arc for the story, so if you're not interested then I understand, but for the few who are I hope you enjoy it as I try to create a gripping story to pull you in.
> 
> Well, I hoped you guys enjoyed the new opening, too, so I'm Out so Peace Out and have a wonderful day!


	36. Kiyome-senpai has a little brother!? From Tennis Matches to New Meetings! The Gremory Pawn and the Agares Queen finally encounter each other!

**Kiyome-senpai has a little brother!? From Tennis Matches to New Meetings! The Gremory Pawn and the Agares Queen finally encounter each other!**

* * *

"So you guys were pit against Kiyome-senpai's team of monsters? Must have been a freaky situation to go up against them in a game tennis."

"Yeah, it was pretty weird, but thanks to my skills, I was able to beat them and save the club!"

"To be honest, no one was actually in danger so…"

Michael took that moment to pound Saji in the forehead.

"Ow, what was that for!?"

"That's for trying to sound like a smartass! I mean, if we were forced back into the Underworld, then it would still count as me saving them from that, so shut up!"

"Geez, fine! No need to get so mad about it." Saji rubbed the small bruise on his forehead. "So how are things with you and Rias-senpai?"

"It's um…good. Yeah, good, and we're just about to go on a date as well." Michael smiled with pride.

"Oho! So your about to go on your first date…again. What are your plans then? Movie? Dinner? A walk in the park?"

Michael stopped walking and began to profusely sweat,

"Haha! I mean it's a surprise, and I wouldn't want you blabbering it to your friends and then those friends will probably tell Rias and that wouldn't be good for anyone at all…Heheheh..."

Saji stared at his friend with half-lidded eyes, letting out a sigh of disbelief. "Oh my goodness. You don't have a clue on where to go, do you?"

Scratching his head, Michael shrugged, "Well it's a work in progress, but I'm sure to get through some of the final 10 places to go before choosing from the top 5."

Crossing his arms Saji asked, "So what are the final 10?"

"Dunno. I can barely come up with one place."

"Really?"

"I'm doing the best I can!" Michael shouted, as he cried tears of frustration, "Now enough about me! Let's talk about you. How is your relationship with  _your_  master?"

"Urp!" Saji almost choked at the thought of the rather disappointing answers that came to mind. He tugged at his collar nervously, unable to help the stutter in his voice. "W-Well, you see...it-it's still a work in progress, I have a lot of homework, a-and student council assignments to do so...er…"

Walking down the hallways of Kuoh Academy were Michael Hanamura and his best friend, Genshirou Saji. Michael had just finished explaining the past few days regarding the tennis match. It's been a while since the two could talk, what with his household being hectic 24/7, 7 days a week. One may ask why it had been so hectic, but it would be better just say that thanks to a certain Shishou of Michael's, the entire Student Council was taking residence in the Saji's household.

Their numbers were far too large to hold inside that small house, so they reconstructed it from the ground up into a six-story mansion. For Saji, it was the matter of still trying to get used to things with all the girls living with him, but, as for his mother this did raise a few questions. But she quickly packed all of those questions away in a box and tossed it off the side of a cliff into the depths of her mind when she realized girls (as in FEMALE, potential-girlfriends-for-her-boy "girls") were staying with them.

Saji's mother was a very caring lady especially towards her son. She loved him as much as any mother could love her son, but she found his old ways of always excessive studying all by himself to be a problem until Michael showed up. In fact, there was a time where Saji's mother actually wanted her son to get into trouble (not massive trouble) so he could experience childhood as a boy to the fullest. But when she saw these beautiful ladies enter her home, she jumped with glee and accepted them as if they were her own daughters.

Honestly, she saw this as an Opportunity to get Saji to form a healthy relationship beyond friendship with a girl... She really wanted those future grandchildren that she had always dreamed of.

How Michael knew all of this was simple because he was going through the exact same thing with his household. His entire apartment was renovated to become a six story mansion with the added "gift" consisting of an addition of five new residents.

The other people living in the apartment and nearby houses were given fabulous deals for other prosperous lots in new neighborhoods, making the job much easier to accomplish. He felt the need to ask Saji how they did this all so fast, but Saji responded with the most obvious and half-assed answer Michael hated to hear: Magic.

Though he did have to admit that having such a huge house to himself and under his name was the best. Room assignments have already been explained to everyone along with the rooms the house had to offer.

On the first floor was the living room, the newly renovated kitchen, Japanese styled rooms and 2 bathrooms.

The second floor room assignments were quite a large source of arguments because, as all of Michael's stuff was on the second floor, he decided to take a room with 2 interconnecting doors leading to Rias' or Asia and Raynare's room. The latter two had gotten so close that they decided to share a room, presumably as a way to strengthen their sister-like bond.

The Third Floor was, of course, Kiba and Gasper's rooms along with the private study room and storeroom. There was even a room in which a secret hideout (code-named: The Bunker) Michael built for himself in case things ever went south with the girls (*Cough!* Koneko! *Cough!*.)

Next, the Fourth Floor had Akeno's, Xenovia's, and Koneko's rooms. Although Akeno tended to stay in her room, there were some instances during which she would sneak into Michael's room while he slept and hid under his covers to surprise him in the morning. This little habit she's formed had grown more since just yesterday both her and Rias got into an argument resulting from Akeno entering Michael's bed, completely naked, and crawling under his shirt to share his warmth.

The Fifth floor, for the moment, held at least 5 empty bedrooms for any future members hoping to stay in the residence which had become like a free-stay hotel to his club's members.

The Sixth Floor that was recommended by Azazel had the VIP Room where the Three Factions will hold their meetings in the premises of a sudden emergency.

But that wasn't all because what excited Michael the most about the renovation was the basement floors. Yes, they actually made different layers of basements under his house. 4 in total to be exact.

The First Basement Floor had a movie theater, training rooms, changing rooms, a large indoor bath with a refrigerator filled with three kinds of milk which appealed to Koneko's weird craving for it. Michael tried to make a short joke about it but that led him to receiving a fist to the crotch.

The second basement floor held a heated indoor swimming pool.

The Third Basement Floor was supposed to be used for storage but was sadly turned into a library much to Michael's dissatisfaction. Now since then he's been forced to enter it and study for classes by almost everyone in the household.

And for the final floor, it was a gift for both Michael and Kiba should they desire to practice in their Balance Breaker forms without the risk of causing untold destruction to both their house and the entire town in general. It was a room Michael once recommended to be like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber like from Dragon Ball Z, but a bit dialed down to just give enough pressure, heavy gravity, and dense air for the two to train through. Since it's entire space was created by magic, it acted like an empty void which could withstand large scale attacks.

Rias described the facility as a building that could withstand the severe impact of a full-scale war. Just what they needed in case the Khaos Brigade attacked again.

"So you can't even make any progress with her?" Michael asked with a cheeky smile, only serving to piss Saji off. "That's so sad, man!"

"Shut up! You don't know how it feels to be driven around like a work horse at home and school! Now that the Kaichou is at my house, she's been on my case, forcing all the chores that mom used to do around the house on me, without any help." Saji vented his frustration before sighing.

"There are some moments that I felt got us a little closer, I think. In the library, I was able to help her look for my books to study, and I found one to help sate my boredom. It caught her interest and from then on, we had a very engaging conversation about it."

Michael looked at Saji with a bored expression. "Nerd."

"Oi! You asked for my progress and that's what happened, so stop acting so bored!" Saji screamed at him, smacking Michael behind the head repeatedly for good measure.

"Whatever. It might be small, but at least it's something."

Saji had to agree with that. Perhaps the move-in was able to bridge the gap between him and Sona, if at least a little bit.

Walking towards the windowsill with Saji, Michael looked up at the light-blue sky. "So when are you going to handle of that offer that Ero-sensei gave you?"

"As soon as they get whoever's been tampering with the exchange link between us and the Grigori." Saji leaned back against the wall.

"Do you think it's the Khaos Brigade?"

"It's a possibility, but we can't say for certain. I can only guess that it was an outside source. Terrorists usually create havoc to further their goals through extremist methods. Ambushes and stolen goods...It doesn't quite seem like their style to attack without announcing their presence before or after the fact. It's the exact opposite of what they would do if they were trying to make a show of power." Saji knew what he was talking about. He faced the very definition of destruction that day and was alive today solely because of his master's brother-in-law, Kai.

_'So if it's not the Khaos Brigade...then who?'_ Michael narrowed his eyes.

"Fah! I can't think of anything right now." Michael cast the thoughts away...until a less  _clean_  one popped up in his head. Black and lacy with a mature theme to them was what came to mind.

_'Crap how come that suddenly came up?'_ Michael smacked his forehead.

"What's the matter?"

"Well, do you know who Kiyome-senpai is?"

"Of course. She's known as the "Elegant Princess of Tennis", she may not be at the same level of popularity as the 4 Great Ladies of Kuoh Academy, but she's a close second though." Saji paused. "Why do you ask?"

"Because, before all of the tennis craziness, I met this 3rd year girl, who saved me from being a Hanamura-kabob. She told me her name was Natsuru Abe. You know some…" He trailed off when Saji grabbed him by the shoulders, looking him dead in the eye with expanding eyes and grinding teeth. "…thing?"

"Damn you, Mike! How come you always have to be so lucky!?" Michael couldn't quite understand what Saji meant.

"She's the elder sister of Kiyome-senpai, Natsuru Abe-senpai, whose looks are on par with both Rias-senpai and Akeno-senpai. She's the "Playful Midnight Fox Princess", someone very popular with everyone. Not just guys, but also the girls as well!"

_'Well, I do remember the archery club crying and saying stuff about putting their faces in senpai's breasts...Huh, so she's that popular?'_ Michael raised an eyebrow, having realized something.

"Wait a minute. If she's the older sister of Kiyome-senpai, then how is she still in high school?" Michael, growing somewhat irritated, broke free of Saji's envious grip.

"Rumors say that she decided to hold herself back so she can stay closer to her sister and graduate at the same time with Kiyome-senpai, saying something like "I want to share the same stage as my darling Kiyome" or something like that. It varies from rumor to rumor." Saji paused as Michael stared at him with half-lidded eyes, as if asking for some clarification.

"She's a siscon, I believe."

"A siscon? Wait, isn't that incest?"

"Michael, just because two siblings have a weird yet very close bond doesn't mean it will lead to incest."

"That's basically incest dude." Michael pointed out, a drop of sweat rolling down the side of his face.

"No, you see, you're not getting it. A siscon is someone who holds affection for their sibling to a strange level."

"Damn man shut up." Michael was not in the mood for a lecture. Wanting to clear his head, he looked over at the window.

"Incest is the love of two family members related by blood." Saji clarified. "Just because they are almost the same doesn't make a siscon instantly having sex with their sibling becau-you idiot!" Saji paused his lecture to grabbing Michael before he could slip his other leg out the window, dragging him back. "What the hell were you about to do!? When someone is taking their time to talk to you, you listen!"

"Like I care about the difference! Siscon affection and incest are still the same thing!"

The heated (and very stupid) argument continued for quite some time, at least, until Michael caught the attention of girl's. At first, it sounded like mere noise, but then his ears discerned the familiar sounds of cooing and subtle moans in the background.

Michael stretched his neck, trying to catch a peek behind his friend. "What's that over there?"

"Hm?" Saji looked back to see the crowd, the large group obstructing the passage of some less-than-enthused students who needed to get to class.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out. I still have to do my job."

"You mean watering the pansies?"

"No. My other job."

"You mean clean the graffiti that I painted onto the side of the kendo club's building?"

"No! W-When did you even…?"

***RING!* *RING!***

"Hello? Kaichou?" Saji picked up his phone, narrowing his eyes at Michael "Okay. I'll get to cleaning that right away."

***BEEP!***

"So you wanna check on what's going on over there or…?"

"Let's just go, you neuron."

Michael's face scrunched up at the insult. "Neuron…? Okay, dude, we're seriously going to fix your vocabulary when it comes to insults. That was just stupid and lame, and you should feel stupid and lame just for saying it."

"Kyaaaaaa! He's so cute!"

"I could just eat him up!"

"Moouu! If only I was the first one here then I would have also…"

The girls cooed at something hidden in the center of their mob.

"Okay, move aside." Saji said as the two worked their ways through the squealing group.

"Excuse us." Michael said, gently nudging one girl out of the way.

They were met with the peculiar sight of a young, 1st year male who seemed rather short for his age. At first glance you would suspect him of being a middle-schooler. Michael could only think of Gasper when he compared their similar builds. He possessed short, midnight-black hair and sapphire-blue eyes.

"Who is that kid?"

"I don't know but he seems to be the main center of attention with those of girls."

"Yeah and why is his hands stretched out towards one of their che-?"

***MUNYUUU!***

"The-!"

"Hell!?"

Their jaws dropped as the little boy walked up to one girl after another with a childish, joyful smile on his face, groping their breasts with a casual, gentle squeeze. The obvious response that any sane person would have expected would have been a slap in the face.

"Iyaaaaaaa~… It's okay don't worry it doesn't hurt, just keeping going harder if you want." And yet the boy only received encouragement for his lewd behavior.

"Me next!"

"No, out of my way! Makoto-chan do me next! I want to be your friend too!"

"O-Okay but please could you all slow down for me…" The boy, Makoto, whimpered, shifting his embarrassed gaze downward while retracting his hands. "...because er… all of you getting so close up is kind of embarrassing."

***Throbb! Throbb!***

All the girls screamed their hearts out at the sound of these cute words spoken by Makoto's adorable child-like voice.

"So cuuute~!"

"Makoto-chan's shy face is the best!"

"Man, how come they're getting so excited about this stuff?" Michael complained. "It's just a 1st year kid."

"I don't know, but this is going against so many rules that it makes me almost want to stop this!" Saji clenched his fist full of his bitter feelings.

"Why "almost"?" Michael asked.

"Because…" Saji looked at how rabid the girls were when surrounding Makoto. He even saw one of them throw a lariat at a male student walking past Makoto, claiming crazy things like "I won't let you turn Makoto-chan to BL!".

Sweat dripped down the sides of Saji's face. "The girls here are batshit insane."

"No argument there." Michael agreed, remembering a near-death experience only days earlier involving girls like these. "But you're a member of the Student Council! Just go up to them, tap them on the shoulder and-"

He walked up to one of the girls and his hand had only come within a few inches of her-

***HIISSSSSSS~!***

"Hold me!" Michael jumped into Saji's arms, trembling like a scared, little puppy.

"Holy shit!"

The two 2nd year boys screamed like little girls, backing away cautiously until the girl stopped baring her "fangs".

Saji stared at Michael with an expression that said so much more than "I told you so."

"You were saying?"

"Okay that doesn't prove anything." Michael pushed Saji away, getting back to his feet.

"Michael that girl literally hissed at us! There's no way in hell I'm going to stop that." From the expression on his face, it was obvious that Saji was 100% sure he didn't want to mess with these girls.

"So, you're just going to quit?" Michael shook his head as Saji started to walk off.

"Yes." Saji replied without shame. "I thought I made that quite clear."

"Saji, are you telling me that you'll let them do this under your watch? As a secretary of the student council, you should be all up in their faces! Laying down the law like a man! And do you know what they'll do when you tell them to stop?"

"Maul me to death?"

"No…" Michael said, pausing. "N-No. They'll stop because you're the man!"

"The man?"

"The man…" Michael confirmed.

"I am the man…" Saji repeated, his words slowly filling with determination.

"Yes, now go prove to them how much of a man you are and lay down the law on those turkeys!"

"Right! Because I am the man! The man who pays the bills and does his taxes! The man who-!"

"Just go!" Having failed in his attempt to stall for as long as possible, Saji was given a "friendly" (read: harsh) push (read: shove) towards the epicenter of the group.

Somehow, getting through the crowd without any of his limbs getting torn off, Saji walked up to 1st year boy doing the groping, meeting him face to face with his arms crossed over his chest. The imposing aura Saji gave off made him seem intimidating in the eyes of the boy to the point that it made him stop what he was doing, not wanting to see anything else scary happen.

"Just what are you doing?" Saji tried to act like the Vice President acted towards him whenever he messed up on a job. All those painful punishments and scoldings were coming in handy for once.

"I-I-I-I-!" The boy started yammering at the forceful question.

"This behavior is not welcome in a school environment. Don't you know it's bad to do such lewd things, especially right before classes? You're blocking the hallway for everyone by having a huge group like this. This obstruction in the learning place is forbidden. And despite me telling you all this-" Saji clenched his fist when he saw that the young boy still groping the breasts of an insistent girl, the lewd young woman moaning softly at the boy's gentle yet oddly trained touch. "-you still keep pulling the same inappropriate gesture like before!"

The boy gasped when Saji grabbed his wrist, looking startled. He started whimpering, looking as though he were trying to physically shrink into the smallest size possible in order to run away.

"What is the meaning of this? Don't you consider the feelings of others? Not just these girls, but the guys as well? Just look at them!"

Saji pointed down the hallway to see male students of the varying years crying and grinding their teeth in frustration. These were trifling times for high school boys everywhere. They wanted to learn how to get close to women too. But alas, fate was too cruel when deciding the pecking order that determined their chances.

Compared to the cute young boy who seemed to charm everyone from juniors to seniors, these ordinary hacks were cast aside, unable to fulfill their hopes of at least talking to a girl at least once in their high school lives.

They exuded an envious aura towards Makoto. They had been watching him for over 20 minutes attempting to visualize themselves in his place, muttering death threats and wishing misfortune on the boy for taking all the girls for himself.

"See? Your actions are affecting the morale of these kindred men striving for female interaction! Don't you know how they feel, knowing they lost all 5% of their chances of ever speaking to these girls!"

_'Isn't he steering off topic?'_ Michael thought to himself, picking his ear with his pinky.

"As a fellow bro, you must consider everything they must endure while you ignorantly enjoy your high horse pleasure of having a bishounen face! Yes! This is only fair! We already have enough selfish assholes like that in our school, so try to show some consideration for our feelings and do this groping somewhere else! Perversion isn't something you should indulge in front of women-less men!" Saji's passionate lecturing made the atmosphere quiet down. Saji panted heavily, having thoroughly vented his past frustration of having a slow developing relationship with his master out on this little kid. He knew it may have sounded harsh, but it was the truth, and being truthful to the student body was his job, so…

"B-But…I-I-I…!" Makoto covered his mouth, only a few muffled sobs escaping after being reprimanded by the Student Council Secretary. Saji blinked, the boy in front of him crying, both despondent and confused.

"Doesn't rubbing the breasts of girls a symbol of friendship?" The boy asked in a genuine manner. "My Onee-chan told me that, if you want to be friends with a girl, you have rub their breasts!" Makoto sniffled, staring at Saji with teary eyes.

Saji choked as he tried to work up the necessary vocabulary to respond to such a ridiculous claim. "No, your older sister is dead wrong! There are so many things wrong with that! What kind of sister tells you something stupid like that!?"

Too busy berating the younger boy for his behavior, it took Saji quite a while to notice the demonic aura the girls had started emitting once they saw their little boy idol start crying. If that hadn't been bad enough, Saji had indirectly insulted another person they idolized. Yet another nail hammered into his coffin.

"M-My Onee-chan is st-stupid!?" Makoto stuttered out, his eyes widening in shock and sorrow. He started letting out shriek-like squeals, crying even harder than before.

Filled with rage, the girls surrounded Saji, every one of their hearts dedicated to the goal of vengeance for the crying boy.

"How dare you make our dear Mako-chan cry!?"

"Who cares about those unappealing guys over?! We prefer small, cute boys better!"

"We can never forgive you for insulting Mako-chan's sister, Natsuru-senpai! If you keep talking badly about her then we will make sure you regret it, Saji-san!"

Saji gasped as he realized the identity of both the boy and his family. Michael's own jaw dropped as he listened.

_'So this kid is Natsuru-senpai's little brother...which makes him Kiyome-senpai's little bro too!'_ Michael snuck in closer, cautiously trying to get a better look.

"Okay, ladies, lets calm down." Saji raised his hands, motioning for the girls to try to soothe their anger. "I know words were said and-oh. I see that one of you has brought a weapon on campus. You do know I have to write you up for that, r-right…erm…"

Backed into a corner, Saji could tell that these girls were far from being in the mood for mercy.

"Should I help him?" Michael said to himself. He rubbed his chin, contemplating his answer for several moments before shrugging, "What the heck. This might be hilarious."

Michael took a deep breath, changing the pitch of his voice before calling out in a woman-like squeal. "Gasper-kun is much cuter than Makoto-kun!"

A heavy silence with the lingering feeling of death filled the hallway, the girls looking to one another, searching for the culprit who said such potentially heretical words.

"Well, it is true." One girl admitted.

"Are you nuts?! Makoto-chan has much more charm than Gasper-chan!"

"Mako-chan, isn't a shut-in and is much easier to approach than Gasper-chan!"

"But being a shut-in makes the experience of first talking to Gya-kun that enjoyable. Isn't it the best to try and have something that's so out of reach?"

"But haven't you noticed that Gya-kun has become much more confident these days? I think that's even more charming than before!"

_'Yup! That was all from me.'_ Michael gloated, patting his chest.

**[They're talking about charming points not terrible qualities.]**

_'Ddraig stop ruining things for me!'_ Michael growled at the magic dragon talking through his head.

"Mako-chan!"

"Gya-chan!"

"Mako-chan!"

"Gya-chan!"

And so the hidden Gasper Faction and Makoto Faction were revealed.

Standing beside Makoto, both Saji and Michael watched the two groups square off in heated debates on the cuteness level both 1st years gave off.

"How did you know this would work?" Saji said as he looked on, impressed with his friend's handiwork.

"Dude, apparently the groups in the school are either hidden or out in broad day light. I mean we used to be in a cult where our main business everyday was to attack dudes who interact with chicks. It wasn't that hard to guess." Michael focused his sight on Makoto and raises a hand in greeting. "Hiya!"

"U-Uh…hi?" Makoto timidly responded, offering a meek wave in return.

_'So he's a Gasper-type huh?'_ Michael got used to "typing" people out by people he actually know. Kiba, the weird handsome guy that annoyed the crap out of him. Akeno, the kind onee-sama with a sometimes scary interest in S&M. Asia, the really innocent girl. Koneko, the … type of girl. And lastly, Raynare, the girl who can either be really kind or scary based on how you acted towards them.

"Come on. What kind of "hi" is that? This our first meeting, so do it like a man! Like this!" Michael turns to Saji. "Hiya!"

"What?" Saji, having not paid any attention, turned to face his friend.

"Not good enough!"

***SLAP!***

"Gaah! Michael what the fu-?!" Saji rubbed the red, hand-shaped mark Michael left on his face, wincing in pain.

"Okay, don't follow his example. He's just terrible at this."

"Seriously, Michael! What the hell was that fo-" Multiple hands suddenly lashed out and grabbed Saji by the clothes.

"This is for hurting our beloved Makoto-chan's feelings!"

"Nonononononono! Michael help me!" Saji screamed in terror, reaching out to his friend.

Michael casually slapped the hand away, shouting back, "Can you not see me in a conversation? I will talk to you later!"

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Saji, I said I will talk to you when I am done." Michael shot a look at his friend before turning back to the little boy in front of him. "Anyways, where were we? Oh yeah! Hi, my name is Michael Hanamura, a...a really great guy." Michael still had trouble not saying his catchphrase.

"H-Huh?"

Michael couldn't get why the boy was so afraid of a little introduction. He figured the boy must have been a Gasper-type person after all. It wasn't as severe because he was able to at least utter some words.

"Now it's your turn. I gave you my name. Now you give me your name, kid." Michael used his hand to motion for the boy to speak.

"M-My name?"

"What? You don't have one?" Michael asked, taking a playful jab at the kid.

"W-Well my name is…" Makoto was still confused on the whole situation itself when Michael offered his greeting. Usually, people would just throw themselves at him like the girls several feet away who were preoccupied ripping Saji limb from limb. The gesture wasn't lost on him, but it wasn't familiar with him either.

"Makoto Abe. Nice to meet you, Michael Hanamura-kun." Makoto bowed politely.

"Hey, no need for that. It's fine. We're cool, right, Saji?"

"They're tearing me apaaaaaaaaaaaart!" Saji wailed as he felt another bone pop out of place.

"See? We're cool."

"O-Okay." Makoto nodded with a shaken smile; this interaction was quite new to him, but that didn't mean he hadn't felt a little comforted from their conversation.

"Judging by the way you look, I can make a guess and say you're a first year, making you my kouhai right?" Michael snickered, folding his arms behind his back.

"Kouhai?" Makoto placed a finger to his lips, his expression clearly of one deep in thought. "...then that means I called you by-" He gasped. "-please forgive me Hanamura-senpai!" Makoto bowed in fear at his disrespect. He just called his senior by his full name while using the honorific of "–kun" by mistake! How could he have been so foolish?

"Hey. Relax. I said that there's no need for that. I don't really care on how you title me… unless it's  _Michael Hanamura, the greatest dude ever-senpai_. Then I'll allow it."

"T-That names s-sounds way too long."

"I know. Look, I'm trying to think up a new shtick for me." Michael groaned, "Just call me Michael-senpai, so this process can go smoothly next time."

"Next time?" Makoto gasped at the prospect of having a normal conversation with not just his senior but another guy happening not just once, but potentially again in the near future.

"Of course. We're friends now, so we'll definitely be able to talk anytime we see each other. Isn't that right Saji?" Michael smiled, whipping his head around. "Saji?"

He sucked in his lips at the horrifying sight of Saji hog tied and covered in bruises, cuts on the floor beside the angry girls. They weren't too keen of the thought that Makoto was socializing with Michael, "The Beast of Kuoh Academy".

So naturally they're initial thoughts were to…

[KILL HIM!]

The girls stampeded towards the boys.

"Get Makoto-chan away before he's corrupted!"

"Oh no! What do we do Michael-senpai?" Makoto felt Michael's hand firmly grasp his shoulder.

"I guess we have to leave Saji behind…Oh well have fun dude." Michael looked regretful then grinned at his friend's pitiful position.

"Scweww Weuuu!" The gag muffled his words.

"And just follow my lead."

Makoto nodded as he heard his senior shout with sharp eyes.

"Blue 41! Hut! Hike!"

Immediately grasping the football plays. The boys charged at the girls only to run through a hallway midway to the center point.

"Crap! They got away! After them!"

The girls shifted into second gear and chased after the clever pair of boys.

"H-How did they not see that coming!?"

"That's because teenage girls don't understand the concept of football! Now run my child! RUN!"

Chaos ensued in the hallways of Kuoh Academy...and it wasn't even sixth period yet. Any bystanders were knocked down or sent flying by the girls pursuing Michael and Makoto, who kept running to survive. But these girls weren't so willing to just let them escape.

"Don't let the beast get Mako-chan!"

"Cut off his balls!"

"Why the balls!? What does my manhood have to do with any of you!?" Michael screamed as he picked up the pace with Makoto behind him.

"Now what do we do Michael-senpai?" Makoto looked up at Michael, the young man looking ahead with a confident smirk.

"Don't worry! Leave it to your reliable senpai?"

"Senpai, you're-" Makoto gasped as he was almost tripped by Michael sticking his foot out. "-trying to trip me!?"

"Dammit! Hold still!" Michael shouted, the shorter boy was far more agile than he appeared as he jumped over each attempt to trip him.

"WHY!?"

"They want you not me! If you keep running with me, they'll soon steal my family jewels and I can't have that! So be my SACRIFICE!" Michael voice became dark. "Volunteer as tribute!"

"Noooooo!" Makoto picked up the speed, leaving Michael in his dust as he managed to escape.

"No, wait! Come back! I was just kidding! Don't leave me alone with them!" Michael reached out, trying in vain to stop his meat shield-er-"friend".  _'For a little guy, he sure can run fast!'_

Rounding the corner up ahead, Michael saw Saji, having managed to survive his beating, crawling to the nearest nurse's office.

"Saji!"

"Mike? Thank goodness! I need your help. I don't think I can make it."

"Don't worry, Saji! I got you!" Michael picked Saji up by the shoulders.

Michael's hair covered his face as he grabbed Saji's arm.

"Thanks, Mike. I owe you one."

"Quick! Don't let the beast get away! We'll get rid him before he gets all the bishounen guys to himself!"

"Ah! It's that secretary jerk! Let's kick his ass for making our dear Mako-chan cry!"

The girls were getting closer and far more bloodthirsty by the minute.

"Crap! They're here too? Why are we just standing here? Let's move! Michael?" Saji looks to see Michael's eyes gleaming before he mutters, "You wouldn't dare..."

"SACRIFIIIIIIIICE!" Michael shouted and flung Saji over his shoulder and at the crazed pursuers' intent to make their lives like hell.

"GAGH! YOUSONUVABI-AAAAARGH!" Saji was engulfed by the mob of girls and was entering another sound beating as Michael shouted.

"Payback is a bitch! That's for what happened after that Ghost incident, bastard!"

With no regrets, Michael booked it out of the academy while ignoring the curses his friend screamed, while he was once again hogtied and tortured by the ravenous girls of Kuoh Academy.

"Looks like I lost them." Michael panted as he hid behind a tree outside of school.

Hearing the familiar sounds of two girls chatting Michael looks behind the tree to see Raynare, Xenovia and Asia chatting about their plans after school. Michael would have greeted them but decided to lay low in case the VVV were secretly watching him to take him out.

_'I'll just wait for them to leave, but there's nothing wrong with listening am I right?' Michael stuck his ear out and grinned, 'They must probably be talking about how awesome I am.'_

Michael waited to hear the wonderful things they must think of him.

"Michael-sama can be such a slob. He doesn't clean his mess when he's in the room and always leaves his clothes out for all to see." Raynare sighed.

But that wasn't the case. Michael froze and continued to listen.

"I-It's not that bad, Raynare-san. I don't think that's a big issue." Asia tried to defend him which had Michael in tears happy the former nun was sticking up for him.

"Asia-chan, you shouldn't be so lenient with him or else he'll never learn. I keep trying to convince him to handle it but he keeps making excuses about doing his homework (Lies), doing study sessions at Motohama or Matsuda's homes (Lies; he was playing video games) and training (Truth). He just doesn't get how to be serious with the little things." Raynare exclamations were piercing through Michael like arrows as he fell to his knees.

"But shouldn't we be fair towards him since he's still recovering from his fight with the Vanishing Dragon?" Xenovia wondered.

"Normally yes, but that doesn't stop him from training despite all the warnings that we give him." Raynare makes a good point.

After the fight with Vali, Michael was now more determined to get stronger so he places more effort in his training whenever he's given the chance be it in the early morning or late at night. Asia had to be there to watch him each time so his wounds wouldn't reopen. Fortunately the worst injuries that he gets range from small bleeding cuts to strained muscles.

"You have a point, but I am also to blame for that." Xenovia admits her willingness to train with both Michael and Kiba whenever they were given free time.

Occasionally, she found it a requirement to hone her skills so she can better perfect her proficiency with Durandal and bring out it's absolute destructive capabilities.

But training wasn't the only reason why Xenovia joined them.

"Don't stress yourself too much about what he does afterwards. He ends his training with a bath in the underground basement for a single hour before going to bed." Xenovia elaborated in exact detail.

Both Asia and Raynare look to each other before looking back at Xenovia.

"Xenovia-san, why do you know all this?" Asia slowly asks.

"Hm? Isn't it obvious? I'm slowly breaking down any defenses Michael has so we can start practicing to produce our first child." Xenovia said without shame.

_'I knew she would spill the beans about that!' Michael facepalmed since it was true but lately he wasn't going to crack. He's been keeping his training to a minimum since the last time Xenovia caught him off guard in the bath._

"Producing a child?"

Face heating up with embarrassment Raynare demanded an answer, "Why would you do that right after Michael-sama's training and in a bath of all places?"

Asia was also turning red, but remembers, "Is that the reason Michael-san almost drowned in the baths that one time?"

_'That was my only choice of escape.' Michael remembers back to that day._

* * *

 

_(Flashback)_

_"Man, my body is sore…" Rolling his arms around while wearing nothing but a towel, Michael enters the underground baths. He just had an intense sparring match with Kiba while learning to control the output of the dragon power he can use._

_Finishing things up near midnight tired them both out with the exception of Gasper, who fell to sleep after watching, initially he was done practicing with his sacred gear but wanted to stay and watch his two seniors go at it. Fatigue was still caught up to him in the end after a couple of hours._

_Deciding to use the bathroom upstairs along with putting Gasper to bed, Kiba leaves Michael alone to take a bath._

_Not like he needed to insist because Michael's become strangely weary of Kiba since he moved in with him especially when the two were in baths together. Always getting awkward whenever Kiba volunteered to wash Michael's back. Along with the strange and envious comments about Michael's developing muscles._

_Michael made sure to keep some distance away from Kiba whenever they were left alone like that._

_"Man, this place is the best! It's like a dream house." Michael jumps right on in the warm water and goes limp like jello inside. He was thankful for the reconstruction of the apartment into his own house. The feeling was kind of weird since he never thought in his wildest dreams that he would live in a place like this._

_To be fair he never actually thought he would be a devil either._

_"This water is really doing wonders for my body. Wait, is there be some magic in the water?" Michael's eyes sparkled as he took a handful of it, "Maybe it can restore stamina if I drink it!"_

_Gulping down the mouthful of bath water, Michael idiotically neglected to come to terms with the bath water being just regular bath water._

_[Good Boys and Girls shouldn't do this at home.]_

_Later room's door opens to another guest._

_"So this is where you were, Michael." Xenovia entered with nothing but a towel._

_"Pblblblblblblbl!" Michael does a huge spit take and coughs._

_"X-Xenovia what are you doing here?"_

_"I've been interested in seeing the baths down in the basement but, it wasn't a big priority for me in the past. So I decided that now was the right moment to check out this room." Xenovia casually sits in the bath besides Michael who sweatdrops at her forwardness to bathe with him, a guy, of the opposite sex._

_'She's being way too casual about this isn't she concerned about taking a bath with a dude?' Michael didn't know how to respond to the awkward moment._

_"So why are you here, Michael?"_

_"Well, I just came back from training is all nothing much." Michael tried to stretch his arm but twitches in pain, "Ow! I guess I shouldn't be moving too much yet."_

_Michael sweatdropped and chuckled through gritted teeth._

_"You've been working hard lately. Do you mind if I ask why?" Xenovia was curious to know the boy's drive._

_Looking at his hand, Michael smiled, "It's hard to say you know, after that fight I had with Vali I guess I've been sort of getting serious with my training. I feel that if some things weren't used to prolong the fight then I would have lost. The fact that he's stronger than me just makes me frustrated, but makes me want to work harder and beat him."_

_The memory of Vali stating his parents and their abandonment of him, had caused Michael to clench his fist._

_"I mean yeah it's a tie and I'm currently satisfied with it. But that makes me want to at least to try and get better. If I can train harder then I won't have to reassure myself that my friends won't get hurt if I can protect them. Yeah, I think winning against him will be a goal of mine before I fulfill the dream Buchou believed I can achieve. By becoming a Maou."_

_"I see…"_

_Xenovia tilts her head to get a better look at Michael's face. He was filled with conviction and determination if not for the serious look of his expression. The look in his eyes made Xenovia too entranced that she was caught staring at him._

_"Whoops! Sorry, I didn't mean to spring all that on you." Michael sheepishly laughs._

_Xenovia quickly faces away with a slight blush to her cheeks._

_"Still I just need to get stronger until the Ero-Os-. Well, Ero-Sensei decides to train me into controlling the power my sacred gear has."  Michael sits back and relaxes,_

 

_"Well anyways, I just hope that I can get stronger from that experience wherever I'm going."_

_Looking at the relaxed Michael, Xenovia turns to face him, "Michael to be honest there is another reason why I came in at this time."_

_"What do you mean?" Michael rolls over to look at Xenovia who was now closer than she was before._

_This made him internally ponder, 'Wait a minute… alone in a bath…with Xenovia…naked…that meant...'_

_"Wait…"_

_"Now that we're both alone, we can finally commence with our baby making practice." Xenovia removes her towel and begins advancing._

_"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! No! I should have saw the signs!" Michael exaggerated with a big scoot to the end side of the bath._

_Xenovia crawled on all four as she looked at him in the eyes. Couldn't she tell that doing that gives him a clear view of her breasts?_

_"I heard from Akeno-fukabuchou that you took the Buchou's virginity in a bath, right? So, I decided to use this environment to your liking. Now, this way we won't have clothes to hold us back."_

_"Just because I did it that one time doesn't mean I like doing it that wa-!?"_

_Xenovia draws in closer to Michael and straddles his chest pressing her breasts to his._

_"Michael, now you can actually start, right? I mean I can see everything you have..." Xenovia looks down before looking away with a blush._

_"_ _Everything I hav-…Oh my god-ow!" Michael noticed that she saw his "little Michael" and gulped._

_"_ _And now you can see everything I have…" Xenovia embraced Michael without holding back._

_"_ _W-Wait, Xenovia, your chest is-! What I mean is, you're too close!" Michael panicked when Xenovia leaned in closer. Her breasts were now flattened against his chest, having him feel her nipples rub all over him._

_The close body contact between her and Michael infatuated, Xenovia to keep going. She rubbed her hands up Michael's arms and back feeling how thick and defined they were._

_"_ _So this is what men and their skin feel like. It's very thick. Do all of you, men possess such bodies? No, I think it would only be you due to how hard you've been training as of lately." Xenovia was lost in her unsubtle groping._

_This skinship was a first for her and she decided to take things slow and learn as much as she can._

_Reaching outside of the baths, Michael picks up a small wooden stool used to keep you up to scrub yourself with soap before washing yourself off._

_'I am too tired to be dealing with this today…' Michael thought as he looks back at Xenovia and roars._

_"This is the only way!" Michael held the stool over his head, "If I can't rest then!"_

_'Is he going to hit me?" Xenovia gasped._

**_*BOOONK!*_ **

_"Let me dreeeeeeeeam!" Michael hits himself over the head with it._

_"Let me dream! Let me dream! Let me dream! Let me dream! Let me dream! Let me dream!" Michael continuously hits himself until he passes out in the bath water._

_"M-Michael?" Xenovia blinks before hurrying to pick up the unresponsive Michael from the water._

_"Michael!" Xenovia picks him up to see his limp form. Flying out of his body was Michael's as it slowly started to flutter out into the sky._

_Until the noise of Koneko loudly entering the room caught everyone's attention._

_"Koneko, quick Michael passed out and drowned do you know CPR?" Xenovia held the unconscious boy close to herself._

_"Xenovia-senpai…" Koneko cracks her knuckles and walks towards them, "…Step aside."_

**_*BAM!* *CRACK!* *BAM!* *BAM!*_ **

_The Michael's soul was trying to retreat, but the hands of its body somehow dragged it down; it was afraid of getting hit anymore and didn't want to get left behind!_

_"NOOOOOOOOOO!" The soul seeped back into the body where it too got beaten silly by the Rook._

_Afterwards, Michael's limp and mangled body slowly floated in the water back side up._

(Present)

"Even when I came back to life, she still continued to beat me up…" Michael shuddered, quietly.

"Xenovia-san, I can't believe you would do that." Asia looked distressed after hearing the full truth.

"I know, don't you understand the consequences of your actions?" Raynare growled.

_'Looks like reason is about to go up and slap Xenovia in the face!' Michael thought._

"It may have happened once in there, but it's still unsanitary to do those things in the bathroom!"

"Don't you realize you can contract diseases and viruses if you do it in there? Next time, try it somewhere safer!"

Both girls scolded Xenovia for the location instead of the deed.

_'That's what you're both upset about?' Michael shook his head._

"I knew of the danger, but as of lately we can't be shrewd with our tactics." Xenovia said sounding like she was going into battle,

"We're already at a disadvantage with Rias-buchou and Akeno-fukabuchou being in the lead. Measures dangerous like this have to be made. You two know as much as I do too."

Both girls were stunned and complied with Xenovia mentality. They felt more and more obligated to do bolder things to be at least be in the running for Michael's affection. And being "at least" in the top 1 or 2 place seemed impossible now with Michael dating Rias. So Xenovia saw this as a chance to go attempt risky plots to do what they needed before Rias or Akeno make their move.

"Don't you both see? This is the only way we can hope to progress and if we band together our results could improve."

"You're right, w-we can't always stay on the safe side." Raynare admitted.

"Raynare-san?" Asia gasped.

"Then you do agree." Xenovia nodded.

"But that doesn't excuse the fact that we're all aiming for the same thing." Raynare narrowed her eyes.

_'Okay, how come the tone shifted way, and what are they even talking about?' Michael was clueless._

"We may get an advantage by working together, but that won't excuse the fact that we're each sharing his affection." Raynare closes her eyes and continues, "I'm not saying a truce from time to time is a bad thing, but I'd rather get results on my own."

"I see, so you wish to do things on your own terms?" Xenovia glared at Raynare.

"Of course. Just because Rias-san and Akeno-san are in the top 2 at the moment doesn't mean there isn't a chance to receive the top 2 perks that they get in their spots. So excuse me of my selfishness, but I intend to do things my way to get Michael-sama to myself."

Raynare glared back at Xenovia, as the tension between both girls rose with a frazzled Asia in the middle looking at both nervously.

"Hm!" Both of them smirked.

"I guess that makes us rivals then."

"Seems so, and don't think I'll hold back."

The two seemed to show what seemed to be good sportsmanship, but for what cause?

_'I thought they were going to fight, but I think the matter is solved now.' Michael wiped his forehead._

"So, Asia, what will you do?" Xenovia's voice chimed.

_'Crap, it isn't over yet, and why are they getting Asia involved?' Michael jerked up and looked at them from behind the tree in secret._

"Wouldn't you be happy if you were to get more of Michael-sama's attention for yourself?"

"W-Well I…" Asia felt pressured from being the center of attention.

_'They're putting her on the spot.' Michael thought._

"M-Me? W-We'll it's true that I don't want to lag behind, Buchou and Akeno-san either, but I feel much happier with just being with everyone because I find everyone being together the best." Asia's bright smile swayed Raynare and Xenovia to stutter back even Michael who shielded his eyes behind the tree.

_'Ack! So bright! My eyes I can't see!' Michael covered his eyes in pain from the brightness, 'I should have known Asia's kindness would rival my Greatness!'_

**_[You shouldn't bring her gentleness down to your level.]_ **

_'What do you mean down to my level?'_

**_[Exactly what I mean.]_ **

"…" Both Xenovia and Raynare found the blonde girl's devotion to not just herself but the others truly inspiring.

_'There's no doubt about it, Asia really is an angel in devil's clothing.'_

_'Yeah, Asia tends to shine at moments like these, doesn't she?'_

Both girls wore big smiles at Asia asks, "Eh? Is something wrong? Did I say something weird?"

"No, nothing at all."

"Don't worry about it, Asia. Your way of thinking is okay, too."

"Hm?" A question mark appeared above the girl's head.

Realizing something, Asia speaks up, "Excuse me, Raynare-san, before I thought you really enjoyed doing Michael-san's laundry though."

"W-What gave you that idea?" Raynare gulped.

"Because one day, I passed the laundry room and heard from behind the door some heavy breathing along with some… moaning?" Asia wanted to confirm this.

"That is true, sometimes when I go there to drop off my clothes. I find that less and less of Michael's clothes mainly his tops were missing." Xenovia said.

Looking between the two with shifty eyes while sweating bullets, Raynare nervously giggled, "Well you see, I kind of have a good reason for that because of the bleach? Yes, the bleach!"

"The bleach?" Xenovia asks, confused.

"Yes, the bleach sometimes I accidentally spill it over Michael-sama's clothes and it makes it so hard to breathe that I have to make that sound to ventilate the strong smell, and since his clothes were ruined by it, I just toss it in trash." Raynare had a well detailed excuse she doubt would work.

"I see then forgive me for my misunderstanding." Asia bowed.

"Me too, I guess we shouldn't have jumped to that conclusion." Xenovia scratched her head.

They bought it and they weren't the only ones.

_'Man…and I thought I found the culprit for my missing shirts too. Oh well, I guess I should buy new ones… with all the money I don't have.' Michael groaned._

"It's nothing you two let's just forget about it, okay?" Raynare turned away from both girls. She was holding onto her duffel bag and slowly stuffing in a red sweaty shirt. She had intended to use it after school in the bathroom so she can get her usual 'relief'.

_'They must never know.' Raynare's eyes gleamed as Asia and Xenovia laughed at their 'misunderstanding'._

After laughing off the conversation both Xenovia and Raynare decided to take off real quick since they were both called in by Rias to help sort out some work in the club room. Waving goodbye and seeing off Asia who was now free to enjoy her class break.

"Everything seems cool around here. So I guess I'll just be on my way." Michael walks off and stops to hear Asia suddenly get called by someone and that someone apparently sounded slightly rough.

"Hey there Blondie, come over here for a second."

"Eh?"

_'Who the flip is that?' Michael returns to his spot to glance at Asia who was frantically looking around for who called her and turns back to see who it was._

With a raise of the hand, a young man with mild spiky snow-white hair and light blue eyes approached Asia. He seemed to be wearing a black gakuran uniform from a rival school. He seemed to be quite toned as well evidenced by his uniform being stretched out by his muscles.

"Yeah, yeah you. Could there be any other Blondie around here?" The man's snarky response caught Asia's attention.

The aura that the guy had was filled with a red glow of rage and irritation, which looked like his default emotion. But no, he wasn't just like this because of the looks he got from the students. Nor because of what happened the night before but what happened after it.

As soon as he got into the streets he was stopped by a couple of cops suspicious of him loitering. So you can't blame him because his day started off shaky.

_'I finally got into this stupid town and its already giving me trouble, first I slipped down the steps to my old apartment, then I was attacked by a pack of stray dogs, then mauled by stray cats then the dogs came back because of the cats, got brought down to some stupid station since they thought I was loitering, almost got arrested by a cop for trying to help a little girl who scrapped her knee, and now I had to deal with whatever the fuck those guys in hoods were!' The young man grumpily approached Asia with sharp teeth bared (not actual; but used to show that he was mad), 'I swear if I have to deal with any more crap from even this chick I'm gonna-!'_

"Oh forgive me, I didn't see you at first." Asia bows and gives the young man a bright smile, "How can I help you?"

"…U-Ugh." The young man was taken back from the refreshing unexpected greeting.

"I'm sorry did you not need my help?"

He scratched his head and asked, "No, it's just that I… you know what never mind."

"O-Okay." Asia could see the man's shock and was hoping she didn't offend him.

_'Dammit! That greeting was completely normal, devoid of anything that usually annoys me like 'Don't you see me busy?' or the usual when they just run away when I call for them. Just what the hell is so distrusting towards people who look at me for the first time?' The young man exaggerates in his head._

Coughing to himself the young man tries to find the right words to say. Watching from his spot Michael started to guess who the stranger was.

_'Who is that guy and why is he talking with Asia?' Catching the guy's unusual uniform Michael could tell that he wasn't from here but there was something odd about him. Something that Michael didn't trust about the guy,_

_'This guy I feel something from my gut telling me that he is… a freaking DELINQUENT!' Michael shouted in his mind, 'Just look at the way he called Asia and the way he talked too. And especially his white hair…'_

Michael gulped as he remembers Koneko doubting that only people born with it usually act calm or quiet. Another architype idea he believed in.

_'Only delinquents dye their hair white and this guy is bad news…' Living up to his assumption Michael was about to storm over there and put a stop to things until a hand stops him._

"Michael-kun?" Kiba pats his shoulder.

"Oh hey, Kiba what's going on?" Michael turns around to see her fellow devil. He saw that Kiba was now grabbing his wrist.

"Well I was told by Buchou to escort you away from the courtyard." Kiba sounded serious as he started dragging Michael away.

"No! Why I was about to bust a delinquent for messing with Asia." Michael struggled to break free.

"I can't tell you but you just have to come with me." Kiba was told to keep Michael somewhere secluded away from public and the club room. Word has gotten out that a lone white haired teen has knocked flat the entire VVV group who interpreted him as another pretty boy about to enroll on campus. The group was demolished. Their heads were literally dug into the ground.

And with that trail of destruction it could be seen that 'he' was here.

Rias had him find Michael so that they wouldn't meet under any circumstances.

"But look he's going to mess with Asia right as we speak!" Michael pointed.

_Kiba looked back and sweatdropped, 'That's him…'_

"Now do you see what I have to do?"

Kiba dragged Michael away even faster after that.

"Let go let me do this!" Michael tried to break free from the knight's grip.

"Michael-kun just make things easier for yourself. It will do you some good." Kiba groaned.

"Really then okay Kiba." Michael allowed himself to get dragged away, "I mean if you think this is for my own good then I'll just listen and respect your position."

Michael picked up some dirt in his hands.

"Thank you, Michael-kun I appreciate i-bwgh!" And threw it at Kiba's face

"Eat it fool, I don't have time to respect your authority I have to save Asia!" Michael breaks free and rushes over to the pair.

"No, don't!" Kiba was hindered by the sand in his eyes.

"Make me!" Michael stuck out his tongue.

"Michael Hanamura to the rescue!" Michael roared booking it towards Asia and her *harasser*.

Resolving the issue the young man had, that was to look for Rias Gremory. Asia complied happily giving him directions to find her after she was told that it was a meeting Rias authorized herself.

But before he could leave, Asia realized the teen's bad mood and talked with him about it. Little by little it worked and the teen was able to soothe his temper before something else ruined it.

Soon afterwards Asia asked and listened to the young man's stressful day this morning and taught him to try to look at the better picture of things and stay positive.

Her polite, soft words were able to move the young man's heart as he finally could see clearer now.

"I hope your meeting goes well." Asia bowed about to leave.

"Yes, thank you, you were pretty helpful and thanks to you I've been able to open my eyes." The young man looked wiser than he did a couple of minutes ago.

"It was nothing Mr…um… I'm sorry but I'm afraid I don't know your name." Asia asked.

"Right I forgot my name is Shirou Fujimura and I have to really thank you for that talk."

"No problem, Fujimura-sa-."

"Just call me, Shirou."

"Okay, Shirou-san, I'm just glad to help. I hope when you're done we can meet again sometime and maybe you can meet my friends. Knowing how nice they are you might get along with them especially with…" Asia twiddled around her fingers before stopping. She just saw who she was about to bring up charging right at them.

"Especially who?"

The young man looked from side to side.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Do you hear something?"

"M-Michael-san!?" Asia gasped.

"So his name is Michael huh? I guess he's not as bad as he sounds since you're his friend, right?" Shirou oblivious to what was coming turned his back to the charging teen.

"Michael Hanamura's Special Surprise Kick!" Spearing the teen's chest with his foot Michael sent him tumbling into a couple of bushes.

**_[That Anime attack name doesn't make sense and it's too long!]_ **

_'Really sounds cool to me.' Michael thought and heard the groan from his dragon partner._

"Heh! Pretty stupid for a delinquent to leave his guard down when he's attacking an innocent girl. Especially with someone as vigilant as me." Michael struck a cool pose and smirked.

"M-Michael-san?" Asia looked from the bushes then to Michael.

"Its okay Asia, no need to worry. The delinquent won't be coming back to scare you not while I'm around to stop him." Michael still kept his cool pose.

"No, Michael-san he wasn't doing that."

"Hah! I know he probably was trying to do something else to ya! But nothing like that will ever happen again since I've decided to always protect you." Michael chuckled.

"T-Thank you, n-no, I appreciate the thought Michael-san, but you really didn't need to do that he was just a visitor looking for the-!" Asia stops when she saw the shadow of the teen get out from the bushes.

"I see you're still up. Not many have faced my kicks and lived to tell the tale." Michael laughed and lunged at the strangely quiet teen, "Now here's another kick going straight for your balls!"

Shirou had his hair cover his eyes as he cocks his head to the side to dodge the kick.

_'What?' Michael gasped then began to sweat as he saw a pair of blue eyes stare him down. If that wasn't enough there was also a hand gruffly placed around his neck to keep him in place._

Tightening his hold on Michael's throat Shirou growled, "Why hello there asshole…"

_'Can't breathe!' Michael clawed the hand choking him for air._

"Do you know what I've been through today?" Shirou's voice sounded low and menacing.

_'Still can't breathe!'_

"I've sexually harassed by a prostitute once I entered the town's red light district! Almost got hit by a truck! I got into a pointless debate about breasts or asses being the superior feature of women with these two slap jockeys when I entered this damn school! Next I was getting attacked by these guys wearing those creepy assed hoods for whatever the fuck they thought I was doing to those girls surrounding him."

_'VVV.' Michael corrected but could probably guess that the girls were more infatuated with a bad boy; someone different than the 'Handsome Prince' Kiba._

"And now I just got kicked by some little shit eating- *Sharp Inhale!*" Shirou releases Michael, who was coughing like crazy.

"You know what fuck it, it doesn't matter anymore just make sure to stay the hell away from me if you want to keep all of your teeth." Shirou shoved his way past Michael to Asia.

He approaches Asia, "Thank you, Asia though this jackass might have interrupted our conversation, I'm still grateful for the directions you gave me."

"N-No worries. I hope your meeting goes well." Asia smiled, happy that she got a new friend but a little disappointed that her new friend won't really want to talk to Michael after what he had done.

"Thanks." Shirou looks at Michael with an unreadable expression.

_'M-Maybe they can still get along…' Asia clasped her hands together._

"Piss off." Shirou flipped Michael the bird and walks off with his hands in his pockets. Leaving a jaw dropped Michael and surprised Asia in his wake.

_'On second thought it will just be hard to even get them to look eye to eye.' Asia sweatdropped._

_'Okay flipping me off aside.' Michael shook it off._

"That guy…" Michael rubbed his neck and stared at Shirou's back, he remembers back to that one moment where Shirou effortlessly dodged his kick,  _'Is he just a delinquent?'_

***PINCH!***

"Ngh!" Michael realized he was receiving punishment from a pouting Asia.

"What did I do?"

"That was for hurting Shirou-san out of nowhere, Michael-san. That wasn't a very nice thing you did." Asia scolds the taller teen.

"But he was a delinquent with *GULP!* white hair."

"But Koneko-san has white hair as well."

"I know that's why he's dangerous and did you see the way he got mad!?" Michael pointed out.

"But it's only because he's been having a bad day!" Asia raised her voice at Michael who was caught off guard.

"Bad day?" Michael was finally listening to reason.

"Yes, many things have happened to him and I volunteered to listen to him." Asia looks away sadly, "I thought my talk with him worked, but instead it made him even angrier than before. Because…" Asia didn't want to point any fingers so she left those words to be silent.

Michael slumps down and scratches his head,  _'Of me…'_

_Michael understood his fault and sighed, 'Well I guess I better make things right by doing the one thing I know. Annoying people…'_

Holding Asia's shoulder with a grin on his face Michael says.

"Don't worry Asia I'll make sure to get this guy and make things right!"

"Eh? But-." Asia didn't know why but she felt that the idea of Michael handling it wasn't going to end well.

"In case of things going south tell Kiba to call the 'Strongest Person' I know, he'll get who I'm talking about!" Michael exclaimed as runs after Shirou in a vain attempt to 'make things right.'

"O-Okay." Asia agreed.

"No, Michael-kun…!" Kiba runs to Asia and continues to wipe his eyes.

"K-Kiba-san what's happened?"

"It's not important it's Michael-kun! Damn… I was too late!" Kiba cursed.

"Why what's happening?"

"It's the messenger the one that was coming. Michael-kun's about to make contact with him!"

"The messenger but the only one Michael-san will talk to is…" Asia's eyes widen in realization/fear.

"Shirou-kun." Kiba finished.

"Oh no…" Asia gasped.

"Quick we have to inform Buchou before things get worse!"

"Hai!"

Asia follows Kiba to the Old Schoolhouse while looking over her shoulders.

_'Michael-san please be okay and don't do anything harmful.' Asia prayed._

Following Shirou for 6 minutes Michael finally caught up to him and stopped a couple feet away from the annoyed Shirou, "Hey there!"

"…"

"I said hey there!"

"I heard you the first time, I was just trying to ignore you."

"Ignore me! Hah! You must not know who I am!"

"Of course, we just met a couple of minutes ago…" Shirou stared at Michael, dumbfounded he thought,  _'Am I seriously talking to someone this dense?'_

"Well then allow me to introduce myself! My name is the Gre-! I mean, my name is Michael Hanamura the greatest person than anyone you've ever met and will meet!" Michael points a thumb to himself and grins.

_'Correction I'm definitely talking to someone this dense. And guess what I'm gonna do next…' Shirou spins on his heel and decides to walk away._

Sticking his hand out Michael shouted, "Hey don't just walk away!"

_'For me to get him to stop I'll have to go to the next level of being obnoxious.' Michael thought, 'But I need a setup, something that's a classic…'_

"Look I'm not in the mood for any of your crap right now pal, I just need to get a job done. So don't get in my way so this can get done easily."

_'Easy? I got it now the one way to stop him in his tracks is this…!'_

"Do you know what the easiest thing for me to do is?" Michael snickered.

"What?"

"Your mother."

…

…

…

"What did you just say?"

The atmosphere grew heavy as a deadly aura permeated around Shirou's body. Michael gulped then grinned ignoring the anger and fury the delinquent will rain down on him after he says these very words,

"What I'm saying is that your mother is easier than a groupie at a TeamFourStar panel." Michael laid down the burn hoping the reference would be caught by the delinquent.

Walking a few brisk steps after Michael, Shirou walks with his face covered by the shadow of his hair as he cracks his hands. The aura which surrounded him filled the entire area as adrenaline started pumping in Michael's chest evidenced by the fast beats of his heart.

_'This guy is…!' Michael gasped as a shadow covered his visage._

***DON!***

With at least one last step, Shirou jumped in the air and cocked his fist back before smashing it into the ground where Michael once stood. The teen barely dodged the attack as he glanced at the white haired teen with shock.

That punch just now created a crater the size of a human body. Of course the attention of the students were grasped as they started to circle around them interested in the bout that's about to go down.

Standing up and cracking his hands, Shirou slowly looks up at the airborne Michael and decrepitly grinned, that was holding back the amassing amounts of anger he held in.

"So you want to go, huh, you bastard?"

Michael lands on the ground and gets up to face his soon to be opponent.

"Fine then I guess the meeting could wait for just a little while for this. I'll even spare 10 minutes of my time since it will take that much just to knock your ass out but…"

The image of Shirou's enraged smirking visage, ready for battle, engrained itself into Michael's mind as he said,

"If I wanted to kill you then it will take me 5 minutes flat!"

Suddenly terrified but excited to test his current training out Michael raised himself in a fighting stance and grinned while sweating a little,

_'No, ordinary delinquent!' Michael finished his trail of thought as Shirou dives in and cocks his fist back with Michael charging head first to do the same._

* * *

 

Bursting through doors in the Old school building until finally reaching the Club room where Rias, Akeno, Raynare, Xenovia and Koneko stayed, Kiba and Asia urgently yelled.

"Buchou!"

"Yuuto and Asia? Is something the matter?" Rias takes off her glasses and sets down her book, remembering the job she had given Kiba before.

"I don't seem to see Michael with you two. Where is he?"

"I'm sorry, Buchou but he's…" Kiba clenched his teeth and eyes in self-regret.

"He's what?" Rias takes a look at Asia's teary face and sighed, "Let me guess…he met the messenger didn't he?"

"'Met' is sort of a weak word to describe how severe the situation has become."

"Oh dear Lucifer… he provoked him, didn't he?" Rias sighed as she stood up, "Well, we might as well end this fight quickly."

"Should we tell the Kaichou about his arrival?" Akeno asked.

"I already sent Gasper to take care of that. If the rumors were to reach Sona first, then things would have taken a turn for the worst." Rias knew how much her friend loved this school and would hate to see her get so angry to the point that she'll take matters into her own hands.

"So the messenger were discussed is on campus fighting Michael should we not be distressed?" Xenovia asked.

"She's a queen right, so we should probably stop them before Michael-sama gets hurt!" Raynare voiced her opinion.

"No, if we do that then we'll just give ourselves the attention of any students nearby. What we need is someone to handle breaking the two up and bringing them here. Alone." Rias crossed her arms.

"U-Um…" Asia raised her hand.

"Yes, Asia-chan?" Akeno answered.

"Well before running off Michael-san told me to ask Kiba to get the 'Strongest Person' he knew to come for him." Asia turns to Kiba, "Do you know anyone like that?"

Kiba rubbed his chin before remembering, "Yes I do and she's-."

"No need to finish, Yuuto, I was planning on going myself from the beginning." Rias flipped her hair back with a confident smile.

Walking beside Rias with her usual Onee-sama smile, Akeno says,

"Ara, ara, don't you think you are getting ahead of yourself, Buchou? For all we know he could have meant me."

"Excuse me?" Rias casts a sharp glare her queen's way.

"Ufufufu, now what's with that scary look I'm just being honest."

"I get that, but for a second there I thought I heard you said, you were stronger than me."

"Who knows maybe I am or maybe I'm not. But that wasn't the gist of what Michael-kun asked for. He didn't ask for the strongest in general, but the strongest in his eyes." Akeno covers her mouth with a hand and giggles, "And I can only assume that he would be talking about me."

"You? You misunderstand as his King, he must surely think that I'm the strongest, even more than you."

"Depending on just your position to make a point is rather sad don't you think Rias? I believe, Michael-kun would rather want someone who's independent and doesn't cling to such means." Akeno gestured to herself.

"And what makes you so certain that you're not doing the same, Akeno or may I remind you of how you use your seniority as an excuse for all those times before." Rias remembers back to just a couple mornings ago where Akeno snuck into Michael's bed and made of slip of the tongue of saying 'My Michael'. She of course used her senior status over the reason of her skinship with her pawn, but Rias saw more than that.

Narrowing her eyes at Rias for a split second before smiling once more Akeno giggles, "I'm afraid those two don't match with the problem."

"No, I'm fairly certain they do."

"Well I'm certain that lording around your status as King doesn't make you the strongest, Rias."

"Oh yeah, well, I'm certain that being someone's senpai doesn't make you the strongest person in their eyes, Akeno."

Rias engulfs herself in a red demonic aura as Akeno engulfs herself with a pale yellow demonic aura. Both sides clashing between the King and her Queen left everyone frightened as they watched.

"Excuse me, Kiba-kun, if I may, who really was it that Michael-sama called for?" Raynare was begging that it would be her, but still wanted to know.

"I'm glad you asked because she's sitting right behind you." Kiba points to the couch, right beside it was a finished glass cup which held a finished parfait. Standing up from the couch, Koneko walked towards Kiba and gave him a nod.

"So w-wait, you mean Michael implied Koneko?" Xenovia wasn't surprised since the girl was always beating him up; but had expected a different turnout.

"Eh?" Both Rias and Akeno looked dumbfounded as they stop their argument to look at the Rook who Michael asked for.

"It's not as ridiculous as you think considering how they interact." Kiba forced a smile and placed his hands up defensively, he turns to Koneko, "So Koneko-chan, we have an issue dealing with Michael-kun and the messenger and you can probably guess who that is. So let's finish this peacefully okay?"

Koneko nods, "…I will bury him."

"Michael-kun or the messenger?"

"…Yes."

"Please don't hurt him too much."

"…"

Raynare frowned and watched Koneko walk past her, ignoring the plea as they made their way to putting a stop to the scuffle while Rias and Akeno simply sigh at their past actions, disappointed not because they weren't the ones Michael thought was the strongest, but because they had a petty argument over nothing.

Tiredly putting a hand to her forehead in an attempt to forget the embarrassing thing she did, Rias sighed, "Let's just hope that Koneko makes it in time before things get too out of hand."

* * *

In the courtyard. Things were getting out of hand. As the crowd watching was screaming chants for the delinquent and Michael to beat each other up.

"Come on! Is that really the best you can do!" Attacking from the air Shirou intended to smash fist into Michael's head into the ground.

"Whoa!"

***SMASH!***

Shirou's punch created another crater the size of a human.

Michael had managed to successfully dodge the blow, but he still was amazed at the teen's incredible strength. Not only that, but the guy's attacks and reflexes were getting the best of him during the fight. Each time an attack was made, a follow up was sure to happen with each body part Shirou naturally used.

_'Whoa, this guy has got some moves and is really just a delinquent!?' Michael smirked and runs at Shirou, 'But either way he's not the only one!'_

Raising his guard, Shirou prepares himself for Michael's counterattack,  _'Predictab-!'_

***BAM!* *BAM!* *WHAM!***

Shirou felt a little unprepared when he felt 3 speedy attacks hit his crossed arms. Michael started with a right hook punch followed by a straight punch and ended it with a side kick with more than enough pressure to push Shirou back. Catching himself on time, Shirou clicked his tongue and analyzed Michael, who returned to his fighting stance.

_'That was fast. Just what is this guy, he doesn't seem to be a normal student here, and that hairstyle of his it almost looks like…' Shirou thought then looked closely at Michael's face, or rather the style of his hair, but stops thinking when he sees him wear a dirty grin. Shirou growled and a few tick marks etched themselves onto his head, forgetting his train of thought._

"Hehehehe…" Michael made a dirty laugh, impressed at the results of his training with Kiba. To fight a fast opponent you had to try and keep up and that helped Michael focus on training his speed.

**_[Michael?]_ **

"What's so funny?" Shirou inched closer and closer to make his move.

"Hehehehe… Nothing at all. Just happy with the results." Michael made another dirty laugh and shadowboxed with himself, "And soon you'll be taken down because of them."

"Underestimating me will be your biggest mistake, asshole!" Shirou charges in and swings back his arm and brings it right back for a frontal attack.

"Hm!" Waiting patiently, Michael takes a couple steps forward and catches Shirou's incoming attack under his arm.

"What!?" Shirou gasped, "Did you just-?"

"Kch!" Michael has the air knocked out of him for a couple of seconds as the swing landed a direct hit to his ribs. Wincing in pain, Michael takes a quick glance at Shirou's arm to see something surprising before he slides his foot around and shifts the arm over to his shoulder as he leans forward forcing Shirou over his shoulder.

"Fall!" Michael uses the weight of his body to throw Shirou over him.

***SLAM!***

"Duah!" Shirou grunts as he gets flipped and slammed into the ground.

Breathing heavily, Michael coughs for a while and falls to a knee, holding the side of his stomach.

The crowd roared louder as they saw another connected hit. Adding on to their cheers and jeers for whoever was getting the upper hand in the fight.

_'This bastard... He's not you're everyday delinquent at all.' In that moment, Michael caught a glimpse of a white aura surrounding Shirou's arm, 'That just now was Touki. I didn't get a chance to use mine because of his quick attack.'_

Standing right behind him was a tall shadow, "I gotta admit, you're attacks were fast, but that doesn't mean they're all that powerful."

"…!"

***WHAM!***

"Gurgh!"

The moment Michael whipped his head back; he felt the brunt force of Shirou's fist against his cheek. The blow was still powerful and enhanced by Touki like before but this time Michael made sure to shield himself with his own Touki immediately.

Holding his bruised cheek while getting up, Michael spits out some blood and tries to catch his breathe. The guy was powerful he can say that but his simple punches was getting the better of him. The touki too it felt just like his but more controlled and condensed.

_'If he's someone, who could use touki then I can't hold back!'_

Michael charges at Shirou.

_'Touki? I see then this guy must be… a devil too so he must belongs to Rias-sama, no wonder it took longer to flatten him. But it still doesn't excuse what he said so I hope Rias-sama understands if I turn her servant into a pretzel.'_

Shirou tenses his hands then gives an excited grin.

_'Meaning, I should only hold back on using my sacred gear and magic with this crowd of idiots around. I'm sure they won't see me using some of this.'_

Shirou's body spikes up in touki as the volume and ferocity, but that still didn't stop Michael, who still charged in with the determination to win. He could also see the white aura surrounding his body too, but with his volume of it being on par with his but vastly lacking control over it.

_'Here I come!' Michael clenches his fist._

_'What a good way to release some steam!' Shirou charges in lower and digs his hand into the ground collecting some of the dirt._

"Take this  **Hanamura Pun-!"**

"Eat the dirt!" Shirou shoves the dirt into Michael's face.

"Pffft! Gah! It's in my eyes! That's dirty, you turkey!"

(With Kiba)

"Huh?"

"What's wrong, Kiba-san?"

"I don't know why, but it felt like poetic justice was served."

"Eh?"

(With Michael)

"And that's not all!"

***BAM!***

"Gah!"

Shirou slams the side of his fist across Michael's forehead snapping his head back. Following up with grabbing Michael by the collar of his shirt and forcing him in front of him.

"With an order of one fisting, you get another one!"

***BAAM!***

***THUD!***

"Ergh!" Michael back as dirt picks up in the air and covers him.

"Absolutely free!" Shirou smirked after he clipped a good one on Michael's face. After a punch like that the guy should be sprawling on the ground crying. It was a serious enough punch to break through that large amount of Touki that was going over the place.

"For free, huh?"

"…?"

Shirou's eyes widen as he looks at Michael getting up and wiping the blood his nose leaking out.

"If you're selling it, then it's probably not worth buying." Michael sniffed, the blow hurt and even if he protected himself with touki it still was able to put a dent on him.

Frozen for only a second, Shirou grins at Michael and laughs excitedly, "This punk…!"

At first his mood was crummy, but now after experiencing someone take a hit from him and still have the strength to stand. His mood started to brighten up and give him a familiar throbbing that only a good fight could give. Now he was ecstatic to actually prolong the fight

Dusting himself off then raising his fists, Michael chuckles to himself, "Yosh! Let's go!"

"Say punk, what was your name again?" Shirou didn't catch it the first time with all the boastful crap Michael was spewing.

"Michael Hanamura." Michael tries to hold his stance but found his footing was out of place. That last punch shook his from his core but that didn't kill off his need to keep going.

"Hanamura, huh?" Shirou raised his fist, "Well then Michael Hanamura, my name is Shirou Fujimura, the very same guy who will bury you right here!"

"Shirou? Hehehe! Well tough break for you pal, but I won't go down so easily. Because if it's a competition or a simple fight, I'm going to win it no matter what!" Michael laughed and wore his signature grin.

"You have the talk, but do you have the BITE!"

"Heh! Who needs a bite when I can just use my, FISTS!"

***SMACK!* *SMACK!***

Charging at each other the two locked hands and tried to push the other back. Each time one was pushed back they managed to do the same to the other. They knew if they gave up even a little ground the other would get the advantage.

"Well spoken, I couldn't agree more!"

Shirou knees Michael's gut sending him recoiling back then proceeded to grab him by the hair and fling him back in the ground. Coughing a little blood while tumbling on the ground Michael steadied his feet after he stopped skidding. Using enough touki in his legs he propelled himself at Shirou and covered a massive amount into his head.

Thus using he used his head to club into Shirou's stomach with enough impact that it causes the male to get the wind knocked out of him. Just the wind nothing else. The touki that Shirou placed on himself was of another level than Michael's as he shielded himself from the blow but not the aftershock of it.

"Grr!" Shirou grits his teeth and locks his hands over his head and brings it down onto Michael's back.

"Gruagh!" Michael slams into the hard ground beneath him. He gasps as he saw Shirou's foot raised to bust his skull open.

"Tch!"

***DOON!***

A crater was created from the sheer power of Shirou's foot.

The crowd was speechless at the sudden power these two were exerting as they threw their blows.

Landing on both feet, Michael frowned, "Oi! That last attack would have killed me, you know?"

Smirking in response, Shirou replied, "You're one to talk if I hadn't shield myself from that last attack it would have damaged me fatally. But I already guess you know that, huh?"

"Hehe…I have no clue what you're talking about..." Michael laughed while rubbing his nose.

"You, freaking asshole you did know, didn't you?" Shirou was actually enjoying himself and he wasn't getting the bit most tired at all. But what made the fight so fun was that the guy was actually still going despite the harsh blows he was sending Michael's way. He must be more resilient than a cockroach.

Shaking his head from the growing dizziness, Michael decided to grit his teeth and push through it. The guy was stronger than he thought, and with each of his blows hitting him it would only be a matter of time before Michael gets completely overwhelmed by the hits. But something inside of him told him to keep going in and fight head on, otherwise it wouldn't feel right for him when he actually WINS.

"Alright, let's quit all of the jibber-jabber because now we can move on with the fight!"

"Move on, what do you-dogah!"

***BAM!***

"FISTICUFFS!"

Michael sends a fist flying into Shirou's face knocking him back a few feet.

Rubbing his stinging cheek Shirou hissed, "Agh! Bitch!"

***BAM!***

Shirou fires a powerful punch to Michael's face by the way Michael's body leans back before it starts leaning back up with a fist ready to slug Shirou right in the eye.

"Fisticuffs!"

***BAM!***

Shirou's head snaps back but a grin creeps up on his face as he laughs, "How retarded you actually want a close up brawl!? Fine then don't blame me when if you die!"

***BAM!***

"Fisticuffs!"

***BAM!***

"Stop repeating the same thing over and over again!"

***BAM!***

"FISTI-!"

***BAM!***

"Agh, my nose! You, freaking turkey! I wasn't done yet!"

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

Each brawler was sending a devastating to the other. Not holding back even a little as they duke it out with both of their defenses low and their attacks heightened. Now it was just a battle of endurance and power. The one who gives in to the pain loses. The one, who dishes out the winning blow wins. This was the mindset both of them had.

While this was all happening a certain hooded group appeared from the crowd, it was the VVV and with their dangerous weapons in hand they meant business in taking out their long hated nemesis and newly discovered hated enemy.

"This is it… now we can dish out deserved punishment towards our long hated traitor, Michael Hanamura and the new White Haired Bad Boy who took away all our potential waifus! Now we can finally get the revenge we so desperately deserve."

"CHAAAARGE!" Those pathetic virgins charged right in to deal the killing blows to their most hated enemies. Yes! The heretics will finally die!

***GLARE!***

***GLARE!***

Stopping their fight to stare at their attackers, both Michael and Shirou looked at them with their bloody faces and pinpricked filled eyes with the intensity their fight instilled into them. These two visages were like that of the Heavenly Dragons during their interrupted brawl amidst the Great Faction War, and just like that story things will end badly for the second party that got in their way.

"DIIIIE!" The VVV members shouted together.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Both raised their arms at the incoming VVV torturers.

"OUR FIGHT…"

***BAAAAAAAAAAM!* *BAAAAAAAAAAAAM!***

"YOU"RE IN OUR WAY!"

The two blew away the entire group of the VVV with just one hit.

"F-Forgive us…" The leader who instigated the attack whimpered as he and his cohorts dropped to the ground like dead flies.

Now the crowd was even more speechless with the strength the two possessed and made sure to keep a far distance when watching.

"Now then back to kicking your ass!"

"Hah! You wish, you're getting the stuffing kicked out of you by me!"

***WHAAAAAM!***

Without a moment's hesitation the two landed blows to their heads that were strong enough to send them fly back into obstacles right behind them.

"Guuuargh!"

***DOOOOOOOOON!***

Shirou was sent slamming into the school's flower garden while breaking the bricks with his body alone.

"Uraaaaaagh!"

***DODODODODODON!***

As Michael was hurtling through a familiar bench and through the fence into the tennis courts. With the tennis players screaming as they just saw a person rocket through their fence and destroy a few of their occupied tennis courts.

"What the bloody hell!" Kiyome runs to the destroyed court with a lying body inside of it.

"Crap… My body is starting to hurt like hell it's almost as bad as that time with Vali. Just how strong is this guy?" Michael clutched his head as he coughed up a terrifying amount of blood.

Kiyome noticed that it was Rias' servant and angrily asked, "Hey, aren't you Rias' servant what do you think you're doing?"

However she didn't receive an answer to her question since Michael was still rambling to himself about the fight he was currently in.

"It might not be a good plan, but I don't want to back down. I'll just keep wailing on him with my attacks until he goes down." Michael breathed heavily as he picks himself up.

"What are you…?" Kiyome couldn't help but stare at Michael's serious grin as he stands up tall and clenches his fist. That burning will within his eyes and perseverance kept Kiyome mesmerized before she shook it off.

_'What am I doing, he just interrupted my teams practice and destroyed our courts this isn't the time to be gawking at him!' Kiyome was mad at herself and confused about her rude staring._

"Besides, me attacking head on is the only thing I know how to do, so I will make it work for me like always!" Michael grinned but not before he catches note of the damage around him, "Huh, where did I end up?"

"Ahem!"

"K-Kiyome-senpai!?"

Turning back, Michael sees a mildly annoyed Kiyome raise her hand and ask,

"Could you please tell me why you ruined my team's tennis court?"

"Well, I have a perfect explanation which will take some time to explain so-! Oh, my god-ow it's Honda!"

"H-Hey, what about that explanation of yo-? Never mind..."

Michael runs past Kiyome to the Headless Dullahan.

"I thought you were dead…" Michael started to burst into tears.

The Dullahan wrote on his board, [No, our bond is so strong that nothing could never kill me especially when our friendship is brighter than the sun!]

"Hell yeah!" Michael and Honda grasped each other's hands and tightened them to the point that it hurts.

"The friendship between a boy and his headless man will DIE! Not even the God of Death can break us apart! You hear that God of Death, you're nothing to us! To me even, so suck it!" Michael and Honda were burning in the flames of passionate friendship, while pointing to the sky to whatever god he meant.

* * *

 

(With Hades)

_"I don't know why, but I feel like I should be plotting the downfall of all devil kind right now. I also feel the need to slap the innocence out of a child right now…"_

The God of the Underworld turns to one of his top Grim Reapers, Orcus.

"Orcus…"

"Yes, my lord?"

"You possess a daughter, no?"

"Why, yes my lord."

"…Bring her to me…"

* * *

 

(Back with Michael again)

Stirring himself awake, a VVV members sees one of the most glorious sights he has ever seen as blood gushes out from under his hood.

"B-Black with purple laces…" The VVV member joyously whispers.

"Oh dear, did you happen to look up my skirt just now?"

A teasing, Natsuru stood over the battered VVV member while smiling playfully. The sight even made the VVV member gasp in shock before fainting from the sheer coincidence. Now he has something saved into his memory that he will keep till the day he dies.

"Too easy…" Natsuru giggled as she walks to the crowd to watch what they huddled around for. She thought it would be the usual two ordinary students clashing fists in a fight over a girl and/or pertaining to a clash of ideals for either breasts or asses. It's not a surprise to her since that has been the case multiple times during her stay here in Kuoh Academy even in town sometimes.

"What do we have here…?" Natsuru glazed through the torn and roughed up courtyard of the campus with her eyes filled with disbelief. She wondered who could have done this much damage. But then a memory of the top brass of the school reminds her that not all the students here are exactly "ordinary" which brings her back to her last thoughts pertaining the other day.

_'If it's Michael-kun, then I guess that would explain this place's condition so he must be fighting one of Miss Gremory's servants. Ara, ara things must be getting shaky within her group of devi-.'_

"Come out you, assclown, we're not done yet!"

Natsuru narrowed her eyes as she heard an entirely different voice that she couldn't match with Rias' other servants.

Taking a few steps into her sight, Shirou releases a massive amount of Touki from his body as he shouts out for his opponent to come back and finish their fight. Natsuru who choked on her gasp as she began to sweat and feel the pressure from being just near the teen.

_'This was rather unexpected.' Natsuru fixes her composure when she felt a little more to the new male's strength however it was being suppressed and hidden away so she only felt a little glimpse of it, too hard for her to come up with an answer for._

_'It would seem they called for more reinforcements. It could have been a major setback if it weren't for…' Natsuru guessed right once she heard Michael's voice come from near the Tennis courts._

"Keep your pants on you jerk, I'm here see." Michael waved goodbye to Kiyome and Honda with a big grin on his face while holding the top of his busted bleeding head. The force of the crash made a couple more serious dents to his body especially the head.

_'This guy is really powerful but I can't back down yet! If I win then it shows my training has been paying off!'_

_'With internal struggle like this it may work in my favor after all but it doesn't retract the fact that a single devil got through in the first place. I'll have to have a talk with_ _ **them** _ _once I get back.' Natsuru crossed her arms under her chest and watched the fight with her eyes shaded by her hair. That cheshire cat smile she loved to keep hidden returned as she mulled over any edges she would need to cut for her plan to play into fruition._

Tripping a bit over his own feet, Michael almost fell.

Seeing that Shirou smirked, "What you done yet because I was starting to think it would be tough to put you down."

Breathing heavily Michael laughed, "Hah! You're one to talk, I was thinking the same thing. Hell, I'm even enjoying myself right now!"

**_[Michael, we have a problem.]_ **

_'I know I'm almost at my limit here…' Michael thought._

**_[I know that, but that's not the real problem it's something you forgot about before you began figh-!]_ **

_'So I better put everything I have into this last punch!' Michael tightens his arm muscles and fist. Placing all the Touki inside of his body into a single point into his fists Michael decided that this was for all the marbles._

"Let's finish this!"

"Already to the end, huh? I would have liked it if the battle was over but…" Tightening his fist along with the vast amount of fierce touki surrounding his body Shirou's muscles pulsate as both his arms were cloaked in touki as the rest of his body was left unshielded.

"Dragged out fights are the most boring ones of all!"

"Grrrrrrrrrgh!"

"Nrrrrrrrrrgh!"

Flexing their arms and giving off an intense pressure that would scare even a High-Class Devil. The two looked at each other with deranged faces of held back aggression as the painful extension of time they had to hold back their attacks got to them.

Their biceps quaking with the prolonged time they assure themselves that it will be enough to take out their enemy. Yes, they needed to assure themselves about their last hits because these very hits would decide the outcome of this battle.

***SNAP!***

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Suddenly a spark went through both of their minds as they leaned into each other with both their attacks ready and unrestrained, with no more holding back. Both the attacks were not like before to just knock the other out to win. No, they were now attacking to kill.

The fight had been going on long enough that these two had finally lost all conception on the outcome their attacks will have on each other.

Things have FINALLY gotten out of hand.

Very soon these heavy attacks will deal out more damage than these two would handle. Until a shadow of a short little girl stood between them as their voice said,

"…Idiots…"

***GONG!* *GONG!***

"Bogeh!"

"Dogah!"

Both young men let out pathetic whimpers as they were punched in the heads with the power of inhuman strength before they could land their final blows.

***THUD!***

Both fell down at the same time as Koneko stood above them with her arms crossed.

**_[The Rook is here…]_ **

"Baka-senpai… and…you… Buchou wants to see you two…" Koneko picked up both males by the collar of their shirts and dragged them off. She could already tell that she was too late before any real massive damage could be made.

Hearing the murmurs and concerned whispers of the crowd that watched the fight, Koneko looks over their shoulders to see a couple members of the Student council breaking up the students and inevitably erasing their memories of the brawl with magic.

As the crowd dispersed a spike in mischievous energy, but it felt too natural to be just energy as the image of a smirking face shown over the purple mass of power.

***Chills~!***

"…!" Koneko stopped in her tracks and turned her head towards the source of that energy.

Frighteningly enough there was nobody there when she looked. Returning to her business Koneko dragged both Michael and Shirou away to the Old Club room to settle the main reason why Shirou came in the first place.

To discuss and allow the investigation of the hijacked magic teleportation circles and the stolen sacred gear data.

But unfortunately things won't be going exactly as they planned because while leaving with both boys. Kiyome watched from near the destroyed fences of her tennis courts while thinking,

_'Those eyes and the way he looked when fighting that guy.' Kiyome thought back to Michael's resolved glow as he stood back up to fight despite Michael's horrible condition._

_'Maybe he could help me…' Kiyome thought back to a current phone call she had with her father and immediately frowned as she sighed depressingly._

"Kiyome-neechan!" Kiyome turns around to face the smiling face of her younger brother, Makoto approach him.

"Oh, hello, Makoto-chan you seem to be very happy about something?"

"I-I am and w-w-what happened here?" Makoto looked around to see the ruined space that was known as the academy courtyard.

"It's a very long story, but don't worry about it." Kiyome kneels down and gave her little broth a welcoming smile, "Now enough of that tell me about your day it's sometimes rare to see you this happy."

"O-Okay!" Makoto excitedly stammered, "Today I-I made myself a friend, who even said that they were friends with me! We even talked and laughed and…!"

Kiyome looked a little doubtful and asked, "Wait Makoto-chan did this friend of yours ask for you to grope them?"

Kiyome knew her brother's charm and wished that it didn't charm the girls around him too much. Because ever since he enrolled she had to file up to 12 sexual harassment charges to girls above his age.

"N-No, because this time he was a guy and actually admitted we were friends and-!" Makoto continued to stammer in excitement at the thought of a friend he made despite his past use of him as a sacrifice. But his first impression of him made him more inclined to like him regardless of his tricky scheme.

"Wait, a guy actually wanted to be friends with you?" Kiyome quickly pulled out her phone and hissed, "Makoto-chan, stay away from him at all times!"

"What do you mean?"

"This guy is trying to steer you away from the correct path!"

"N-No. he may seem a little weird but he still decided to say hi to me and become my friend." Makoto tried to explain with teary eyes.

"Makoto-chan, please listen. That guy must have been trying to do the same thing as those girls, so don't believe his lies."

"But Michael-senpai told me himself!" Makoto raised his voice unintentionally as Kiyome froze after hearing that name and dropped her phone.

"Did you just say, Michael?" Kiyome blinked.

"U-Uh, sorry Kiyome-neechan, I didn't mean to shout at you like that I was just-!"

"Makoto-chan." Kiyome asserts herself by grabbing Makoto's shoulders.

_'D-Did I make her mad?' Makoto winced._

"Y-Yes…" Makoto timidly answered.

"I see, well then I guess there's no problem." Kiyome remembered the closeness Michael and Rias exhibited during their tennis match so she decided to let it go.

"R-Really?" Makoto's eyes shimmered at the approval of his sister towards his newly found friend.

"Yeah…" Kiyome sighed tiredly before looking off into the direction of the Old Schoolhouse. Remembering the agreement she made with her father she needed to get an agreement started before going through with it.

"Kiyome-neechan, are you okay?" Makoto worried as he noticed the anxiety written over Kiyome's face.

"Hm? Yes, I'm fine thank you for asking Makoto-chan. I'm just thinking is all." Kiyome tiredly smiled, being she thought about the agreement she made more than once today.

"O-Okay, but Kiyome-neechan have you seen Natsu-nee today?" Makoto looked around worried for his eldest sister. He hasn't seen her for the entirety of the day.

"Actually now that you mention it, I think Isaw her in that crowd, but I guess it was just my imagination." Kiyome shrugged, "Besides, if she was here then she would be trying to sneak up on me and I've already learned how to tap into my 8th sense because of all her sneaky 'treatments'."

Kiyome blushed at the various memories.

Reaching her hand out to Makoto, she smiled, "Well club activities are over, so why don't we just walk around campus and talk. It's been a while since I actually ate lunch with you too."

"R-Really then you don't mine if I…?"

"No, I don't mind if you want to talk about your new friend."

"T-Thank you, Kiyome-neechan, y-you're the best."

* * *

 

Sending a happy smile his way, Kiyome does her best to maintain that big sister like image in front of Makoto while masking her worry over what she planned to do next. Before thinking back to that agreement she made with her father:

_"I see, so you already have a boyfriend?"_

_"Yes, father, so please cancel this marriage meeting it's not necessary."_

_"Okay then, I will be sure to cancel it."_

_"Thank y-!"_

_"Ah, but not without me meeting this young man, first. He must fit well with my expectations before I approve of him."_

_"I-I see…"_

_"I just want what's best for you ,so please understand that if he is not the person that I want you to be with. The meeting will resume with no interruptions. Do I make myself clear, young lady?"_

_"Y-Yes father."_

_"Now tell me the name of the young man who stole my girl's heart, so that I may properly introduce myself to him?"_

_"H-His name? I-It's-!" Suddenly popping up to her head Kiyome sputters, "Michael Hanamura! Yes, his name is Michael Hanamura, a fellow student at my school and he's a really great guy that you'll just love meet."_

_"I see, well then, I just hope that this Michael Hanamura is all he's cracked up to be otherwise you're going through with this arrangement with_ _**no** _ _complaints."_

* * *

 

_'I might have put myself in a corner with that but all I need to do is convince them to borrow Hanamura-kun for just that day.'_ _Kiyome bit back her pride as she steeled herself to visit the Occult Research club for a very special request._

* * *

**Next Chapter- Acknowledging my weakness and my opponent's strength, no matter what, I will get stronger! The beginning of my first Monster Duel begins with a rather unexpected twist at the end!?**

* * *

**Thanks for reading everyone, and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter!**


	37. Acknowledging my weakness and my opponent's strength, no matter what I will get stronger! The beginning of my first Monster Duel begins with a rather unexpected twist at the end!?

**Acknowledging my weakness and my opponent's strength, no matter what I will get stronger! The beginning of my first Monster Duel begins with a rather unexpected twist at the end!?**

* * *

_(In Michael's mind)_

_"_  I _t's been a while since I've been in here." Michael sat back looking at the moving sky above of him._

**[Yes, it has, but maybe you should try doing it on your own next time.]**

_In the wasteland, on a huge Red Western Dragon's back, Michael decided to rest until he regained consciousness. Being bored with nothing to do, Ddraig would usually fly around to pass the time whenever Michael wasn't fighting._

_"_ _Man, that guy was powerful." Michael raising his hand in the sky._

**[Yeah. Partner, I could sense the power that he had within him when you two traded blows.]**

_"_ _Really ,what did you find out?" Michael sits up._

**[Apparently, he's capable of using more abilities than just Touki, and I sensed something else linked with that Touki, which felt rather "natural" for his body to use. He seemed to be an experienced fighter who had more to show then what he led on.]**

_"_ _Wait, so that guy has abilities other than Touki? Then how come he didn't use it in our fight?" Michael asked._

**[He probably didn't want to hurt the bystanders watching you two.]**

_"_ _I guess that's true, but if it were an all-out fight I know I could match him right, Ddraig?"_

**[…]**

_"_ _Hehe…Ddraig?" Michael's smile fell._

**[Partner, I'm afraid if things had gotten serious you would have lost.]**

_"_ _What? Oh, I see what you're doing! Just trying to encourage me to fight him with full strength just to test my power hm?" Michael shrugged off the comment like a joke._

**[Michael, you need to listen.]**

_"_ _Hahaha! Ddraig sometimes you can be such a kidder." Michael laughed._

**[I do not kid around whenever the strength of my user is involved.]**

_Whipping his head back, Ddraig stared at his partner with his slitted dragon eyes, they were sterner than ever._

_"_ _Are you serious?" Michael's smile fell._

**[Michael, in that fight, I saw that you were getting laggy with each hit you received. I also saw the vast difference between you and your opponent. He's much better than you in the speed and power department. Not to mention his combat prowess and aggressiveness being in total sync. Having someone like that face you while staying in complete control of that certain strength would be troublesome for someone like you.]**

_"_ _So even if he is talented or whatever I can still take him down if I put my all into it." Michael just wanted to put himself at ease feeling some frustration at the thought of still being too weak._

**[That's the troublesome part, he isn't a natural born talent.]**

_"_ _What?"_

**[Michael, I keep track of your fights and I make sure to evaluate the opponents that you can and can't handle.]**

_"_ _Heh! Then you should get how great I am since you've seen all my fights!"_

**[No, that's far from it.]**

_"_ _W-What?" Michael clenched his chest as he felt his heart shatter._

**[Don't take what I say as discouraging, it's only the truth. Based on what I've seen from you up until, you've always gone through a breaking point in anger that helped you defeat your past opponents. The downside is that it's a level of power that you can't normally draw out unless mad.]**

_"_ _Y-Yeah, I guess, but that still doesn't matter since I was able to defeat those guys with it."_

**[You fool!]**

_Michael flinches back._

**[That's the main reason why you've been able to defeat your opponents. Your training might have gotten you a few steps ahead, but it's not enough. Your opponents played the same key factor in all of your battles up until now. They've all underestimated you.]**

_"_ _O-Oh…" Michael dropped his head as he got scolded by his dragon partner._

**[Dohnaseek, Kokabiel and Vali. These guys had power way above yours in your normal state along with your balance breaker state. They have the same thing in common when they fought you. They never took you serious in the beginning of battle, they angered you, and you caught them off guard with your new boost in power.]**

**_Ddraig looked up at the burning sun in the blue sky as he soared over the rocky wasteland._ **

**[These three have been the ones to draw out your potential by force. This isn't good since you should be the one doing that. When your opponents are doing something for you then that's a sign telling you, that you're definitely doing something wrong. But no matter how you look at it these are still the best people your good against.]**

_"_ _So what is the point of telling me all of this?"_

**[Because you are weak against opponents who have trained and practiced using their power. The type that fight all out and won't underestimate anything you do. They won't be pushing you around or toying with you, they may actually be seeing you as a threat to put down for good.]**

_Michael gulped._

**[And with guys like these, they sure won't let you get a power boost unharmed or just stay there and watch you do it. They'll be going at you with the intention to utterly defeat you.]**

_"_ _But I can still find a way if I keep going at them!"_

**[Maybe you can, but are you guaranteed you can say that for every fight. What if you're rival, Vali came at you right now without any lingering thoughts of holding back even at the start of the fight? Do you think you could still find a way while trying to get through all of his attacks without getting killed?]**

_"…_ _Well…" Michael shrugged._

**[But don't worry that's where the line is drawn when it comes to your weakness.]**

_"_ _Seriously?" Michael widen his eyes as he gasped._

**[Yeah, it isn't your fault that you're like this right now. It may be because you were put in a position where you had to fight all these outrageous guys as a devil. But right now the only reason why you have these weaknesses is because you're still green.]**

_"_ _GREEN!? Oh yeah, well your face is GREEN!" Michael shouted, offended. But his comeback wasn't really that great._

**[No, you idiot not like that. I mean you're a greenhorn.]**

_"…"_ _Crickets were chirping around Michael. He didn't get it._

**[A neophyte, a tyro, a tenderfoot a-! You're new at fighting and using your power.]**

_"_ _Oh, why didn't you just say that?"_

**[I wonder how you get passable grades in class.]**

_"_ _Silly Ddraig, that's why schools have bare minimums!" Michael patted the Big Ol' Dragon's back._

**[But you understand now, right? Your weaknesses and the disadvantages that you face against people, who won't pull any punches on you.]**

_Falling straight on his back Michael sighs, "Man, it sucks talking about how weak I am. Fine, I get it…"_

_Michael breathed in, "I'm not strong enough…yet. Is that good enough?"_

**[Plenty. Kukukuku… the "yet" in the end reassures me that you really paid attention to me this time.]**

_"_ _Of course, as a future Maou, I have to listen to any opinion that will make me greater than I already am as the Gre-! Crap I almost said it…" Michael bit his tongue to stop himself._

**[Are you still hung up about that?]**

_"_ _Of course I am! I need a word that really defines me!" Michael scratched his head in frenzy for just a single idea._

**[A word that describes you?]**

_"_ _Yeah and I've been going through my mind to come up with one and it's not working! No one I asked had a clue either!"_

**[You never asked me.]**

_"_ _Because you don't care."_

**[True, but I just have a good word for you to use.]**

_"_ _Okay I'll try it out so lay it on me D-Dog!"_

**[Michael, do not call me that…]**

_"_ _Geez! You and Saji suck! My nicknames are totally legit!"_

**[Okay, then I guess you wouldn't mind if I called you Tri-rection Hair.]**

_"_ _What?" Michael growled._

**[Because your hair is always seen up with the three distinct parts at the top.]**

_"…"_ _Michael blinks for a while and concedes defeat, "Just tell me the word you came up with."_

**[Gutsy.]**

_"_ _Gutsy?" Michael rubs his chin and thinks on it._

 _"_ _Gutsy? Guts…? Guts…." Michael was getting the hang of things, "It has a nice tune to it."_

**[Its something I might have heard someone say a while back and it fits your reckless and stupidly brave actions so yeah, Gutsy.]**

_"_ _Now you just made it unappealing after calling me stupid." Michael deadpanned, "But I have to say it is something I should at least try once before tossing it out the window. So thanks Ddraig." Michael smiled._

**[Just making sure you don't do something stupid in the future for that.]**

_"_ _Welp, I think I'm ready to wake up." Michael stands up and stretches, "I better train myself harder so I can fight that guy, er…Shirou. But first I guess I should make things right,"_

**[Also just to let you know before you wake up, that kid you fought, inside I sensed a faint energy signature of dragon aura.]**

_"_ _Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Wait, a dragon's aura so does he have a sacred gear holding a dragon? What kind of dragon does he hold too?"_

_Michael suddenly felt the rough winds coming down at him as Ddraig flew higher into the air. But he had a feeling in his stomach that he wasn't going up. Looking up (?) Michael saw the ground below him._

_He was falling. Ddraig performed a spin which shook him off without him even noticing._

_"_ _Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"_

**[If you really want to know the truth, then ask him for yourself!]**

**Ddraig zoomed past Michael and disappeared into the blue sky.**

_"_ _What do you mean ask him myself, there's no way I'll see his face ag-!"_

***SPLAT!***

(Reality)

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Michael shot straight up out of bed screaming. He held his pillow tightly to keep himself secure. It might have happened fast but as soon as he woke up he saw that he was back at home in his room wearing his school uniform.

His outburst caused the person sitting at his bed side to jump as well.

"Holy shit!" Shirou screamed as he jumped out of his seat.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" Michael continued screaming as he looked at Shirou.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Aaaaaaa-! Okay can we stop for a moment my throat is starting to hurt." Michael reached over to grab a glass of water from the countertop of the dresser beside him.

"Sure go ahead." Shirou nodded.

"Thanks man." Michael gulped down the water then froze once he realized who he was talking to.

 _'_ _Wait a minute, isn't he?' Michael held his rounded cheeks as he glanced at Shirou with wide eyes._

"What?" Shirou asked.

***GUUUUUUSH!***

Michael does a huge spit take at Shirou's face and points at him, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Wiping his now wet hair out of his eyes, Shirou looks at Michael with a pissed off smile, "I don't know shouldn't you say something before I answer?"

Michael looks at Shirou for 30 seconds and rubs his chin, "Something I should say?"

"Yes!"

"…" Michael stared at Shirou for a couple more seconds.

"Like what?"

"Like an apology!" Shirou shouted.

"…Oh…" Michael gasped,

"I get it…"

"So aren't you going to apologize?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry that you stood in my splash zone." Michael pointed to the spot where, he spat Shirou with water.

"Is that it?"

"Yup!" Michael nodded, "So are we cool?"

"Well that's not good enough, asshole! I mean apologize for spitting water in my face!"

"Why? You saw me with a mouth full of, it so you had the chance to DODGE!" Michael exaggerates with a scream.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Shirou looks at the weird boy strangely.

"I-I'm sorry, I have no idea what came over me…Geez how embarrassing I really need to stop steering off to…Oh my God-ow, is that a gift basket!?" Michael disregarded what he said and lunged for the gift basket filled with fruit.

"It's a fruit basket, you moron." Shirou corrected.

"A fruit basket? Who gave this to me?" Michael looked to the only person with him and gasped.

"I-It was you, but why, also out of everyone why are you here?" Michael frantically wanted these questions answered.

"Tch, don't get the wrong idea. I was only asked by Asia to stay back with you so we can make up or whatever." Shirou clicked his tongue and looked away.

"But why did you give me a fruit basket of all things?" Michael asks.

"What you don't like it?" Shirou growled.

"No, it's wonderful because of the thought actually, but did you really make this for me?"

"Tch! I just had too much fruit at my hotel room, so I figured I may as well get rid of it." Shirou scratches his head while looking away annoyed, his eyes showed that he was actually happy about the compliment.

"But next time just a tip for a fruit basket holding all the stuff in my diet you should add: Meat, Potato Chips, White Chocolate Chip Cookies, Soda, Fruit snacks and popcorn." Michael listed with a straight face.

 _'_ _Those aren't even fruits at all!' Shirou groaned and took the fruit basket away from Michael._

"Hey!" Michael reached out for the fruit basket before catching an apple Shirou tossed his way.

"Just shut up and eat it." Shirou sighed.

"I already did…" Michael tossed the apple aside. He didn't get to eat lunch because of the fight happening before he had the chance.

"How did you-! Never mind lets skip this chit-chat and get to the point."

"The point?" Michael tilted his head.

"Yeah… you did something unforgivable." Shirou's demeanor grew dark as he remembered the insult back before their 'little' scuffle.

"I did? It doesn't seem like a big deal to me." Michael shrugged.

"You made a joke about my mom, you prick!" Shirou cracked his knuckles, "So you better have a good reason about insulting her like that or else I'll bury you right here!"

"One moment…"

"Don't ignore me!"

"Just wait a minu-Aha!" Michael pulls out from under his bed a large book.

"Tell me why you insulted my mom you, punk!"

"What are you talking about insult, that wasn't even my best one? I mean I have this whole book of 'Your Mamma jokes' stashed under my bed for a reason so I can scale them from Best zingers to terrible blow-ups. Wanna lo-!"

Shirou slapped the book out of Michael's hands and grabbed him by the collar.

"Start talking." Shirou threatened.

"Okay, geez!" Michael pushed Shirou off of him.

Sitting up in bed Michael scratched his cheek and said, "Look do you remember when I did my awesome surprise attack on you?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I mean awesome grand spanking surprise attack?"

"Yes, get to the poi-!"

"I mean you didn't even see it coming. It was so awesome that you got sent flying like a doofus! That's the Hanamura strength which dwindles thousands if you know what I mea-!"

"Get on with it!"

Shirou cracks his knuckles and stands above Michael.

Resigning himself to explain, Michael scratches his head, "Fine…so you know how after you got hit you left. Well, I did it to protect Asia thinking you were a delinquent about to attack her."

***SLAP!***

Shirou facepalmed himself.

"Are you okay?" Michael questioned.

"I'm fine, I just realized how bad a start my day was…" Shirou suppressed the memories of misunderstandings and pain he had the past morning and heaved out a long groan, "Just continue."

"So after you left I talked with Asia who convinced me that you weren't a delinquent and she told me to apologize to you since… you've been having a tough day." With a regretful smile Michael looked away.

"After hearing that I knew that I obviously made it worse, didn't I?"

"You sure did." Shirou didn't hold back with the comment.

"See I knew that too. But either way I still felt like a big turkey for doing that to you so I decided to help you out in my own way." Michael chuckled, "By acting stupid and forcing you to fight me. Also when I make jokes don't take them too personal unless you've pissed me off then take them extremely personal."

"So what you're saying is that you picked a fight with me instead of apologizing?"

"Okay I know it's as bad as it sounds."

"Of course it is! What next, you want to say you're sorry by hitting me with a car?"

"No! Wait… Did you want me to hit you with a car or something is this what you're mad about or…?" Michael pondered.

"From this I can tell you're not right in the head! And that's coming from me!" Shirou got up from his seat and was about to leave.

"See you later you, crazy asshole!"

"Wait! I was just trying to relieve you of stress with that fight!"

"…Excuse me?" Shirou turns around.

"Look I've had one of those days too… literally almost every day. But still after hearing what Asia told me I knew that a simple apology really wasn't going to help you so I decided to let our fists do the talking."

Michael looks sincere as he continues, "I admit, what I did was wrong and attacking you from out of nowhere was completely the wrong way to greet somebody. Fighting usually helps me let loose some steam and by the way you were smiling I realized it goes the same for you too."

"You idiot you could have gotten yourself killed if you got me that wound up to fight."

Tightening his fist secretly, Michael knew that would have been the result but smiled seeing that it wasn't the result. Considering they are both alive and breathing.

"I kind of know that now, but I'm still alive so what's the worry? You got yourself to calm down and I got to see how strong you are. So it a win-win."

With his hands trembling, Shirou couldn't understand why the boy, who attacked him, who insulted his mom was coming clean about just helping him get through his day. He just couldn't get it.

"What is wrong with you?"

"Hm?"

"I never asked for your help! I just wanted to get my job done with then I could have gone home and taken care of my anger! I didn't need your help! Both of us are strangers, hell I barely even remember your name when we fought! So why, why did you decide to help me with something that doesn't concern you!?"

Shirou awaited for an answer. He examined Michael's thinking face and expected a cheesy answer.

"Because…"

Shirou gasped.

"Nobody, not even a delinquent like you deserves to have a really bad day, you know? If someone is feeling bad about something isn't it natural to try and help them?"

"…!" Shirou from that instant sat back down in his seat and pulled a couple of apples from the fruit basket along with a knife.

"What are you doi-whoa!" Michael forced into grabbing a platter of freshly chopped and peeled apple slices on his plate. The palette looked delicious as Michael looked back to Shirou for an answer.

"You dumbass! Shut up and choke on these right now! I never asked for your help! Go on, choke on these and die so I can bury you right afterwards!" Shirou's loud yell matched his rage filled face. However, it felt a tad bit gentle than his other ones.

 _'_ _Does he want me to eat these as thanks?' Michael's troubled faced turned into a smile._

"Hahahaha! You know what you're alright, Mr. Delinquent!"

"Still calling me a delinquent you asshole? My name is Shi-rou. Shi-rou Fu-ji-mura, it's not that hard a name to remember, you retard!" Shirou kept on shouting.

"Right! Sorry, Shi-rou!" Michael laughed.

"Grrr!" Shirou growled.

"What you said that was your name, hah! I guess you can't even say your own name right anymore. Well, at least compared to my name which is absolutely flawless!" Michael gloated.

"What do you mean? Hanamura sounds like a crappy name compared to mine!" Shirou butted heads with Michael.

"Oh yeah, they have the same ending but my "Hana-" is better than your stupid "Fuji-". My name rolls off the tongue faster what does your name have!?"

"Well my name is special since I don't lord it around like a medal like you did before! I mean who even does that!?"

"I do! That's my thing!"

"Well you better get a new thing because that one sucks!"

"I know that's why I'm getting new material!"

"Good do you need any help with that!?"

"No, I'm fine thank you!"

"You're welcome!"

The two were strangely engaging in a conversation which involved shouting. When they peered out, Michael decided to lay back in his bed and look at the ceiling,

"Say Shi-rou can I ask you something?"

"Only if you say my name correctly."

Michael blinked before turning to Shirou,

"How come you're here?"

"Don't just ignore m-! Forget it, look why I'm here is because of a message I needed to get to Rias Gremory-sama about the communication magic circles here going haywire."

Said Shirou, while he was scratching his head.

 _'_ _That's right I forgot about that…' Michael thought._

 _'_ _But wait…' Michael wanted to know how Shirou knows this._

"We've confirmed that the ones jamming our communications and robbing are in the area, but the problem is we can't find who it is and what place the interference is happening. So that's why-."

"O-Oi? How do you know all of this?" Michael sweatdropped.

"You don't know, because I'm a devil just like you."

"…" Michael sucked in his lips before screaming, "You're a devil!?"

"Of course I am just what the heck did you think I was!?" Shirou couldn't follow this guy's brain patterns at all. Was he playing dumb or is he naturally this stupid?

Looking at Shirou with a plain face Michael says, "A super Alien Delinquent."

"So you're fine with me being an alien rather than a devil?" Shirou facepalmed.

"Hey, if you've lived through a day in my shoes anything can happen." Michael could remember the first time he met the supernatural world when he fought with Dohnaseek a couple of months ago.

Looking somewhat thoughtful, Shirou groans, "But what's with the delinquent part it makes no sense. How can you see a delinquent be that powerful?"

"Yusuke Urameshi." Michael looked resolved. When it came to anime characters, he can create good comparisons in his head.

Shirou took a moment of silence before he spat, "Shit…you got me there."

"So if you're a devil then that must mean you're that [Queen], Buchou has been talking about." Putting two and two together, Michael cheered in his head once Shirou nodded.

"That's me and if you dare laugh or make a joke about me a dude, being a [Queen] then you won't live to see another day!" Shirou growled once he saw Michael open his mouth, probably coming up with a joke about Shirou's position.

 _'_ _It must have happened to him a lot if it has him this paranoid.' Michael decided to let it go for now._

The topic then carried on back to the stolen data and information.

"So the stuff that's been jamming the magic circles and transportation are in this town?"

"Yeah and I've been given orders from my master, Seekvaira-sama to investigate and find the culprits. We couldn't spare any of the others to come with me or else the thieves may notice and relocate so she sent me in to handle things."

"Whoa, so you're not going to need any help from your other peerage members?" Michael asked.

"Nope, I told them I could handle this." Shirou lazily sat back in his seat.

 _'_ _That's right, Ddraig told me this guy was stronger than me. So he must have been reliable if his master sent him here alone.' Michael thought._

"So do you know the people who are behind it?" Michael asked.

"Nope, but I'm going to find out soon enough. And more of those guys who attacked me will actually give me some answers." Shirou muttered that last part to herself.

"Wait you were attacked by some people who could be responsible sabotages?" Michael sits up from bed.

 _'_ _Oh shit he heard me?' Shirou gasped._

"Yeah, but don't get carried away, this is my job so just sit back and mind your own god damn business." Shirou felt that letting this guy know would just cause more roadblocks to come his way. Not to mention he'll end up messing shit up for the enemy, something he doesn't want since he wants to their tear shit up.

"No… this could be just what I need. An emergency dealing with both the Devils and the Fallen Angels. The enemy being conveniently herein town and me being the only one who can stop them…" Michael chuckled to himself, "Yes, if I can do this then I can take another step to become Maou!"

Michael roars while throwing his arms up, "Shirou! Let's do this! I'm on board with your search 100%!"

"You bastard, who said I'm letting you?" Shirou exclaimed as he butted heads with Michael once again.

"Stop being selfish and just let me help you! We're both devils so I should help!"

"Solid reasoning there you dumbass! Besides why would I need help from someone like you?"

"Because I'm awesome!"

"Pfft! Yeah right! Look this is a job that I was exclusively given I don't need your help!"

"Well tough cookies cause I'm doing it and if you didn't need my help then why did you even tell me all of this?" Michael shouted.

"Because Rias-sama told me to brief you about when you woke up since you weren't awake when I told everyone, and Asia wanted me to apologize to you. Actually, Rias-sama made it clear I told you about your punishment when you wake up."

"P-Punishment?" Michael gasped as he backed away from Shirou.

"Yes, she remembered telling you not to engage me in any sort of manner, and guess what you did, so now you're probably screwed." Shirou sadistically smirked as he reached for the door.

 _'_ _C-Crap I totally forgot about that.' Michael kicked himself for forgetting, he could just imagine the pain he'll go through._

Michael grew pale as he started walking back then coughs, "J-Just what kind of punishment is she talking about?"

Michael subconsciously hid his cheeks, futilely preventing a cheek pulling that will be come his way.

"Oh don't worry, she's not the one giving it to out to you this time."

Michael breathed out in relief, "Thank goodness for that."

"But you're punishment does involve a bat being used to beat you."

"W-Wait, a bat? Then that could only mean!"

Shirou happily opens the door to reveal a bat holding, Koneko glaring at Michael.

"…Baka-senpai…" Koneko steps in.

"N-No, this is worse than Buchou!"

"…Buchou and Kaichou request for this punishment to be as brutal as it can so you can learn your lesson."

"Wait, why the Kaichou!?"

Koneko and even Shirou shot Michael a disparaging look with their eyes wondering if the guy was serious to ask that question. It even took Michael a while to process it before he thinks back to the damage he and Shirou caused to the damage campus. Knowing how Kaichou really takes care of the school, anyone who would dare defile the property of the campus would experience hellish punishment.

"But, wait a minute, you caused the damage as well, how come you get off Scott free?" Michael exclaimed.

"Because unlike you, I can actually get away with this stuff." Shirou had a haughty smirk on his face as he crossed his arms.

"Really?" Michael looked to Koneko who shook her head.

"…No…" Koneko was there to watch the stern punishment that Rias and Sona gave to Shirou that even Shirou couldn't comprehend. First they needed to contact Seekvaira and everything after that was downhill for him.

"Oi! You little midget I totally di-!"

***CLANG!***

"Care to finish that statement?"

"…S-Shut up…"

Shirou immediately resigned himself to stay quiet once Koneko bashed the bat against the door frame, breaking the side of it, than what a normal person can do with it.

He forgot that the Rook was really sensitive about her height. He would recall steering clear from thinking about her height too because for some reason she can sense that.

"Hahaha! How sad of you to be scared of Koneko-chan! Pfft! You're so pathetic-Guaaaaaaah!"

Koneko shut Michael up with a swing of her bat to his ankle.

"Hey, I was in the middle of laughing!"

"…You're punishment starts now. The first bone to break is the right leg, to dash your hopes of escape."

Koneko stood over the reeling Michael while tapping the bat in her hands.

"Wait, did you say first bone? Are you trying to cripple me?" Michael tried to crawl away from the girl.

"...Asia-senpai, will heal you afterwards."

"That doesn't reassure me at all! I'm still going to feel the pain from getting my bones brok-Gaaaaaaagh!" Michael holds his battered ankle in pain, "I think you broke it that time!"

"Good. Next the knee." Koneko raised the bat over her shoulder.

"Well I can see you two are getting along quite nicely without me so I'll be heading off." Shirou enjoyed that Michael as getting clobbered but he really needed to return home so he can start his search tomorrow.

 _'_ _Dammit! I forgot to ask him about his dragon power!'_

"Wait Shirou I need to ask you some- GAGH! My knee! Why the knees?"

"Next up is the crotch…"

"…C-Crap…" Michael would have complained about her now going after something that isn't a bone but knew it would be futile.

"K-K-Koneko-chan, please NOOOOOOO!"

Shirou shuts the door with a wide smile before he heard the painful whimper of a man struck down in his prime. Walking downstairs after saying a few goodbyes to the people, who were downstairs, Shirou leaves the mansion and walks on the dark streets to his apartment.

It wasn't perfect because he just needed the place to stay in for a couple of days but it was the closest thing to privacy in this town.

"That guy sure has it rough more than me, almost makes me sorry for him."

**\What are you talking about? Compared to the punishment you got, this kid is getting off easy./**

A voice emanated from Shirou's body.

"Dammit, I don't want to hear you talking." Shirou groaned.

**\Now, now don't get all huffy because you got your ass handed to you by your master./**

"Cram it, Typhon! I don't need your shit right now just let me take a couple of minutes to myself."

Shirou was getting into an argument with the voice in his head.

**\Sure, I will…/**

"…"

**\\...So what do you think of the kid?/**

"I said shut up!"

**\Aren't you the least bit interested in him after he took a couple of you punches and still stood up and also that-/**

"He has the power of the Red Dragon Emperor. Yeah, I could have told by sensing his power."

During that fight Shirou could see faint traces of dragon aura coming out of Michael. It felt like the manifestation of aura was leaking out of him, like some overfilled cup with cracks in it.

"He doesn't really know how to control the power the Boosted Gear can give to his but he's still able to move around and fight so freely." Shirou calculated out loud, he read and lessened the hits of Michael's attacks because he saw them coming. His aura was basically giving him a read of all his moves.

**\True, but that kid sure has a grudge against quitting with how many times you've knocked him down./**

"You have a point the guy was making me break a sweat each time he got up. Sadly though each time he charged at me his hits were getting desperate and actually did some damage." Shirou rubbed his elbow still remembering the soreness Michael had inflicted onto him.

**\If it were a true battle I would say you would win hands down./**

"Obviously… but if it were a battle of attrition who would win and could I come out of it untouched?" Shirou stalled the last sentence. He would actually like to know how much Michael would do to him in his current state.

**\Based on his crude martial arts, his lack of control with both his Dragon power and touki, you would still win with minor injuries./**

"Of course, that punk was a good thrill fight, but still not near my level." Shirou huffs as he walks on.

**\But…/**

"But…?"

**\I feel as though if it was a battle of attrition you would exhaust about half of your stamina when the fight finishes./**

"I see…"

**\The kid has heart from what I can tell and a fight with him could vary if you did certain things against him. Doesn't that rile you up to fight him aga-/**

"Nah, why would I want to try the same meat twice? The guy's weaker than me so I don't have time to be messing with him." Shirou scratched his head.

"The farther he is away from my job the better it is for me."

**\Is that really it? I feel that you've gotten to like the kid. Maybe you want him to repay him for helping you earlier by dealing with the threat yourself, hell maybe you feel like the two of you could be frie-/**

"N-No! No, freaking way in hell am I friends with dumbass! I mean did you see the way he was acting it was agitating! Pfft! Acting like I needed his help to blow off steam, yeah right I could have done that without him!"

Shirou went out on a rant to deny what Typhon was suggesting. But he couldn't hide the fact that he stuttered in the beginning with his voice raising to prove just how accurate the voice in his head was.

**\Okay, then I stand corrected, you just really want to get this job over with and that's it, right?"**

"Yes!"

**\Fine then, partner, I believe you./**

"…Your playing me aren't you?"

**\What me? Nooooooo…/**

"Stupid, nosy Dragon being sarcastic… look let's just forget this ever happened OK? Also while we're out make sure to keep me updated on anyone who is following me." Shirou suddenly feels an aura filled with mischievous intent right behind him.

**\What you afraid that you're new frie-/**

"We're not friends!"

**\Right… you scared, he'll follow you during your job?/**

"No, because right now I felt that somebody…"

Shirou whips around and shouts, "Is trying to sell me something!"

No, one was there except a passing black cat which looked at Shirou while mewling.

*MEOW~!*

"…" Shirou looked deadpanned as he stared at the cat, which ran off after the strange man pointed at it.

**\Partner, do you need help?/**

"Don't say anything…"

**\I mean are you afraid of cats now? Should we have a talk and gather a support group? You've been getting paranoid about cats since this morning./**

"I said DON'T say ANYTHING." Shirou deepens his voice to emphasis his mistake.

**\Can you tell me why you just turned around like an idiot then?/**

"First, screw you. Second, I felt something right behind me alright and it wasn't power that was ordinary, okay?" Shirou growled.

**\Heh! Really, then how come I haven't sensed it?/**

"That's why I said it isn't ordinary. You should remember that I'm sensitive toward only "one" kind of energy and right now I'm feeling a whole lot of it."

**\If you're sensing a whole lot of it right now then can you pick up their location?/**

"Not anymore, they were close. I guess they realized it and immediately hid their energy."

Shirou felt no trace of that power signature anymore and finally got a little grasp of who they were dealing with.

"Guess we can rule out what they're power is now. So let's go home." Calling it a day Shirou walked home while an itchy feeling was at the back of his head.

**\\...God your terrible at working alone./**

"Now what is it?"

**\You said that the energy you sensed was natural right then why didn't you check to see if that cat was responsible for it?/**

Shirou froze and bit his lip before kicking a nearby car, "FUCK!"

**\And they call you the Ace of your master's peerage…/**

From atop a building the cat that passed by Shirou was indeed watching him in silence as its golden eyes gleamed when it purred with a devilish smirk on its face.

***MEOW~!***

* * *

 

The next day the ORC club was in the club room with the members assembled doing their usual thing. After what had happened yesterday, the Student Council was able to clean up the damage and replace the memories of whoever watched to believe it was just a spat between two off campus delinquents.

Michael found it quite hilarious/ironic but his laughter ended once he later disciplined by Rias who forced him to apologize for his destructive behavior. Being lenient on him this time Sona, forgave him on the condition that he would stop defacing school property. Michael tried to play it off like he didn't do it but was caught red handed once a certain student council member finally revealed the graffiti with his name written all over it.

Hesitantly agreeing with his end of the deal, Michael bowed his head in shame, for some reason he heard the cackle of Saji in the background somewhere having finally gotten his revenge for being left behind as a sacrifice.

Now returned to their everyday duties, after school everyone in the club room gathered to do their usual stuff. It was a slow day so not that many contracts needed to be done so they took leisurely doing their normal stuff as a way to relax.

Playing video games with each other, Michael and Gasper sat side by side on the couches playing PvP games with each other. The young dhampir began to break out of his shell and became more sociable when around Michael and the other club members. Although he still acts insecure when talking to people outside this little group, it's still a big step for him, who couldn't talk to someone without screaming.

He still sits inside a box, because he finds it homey but it's still a good thing if it helps him talk more freely.

"Hyaaa! Take this, my special move!" Michael mashed a couple of buttons and watched as his character do the finishing blow against Gasper's.

"I-I lost…" Gasper dropped his head in defeat.

"I'm sorry, Gasper but my skills in video games have ascended to a new level. Yes I, who searched every gaming shop in town for games like these cannot be beaten so easily!"

"A-Amazing, a-a plateau that I never would have thought could be possible right in front of me…" Gasper looked up at the posing Michael with admiration and felt overwhelmed by the level of mastery Michael has over the game.

"That level… could I someday reach it?" Gasper asked.

"No, of course you can't!" Michael stood up and closed his eyes.

"Eh!?" Gasper mistook what Michael meant.

"Gasper… you shouldn't be seeking my power. You're you and I am me. We both walk different paths to get us as high in the world as we can. That's why… That's why, I want you to try and surpass me!"

"M-Michael-nii." Gasper starts to snivel.

"I want a powerful opponent who can make my palms sweat during a Single and Team Match on my games! Make things interesting by being a strong opponent who can match me then try to defeat me with everything you have!" Michael clenched his fist with his game system in hand and shatters the screen.

Moved to tears by Michael touching words, Gasper stood up by his side.

"Video Games are power! Video Games are life! Video Games are the future!"

"Y-Yeah!"

Michael grabs Gasper shoulder and points to the horizon, which was a random wall.

"Gasper, reach the summit of Video Game Valhalla and try to surpass me!"

"Osu!"

Everyone who was watching found the pair's antic to be a little too serious over a silly thing such as video games.

"Those two are really energetic about something as trivial as games." Raynare smiled as she was trying her hand with chess against Kiba.

"I find their enthusiasm for anything, interesting." Kiba made his next move, already seeing the hole in Raynare's strategy.

Moving over to Michael who realized and started crying over his broken game system, Asia taps his shoulder to gain his attention. She seemed concerned about something, probably the whole fighting and apology thing with Shirou.

"U-Um… Michael-san did you and Shirou-san make up with each other?"

"Make up…? Yeah, I guess we sort of did." Michael looked up and muttered before looking at Asia's concerned face.

"Don't worry about it, Asia, we're cool now." Michael gave a thumbs up.

"Thank goodness…" Asia breathed out in relief then noticed Michael's hand.

"Michael-san, y-your hand is bleeding." Asia rushes over to heal the bleeding hand that was cut up by the shattered glass of the gaming system.

"It was sorry I wasn't paying attention."

"Please do pay attention next time!" Asia was almost done healing the cut in his hand as Michael subconsciously thought back about his weaknesses and the power gap between him and Shirou. That just made him too anxious when Vali came into the picture as well.

 _'_ _I'm still not good enough… I have to get stronger and stronger. Can accepting my weakness really be the ticket to it?' Michael wished at times like these he would have Kai around to properly train him but sadly he wasn't and he had to find everything out by himself._

"There all done." Asia finished healing the cut.

"Thanks I appreciate it, Asia." Michael smiled gratefully, "I guess I should think more about what I'm doing, huh?"

"You're absolutely correct, Michael." Rias said sitting behind her desk with a stern voice while sipping some tea.

Michael jumped as he remembered the harsh yelling and discipline he had received and did his best to tend to her will so that she could forgive him.

"Now what have we learned from the past experience?" Rias has been going over this entire process to drill the lesson into Michael's head. She believed repetition is a good method into training the boy's hard headedness.

"I-I promise to never break any games I have because I'm broke as a joke!" Michael awkwardly laughed, he tried to lighten the mood.

"What was that?" Rias was now releasing a crimson aura which frightened Michael to his wits end.

"Michael-sama, you shouldn't joke around when you're in this sort of mess just say what you have to say!" Raynare could feel the severe irritation Rias had towards Michael and who could blame her, it wasn't everyday where you have your own servant ruin your own territory.

 _'_ _I can't dodge this one.' Michael sighed._

"I promise to never damage or deface school property again."

"And…"

"And I promise to never attack a guest I was told not to speak to."

"And…"

"*SIGH!* And I promise to never disobey my master's commands… _unless I had a good reason…"_ Michael whispered the last part.

"Good boy." Rias praised Michael's remembrance like a master praising its dog.

 _'_ _How long will I have to suffer through this?' Michael slumped back onto the couch beside Gasper._

"Michael-nii, could you help me with this level? I don't know how to beat this guy." Gasper hands over his game system to Michael.

"Sure, and make sure to watch, you wouldn't want to screw up when I'm not around." Michael happily showed his kouhai the gist of things. They are really getting along aren't they?

***KNOCK!* *KNOCK!***

Rias looked towards the door and said to herself, "I don't remember having any visitors today. You may come in."

Yet she still allowed whoever it was to enter and that was when everyone caught glance of Kiyome Abe and behind her a timid Makoto, who scared to come in contact with anyone new.

 _'_ _Kiyome-senpai?'_

"Why hello there Rias-san I hope you don't mind me intruding." Kiyome crossed her arms under her chest as she entered followed by Makoto, who grabbed the back of her uniform like a life line.

"Not at all, Abe Kiyome-san." Rias was lying behind her smile, after yesterday she didn't feel that up to dealing with Kiyome's attitude.

"Now how can we help you?" Rias smiled as everyone in the club room paid attention to the conversation.

"I would like to ask for a request but first… say hello to them Makoto-chan."

"Mmmm…" Makoto was intent on hiding behind Kiyome

"Is that you're little brother that I've been hearing so much about?" Rias asked.

"Yes, he's a little shy when meeting new people."

"Well hello there Makoto-kun it's a pleasure to meet you." Rias gave the boy a welcoming smile.

"…'lo" Makoto muttered as he now hid behind Kiyome completely.

Kiyome sighed at her brother's behavior and intended to get to business but…

"Hey is that, Makoto?" Michael blinked then turned to grin at the boy, "Yo, Makoto it's me, Michael, the guy who tried to sacrifice you!"

"Michael-kun, I don't you should say that if you want him to recognize you." Kiba sweatdropped.

"M-Michael-senpai…?" Makoto cheered up and gave a slight wave.

"Come over here and let's play some video games and eat snacks with us!" Michael pointed to the game system in his hands and the slice of cake Koneko was eating.

"R-Really? But I don't think you guys will enjoy it that much if I'm doing it with you." Makoto looked reluctant but he in reality he was scooting closer to them.

"He's saying one thing but his body is doing another. How odd." Xenovia rubbed her chin as she watched.

"Nonsense! Eating snacks and playing games with friends is a tradition that stems for years! And if we get bored we'll just use our phones to play mobile games like Clash of Clans!" Michael posed then said with a deep voice as the background behind him shows a fluttering American Flag.

"THAT'S THE AMERICAN WAY!"

"O-Okay!" Makoto couldn't turn down that offer as he lets sits down beside Michael and watches him play the game along with Gasper.

 _'_ _It's be a while since I've seen Makoto that pepped up before maybe it's a good thing that he met Hanamura-kun. No, I can grateful for that later for now I just have to get what I came here for…'_

Kiyome started to wear a prideful smile as she stared at Rias and stated her demands.

"I want Michael-kun."

"Absolutely not!"

Rias gave her answer the moment Kiyome gave her request.

"Oh! I meant  _physically_ , not sexually."

"The answer is still no."

"Why not?!" Kiyome complained, confused as to why her request was shot down the second time around. "I'm not taking him on some journey to the Underworld. I just need him for the one afternoon. I swear you'll have him back just as loud and proud as he was when he left."

Rias crossed her arms over her chest, giving Kiyome a serious "mom-like" look. Essentially, the look she always wore when Michael has or will make things difficult for everyone. "Let's start with the fact that you haven't even given me a proper reason as to why you would need to borrow my most adorable servant."

"I need him to be my boyfriend for the afternoon."

Michael barely turned his head, recognizing the heavy feeling in the air. "Uh-oh..."

He scooched further to the TV, both to be prepared for any potential bloodbath as well as to be prepared to protect his beloved TV and video games and/or use Makoto as a meat shield in order to accomplish said objectives.

"Care to repeat that?" Rias asked, her glass smile belying the evil-looking aura that surrounded her...No, not just her.

It was the feeling of raising multiple Death Flags that made Kiyome notice.

When Kiyome looked around, she noticed that just about every other female member of the club had suddenly stopped what they were doing, turning to face her with their own oppressive auras gathering around their bodies. It may have been dramatization caused by Kiyome's mind, but she could have sworn their eyes were glowing a malicious red color while shadows covered their faces.

"What did that bitch just say?"

"Ah, I would really prefer for Michael-san  _not_ to do that."

Raynare and even the usually-innocent Asia's killing intents were abnormally high.

"...He's  _our_  idiot." Koneko agreed in an oddly possessive way.

"I'm afraid I don't wish to let you have my adorable Kouhai for such a reason~ Ufufu~" Akeno gave an obviously "S" smile.

"I will not allow that." Xenovia stated darkly, pulling her hand back. "If it comes to it then..." The hilt of a sword appeared out of a small ripple in space.

Michael stared at her in shock and horror. "Idiot! You're gonna destroy the whole freaking clubhouse! Pulling out Durandal won't solve all your problems, you know!"

The killing intent was strong with these ones.

"..." Michael sweatdropped and kept to himself, seeing this as one of the rare opportunities where he himself was not the target to be bludgeoned, blasted, or otherwise eviscerated to death.

Kiyome raised her hands in surrender, beginning to sweat slightly at the sudden animosity directed towards her. "OK, can we all just calm down for a moment and not consider ways to murder someone?"

The other girls considered her request, their hostile auras slowly beginning to settle down...well,  _most_  of them anyway-

"No! I reject!" Raynare said immediately. She was clearly about to raise Hell, but the more rational-minded Asia brought her over to the side, doing her best to calm Raynare's jealous anger.

"Come on, Rias!" Kiyome practically begged. "It's just the one afternoon! What's the worst that could possibly happen while he's around me?"

"It's not what could happen while he's around you," Rias pointed out, "it's what could happen while he's  _with_  you."

"Seriously?" Kiyome raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You're that paranoid? Never mind! Just let me borrow your servant for the one thing! You guys owe me!"

"Owe you? For  _what_?"

Kiyome crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at Rias.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the hundreds of dollars' worth of damage you guys inflicted on the tennis courts the other day?"

"A few things: First, the tennis courts don't belong to you. They are school property. Thus, we owe you nothing. Second, we fixed the damages anyway-"

" _Sona_  fixed the damages. You guys just took one look at the tennis court and started whistling while trying to walk away inconspicuously."

"So?"

"You all tried leaving in the same direction! It was like one obnoxious, whistling show choir!"

Rias closed her eyes, thinking back to the event Kiyome described, remembering specifically how Asia's heavenly whistle actually drew a whole flock of birds to a nearby tree...all of which were consequently eaten by some of the monsters Kiyome had left roaming about.

It took several hours after that to console Asia.

While this rousing conversation was going on Michael was still preoccupied with the game at hand however.

"M-Michael-senpai." Makoto pulled at Michael's sleeve.

"What's up?" Michael looked away from the game but managed to defeat one of the lingering opponents before turning to Makoto.

"I-I was surprised when I heard you were a devil."

"That's right, I totally forgot you were related to Kiyome-senpai so you'd know about people like us." Michael scratched his cheek and felt a little bad for not telling the boy that crucial part about him.

"Sorry for forgetting that."

"No, its okay I don't mind really. Even when you were revealed to be a devil I still thought you were a nice person. Because you, a devil came up and talked to me even making me your friend. That is why I don't hold anything against you Michael-senpai."

Laughing at the underclassmen's simple view towards him, Michael lightly punches Makoto's shoulders,

"Heh! You're a pretty cool kid you know that?" Michael grins with pride for having a kouhai who was that accepting towards others.

While the other Kouhai sitting on his other side kept poking at his shoulder.

"M-Michael-nii…the enemies are returning…" Gasper kept on looking at the screen with fear as his PC was getting surrounded by enemies.

"So if you're related to Kiyome-senpai then I guess you're related to Natsuru-senpai as well."

"Definitely! Natsu-nee is definitely the best with Kiyome-neechan!"

"M-Michael-nii…! They're killing you!" Gasper cried as the enemies were ganging up and lowering the PC's HP.

"So Michael-senpai did you already meet Natsu-nee?"

"Yeah, she even saved me from being a pin cushion!"

"R-R-Really, I'm so glad that you weren't hurt and N-Natsu-nee really is the kind, no?"

"I guess you're right!"

The two students were already locked in conversation, except for Gasper who saw how Makoto was gaining all of Michael's attention.

"M-Michael-nii…" Gasper quietly muttered in vain to get some attention himself.

"Oh Gasper!" Michael turns back to the Dhampir.

"Y-Yes!" Gasper excitedly smiled.

"Sorry for holding this for you, I'll let you play while I talk to Makoto. Make sure to do your best!" Michael laughed and turned his back to Gasper who froze in place after getting dissed.

But the most spirit breaking thing of all was when Michael patted Makoto roughly on the head while laughing at the shy boy's frazzled appearance.

The screen showing the game was game over with the PC's HP down to 0.

"M-Michael-nii?" Gasper dropped the controller utterly broken with a side of jealousy welling up within him.

 _'…_ _A new r-rival has appeared…' Gasper's eyes grew glassy with held back tears as he glared at Makoto._

Kiyome slams her hands on Rias' desk, "Look just quit being stubborn and let me borrow your servant!"

"Just tell me the reason and I'll consider it!"

"No, just let me do what I need as compensation already!"

"We already told you the damages were already fixed, Kiyome-san please just tell us your reason for this." Rias groaned.

"Tch!" Biting her lower lip Kiyome growled, "Fine, look my father is telling me to have a marriage arrangement even though I'm a high school student. My father is someone who is very stubborn and goes through with any decision he makes."

"I see. Abe-senpai does come from a monster tamer household, with an ancient and honorable origin. So your parents decided to choose your groom immediately, right?"

"Exactly which is why-?" Kiyome breathed out tiredly.

"You need to borrow Michael is that correct?"

"Yes, I already told my father about him so I couldn't really ask anyone else to do it." Kiyome looked away.

Rias placed a hand to her mouth while lost in thought as she smiles with a mysterious glow, "Then I accept this request."

"WHAT!?" All the girls in the club room gasped, they expected Rias to be a little more reluctant with giving Michael away to a girl.

"Just like that?" Kiyome asked.

"Just like that." Rias stands up and giggles, hiding something behind her smile, "But I expect to receive something of equal value."

"D-Done, I'll make sure to do whatever I can to make up for this." Kiyome was just glad things were going her way.

"B-But, Rias-san are you really okay with this?" Raynare weakly reached out, she knew she had no say but really wanted to deny the request herself.

"Of course this way I get something in return and besides even if I rejected the idea after Michael heard that story, he would have gone and accepted the request behind my back." Rias looked to her coughing Pawn.

"Say whaaaaaat? Now Buchou why would you expect me to do something like that? That's just…uh…" Michael pulled out his phone and looked up a word,

"Preposterous."

"Is it?" Rias narrowed her eyes.

"Mike?"

***KNOCK!* *KNOCK!***

Everyone looked back at the door to see it open to reveal Saji carrying some weird stuff.

"Oh hello everyone…" Saji noticed at all the eyes focused on him.

"Why hello there Saji-kun what do you have there?" Rias looked to a whistling Michael who was slowly backing away.

"Well Michael texted me he had a plan for something so he told me to pick up a long trench coat, a gag handle bar mustache, and this top hat along with this monocle." Saji showed everyone the items as they turned back to a sweating Michael who sucked in his lips.

"Also Mike, my mom says that she'll only be your getaway driver if the time is between 9:00 to 10:30." Saji would have continued but Michael rushed over to cover his mouth.

"S-Saji! I mean Saji lets just forget about that, okay?" Michael nervously laughed as he could feel the accusing daggers of everyone's eyes stab into him.

"What are you serious? I had to pull out some of my funds from my term funding to get this stuff! Look I don't know about you but I'm about to leave to the Grig-!" Saji was silenced by Michael's hand again.

"Yeah, that's good and all so…shut up! Look, I better see Saji out the door so see you all later! I'll make sure to be there to help Kiyome-senpai!" Michael grabbed his book bag and slams the door, after pushing Saji out.

Looking out the window, Koneko said, "He's running away…"

"That's okay no matter where he runs, he will always end up at the place he can never escape…home." Rias had to think of a way to punish the young pawn, for trying to break his word from earlier.

"Ufufufu~! Do you suppose I can help with his punishment, Buchou?" Akeno's S side was rearing its head as she licked her lips at the prospect of punishing her cute kouhai.

"Of course, this time he'll need to learn how scary it is to do stuff behind his master's back."

The two great ladies of Kuoh Academy were surrounded by a freakishly demonic aura spelling the end of Michael once they get their hands on him.

"S-Scary…" Makoto hid behind Kiyome in fear.

"So do we still have a deal?" Kiyome was trying her best to ignore how frightening the display was.

"Of course, expect him to be whipped and back into shape in no time."

"Don't you mean whipped back into shape?"

"…Don't you have a tennis team to coach?" Rias avoided the question altogether!

"R-Right, let's go Makoto." Kiyome grabbed her brother and walked out the club room with a brisk pace while shuddering at the sounds of Rias and Akeno giggling about their kouhai's future punishment.

 _'_ _Did I really seek these people for help?' Kiyome sweatdropped._

* * *

 

The very next Saturday, Michael and everyone else went to Kiyome's home which was a giant western house. It had a very magnificent interior with a huge garden at the back. Kiyome had said that she lived here alone with her other two siblings while their parents travel across the world as famous monster tamers.

The first thing Kiyome asked Michael was how it went when he returned home that one time. The only reply she got was a muffled cry.

"Third rule of and Akeno's punishments: Do not talk about Akeno's punishments!" It seemed adding Akeno as the punisher led to more traumatic terror for the poor young boy.

Kiyome followed up with a question about why he was crying.

"Second rule of Akeno's punishments!"

Kiba patted Michael's shoulders as they were led by Kiyome deeper in the large home.

They were guided back through a corridor connecting to another building that held an indoor pool. So the only appropriate action was for everyone to change into their swimsuits.

Rias, Akeno, and Raynare wore swimsuits that exposed more skin and appealed more to their body type. Asia and Koneko were wearing cute swimsuits with frills on them. Xenovia decided to wear an athletic swimsuit that accentuated her curves and fit body.

As for Michael…

"Hehehehe! I bet no one would expect me to wear this!" Michael proudly puffed out his chest as he came out wearing a black and red surfer's wet suit.

"Excuse me, Michael-kun." Kiba tapped on Michael's shoulder.

"Oh come on!" Michael cried at his misfortune. He was matching with Kiba and…Gasper!

"I-I actually like this swimsuit it protects my breasts from being exposed…" Gasper said to himself happily.

"Gasper, you are a man who cares about your breasts!?"

"Okay, everyone come this way."

Before Michael could get into reprimanding his Kouhai he was urged to follow Kiyome to the pool side.

Kiyome too was wearing a daring swimsuit that was a little more moderate than Rias' own but hers made sure to reveal a little more of her breasts for the appeal of it.

Gathering everyone around Kiyome went through the details about breaking off the marriage meeting.

"For this meeting to stop, we have to go through with a Monster tamer battle against my father."

"Monster Tamer Battle? Wait, do you mean like Pokémon?" Michael wanted the answer to be 'yes'.

"No."

 _'_ _Drat!' Michael snapped his fingers._

"This involves real monsters not made up creatures that don't even exist." Kiyome sighed.

"The matches will be 3 in total using land, sea and sky monsters!" Kiyome held up three fingers but now placed up two. "Hanamura-kun just needs 2 wins to be the victor so the meeting will be cancelled."

"Okay, first off, I'll need Nidoking, a Blastoise and a Staraptor!" Michael clapped his hands together and grinned.

"We don't use Pokémon, Hanamura-kun, those things don't exi-! Ahem, look we already selected the monsters that you will use so please do your best with them." Kiyome points over her shoulder as a familiar drumming was approaching them.

"HOKYOOOOOOOOOOON!"

"Wait that's-!" Michael gasped as a huge white gorilla appeared before them.

It looked at Michael with respect as it held its hand out to him!

"It's Chris!"

"Uho!"

Michael laughed and gave the yeti a manly handshake.

"For the land battle it will be, Chris the Yeti." Kiyome felt that these two will make a good pair in the upcoming battle. She felt surprised that Michael got along with the monster but felt a little disturbed when the two drummed their chests with fists. Looking almost identical to each other.

 _'_ _No that possibly can't be it he doesn't act brutish like Chris does.' Kiyome ignored that feeling._

"Hey, let's do that handshake we talked about!"

"Uho! Uho!"

The step back and did a regular high five. It started off normally but ended off with 5 head-butts which soon have them sprawling on the ground with bloody heads.

 _'_ _Never mind it's like I'm looking at a mirror.' Kiyome pinched her temples._

"We have Chris as the land monster but who will be our sea monster."

"Hmph! A mermaid of course." Kiyome clicked her fingers and whistled to the pool. A shadow lurking from deep within was moving with amazing speed.

"Are you serious, a mermaid?" Michael gasped as he stood up.

"Of course and her name is-!"

***SPLASH!***

"Gyogyogyo!"

"Estleena."

A huge tuna with legs emerge out of the pool to stand beside Kiyome.

"…" Michael looked at the "mermaid" with half lidded eyes.

Placing a hand to his back, Raynare comforted Michael, "Its okay if this monster didn't live up to your expectations Michael-sama it's just nature's fault."

"R-Ray-chan…" Michael exhaled heavily.

"Hm?" Raynare looks at Michael's face.

"Do you think you can make a meal out of that thing?" Michael drooled with his eyes glittering.

"Don't tell me that's what you were thinking about!" Raynare shouted.

"G-Gyo…" The Mermaid steps back afraid of Michael's hungry eyes.

"Hanamura-kun, I will not permit you to eat my monsters!" Kiyome defensively blocked Michael.

"B-But its tuna, and it won't count as cannibalism if we just pull off the legs!" Michael laughed hysterically as he approached the fish with a drooling face.

"Estleena's main job is to sing. Estleena, sing a song for them."

Kiyome said and turned to the giant fish.

"Gyogyogyo~ Gyoso!"

The fish's song was scary with its husky voice.

"It's a cute song." Asia's eyes sparkled, she grasped something that the others around her couldn't.

"Now do you see her importance, Hanamura-kun?"

"Of course I do I mean that song was amazing…" Michael said deliriously.

"You see now can you get over eating my-"

"But it will sound more amazing in MY belly!" Michael drooled more than earlier.

"G-Gyooooooo~!" The mermaid escaped into the pool to avoid its delicious fate.

"You'll have to come out sometime and when you do me and Koneko-chan will be waiting!" Michael drooled as he looked over the poolside edge, along with Koneko.

"Koneko even you?" Rias asked.

"Hm!" Koneko nodded and looked down at the pool intent at finding her potential meal alongside Michael.

Rias realized why Koneko would like this and kept quiet as Kiyome exasperatedly sighed.

 _'_ _I thought only Natsuru and Makoto were the only ones who thought about Estleena like that… the world is a big place after all.' Kiyome shrugged._

"Ojou-sama. Your father will be arriving very soon."

Appearing from the shadows, was a bird-like monster man, with a cockscomb on his head, a beak, and wings on his arms.

"Yes, I understand. Oh, I forgot to introduce you. He is my personal bodyguard who will be your sky monster, the bird man, Takahashi." Kiyome introduced Michael to the bird man.

"Whoa, it's a talking chicken with the name of Takahashi!" Michael shouted.

"Yes I am Takahashi from Kobe."

"Kobe?"

"This is odd. Bird men should be indigenous on the Easter Islands like Moai." Xenovia, who was knowledgeable about monsters said.

"Ah, you must mean the Watanabe family. My ancestor returned to Japan and became Takahashi."

"Japan and the Easter Islands…? Meh… I don't get which one is which, so I'll just roll with it." Michael played along.

"So I will be fighting alongside the Legendary Dragon, the Sekiryuutei, who Ojou-sama requested for? You have a good look in your eyes. I'm Takahashi, meaning Sky which stands for glittering sky. Let's get along." Takahashi and Michael shook han… hand to wing.

"Do you mind if I call you a Pidgeot or Staraptor because I feel like I'll forget your name after a while."

"Fufufu, being young is really a good thing. You see, I was young lad once too so I had a special talent to forget things in three steps."

"…" Michael blankly looked at Takahashi before blinking and saying, "Oh really that's cool uh… Hm… what's your name again?"

"Ah! I see you learned the three steps of forgetting! Being young is such a glorious thing!"

"H-How can you learn something from simply forgetting?" Kiba sweatdropped.

"Michael, make sure to do your best. We will be backing you up, OK?"

Rias gave a cheer which bolstered Michael's spirits.

"Right!" Michael's grin and thumbs up was all they needed to see for an answer.

Tapping his shoulder for his attention, Rias said, "Michael, do you also feel the same?"

"Do you mean about Kiyome-senpai's request?"

"Yeah… I also had trouble with my engagement so I found myself relating to her situation…" Rias looked sort of reminiscent about that past disaster which ended up in her favor.

"Of course, that's why I have to do my best to make sure Kiyome-senpai won't be forced into marriage like you!" Michael looked serious and clenched his fist.

"Kiyome-senpai should do what she wants like everyone else and you, Buchou."

Stroking his cheek lovingly, Rias smiled, "Yes, as expected from my lovely Michael."

 _'_ _I have to win this so Kiyome-senpai won't up with guys like that Yakitori douchebag!'_

"But remember…"

***PIIIINCH!***

"YEOWCH!"

"Showing anything indecent to Abe Kiyome-san is absolutely not allowed are we clear?" Rias sounded intense when she said that.

"Yes, m-ma'am!"

"Good.

Leaning up closer to Michael, Akeno hugged his right arm and whispered, "Buchou can tolerate some things, but she's still very strict after she has the permanent position as the first."

"I can hear you, Akeno."

"Ara ara, so scary." Akeno pressed her breasts to Michael's arms.

"Uh…" Michael was tensed after feeling the soft feeling on his arms.

"Geez."

Rias sighed while pinching Michael's cheeks again.

"Ouch! But I didn't do anything this time!"

"Now then, I'm going to prepare getting father's welcome ready." Kiyome went to go greet her father while everyone nodded, knowing the operation was going to begin.

* * *

 

Outside in the garden, everyone wore their regular clothing while they waited for Kiyome's dad.

"Did it just get dark all of a sudden?"

"Now that you mention it…"

Michael and Kiba noticed the dark clouds filling the sky.

***Hiheeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!***

The cries of a horse came through the gates as an abnormal man with a large build and stern look rode on it while wearing a cape and a helm with a horn on it. His eyes glow menacingly like he was some Demon King!

 _'_ _So this is Kiyome-senpai's dad? He looks so cool but I can't show any weakness!'_

"So you are the insolent whelp dating my daughter!"

Kiyome's dad pointed at Michael with an echoing voice that screamed intimidation.

Not backing down, Michael stepped up to the man and smirked, "And so what, you have a problem with that?"

"Hmph! You have some guts if you can talk to me like that."

"M-Michael-kun!" Kiyome wraps her arm around Michael's.

"Remember, we promised to speak with, Otou-sama respectfully since you are my boyfriend, Michael-kun?" Kiyome forced those words through clenched teeth to remind Michael of the plan.

"R-Right, I almost forgot." Michael nodded with a sorry groan.

"Otou-sama this is my boyfriend, Hanamura, Michael-kun."

"Very well. I will test you myself, to see whether or not you are fit to date my precious daughter!"

***FLASH!***

Lightning flashes behind Kiyome's dad.

"Whoa! What the crap was that!?" Michael jumped.

"Otou-sama has a habit of making things seem more "epic" for occasions like this." Kiyome nervously scratched her cheek.

"Let the first match being!"

Being led to a rectangular battlefield in the garden both Michael and Kiyome's dad stood against their opposite sides.

"I, Kiba Yuuto will be the referee!" Kiba stood on the field with two flags.

 _'_ _Wait this seems a lot like pokémon.' Michael commented._

"For my first monster, I will use this one. Come out!" Appearing on Kiyome's dad's side was a large snow gorilla that is much bigger than Chris. It has a whole body of scars on its back. The aura the beast had felt more experienced than Chris's.

"Kiyome-senpai, this creature feels to be stronger than Chris. Do you think we can beat it?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe? Geez, thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Listen, Otou-sama is a veteran at taming monsters, so I can't just say that you two will win that easily." Kiyome sighed.

"Well then I guess I'll just have to make sure Chris hits that other yeti hard!" Michael points out as Chris runs out to face the bigger version of himself.

"Uho!" Chris pounded his chest.

"BEGIN!" Kiba raised both his flags.

The land monster battle commenced.

"Steven, use drumming!"

"Hokyoooooon!"

The opponent gorilla started to hit his chest after the order Kiyome's dad gave him!

"Hah! An intimidation move won't work on me! Chris, quick use Ice punch!"

"UhoUhoUHOOO!"

Chris breathed a thick layer of ice onto his fist and smashed it into the opposing yeti's face.

"Impressive!" Kiyome's dad gasped.

"Wait, Michael-kun how did you?"

"Heh, let's just say I wanted to be the very best so I played all the pokémon games I could get my hands on. But let's save the chit chat for later now use Double-Team!"

Chris started running across the field and increased its numbers to 5 copies.

"Snow-clones, a special technique amongst the yeti." Kiba muttered.

"Now things are heating up!" Michael hyped himself so much that he was covered by a fiery aura.

"Now Chris use Ice punch with all of your clones!"

All the snow clones dived in with their ice covered fists.

"Ngh! You are quite good! Steven counter with the "Freezing Beat-to-Death Stick" attack!"

Oi! That name is too long! Two words or less are better and much cooler." Michael shouted.

Steven threw up a banana after freezing it with his breath.

"Uho!" Chris licks his lips and jumps right for it leaving his clones to disperse.

"Chris, don't fall for the trap!"

Defenseless, Chris reached out for the banana but gets tackled by Stephen who showed no hesitation.

***DOGON!***

"Ubo!" Chris was knocked out as he gets thrown outside of the field.

"The winner, Steven! So the winner of the first match is Abe-senpai's father!" Kiba raised the flag that was on Kiyome's dad's side.

"Damn… that wasn't fair at all and how does that banana fit in with that attack?" Michael bit his nails.

"It didn't. Otou-sama just used that ridiculously long name to distract you from making a counter attack." Kiyome added.

"Wow, I have so much respect for your dad now, but that doesn't mean I won't win the next match!" Michael tightened his fist with determination.

 _'_ _He's really getting into this…' Kiyome blushed as she watched Michael's steely eyes glare at her father._

"Fufufu. Is that the best you have? I won't permit you to keep seeing my daughter at this rate." Kiyome's dad laughed fearlessly.

"Don't laugh yet! I'll make sure to win this for Kiyome-senpai and mop the floor with you!" Michael points at his opponent with a fearless smile.

"Nice spirit! Let's see if it can help you in the next match!"

***FLASH!***

"Where is that coming from?" Michael noticed the lightning in the background.

The next match was held at the pool for the sea monsters to do battle!

"Now, I shall show all of you my monster!" More lightning flashes as a giant fish monster with legs appeared and it was shark version of Estleena!

"Crap that thing looks strong but I'm sure my tasty-! I mean my awesome monster friend can beat hi-!"

***PLOP!***

Michael looked at the shark who fell on its side, no longer showing any signs of life.

"Is it okay?" Michael poked at it.

Thinking about it for a moment, Kiyome's dad chuckled and realized,

"Ah, since it's a shark it would die if it doesn't continue to swim."

"Seriously?" Michael sighed.

"The winner of the second match is Michael-kun by default!" Kiba declared.

It would seem luck was on Michael's side. Estleena, who was supposed to be fighting, ran/swam away through the pool pipes before the fight had even began. She was afraid to come within any contact with Michael and Koneko.

The final match had come. The Sky battle. It was held on the nearby mountain in the area. They were using Kiyome's dad's helicopter transportation to get there since the magic circles used for teleportation were still deemed dangerous to use until the culprits for messing with them are done.

On the bumpy rocks, Michael and Kiyome's dads were on opposing sides.

"Both of us will do the sky battle while riding on top of the monsters. Alright?"

The older man said the rules as he sat on his horse and on a large ominous bird both at once.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaon!"

The bird threatened with a loud squawk but Michael wasn't affected.

"Fine with me! Takahashi-san!"

"Right!"

Michael jumped on the bird-man's back and shouted, "The Dragon-Bird combo has arrived! Time to repent, you son of a bitch!"

"M-Michael-kun!" Kiyome reminded.

"I-I mean, you wonderful man, who raised such a beautiful girl, who I am happy to date." Michael said.

"Is that good…"

"Perfect…" Kiyome did a thumbs up while trying to hide her blushing.

"Fufufu, boy. This weather it is definitely good for battle."

"I'm glad I'm not the only one getting pumped up!" Michael chuckled.

"Exactly, you can say I'm a weather vane right now!"

"What?" Michael questioned.

"Final match! BEGIN!" Kiba swings down both flags.

Going after them the ominous bird goes into the sky and does a high-speed tackle that Takahashi barely avoids.

"Let's show them our stuff!" Michael grinned.

"Takahashi, lets fly!"

"Uoooooooooooooooooo!"

Takahashi started running in circles flapping his arms around.

"What are you doing!?"

"Fufufu! I can't fly!"

"Eh!? But you said you were a bird man!"

"Ah, a Nagoya-kochin bird man. We can't fly."

"Then why didn't you say so earlier!?" Michael shouted, "Then what about that Kobe place you come from!?"

"Don't you know how large that place is!?"

"You son of a bitch… You son of a bitch! Then you lied!"

"Its your fault. You should have asked Ojou-sama for my real story." Takahashi avoided a fireball the ominous bird was firing at him.

"…" Michael places a hand to his chin and looked up with a blank look on his face.

 _'_ _He's right.'_

Shaking his head, Michael screamed, "That's not the point, you stupid fraud!"

"Ah, not fraud but Nagoya-kochi!"

"I will eat your entire family!"

"You're guard is down!"

The ominous bird that Kiyome's dad rid, spews out a massive fireball that almost engulfs Michael Takahashi.

"Oh!" Takahashi nimbly dodges it.

"Well done! But this isn't the end!"

***GOOOOOOOOOOON!***

The ominous bird spewed out even more massive fireballs that blocked the sitting ducks from all sides.

"If we get hit by that, I will actually become a yakitori, hahahaha!"

"Takahashi, we are going to die if you keep acting like a masochistic maniac!" Michael jumped off the bird man and pulled him away from the fireballs with an enhanced jumped thanks to his touki.

Using the smoke from the fireballs, Michael made sure to hide the both of them behind a huge boulder.

 _'_ _They'll catch us at this rate!' Michael looked at the sky to see the opponent searching for them._

Michael breathed out calmly as he tries to think of a plan.

 _'_ _Maybe I should ask Takahashi for some help?'_

"You have to be calm at times like this. There is a saying in my family. They say that if you take three steps forward and two steps back, you will have a clearer mind… Wait, what was I doing again? Where is this place? Who are you? You look like my relative Yoshida-san. Are you Yoshida-san?"

"We're going to lose aren't we?" Michael was about to put his head down in defeat.

Then the picture of an unhappy Rias and the image of could be unhappy Kiyome placed itself in his mind.

Shaking his head and smacking cheek to get himself back in the game Michael revitalized his willpower!

"Hell no! I can't accept this I have to do everything in my power to win! Or else Kiyome-senpai will be unhappy just like Rias! I can't let that happen!"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

"I won't let that happen!" Michael shouted and clenches the hand of his Boosted Gear.

"Ddraig, start the count!"

**[Right, partner.]**

Turning to Takahashi, Michael points to the bird man and shouts, "Takahashi let's do this!"

"But how Yoshida-san?"

 _'_ _Just ignore that.' Michael thought._

"Look we have to win this but at this rate we'll lose so I have an idea!"

"You do?"

"Yeah let's ram that sucker with everything we got!" Michael laughed.

"But Yoshida-san I can't fly."

"You can't…" Michael emerges himself in a red dragon aura and equips his red scale mail.

**[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]**

"But I can!" Michael reached out for the bird man's hand.

Liking how this was going, Takahashi somehow grinned with his beak, "Let's do this, Yoshida-san!"

The bird man took Michael's hand.

 _'_ _Well I guess it's as good a time as any to test out what Ddraig said.' Michael thought._

Positioning themselves Michael held Takahashi in a Full Nelson and spreads his wings out while charging the rocket boosters on his back. The sound of the boosters charging alerted Kiyome's father as he flew towards the sound's origin.

"There you are now I'll finish thi-!" The man would have commanded his monster to breathe out another fire ball but he was interrupted by a single word.

"GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTS!"

***THOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

***DOOOOOOOON!***

"I-Impossible…"

Propelling themselves at a fast rate both Michael and Takahashi collided with the ominous bird sending it falling out of the sky and crashing into the ground. They were defeated in one hit.

"We did it, Yoshida-san!"

"I know! And that was awesome! I'm going to keep that word as my new all time favorite!" Michael threw his arms up.

"YEEEEEEEAH!"

"KOKEEEEEEEEE~!"

***THUD!***

Realizing he was lighter than expected, Michael saw that he dropped Takahashi.

"Sorry!" Michael's voice echoed in the mountains along with the pained cries of the Nagoya-kochin.

* * *

 

After the match was deemed Michael's win, everyone returned to Kiyome's house. Takahashi was taken in to be healed as soon as they returned, he still referred to Michael as Yoshida-san, but expressed his gratitude towards him for helping him actually fly. Michael begrudgingly accepts the "Thank You" and hopes the bird gets better soon.

He could have been healed by Asia, but she along with everyone was gone when they returned.

"It is my loss. I will cancel the engagement." Kiyome's dad who was getting healed from that had-on surprise attack said. He seemed to be quite content with that now.

"Thank you, Otou-sama!" Kiyome hugged her father with so much joy.

"Didn't mean to spring up on you like that, sorry." Michael scratched his head and apologized.

"No, Michael-kun, that final attack of yours was very effective." Kiyome's father pounded his chest.

"Like I said, I'm very sorry for that." Michael apologized.

"No, no, Michael-kun that attack of yours it really hit me where I live!" Kiyome's father pounded Michael's chest to signify his heart.

"Okay back it up, what?" Michael still didn't quite get it.

"I felt your drive. Your devotion to keep trying for my daughter. Each time I faced you in a match, I felt your will to stand by my precious Kiyo-chan grow each minute. I wasn't convinced that you were the right boyfriend for my daughter and with this battle I confirmed that."

"What do you mean, sir?" Michael blinks once Kiyome's father placed his hands on his shoulders.

"No, you aren't good enough to be her boyfriend, in fact, you'd make a better groom!" Kiyome's father laughed excitedly.

Michael and Kiyome gasped,

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!?"

"I've decided that from this point on, you will stand by my daughter's side as her destined fiancé!"

"A-Are you kidding!?" Michael screamed and pulled at his hair.

 _'_ _How am I supposed to explain this to Rias and everybody else!' Michael felt a gnawing feeling that Irina somewhere was pissed off beyond belief._

"Of course not! Not only have you've shown courage to stand up for her feelings, but you also stayed loyal to her and finished the fight by reprimanding your doubts!"

The man was getting pumped up for no reason.

"Wait, how did you know that part?" Michael asked, he specifically said that to himself in the mountains.

"My boy, no matter how quiet or loud you speak those mountains will always bounce your voice off of its walls and to unknown places." Kiyome's father chuckled.

"You mean you heard me say…" Michael noticed the blush dawning on Kiyome's face as she looked away.

"Everything!?" Michael gasped pulled down his cheeks in fear. Making him look like that one painting. The Scream.

 _'_ _Meaning everyone else heard it too.' Michael gulped. His future wasn't looking very bright._

"B-But wait, why me don't you know how young I am? Wouldn't this marriage seem kind of wrong?"

"Don't worry, son. The last candidate was even older than my daughter!"

"And how is that supposed to cheer me up?" Michael groaned.

"Michael, my son, you live in a 6 story home correct?"

"Yeah, why would you as-No!"

"That's great, and to seal this engagement, you and my daughter Kiyo-chan will live together from now on!"

"WHAT!?"

Both Michael and Kiyome screamed at these unexpected events.

"B-But what about Makoto and Natsu-nee?" Kiyome said, she didn't feel comfortable leaving her siblings behind like this.

"I'm sure they would understand and come visit you from time to time. Oh, we can't neglect your duties as a tamer, so I'll be sure to renovate a proper stable for any monsters you're beloved fiancé collects for you! As a Legendary Dragon, I'm sure you could show my daughter so many new experiences!" Kiyome's dad patted Michael's shoulder.

"M-More renovations?" Michael sweatdropped, just how big will his house get?

"It is decided! Until, my beloved daughter, Kiyo-chan and her fiancé, Michael Hanamura graduate from College, they will marry here! To have the Red Dragon Emperor as my son-in-law is so refreshing that I can't contain all of this excitement!" Kiyome's father laughed, like a giddy kid who just received a new toy. He hugged Kiyome and physically shook her.

"I must tell your mother immediately!"

"W-Wait!" Michael called, but it was too late the man was already gone.

"I guess this is really happening." Michael tiredly rubbed his head.

"Thank you."

"Hm?"

Kiyome stands facing Michael without her old prideful demeanor.

"I want to properly thank you for today. Thanks to you, I don't have to go through with that set up engagement." Kiyome twiddled with her fingers.

"No problem. I was just happy to help you Kiyome-senpai. I mean you shouldn't do something that makes you unhappy especially when someone wants you to do it." Michael smiled as the setting around them became darker because of the sunset.

Kiyome's blush grew after she heard the same words he said again.

"Just thank you… Michael…"

"But even if you thank me, we still have this mess to get through. Now we're the one's engaged. So isn't this like square one again?"

"I don't care." Kiyome said.

"Kiyome-senpai?"

"The only thing I cared about was that you took my request seriously and put everything you had into every battle." Kiyome fidgeted a little with her shoulders as she inched closer to Michael.

"Senpai, are you okay?" Michael asked.

"I'm fine, it's just that… I wouldn't mind if I can live together with you."

"Eh? Really?" Michael blinked, he was slowly piecing things together. Until something catches his eye behind Kiyome.

Kiyome nods.

"If it's okay with you, do you think we can have dinner togeth-?"

"Kiyome-san!"

"Whoa! B-Buchou?"

A crimson blur latches onto Michael arm as Rias holds onto Michael's arm tightly to herself and smiles with a "Checkmate" attitude.

"I'm afraid, you'll have to plan that dinner another time because I still have my date with Michael to take first priority."

"I-I!" Kiyome stuttered.

"Remember that favor? Well, I think I'll use that right now. I'll overlook your engagement and accept your homestay with Michael, only if you accept that I will stay as his first."

 _'_ _What are they talking about?'_

"Looks like there is no chance for me to win completely. Fine, I accept those terms." Kiyome silently cursed herself for making a deal with a devil, but still that didn't mean hope was completely lost for her.

"I'll be sure to contact you when my things are ready to be moved." Kiyome bowed and walked into her home.

"Bye, Kiyome-senpai!" Michael waved and received a friendly wave back.

"Congratulations, you won, Michael." Rias hugged herself to Michael's arm tightly.

"Yeah, I'm relieved it's over it was so tiring having to put up with that bird brain." Michael sighed but still had that accomplished glow around him.

"I take it, you're happier that you have a new saying now." Rias smiled.

"Heh! You bet!" Michael rubbed his nose.

 _'_ _Thanks Ddraig.' Michael thought._

Suddenly Michael remembered, "Oh, that's right Rias what I said earlier in the mountains! It was because of the moment and I just got so hyped that I…"

Rias placed a finger on his lips.

"You don't have to worry, I'm not mad."

"You're not?"

"No, because I don't have to worry about anything. I believe that you will always come back to me." Rias hugged Michael's arm tighter.

"Of course I will. I love you, Rias."

No matter how many times Michael says that he still doesn't show any hesitation. He feels that saying it straight up will leave him with less regrets and for what it is worth: It does.

"I love you too, Michael."

Rias leaned her head on his shoulders lovingly as the pair walked off back into town.

"So where did everyone go?"

"By the time they heard your declaration they decided to leave early with bad moods. Yuuto and Gasper are doing their best to lighten up their spirits but whether they still take it on you is another story."

"R-Really? Man I thought that they would forgive me like you."

"They won't be so lenient like me sometimes but if we take home something we can all eat together they may lessen the torture they planned for you."

"L-Lessen? So nothing will change, how will this benefit me?"

"Fufufu, it may be short but we can go to the taiyaki shop and pick it together like on a date."

"Well I guess that's a fair trade for the terrible pain that will come."

"See?"

"So Rias… you like to go out to restaurants on dates?"

"I'm still not telling you, Michael. I'll leave that for you to find out."

"Curses… I just can't win today…"

The couple laughed as they walked off to start their little date.

On a tall building they barely pass by a watching Natsuru watches the pair with a close eye and sharp ear on their conversation. Pulling something out between her breasts Natsuru brings out a scroll which depicts a brief video of Michael entering his Balance Breaker form and the dragon aura surrounding him. Even the scroll started to emit the same wavelength that the dragon aura was emitting.

"What a day indeed." Natsuru smirked.

"I didn't expect Tou-sama to arrange Kiyo-tan's marriage just like that with my target. It makes things really difficult but also very easy to separate Michael-kun from that pesky obstacle, known as Miss Gremory." Natsuru made sure to close the scroll.

"I'm sure I have enough data that "they" can use to finish my little toy."

***Shiine!***

"Speak of the devil, they must be getting things done if they need it already."

A medium sized pale gold magic circle appears before Natsuru who slides the scroll right on in. The circle disappears soon after.

"Now all the pieces are finally falling in place." Natsuru licked her lips then narrowed her eyes behind her.

 _'_ _Except one last unexpected piece.'_

"Tch!"

Landing on the very same building, was Shirou who looks around for that malignant natural energy that led a traceable trail.

"Dammit! Each time I get a tick from this energy signature they keep on hiding to reveal themselves somewhere else!" Shirou clenched his fist.

"I will find you and I won't stop until you're caught!"

***SNAP!***

"You're not getting away from me this time!" Shirou felt another tick of natural energy leading a trail to his possible culprit and jumps off the building to chase after it.

Walking from out of the shadows was a black cat with golden eyes as it looks out to the sunset with a mischievous smile.

 _'_ _But don't worry if you have something that's new and out of place. You make it "fit"…'_

The sun sets down on the cat as the cat's shadow revealed 9 flowing tails behind its feline body.

***MEOW~!***

* * *

**Next Chapter- A suggestion that works out in "everyone's" favor and "binds" everything together! The First Official Date at the Weird Carnival begins!**


	38. A suggestion that works out in "everyone's" favor and "binds" everything together! The First Official Date at the Weird Carnival begins!

**A suggestion that works out in "everyone's" favor and "binds" everything together! The First Official Date at the Weird Carnival begins!**

* * *

As the weekend rolled around, it was almost time for Kiyome to finish with her packing. The plan to avoid her marriage arrangement backfired so she had to do a homestay with her new unexpected fiancé, Michael Hanamura. If things had gone more differently, then she would have denied the proposal but after seeing how hard the teen worked to protect her feelings, she kind of grew affectionate towards him.

Leaving her current home was hard for her family as well. Her mother, who was currently travelling the world, found that the idea of the Sekiryuutei being her daughter's husband would certainly be an interesting development, but the scary smile that she wore when she told Kiyome made her fear for the future arrangements with Michael eventually meeting her mother.

Makoto had mixed feelings about Kiyome moving out. He felt glad that she stopped her unwanted marriage arrangement and that he will get to be Michael's brother-in-law, but the absence of his sister's presence at home will greatly sadden him. The only thing that Kiyome could provide to appease his sadness was a promise that she would come to visit him anytime he gets too lonely. To even sweeten the deal, she used Michael as a bonus, since he did leave an quite impression on Makoto.

And as usual, her father was too headstrong about making this engagement work so no words were going to reach his mind to reconsider any of this. He had already prepared the renovation of the Monster stable at the Hanamura Residence, so that she can tame them to her convenience. Anyways, her father really wanted things to progress quicker, he even planned out the insufficient space for most of her monsters by drawing out a magic circle to transport any she may need from home, but with the magic circle incidents it's very unlikely she'll be using it yet.

Things were already set as Kiyome packed the last of her things by placing them inside one of the many boxes in her room.

It was already night, and her last day with her siblings before moving out. Kiyome wore a white night gown as she grew ready for bed.

"I wonder how much things will change when I start to live there?" She wondered.

Sitting at the side of her large bed, Kiyome sighed tiredly, but looked a little sad. She'll really miss everyone here and the thought of leaving Makoto behind saddened her the most, but what really made her sad was her lack of time to spend with her older sister, Natsuru, who was strangely absent during all of this. Yeah, she was able to hear the news over the phone, but the two sisters haven't actually had the time to meet face to face for a while.

_'Natsu-neechan has been worrying me lately. First, she hasn't been around and she hasn't been talking with Makoto-chan as much anymore. Could something have happened to her to make her act like this?'_

A pair of wriggling fingers slowly inch themselves under Kiyome's shoulders.

"What's with the long face, Kiyo-tan?"

"Eh?"

Clasping onto Kiyome's breasts, the fingers openly fondled her chest with their wiggling ministrations.

"Kyaaaaaa!"

"You shouldn't be looking so glum. Not when you have these  _two_  to keep you company."

Natsuru, who was wearing a see through black nightie that revealed her lacy under garments, fondled with Kiyome's breasts in a lewd manner.

Kiyome did her best to compose herself but couldn't due to the unwanted fondling.

"N-Natsu-neechan!?"

"Yes, it's me…"

Natsuru giggled, not stopping her sexual assault.

Kiyome didn't even notice her coming in at all.

"How did you even get in here?"

"Shhh…"

Natsuru stops to shush in Kiyome's ear.

"Just relax…let my hands soothe you…" Natsuru's fingers focused on the outlined tips of her breasts and pinched them.

"Mmm…no…"

"Aaaaah…such a refreshing sound to hear from a teenage girl bleating out such unrefined noises…makes me want to dig in!"

Natsuru quickly grabbed the hem of Kiyome's Nightgown.

"N-Natsu-neechan, what are you doing?"

"Now come on, Kiyome-chan, just let me enjoy the feast of my sister's developed bo-"

Kiyome's hands stopped and gripped Natsuru's wrists.

"-dy?"

"Hyah!"

Kiyome uses her reflexes to stand up and flip Natsuru on the bed. Thanks to those self-defense classes that she took, Kiyome was able to effectively handle a simple judo throw.

"As expected of my Kiyome-chan…" Natsuru grunts and lays on her back.

"Natsu-neechan, you almost gave me a heart attack, and why do you keep groping me it's getting annoying…" Kiyome told her sister off, for being so carefree.

"Now now, Kiyome-chan, it's very selfish of you to keep your body all to yourself. You know, you shouldn't let such a beautiful display go to waste by hiding it." Natsuru wore a strict expression and playfully wagged her finger.

"That is my own business and my right to privacy."

Kiyome hesitated once Natsuru approached her.

"W-What is it?"

"You're right, huh? Then allow me to show you that rights like that are meant to be broken!"

Forcefully pulling off the night gown, Natsuru revealed Kiyome partially in the nude, in nothing but just her lacy white panties.

"N-No…! What are you doing?" Kiyome covers breasts and shirks away.

"It should be a crime to leave such a sexy bod from the eyes of the world."

***MUNYUUU!***

"Kya, n-no, Natsu-nee!"

Kiyome yelps as Natsuru openly gropes her breasts.

"These perfectly pert breasts that I've been delicately groping over the years, they've finally developed to the size I, no, the size that all men love, and you think it's okay to hide such masterpieces from the world!?"

"N-Natsu-nee, you're scaring me."

"And not just these perfect breasts but-!"

Natsuru spun Kiyome around and raised her hand.

***CRACK!***

"O-Ouch, what was that for?" Kiyome rubbed her red printed bottom after Natsuru spanked it.

"Dat ass! It's the perfect symbol of your growth as a woman, and those hips aren't so bad either. Thanks to your tennis practices, you've acquired a great figure and as your sister, I couldn't be more proud of you!"

Natsuru wiped away some tears from her face.

"N-Natsu-nee, please, I can't relax if you're doing this!"

"No, not yet, I need to experience more of this!" Natsuru rushed Kiyome and dug her face in her breasts.

"*Sniff!* *Sniff!* Ah, yes that wonderful smell of yours is...*Sniff!* so filling. In fact, I won't even need to eat breakfast tomorrow. *Sniff!* *Sniff!* So delicious!"

"Stop acting like a pervert!" Kiyome tries to pry her sister off of her.

"No, I can't because this will be the last time that I'll be able to do this with you!"

"What?"

Kiyome stopped, and remembered about her current moving to the Hanamura Residence.

"After today, you'll be doing this with Michael-kun and I wouldn't get a chance to eat your special home cooking, watch your engaging solo tennis matches and catch your beautiful wet incidents in the baths!"

"N-Natsu-nee…"

Kiyome looked thoughtful before pausing,

"Wait, what was that last part?"

"So just let me enjoy the fruitful body that is my sister's for just a little while longer."

Pondering over something, Kiyome rubbed her chin.

"Okay, I'll let you do whatever you want with me."

"Oh, Kiyo-tan, I can't believe this day has finally come!"

"But-!"

Kiyome halted Natsuru with a hand to the face.

"In return, you have to tell me exactly what you've been up to these past couple of weeks."

Natsuru paused for a moment while looking off to the side.

"Well, I, er… Could I perhaps tell you after I devour your bo-?"

"No."

"Fine, then allow you're Natsu-nee to explain everything, but I expect you to keep up your end of the bargain." Natsuru sits on Kiyome's bed and crosses her legs.

"I was just checking through any available magic circle that I can make to work. Things are getting hectic back at "that" place and I need to transfer things there faster so I decided to come up with another method of compensating for that."

"I see so that "place" has been suffering because of these current magic circle jackings?" Kiyome muttered to herself.

"But how have you been able to compromise and send them all of those supplies?"

"Meh…you'd just get bored. It's a really complicated plan."

"I see…" Kiyome looked down.

"Everything is fine now, so don't worry about it, and make sure not to tell Makoto-chan either, he tends to worry too much and I would hate to see him get saddened over this."

"But Natsu-neechan, he's more worried about you more than anything else."

"I know, but this is much more beneficial for Makoto-chan's happiness so please keep it under wraps."

Natsuru does a shushing gesture, and Kiyome sighs with agreement.

"Alright…"

"Anyways instead of worrying about me shouldn't you be worried about your new engagement?" Natsuru's smile widens along with the blush on Kiyome's cheeks.

"T-That was out of the blue." Kiyome sits in bed but looks away from Natsuru, she was still embarrassed.

"Now there's nothing wrong with talking like this sometimes. So do you actually want to go through with it? I mean Michael-kun is quite nice a guy when you meet him, but he's also a little odd as well."

(With Michael)

"Aachooo!"

"Are you okay, Michael-nii?" Gasper asked.

"Yeah, just had this weird feeling that someone was talking about me behind my back. Anyways lets get back to choosing the game." Michael sniffled.

"How about Wii Sports: Resort? We could do swordplay." Kiba suggested.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you get too into it and actually start hitting us with the plastic swords attachments."

"…Okay, then what do you want to play, Koneko-chan?"

"…Monopoly." Koneko pulled out the board game.

"Alright, let's open the box and see… Wait, where's the car piece?" Everyone looks up at Michael.

"What?"

"Michael-san, did you take the piece out?" Asia looked accusingly at Michael.

"No…"

***Staaaaaaaare~!***

"Screw you, guys! I'm not giving it up." Michael just admitted to the crime.

"Michael-sama, it's only fair…"

"No way, I always gets stuck with the shoe while Koneko-chan gets the car. All the time. And no even says anything about it!"

"There's a reason why we don't because we gave her full rights to it to avoid any conflict."

"What does that even mean!?" Michael shouted.

**[It means they're scared to get in her way.]**

"Well, that's coming to an end right no-!"

"Michael-senpai?"

"H-Huh?"

***WHAM!***

"Gyauagh!" Michael lays flat on his back as Koneko holds up the piece while staring at anyone willing to challenge her for it.

"I'm the car… Any objections?"

"None." Everyone shook their heads as they commenced the game while Michael was laid out on the ground completely oblivious to what was happening around him.

(With the Abe sisters)

"Yeah, I get that he's a bit odd, but I don't exactly mind that. Being odd just makes it easier to trust his honesty." Kiyome still looked away and balled up the fabric of her nightgown in her hands.

"Honesty… Yeah, I guess that's a perk to want in a guy."

Natsuru hesitated for a while but scoots in closer to whisper,

"So when you two finish with the packing will you show him around your old room to 'test' out some things with him?"

Kiyome's face burned hotter than the sun as she stammers, "J-J-Just what a-are you g-getting at with this, and w-w-why would I do that to M-Michael-kun?"

"Because after you're done, a lot of kinky things could happen…you know you're at that age now…" Natsuru seductively trails a hand up Kiyome's arm,

"He could get sweaty. You could get sweaty. His hormones could go out of control and make him do things to you that would make you scream…"

"Ku…!"

Gulping, Kiyome didn't know why she was listening but indulged herself by imagining that.

"Of course, that is just hypothetical~!"

Giggling to herself, Natsuru pulls herself while playfully staring at the now hot and bothered Kiyome.

"Natsu-neechan, you…!"

"I mean, who's to say that I wouldn't be there when that happens? I should be there to see your first time, too… As your older sister it is my right to watch my little sister evolve into a fine young woman."

"Natsu-neechan, you're absolutely the worst, and you're no better yourself, you still have your virginity even though most of the guys at our school are interested in you!"

Kiyome stands up and crosses her arms.

"Oh, don't worry. That will change soon enough…"

Natsuru's eyes narrowed along with a dark smirk.

"Eh?" Kiyome didn't quite catch that, it was too fast to hear.

"Nothing~!" Natsuru rolled around on her back, in bed.

"But back to before, are you really sure that you want this engagement with Michael-kun to continue? I won't go against you're better judgement either way you answer it."

Placing her hands onto her chest, Kiyome contently smiles, "I-I don't know about the engagement itself, but I feel that taking it will allow me to stay a little closer to Michael-kun and that's all I want."

"Really?" Natsuru asked seriously.

"Mmmm-hmmm!" Kiyome nods, happily.

Rolling on her stomach and propping her head up with her hands, Natsuru smiles,

"You sound so happy with the way things have turned out, I was sure you would have wanted to cancel things."

"Father is already dead set on this current engagement, and I trust he wouldn't want to pass up the opportunity to marry his daughter to the Sekiryuutei."

"True, he is sort of stubborn."

"Did you know, Makoto-chan has even gotten to be Michael-kun's friend, too?"

Not expecting to hear that but wearing a smile of gratitude, Natsuru giggles, "He is? Well, I guess that's pretty nice for Makoto-chan to make his own friend like that."

Natsuru had to remind herself to thank the teen for that.

"But you know, Kiyo-chan, he hasn't done something nice for me like you and Makoto-chan…" Natsuru leans forward with her arm and displays her cleavage by putting an arm under her bust.

"So since you're his fiancé and all would you mind if I borrow him for a while and make a few nice memories with him?"

"Of course not!"

Sticking her tongue out and winking, Natsuru giggled, "Worth a try."

"And even if we are engaged, it wouldn't work because Rias-san is the dominant one as Michael-kun's official girlfriend. I'm just glad that I can spend some closer time with him since we'll be living together, but after that fair request Rias made, I guess I'll just have to do my best playing the role I was given for now."

Kiyome felt that there was some hope to getting closer to the guy, and she just had to keep trying while living together with him.

Not looking all too pleased, Natsuru wore a tired expression and laid back on Kiyome's bed.

"So it's all because of that devil's quick thinking that's holding you back…that's why it's so difficult to negotiate with their kind especially those pure bloods."

"Natsu-neechan, I know that you don't necessarily like devils…"

"Pure blooded devils. The reincarnated ones are fine."

"Yeah, but we should really be more thankful because she and her peerage saved this place from that Cadre, Kokabiel."

"You mean the same Cadre Kokabiel that she intentionally fought without thinking of notifying for reinforcements? The very same Kokabiel, who fought in the same war against God and lived? Yeah, she did a good job on that one. The only person I'd give thanks for that was Michael-kun because I heard that he actually defeated Kokabiel by himself. If not for that then she would have endangered the whole town."

Looking away for a moment, Kiyome had to agree.

"Yes, that may be true, but…"

"But what? We should be thankful that someone actually stood up and defeated Kokabiel. I would say the reason for Rias Gremory's success so far was because of Michael-kun's involvement. Take that away and you'll just get your average devil in the end."

Natsuru covers her eyes and heaves out a long sigh as Kiyome looked at her with worry.

"Natsu-neechan, I know you're not really good with devils, but…"

"Sorry..." Natsuru sat up to face her young sister, "Just because I don't like them doesn't mean I should be disrespectful. I'll keep that in mind."

"Thank you…"

"Now onto more serious matters." Natsuru picks herself up and walks over to Kiyome.

"Eh?"

***GRAB!* *GRAB!***

Kiyome reacted just in time to stop Natsuru from taking off her nightgown.

"My reward~!"

"N-No, Natsu-nee!"

"Come on, you promised me~!"

"No, I have to go to bed!"

"Then just let me take your clothes so we can both go to bed~!"

"No, means no!"

"But we used to sleep together all the time when we were kids~!"

Natsuru pouted as Kiyome kept rejecting the offer.

"When we were kids! Now I'm grown up, so quit it before I put an end to your games!"

"Oh yeah, what you're going to tattle on me?"

"Worse." Kiyome smirked and called out.

"Makoto-chan!"

"N-No, Kiyo-chan please don't call him here…I promise to stop…"

"Makoto-chan, Natsu-nee is here and she won't stop bothering me!"

Opening the bedroom door, Makoto entered the bedroom wearing his pajamas while holding his pillow. He looked very sad, like a puppy being denied its favorite snack for even a day.

"N-Natsu-nee, you're back! Huh, but why are you fighting with Kiyome-neechan? Do you two hate each other now?"

Makoto was very sensitive when two people he knew liked and would get rather sad if they didn't make up in time.

"N-No, that's not it, Makoto-chan, I was just trying to get something when Kiyo-chan broke her promise!" Natsuru accusingly pointed at Kiyome.

_'Shifting the blame, really?'_

"M-Me, but you could have asked for something that isn't lechero-!"

"K-Kiyome-oneechan, did you break the promise?" Makoto whimpered.

Looking guilty, Kiyome cursed herself and answered.

"Well, yeah, but Makoto-chan she wanted something very bad so I couldn't…"

"Please hug and apologize to each other."

"B-But…" Kiyome catches herself once she caught the imminent tears welling up in Makoto's eyes.

"T-Then you two do hate each other…is it my fault?"

Both girls had their hearts broken at what they had caused.

Immediately wrapping their arms around each other, the two girls hugged each other tightly.

"I'm sorry…" Kiyome apologized.

"I'm sorry…" Natsuru apologized but her hands on Kiyome's back slid down into uncharted territories.

"S-See? Now everyone can be happy again, right?"

"Sure thing Makoto-chan now you don't have to cry anymore and-!"

Kiyome's face froze when she felt something slip down her hips.

She pulls her head back to see a smiling Natsuru giving her usual kitty smile, trying to play innocent.

"Did you just take off my panties?"

"Me? No…"

Natsuru breaks the hug and leans in to whisper,

"Consider that a cheap reward for me…"

"Fine…" Kiyome sighed in defeat, she wanted to get back at Natsuru for earlier but things backfired like this. Fate can be cruel…

Hugging, Natsuru out of the blue, Makoto wrapped his little arms around her and cried into her chest, like a crying child latching to its mother.

"N-Natsu-nee, where have you been, I was scared that you were hurt…"

"You didn't have to worry over me, Makoto-chan. I was fine the whole time, I just had to do some late homework at a friend's place before I failed all of my potential grades."

Rubbing away the tears from Makoto's body, Natsuru consoled her little brother with a kind smile.

_'Once again…Natsu-neechan you should just tell him about the stress you go through with that work you pile yourself with. It will at least ease off the worry he carries on his shoulders for you.'_

_Kiyome decided to just let it go for now, anymore talk of that would make Makoto even sadder and she wouldn't want to inflict that much sorrow onto the little boy._

"Hey, what do you say we all sleep together just like old times?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, and Kiyome-chan will sleep with us too."

"What?"

Kiyome did not expect this development to happen.

"Now what's wrong Kiyo-chan, you getting cold feet? This will be a perfect way to show how much we still love each other by staying the night together." Natsuru flippantly waved her hand.

"You mean that as family, right?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever makes you sleep like a rock!"

Kiyome didn't trust Natsuru with her body, and she definitely didn't trust her when asleep. She wanted to deny the request, but Natsuru turned Makoto around to show his bright smile.

"Before you deny it. Do you really want to see this face sad?"

"C-Can we really sleep as a family, Kiyome-neechan?"

_'N-Ngh, I can't say no after this…Natsu-neechan you're too manipulating…'_

Slumping her shoulders, Kiyome sighed.

"Of course, let's get to bed right now."

"Yay~! Now let's get to bed right away!"

"H-Hai!"

"There they go intruding into my bed like nothing…" Kiyome sighed, but had to admit that this was an appropriate thing to do before she had to leave tomorrow. Reminded of the panties that Natsuru took off, Kiyome looked around the floor to see that they were gone.

_'What happened, I was sure that no one touched it.' Kiyome looked under her legs and the floor before she looks back up at a smiling Natsuru patting down the side next to her, on the bed._

"Kiyo-chan, right here lets sleep together~!"

_'…You went too far…' Kiyome's eye twitched._

Kiyome bit her lip as she accused her sister for the crime. She walked up to the bedside.

"That's the spirit now come enter your Onee-chan's embr-Yah!"

Kiyome flips Natsuru over to the other side of Makoto, who watched in confusion. The bed was big enough to fit them because it was a Queen sized bed.

"You sleep there…"

"Aw, but how come it should always be the older sibling in the middle! Why must you take this final huggle and ruin it for me!?"

"Then give it back."

Kiyome didn't feel comfortable without her underwear with Natsuru around.

"Huh? I can't understand you…"

_'Don't you play with me…' Kiyome didn't want to play in one of Natsuru's mind games._

"You know what I mean so give it back."

"Eh? I can't hear you, please say specifically what you want."

"Are you nuts, not in front of Makoto-chan!"

"Then let's pretend this never happened then."

"Not yet…"

"Huh?"

Kiyome glared at Natsuru for a moment and within seconds barricaded Natsuru's side of the bed with pillows to separate her from Makoto and Kiyome.

"Now I can pretend it didn't happen."

"But that's not fair…" Natsuru sweatdropped.

"Do you have any problems with it Makoto-chan?"

"N-No, I'm actually fine with it."

"Even you too, Makoto-chan?" Natsuru froze.

"Mm! Because I'm we can spend this much time together with my family."

Grabbing both their arms with a smile, Makoto pulled in Kiyome and Natsuru into a linked loving hug.

"Yeah."

"Definitely."

Both wearing heartfelt smiles, Natsuru and Kiyome embraced their younger brother as the slow embrace of sleep came over them.

A few hours later, Kiyome stirs from her sleep after she felt the absent presence of Natsuru in bed.

"Natsu-neechan?" Kiyome slowly opens her eyes and rubs them.

When she looks across Makoto's side, she found no one but the empty strewn out bed sheets.

_'Where did she go?' Kiyome looked to see that her door was wide open._

_Feeling a bit little worried, she decided to look around and check on the girl, it would be easy task to track her down since their home was bigger than the average house, making it like searching for a needle in the haystack._

"Where could she have gone to at this hour?"

Kiyome says to herself, but then yelps once a cold breeze threatened to lift up the hem of her gown.

"I-I can't believe that I didn't think about putting on something before I left. Guh… I don't care what compelled her to sneak off, even if I have to use force, I will take back my panties from her."

Filled with determination, Kiyome continued onwards, but stops once she realized how strange that a breeze even blew past her at all. There weren't any windows opened on this floor at this time of night, they were usually kept closed to prevent any unnecessary cold winds from coming in.

"Weird... What exactly is going on?"

Kiyome started to follow the cold wind until she walked around a corner to see a cracked door leading to a room with a desk, many bookshelves, and lot of blueprints and map of sorts were pinned to a board in the back of the room.

"Isn't this Natsu-neechan's study?" Kiyome looked tracked the source of the blowing winds as she shivers as another gust of cold air sent chills down her spine.

"It's so cold, but why is it? There aren't any windows in this room at all." Kiyome looked around and noticed a bright light coming from the other door inside leading into a small private library that only Natsuru was allowed to enter. When they were young Natsuru was the only one to make use of that room not even Kiyome nor Makoto were able to even set foot in it without Natsuru denying them the chance.

"What's going on in there?" Kiyome would have felt reserved not to enter a room that wasn't her's but felt things were to odd to act too polite anymore. Cracking the door open slowly, Kiyome entered and encloses herself nearby the door.

It appears like the door before it was cracked open just a little for her convenience.

_'Why is it so bright in here?' Kiyome was almost blinded by the light but looked closely as two silhouettes stood within the light while something was moving beneath their feet. In fact, the light's source along with the cold breeze was stemming from that source right beneath them._

Looking closely, Kiyome saw that the light's source was actually…!

"No way, how is that…?" Kiyome wanted to reject the sight laid out in front of very her eyes.

* * *

The next day, Michael traveled to the Abe Residence alone to help load up all of her things. He couldn't really ask the others for help since they were busy with other things. Michael caught a few hints from a couple of them to just forget even going from Raynare who was blocking off each of his exits and Gasper who had claimed Michael's leg as a way to drag him down.

The only way that he survived was when the absurdity of the situation came full circle as Xenovia popped out and requested baby-making practice. Soon afterwards, he escaped the house with the help of his red flying cloud, Sirius. He had almost forgotten about the gift that Kai gave to him after the Rating Game with Riser and found it appropriate to fly with  instead of his devil wings.

Looking like ants to him, Michael finds the moving truck and boxes below along with the hard to miss huge western themed home of the Abe Family.

"There it is, and…" Michael finds Kiyome watching her monsters load up most of her boxed possessions.

"There's Kiyome-senpai." Michael smiled and flew down the ground and waved.

"Kiyome-senpai!"

"Ah, Michael-kun?" Kiyome waves back to Michael, who lands on the ground as his trusty cloud zooms off into the sky, waiting for its master's next call.

"Thanks, Sirius!"

"Did you just ride in on a cloud?"

"Yeah, it's really fun and helps save me the effort of flying with my wings. So I'm here to help with your moving."

"Just you?"

"Yeah, everyone is technically busy right now so they couldn't come. Word of warning, I'd advise you not to eat anything Ray-chan offers you." Michael scratched his cheek while looking to the side.

While he was leaving, Michael had caught the terrible concoction that Raynare was developing. The food may have looked normal but he felt a deadly evil emit from inside of it.

"I'll keep that in mind." Kiyome awkwardly avoided the topic.

"So what do you want me to do first?" Michael folds his arms behind his head.

"Well, my monsters have been able to move just about half of my stuff, the rest is still up in my room though." Natsuru pointed.

"Got it, so you want me to go up there and get them?"

"If its not too much to ask."

"No, I'll show you how fast I can do it and show you how great I am!" Michael grinned and started stretching out his legs.

"Can you show me where it is?"

Kiyome thought back to the implied teasing Natsuru made the other the night and started to blush.

"S-Show you? Can't you just find it yourself?"

"But I don't live here." Michael blinked and noticed Kiyome's reddening cheeks.

"Say what's up with you, Kiyome-senpai? Are you holding your breath or something?" Michael bluntly asked.

"Of course not! I just expected for someone, who kept boasting about how great they were could find a simple room, but I guess that was just all talk."

"All talk? Hah! I'll show you that I can find your room and bring down all of those boxes in a flash!"

Smiling to herself Kiyome nodded, "Good, thank you, Mi-!"

"Even if I have to kick down every door to find it!" Michael yelled as he raised his fist in the air with great tension.

"Kick down every door!? Why are you-!?"

But the only reply that she received wasn't very reassuring.

"Guuuuuuuuuuts!" Michael stormed into the large home, but not before closing front door and kicking it down.

"What have I done?" Kiyome could only groan.

Suddenly the image of a black hooded coat filled Kiyome's mind as she felt conflicted, on whether she should speak up about. No, she felt conflicted about the result of saying something about what she saw last night.

Running through the large house blindly, Michael tried his best to look through each room he could find. At first he was excited to kick down as many doors as he could but it became boring after the 27th attempt.

_'Man, where is that bedroom?' Michael walked down one of the multiple hallways of the Abe household and sighed._

"Maybe I should start thinking more about what Girl's bedrooms look like…hmmmm. Wait a minute!" Michael gasped.

"Girls like to accessorize, right? So Kiyome-senpai's door could be all painted and dolled up. But, wait, none of the girls at home do that, so I guess that only works for children…" Michael heaves out a huge sigh.

"Why is this so confusing!?"

Walking past a picture covered door, Michael stops himself to realize what he just walked past.

"What the-?" Reversing in step, Michael stops to look at the door and blinks in confusion. Something on the door didn't seem right to him.

"Are these pictures of Kiyome-senpai?" Michael could see an album's worth of Kiyome's pictures, from her childhood to her present self were posted on the door. He felt like whoever posted these up here had a bad obsession with taking pictures, but frankly he felt that, that wasn't the case here.

Without any leads to go on, Michael approached the door and proceeded to open it.

"I have nothing to say about this, but… If I was a betting boy this would probably be Senpai's room. Won't know unless I check."

***Gacha!***

Upon opening the room Michael noticed the apparel of the room to see that it was indeed a bedroom. Having a guy's bedroom himself, he could definitely tell that this room belonged to a girl with how clean it was.

"Well, it kind of does look like a girl's room, so I was rig-!"

"Michael-kun?"

Michael froze as he looked from the center of the room to his right, it was another small room linked with this one. He could make out some steam coming out of it, but the reason why he could barely make out what the room is was because of the person standing directly in front of it.

And it was Natsuru wearing nothing but a towel, her body still seemed to be mildly wet just having gotten out of the shower.

_'Oh my Maou, I came into the wrong room? But why I thought those pictures were of Kiyome-senpai!?' Michael screamed in his head._

"Natsuru-senpai!?"

"In the flesh…"

"…"

"So what brings you here? I, myself was getting ready to greet you outside, but I guess fate has funny way of working don't you think?" Natsuru shamelessly approached Michael with little regard to her body, which could be easily exposed if she released her hand on the towel.

Michael remained quiet.

"Michael-kun?" Natsuru paused her advances and looked at the boy, who was exhibiting strange behavior.

_'Crud, crud, crud! What should I do? What should I freaking DO!?' Michael tried to take a step back._

_'I know I'll just run away before I get my ass handed to m-!'_

**_[Stay yourself, partner!]_ **

_'Okay!'_

**_[Is running always going to solve your problems whenever you enter these encounters?]_ **

_'Yes!'_

**_[Well then stop it! Sooner or later you'll need to face them so you stop get yourself beat up in these situations! To just flee or accept your fate isn't an option for one carrying the Red Dragon Emperor name!]_ **

_'Ddraig…'_

**_[So are you just going to run away and get the crap kicked out of you, or are you finally going to step up and take the bull by horns and explain what you did!? Like in battle, you can't show you're back to the enemy ever! Do I make myself clear!?]_ **

_'So this sort of like a fight and the way they can be handled are the same? You're right…You're absolutely RIGHT! I get it now! Thanks, Ddraig now I know what I can finally do!'_

**_[Hmph… Fool, as if handling females and battles are the same thing. Those two are clearly different battles…] Ddraig muttered that last part to himself. Now he just had to watch things go downhill from here._ **

"Michael-kun, are you alright?" Natsuru was close enough to touch Michael's shoulder.

Bursting with the energy to get past this trial, Michael confidently shot his hands in the air and shouted,

"Of course I am!"

"G-Glad to hear, but what happened to y-whoa!"

Michael pulled Natsuru close, by the shoulders and stared her in the eyes with a serious expression.

"Let me clear things up before you get completely mad at me!"

"But I'm not mad."

Natsuru didn't mind the intrusion at all, not even the feeling of Michael's hands on her naked shoulders either.

"You see I came looking for Kiyome-senpai's room, but I couldn't find it so I assumed this room was her's because of all of those pictures sticking to the door! I didn't come in here to peek in on you! So please accept my apology!"

Michael shook Natsuru like crazy.

"I-I will so p-p-please stop shaking me so much!"

Due to all of the shaking, Natsuru was forced to release her towel because of the wild vibration and allowed it to fall on the ground to show off her naked form.

"…!" Michael who froze saw the towel slip off from the bottom of his view, he did his best not to look down but the only thing that did dropped was his jaw.

Giving her reply for her displayed body, Natsuru stuck out her tongue and winked, "Oops~!"

"Oh my goodness, what have I done!?" Michael panicked and turned around.

"Natsuru-senpai, I am so sorry that I did that!"

"Eh? No, need I don't mind at all." Natsuru turns to pick up her towel, shamelessly.

"No, even I know I deserve a slap for that! I'm really sorry for that!"

"Michael-kun, I really don't care that much about that so calm down."

"B-But-!"

Natsuru watched the flustered look on Michael's face and that he was covering his eyes.

_'Ufufu, how adorable…' Natsuru enjoyed that innocent reaction and wanted to extend this coincidental meeting even further._

"If you're feeling that guilty about it then just do me a favor."

"Huh?"

Natsuru finishes tying the towel around her body and sits down on her bed.

"Just sit down with me and talk."

"That's it?"

Natsuru nods.

"You're not naked still are you?"

"Not anymore unless you want me to?" Natsuru played around with the boy's emotions.

"Nope, you're perfectly fine like! No question about it!"

Michael sat next to Natsuru feeling a little awkward to be sitting next to his senpai, who was barely clothed in a towel. But at least it was better than speaking to her naked.

"So…I heard that you and Makoto are friends now."

Natsuru decided to warm up the conversation with her brother as the topic.

"Yeah, I was a little surprised when I found out that you were related to him like Natsuru-senpai."

"I would have been glad to tell you but you never asked."

Looking blankly at the ceiling while propping his head up with his hand Michael thought.

_'She's right.' Michael thought._

"But still I have to thank you." Natsuru said.

"Me?" Michael didn't quite get it.

"Because Makoto-chan's happier than he was before. You see he kind of has that shy mentality in him and has a hard time with making friends his own age. You two may in different grades but he looks up to you and speaks of you more often." Natsuru's smile was that of gratitude.

"Well, of course he's talking about me since I am great, and besides he's a cool kid and I can see how he's a cool brother for you too."

"You do?"

"Yeah, whenever we talk about stuff, he always brings you into the conversation talking about how sweet and kind of a sister you are. Usually I thought kid brothers would get annoyed with their older siblings but I guess with you two it's a whole different story." Michael grinned.

"You have an awesome brother, Natsuru-senpai."

"I'm relieved that I'm not the only one besides Kiyo-chan who feels that way."

"But I think you're a kind person too, Natsuru-senpai."

Michael's sudden compliment took Natsuru by surprise.

"M-Me, no, someone like me can't be as sweet as Makoto-chan."

"Don't deny it, it's true. I mean I'm not just using the stories Makoto told me about you. Just the one time you helped me when I was about to become a pin cushion that one time."

Michael finally had the chance to voice out his gratitude.

"Not many people would just place themselves into any of my troubles, so I think you're pretty awesome of a person to do that much. Also, you're a cool person to your siblings as well. So I tell myself that if that isn't kindness then I don't know what is. So despite what you say Senpai, I still believe that you're a great person."

Natsuru simply listened with a frowning smile.

"Did I say something wrong?" Michael asked.

"Uh, no it's not that I'm just…really glad that you feel that way about me…thank you."

"No problem." Michael didn't felt like the smile Natsuru was giving him was genuine but decided to believe it was all in his imagination.

Crossing one of her legs, Natsuru looked over at Michael with a sultry smile.

"So congratulations on stealing my precious little sister, Kiyo-chan away from me."

_'Is she referring to…?'_

Michael groaned tiredly and folded his arms behind his back.

"Oh, you mean that? I didn't mean to do anything like that. All I wanted to do was help Kiyome-senpai out with her engagement problems was all. It shouldn't be what others want for you. It should be what you plan for yourself, you know? So you won't regret anything and be happy."

"That's why I have to thank you for protecting my little sister from doing something that mundane."

"I don't know what that last word meant, but sure I'd do anything to make sure my friends are happy." Michael uses his usual grin and thumbs up.

"You sound pretty reliable, I'm envious of Kiyo-chan for snagging someone like you."

Michael thought about the order of siblings from Natsuru being the oldest to Makoto being the youngest with Kiyome acting as the middle child.

"Natsuru-senpai?"

"Yes?"

"I have a question, you're the oldest, right? So shouldn't you be the one who's engaged to someone like Kiyome-senpai?"

Smirking, Natsuru crossed her arms under her chest to emphasize her bust in front of Michael, who kept his eyes on her's.

"Why? Are you intending to help me with my own problems like Kiyo-chan and Makoto-chan? You don't need to earn my gratitude like that, I'm sure I can show my underclassmen some gratitude in a different way should he ask for it…"

"U-Uh, no… That's not it, but because I thought only the eldest sibling would get engaged to someone first before the younger ones. I mean shouldn't the guy, who you're father recommended for Kiyome-senpai be engaged to you now?"

Stopping her games, Kiyome sighed and gives Michael a cheeky smile.

"Of course not."

"Really, why?"

"Tou-sama is only interested in continuing the legacy of the Abe family only with Kiyome-chan. Makoto-chan and I are excluded from any engagement plans Tou-sama has."

"Wait, both you and Makoto aren't allowed to be engaged and only Kiyome-senpai is the only one who is forced to carry the Abe family legacy? Then that means…!"

Natsuru smiled at the surprise on Michael's face.

"Kiyome-senpai, is your dad's baby girl, making her, his most favorite child!"

"Nope." Natsuru laughed, he was way off with his answer.

"Then what else could it be?"

"Makoto-chan and I were adopted into Abe family, so we're not related in blood to Kiyo-chan."

"Oh, well, you could have said that earlier, now I feel like a dumbass…" Michael sighed,

"So you two aren't related to Kiyome-senpai? But you all get along so well."

"Just because we don't share blood doesn't mean we can't be family. Even if we don't share the same parents, I'll always look at Kiyo-chan as my adorable little sister as Makoto will look up to her as his precious older sister." Natsuru placed a hand to her chest and thought back on all of the memories she had shared with Kiyome when they were children. She could never forget the kindness the girl had shown when she and Makoto first met. Those moments will always be cherished.

_'I see…so they're kind of like me, Ero-sensei and that jerk, Vali.' Michael thought, 'I felt like I had a family even though we weren't related, it's all about the bonds we have which make up the true feelings of a real family.'_

"You know, Natsuru-senpai, I'll have to agree with you on that one."

"Thanks."

"No problem." Michael grunts as he sits up.

"Well, I better go find Senpai's room or I'll just waste more time."

"Wait, Michael-kun, I also have to thank you for something else."

"Hm?" Michael stops and turns around to face Natsuru bowing her head much to his surprise.

"Natsuru-senpai?"

"It almost crossed my mind, but thank you for helping this town with all you've done."

"What do you mean?"

"Ara ara, sorry, I didn't mean to be so vague. I already know of your status as a devil and Red Dragon Emperor. I really appreciate all the hard work you've done for everyone by protecting the town from that Fallen Angel Leader, Kokabiel."

"Hahahaha, there's no need for that. I just couldn't allow that bastard to get away with destroying my home was all." Michael laughed with some pride that someone actually noticed his hard work.

"No, what you did was really amazing, Michael-kun, because of you Makoto was able to stay in a home he really liked and I'm happy to just thank you for both him and me for what you've done."

"I appreciate the praise and all, but it wasn't just me, you know, every one of my friends contributed with that fight and helped made it successful in the end. Especially my master, Ri-! I mean, Buchou played a huge part in it."

***Glare!***

" ***Gasp!***  W-What?"

"Hm, did something happen?"

"Oh, nothing…"

Michael suddenly felt a chill go up his spine, he could've sworn he saw the most ominous of glares that Natsuru made. No, he felt that it was directed to someone he shouldn't have mentioned.

_'It must have been my imagination.' Michael breathed out._

"Excuse me, Michael-kun, I just wanted to ask if you had any plans for the next day." Natsuru said.

"Actually, I do, I kind of have a date with someone I really like but I don't have any clue on where to go."

Michael felt embarrassed and unconsciously tried to hide Rias' identity. Somehow he felt that feeling from before would come back if he did.

"So you have plans, but no place to go? My, what a conundrum… Say, what if I do you a favor and rent out an entire carnival for you two to go to?"

"A carnival?"

"Yeah, there will be rides, games, and even tasty foods for you two to enjoy."

"I don't know…will that really work?"

"Trust me. Girls love carnivals, but do you know what they love the most? Ferris wheels." Natsuru's answered her own question.

"Ferris wheels?" Michael repeated.

"Ferris wheels. Those attractions are the best for couples and I'm sure whoever you're dating will love it as they lean up on you and enjoy the high view with you by their side."

_'It does sound convincing and I don't have any other place in mind, so... What the heck, I'll do it.'_

"I'll take it, thank you, Natsuru-senpai!"

"No problem, I'll be sure to call you're phone and give you the details before you're date."

"Wow, thanks…how can I ever repay you?"

"How about by you do that by giving this to Kiyo-chan, outside?" Natsuru pulls out a bundled up piece of cloth, from under her bed sheets and hands it to Michael.

"Just this?"

Natsuru nodded.

"I can't possibly ask you for anything more than this. Just consider your date as a present for you protecting our home."

"Wow, t-thanks!" Michael walks to the door and opens it. He stops to turn back and grin at Natsuru.

"You know, Natsuru-senpai, you're really a kind person than what you describe yourself to be."

Closing the door and rushing to help Kiyome, Michael left Natsuru by herself in her room.

Sitting back on her bed, Natsuru lays down while staring at the ceiling with a big smirk on her face.

"Me, kind? Get real, you fool…" Now everything was being pieced together like it should.

As for Michael, he had no clue on where to find Kiyome's room so he decided to go back outside and ask Kiyome, herself.

"Kiyome-senpai!" Michael ran to the brown haired girl who was wearing a small scowl.

"What have you been doing all of this time? My monsters already loaded up everything I had."

_'Uh-Oh, I completely lost track of time!' Michael gasped._

"Well, I ran into Natsuru-senpai and somethings went down so…"

"Natsu-neechan?" Kiyome looked rather surprised.

"Yeah, I forgot to ask her which way your bedroom was so I just came back here."

"I see…" Kiyome was getting troubled at the thought of mentioning Natsuru. Since the night before, she had been keeping something important that she really wanted to say, but was afraid to bring it up. It was something that Kiyome wanted to deny, but learn the truth about.

"Michael-kun, can I tell you som-?"

"Wait, I have to give you something." Michael digs through his pockets to pull out that balled up piece of cloth.

"Here you go." Michael handed it to Natsuru.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, Natsuru-senpai told me to give it to you."

"It's all crumpled up…" Kiyome raised an eyebrow and did her best to unfold it.

"It must be very important even if it looks crushed like that. Maybe something like a secret message!" Michael was getting all excited for nothing.

"W-What the hell!"

Breaking himself out of his imaginary daze, Michael looks at Kiyome's hands to find a pair of white panties?

"That's what she wanted me to give you?" Michael exclaimed.

"Stop looking at it!?" Kiyome hid them away.

"Wait, why are you so embarrassed? Don't tell me that those are actually yours?" Michael gulped.

"Mmm…" Kiyome's face turned red.

"And why did Natsuru-senpai have them, don't tell me you two are…?"

"No, i-it's not like that!"

"But-!"  
  
"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL!"

Kiyome knew the assumption Michael was going to make and did her best to explain things. This however took most of the day until they both left for the Hanamura Residence after saying their goodbyes to Makoto and Natsuru. The affection stemming from these siblings were heartwarming to Michael.

By the time of their arrival back at Michael's home, Kiyome was fairly greeted by everyone with open arms. Well, they may have been accepting towards the idea, but their attitudes didn't change especially when Raynare tried to urge her to eat her cooking with a smile that hid many ill intentions. Kiyome immediately denied the offer as Michael just felt glad that everything went smoothly for her arrival into the residence and had to only worry about his date with Rias.

He just had to wonder about what's going on with the magic circles since it made the process of moving things difficult. And that thought brought him to wonder if Shirou is close to getting the culprits at fault for it.

* * *

(With Shirou)

At night, Shirou sat on the benches of some park continuing his search for that natural energy signature. It kept on flashing around the whole town and each time he would get close it would vanish. So taking a short break he decided to chill in some nearby park, but sadly for him a phone call ruined his relaxation.

"Aaron, now is not a good time for this!"

[But come on you need to hear this!]

"No, I don't I'm having a hard time as it is just doing my job, and you interrupting me because you talked with some chick in the underworld isn't helping!"

[But it's IMPORTANT!]

"I don't give a rat's ass if it's important, only Seekvaira is allowed to call me during my mission no one else!"

[Not even me?]

"Especially not you!"

[But just wait, wait…this chick was definitely giving me that look when I was practicing outside. She even asked me if she wanted to draw a bath for me and wash my clothes.]

"Wait, are you for real? A girl actually did all of that for you?"

[Heh, now you'll never question the allure that women love about me! She must have heard of my nickname Dr. Lance-a-lot!]

"Aaron, no one calls you that!"

[Pfft! Of course you don't know it, but the ladies do~!]

"Okay, then tell me the exact number of "ladies" who call you that?"

[I can't tell you that?]

"Why because it's too many to count?"

[Yes.]

"You are so full of shit right now."

[Oh yeah, then how do you explain that chick who helped wash my clothes, make a bath for me and brought me my lunch yesterday!?]

"Wait, she did all of that…" Piecing things together, Shirou groaned, "Did she even fix your bed for you?"

[Yeah, how did you know?]

"…Dude, you are freaking retarded, that girl is one of Seekvaira's maids!"

[…Really?]

"Yes! For God sakes that's why this makes so much sense!"

[And here I thought she was changing her appearance to impress me…]

"Wait… You assumed that the different looking maids were the same person!?"

[Yeah, I mean, we devils do use magic, so I thought it was possible.]

"…That's a good enough excuse I guess…" Shirou groaned.

"Look, I'm having a hard time right now and…"

[*SNRK!*]

Shirou pauses and looks to his phone before continuing.

"I need to focus on my job right or else Seekvaira is really going to be hard on m-"

[*SNRK!* Hahahahahahaha!]

"What the hell is wrong with you!?"

[You said hard!]

"You little piece of…"

The incessant laughing from the other line of the phone pissed Shirou off to no end.

[Wait, I know you're going to hang up but let me make a joke real quick about it!]

"If you say that's what she said, I'm just gonna hang up."

[Fine, then, you ass! I won't say the joke. Anyways, I have stuff to do myself so I'm just going to hang up now.]

"Thank Mao-"

[But after this! BOW-CHIKA-BOW-WO-!]

Shirou immediately hanged up the phone and groaned.

"I need to reevaluate the people I surround myself with."

Heading straight back to business, Shirou started to assimilate the occurrences he's been seeing around this town. He has been catching these energy signatures popping up around Kuoh Academy, spots near the Hanamura Residence and some large western house on the far side of town. He counted that most of the pop-ups in energy come from around Kuoh Academy with the Hanamura Residence at a close second.

_'I keep going to the places they mostly escape to, but should that be where I should be focusing on. Maybe I can't see the big picture…' Shirou then thought of the hidden intention of his target._

_'Maybe they're actually misleading me by going to those two other spots. That could be the motive and the place they're most likely to be at is near that large house!' Shirou thought._

"It's the only thing I can go on for now, but it's better than nothing! I'll make sure to check that place tomorrow. That phone call really gave me a throbbing headache."

***Ring!* *Ring!***

"Who is it now?"

***Click!***

[BOW-CHIKA_BOW-WOW!]

"Aaron, how did you-!?"

[I'm like Superman! I know when I'm needed~!]

"Ugh!" Shirou facepalmed.

* * *

The very next day, in Michael's room, the young man was putting on the clothes that he had prepared for today. Yes, it was finally time, his time, to take Rias out on a date. For today, he decided to wear a black blazer with its sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a red polo shirt, blue jeans and black tennis shoes. On his wrist, he wore a black watch that Kiba decided to lend to him for the occasion, but the gleam it had whenever any light came upon the glass sometimes blinded him.

Getting himself ready, Michael brushes his arms to check for any lint while breathing slowly, to calm his nerves.

"Keep it cool. Keep it cool. Don't need to worry, you've got things under control. This is not the time to wuss out. Remember, you just have to make Bu-! I mean Rias have a good time, that's it."

Michael pulled out his phone and checked the message that Natsuru sent to him, it was apparently the directions to the carnival that she set up just like she promised. He found it quite convenient too, because it was rather close to the Abe household.

"She says not to tell Rias a thing about, who set it up and just enjoy ourselves. Natsuru-senpai, you are the best!"

Michael hoped that karma was real, because Natsuru deserved every bit of what she deserves for helping a troubled man in need.

"I couldn't really tell Rias either way, or the surprise of the date would be ruined anyways." Michael chuckled and opened his door to go downstairs, but before he could go downstairs to meet the others he was confronted by Kiyome who was just about ready to head downstairs herself.

"Ah, Kiyome-senpai."

"Hello, Michael-ku-huh?" Kiyome blushed after seeing Michael's current attire.

"What? Do I look weird wearing this stuff?" Michael chuckled with a bitter smile.

"N-No, I was just surprised is all. I never thought that you would look so nice wearing clothes like that."

Scratching his head in annoyance, Michael sighed.

"Well, you're not the first to say that, but today is special, so I really want to do my best!"

"Today is your date with Rias, right?"

"Mmm-hmmm, and I just picked out the perfect place to go too."

"I wish you the best of luck." Kiyome smiled.

"Pssshaw! Luck, please, I have skill!"

**_[There goes the BS meter.]_ **

Michael mentally jabbed at the Red Dragon in his head.

"Excuse me, Michael-kun, there's something that's been bothering me and I needed to say it to you."

"Well, spill what's the problem?"

"It's about Natsu-neechan…I think…"

"Oh, you mean Senpai, isn't she the best?"

"Y-Yeah, but I really need to tell you this…"

"I mean, she's the one who arranged this whole carnival for my date."

Kiyome froze as her skin grew pale, "She did?"

"Crap, I accidentally let it out." Michael covered his mouth and looked around before shushing Kiyome.

"Please keep that a secret just between us, okay?" Michael whispered.

Kiyome started to sweat as the memory from the 2 nights before dredged itself back in her mind.

"M-Michael-kun, I really need you to listen because-"

"Michael, what's wrong? You've been taking longer than me to get ready, so I came up here to check on you."

"B-Buchou?" Michael sputtered as Rias climbed up the stairs.

"Eh, Kiyome-san?"

Walking up to the second level of the home, Rias revealed her apparel which consisted of a crimson-colored sundress, which accentuated her figure, a white sunhat with a red ribbon tied into it, along with black sandals. The appeal of her attire was the sheer simplicity of it as her beauty accentuated the dress rather than the dress accentuating her.

"Good evening, Rias-san, you look wonderful, today." Kiyome did her best to hide the plain fear on her, so she masked it with a smile.

"Thanks, and I hope that a certain someone feels the same way you do about how I look." Rias gestured to Michael while wearing a blushing smile.

_'So…cute… I mean-!'_

Michael was caught slipping before he coughs.

"Buchou, you look absolutely amazing with that dress on!" Michael grinned.

"Ufufu. Thank you, I really have to thank Akeno, Raynare and Asia for helping me pick it out."

Michael was not the only one distressed for their upcoming date, Rias, herself was panicking about choosing the right clothes to wear for the occasion. She felt it was her fault for being vague on where she wanted to go and made Michael be the chooser for the date. But during her tight spot, Akeno along with the other girls decided to help Rias make an adequate choice despite their jealously of the date.

_'Really? They helped, and here I felt like they didn't want this date to happen…' Michael thought._

"Well, either way I think you'll look good no matter what you wear, Rias." Michael gave a thumbs up.

"Oh." Rias was misplaced when she heard the compliment. Her cheeks grew red as she tries to hide her smile behind her hand.

"T-Thank you, Michael."

"No need for thanks, I'm just saying what I feel is all!" Michael laughed and spoke normally, he was unaware of the effect his words were having on Rias.

"I think you look quite handsome with that blazer, Michael."

"Thanks, Rias that really makes the effort of cleaning myself, worth it." Michael nervously scratched his cheek.

"So shall we get going?" Rias gestured to the stairs.

"Yeah, well see you later, Kiyome-senpai!" Michael waved and winked at Kiyome, "And remember our secret!"

"R-Right." Kiyome nervously nodded.

Walking to Rias' side, Michael tactlessly grabbed Rias by the hand and smiled while Rias simply enjoyed the boy's forwardness.

"Come on, Rias, I finally have the perfect place to go to."

"If you sound this confident then I'll have to take your word for it."

Rias allowed Michael to lead the way downstairs as they greeted and said their goodbyes to everyone before they departed for the evening. Everyone was strangely okay with the idea of the date as no one seemed to be leaking any killing intent which made Michael worry that something big was going on under his nose.

But the only thing which only increased his worry was when Koneko mysteriously told him to be cautious. He didn't quite get why she of all people told him that but he took the advice anyways.

_'These two are starting even look like a new couple based on their nervous reactions.' Kiyome felt a small tinge of envy, but decided to stay quiet in not revealing the memory she gained from the two nights before._

_'Why did I hesitate to…tell them…?'Kiyome bit her lower lip as she watched the couple leave out for their date._

* * *

_(Flashback)_

_"A magic circle?'_

_Kiyome spying through inside Natsuru's personal study's private library to see Natsuru standing with a mysterious figure wearing a black hooded coat. And they were both standing on a functional Magic Circle._

_'The magic circles are working, just how? I thought we couldn't use them with all of the interference coming from some thieves.' Kiyome covered her mouth to silence her gasp._

_"Were you able to get what you needed from that scroll I gave you?"_

_'Natsu-neechan?' Kiyome could identify that sultry voice anywhere, she could have guessed that it was Natsuru since no one besides her can enter that room but that raised another question, who was with her?'_

_"Of course~! Natty-sama, all systems are a go! I just need to finish adjusting the wavelengths and finish enhancing the little "toy" I've found and calibrated for you~!"_

_The other figure talked in a voice that should belong to an idiot, but the tone of it sounded like a mature woman trying to sound young. But that wasn't the only thing wrong because the voice just didn't sound right it just felt misplaced with that loopy, crazy tone it had._

_"Please don't call me that, I don't like to receive nicknames especially from people who don't like to reveal themselves."_

_This was the first time in a while where Kiyome heard Natsuru express so much dislike towards someone in a conversation._

_"Ah, how cruel and here I thought that my services were enough to make us good friends~! Boohoo~! Boohoo~! I just really want to make good friends with Natty-sama, I wish she would notice me more~!"_

_"I don't have time for games right now. When will the item be ready to use?"_

_"About the weekend, but I would say I'd need 2 more days to get it completely enhanced without failure. I can guarantee that if you want a 90% chance of success, you'll have to use them around the time I'm done."_

_"Around the time you're done, I understand, I think I can make that happen."_

_"*GAAAAAASP~!* You can~! Natty-sama, you really do care about the progress of my work! We definitely are besties just like I dreamed of~!" The figure did it's best to sound cute but Kiyome just sweatdropped at the attempt._

_"Don't get me wrong I only care about the outcome of this item you've shown me, anything else besides that is meaningless and expendable just like you."_

_"So coooold~! Belittling the life of someone helping you because of your just cause is like a bullet to the heart! But that's what I still like about you~!"_

_"Listen up, because I won't repeat this. On Sunday I'll lead the Red Dragon Emperor to a close location from here. Then from there I'll expect you to send me my new toy as I apprehend him and our new guest." Natsuru's smirk widened wickedly as she explained her plan._

_"For real! Natty-sama are you so powerful that you can take them both on by yourself~!?"_

_"Of course not. That's why I'm borrowing all of your chimera to wear them down."_

_"My babies, no, I cannot allow that don't you know how important they are t-bleh! It's boring to sympathize for them…" The figure was crying up a storm but her attitude changed too fast than a normal reaction should._

_"So how many of my creations do you want to die for you?"_

_"All of them. Will that be a problem?"_

_"No way~! They already served their purpose when they got created, if anything, if they can survive this and get things done, then I would be satisfied with the results. However, if they were to die in the end, I'll just give a big sigh and deem them as failures not even worth the speck of dirt on my shoes."_

_"That's rather cold, they speak highly of you and place their loyalty for you above all else."_

_The figure rolled her wrist nonchalantly and giggled._

_"I know, isn't that pathetic? You break a select group of criminals out of their prison, genetically modify their bodies to give them superhuman skills, and then suddenly they have this whole allegiance thing for you."_

_The figure continued to laugh giddily._

_"And all it took was pretending to be kind to them. I just wanted them because no one did. Trash, that's what they are so I decided to make use of another man's trash as I saw fit and manipulated their bodies to finish my experiments. When I was done, I actually thought about killing them off but they willingly decided to stay and serve me, could you believe that~!"_

_"You are one twisted manipulator." Natsuru was actually complimenting the mentally insane figure._

_"Takes one to know one, Natty-sama. Just take as many as you need. Won't bother me in the slightest to have my past experiments die for you. It would save me the effort of having them die by doing something else."_

_"Good, we've come to an agreement then."_

_"Of course, we did bestie~!"_

_"Don't forget to send it to me in time."_

_"I know~! I know~! Oh, Natty-sama, what would happen if an intruder were to interrupt your plan?"_

_"Isn't it obvious?" Natsuru turns around to show a dark devious fox smile._

_"Kill them before they can be an immediate threat."_

_'N-Natsu-neechan?' Kiyome felt like throwing up in fear as she heard her loving sister say something so terrifying and out of character._

* * *

(Present)

Placing a hand to her heart, Kiyome prayed, "Natsu-neechan, please tell me that this is just a joke…it has to be…"

Kiyome could only stare through the door and watch Michael and Rias leave for their date.

"…" Koneko who was watching closely behind observed Kiyome's worried expression and developed a few curious questions in her head.

Far from Kuoh Town just a couple of acres away from the Abe family household was a spread out and clean Carnival laid out. It had tons of fun games with rides from kiddish to adultish in terms of the level of thrill one wishes to seek. The main rides which dominated the place where the roller coasters and the large Ferris wheel, standing at the back of the carnival facing the sun.

It seemed like a perfect place to go to, but that's why amongst the cheerful music and exciting games, the tone of the park seemed to be leading up to an eventual conflict which will affect everyone who enters.

"Everything is ready."

The ringleader, Natsuru, was riding on the Ferris wheel while lazily looking out the window to see two small figures approach the area. Her eyes caught the happy looks of Michael and Rias' faces and narrowed her eyes.

Suddenly appearing by jumping on the rising car, Natsuru sat in as a large shadow resembling a beast-man.

"Natsuru-sama, we are ready to begin our attack, on your mark."

"Good. I'll give you the signal, but let's allow these two to enjoy their date." Natsuru shrugs, "After all, it's their first one and possibly their last."

"As you wish, Natsuru-sama." The shadow jumps off the car and disappears in a flash.

"Now the only one missing is our guest." Natsuru held a stick of cotton candy and ate a piece of it.

"Mmm, this is actually good." Natsuru continued to eat the sweet treat, and detected an incoming presence heading her way.

_'How perceptive of you to come when I showed an inkling of power.' Natsuru used her presence as bait for the new arrival and carved out the word "presence" in Kanji using her finger and power on the entire carnival grounds._

_'But I can't let you find me so easily, so just be patient until things start rolling.' Natsuru giggled._

Wearing a devious smile on her face, Natsuru slowly puts another piece of her cotton candy into her mouth.

"Now let's watch as everything falls into place." Natsuru devours the sweet treat once more and realized that she's already done with it.

"So good~! How unfortunate that I won't have the time to get seconds…" Natsuru thought over.

"I wonder if Makoto-chan would like it if I brought him back one along with the news of gaining a new niece or nephew to call him uncle?" Natsuru giggled to herself as she awaited the mayhem slowly brimming up underneath Michael and Rias, as they tried to enjoy their date to the fullest.

* * *

**Next Chapter- Carnival Madness and Cats, everywhere!? What kind of date is this!?**


	39. Give and Take

_**Give and Take.** _

* * *

_It was like a nightmare that refused to end, playing in a loop before her eyes as it had done many times before. It was like Hell had come to Earth, everywhere she looked being shrouded by fire or merciless carnage. Even with the excruciating pain she was in, she found herself running as fast as her legs could take her._

_She didn't cry out whenever she tripped and fell due to her carelessness. She knew that, if she did, she would only end up inhaling a mouthful of ash, likely suffocating._

_Their cries rang in her ears as though it was happening all over again._

_"Save us! Please help!" the countless tortured souls would plead. She ignored them. Even if the sound of their agony-filled screams or the smell of burning and decaying flesh would haunt her for years to come, she found herself thinking selfishly of herself to herself._

_'I have to find them...I have to find them...I have to find them...'_

_She could think only of one place, her family home where her most valued "treasures" were._

_The horror she saw and the terror she felt would forever stain her soul._

_Everything was burning...burning...burning...dying and decaying._

_She could feel the embers singe her fingers as she dug through the ash and rubble. What could have been blood or tears stung her eyes as she dug desperately, trying to break through to the inside._

_'What had we done...? What was our sin...?' She thought to herself, countless horrific scenarios playing through her head as she dug through the remains of her family home._

_Relief filled her heart as she felt her hand brush against unburnt, living flesh. She dug more desperately, digging and digging until she had fully uncovered his body. It looked so small and helpless, but not broken. Alive, but barely. He coughed several times, shivering in what could have been pain or fear. She cradled him in her arms, hugging him tightly._

_They were gone. She knew that. Nobody else would be left._

_She had to run...She had to run...She had to run...She ran._

_Run from fire, run from rubble, run from death. Running...Running...Running..._

_She simply turned her back and ran, accepting everything she knew was gone._

_They had taken it._

_"Mmm..." She heard a small whimper from the young child in her arms._

_'No,' She realized, 'not everything.'_

_There was no choice but to keep running, running until she couldn't run anymore..._

_Not a single clue as to where she was...there was a stream flowing by her, as if indifferent to the carnage and despair occurring mere miles away. But she didn't care. Everything hurt, her throat was dry, and she knew she would die if she did not rest._

_Her greatest error._

_She gently set the child down so as to not wake him and quickly buried her head in the water, gulping down several mouthfuls, almost crying from the relief it gave to her burns. After realizing something, she pulled her head out of the water, cupping her hands and gathering some of it._

_He was also thirsty, so she let him drink from her hands, the poor child barely half-conscious. His trembling subsided somewhat as he drank..._

_'It is only a momentary reprieve,' She thought to herself. 'We'll continue walking after a short rest...'_

_She should have kept running. She knew she should have. It was her own selfishness that made her stop._

_Just like before._

_Selfish, selfish, selfish little girl._

_She decided for him, too focused on her own exhaustion to worry. She hated herself for that. She regretted it._

_She had not realized they weren't alone anymore until a pair of hands clamped over her mouth, dragging her back against her will. When she saw one of them pick him up, she bit a finger on one of the hands, struggling to break free until a stronger pair of arms wrapped around her body, holding her tightly and rendering her immobile. She struggled and struggled but could not break free._

_She was weak. Pathetic. Fool. Stupid. Idiot. Useless. Worthless. Failure. Loser. Moron._

_No matter how much she fought, she could not break free._

_They hit her._

_One held her down while the others took turns beating her, as if it were some sort of game._

_Arms, legs, shoulders, chest, ribs, knees, neck, head, but not the face. Never the face._

_They wanted to have some fun, and her face was pretty. She would die anyway. Why not?_

_Why? Why? WHY!? WHY!? WHY!? WHY?! WhY?! wHy!? whY!? wHY!? WHY!?_

_They suddenly stopped._

_She hoped for salvation._

_Another one came within her vision, shoving the other three away._

_She had thought she was saved...then he smiled. Smiled a smile worse than the smiles of the others._

_"Don't forget, you fools." He had said. "These two, even with filthy blood, just became a rarity."_

_Then he grabbed her, pulled her, dragged her, yanked her by the hair. She struggled, crying in pain. When she fought, he kicked her. He kicked her. He kicked her. Again and again and again and again._

_Blood-Pain-Despair-Anguish-Hope-Joy-Despair-Suffering-Death-Good-Evil-Carnage-_

_It hurt-It hurt-It HURT!_

_Everything went black..._

...

_She remembered the room vividly. It stunk of cheap cigars and dirty, old men in white coats._

_He was with her, so she felt safe. Together. Safe. Alone._

_He was trembling, afraid. She hugged him, held him tightly. He was crying._

_The man came in again, the same twisted smile on his face._

_"Thank you for donating your bodies to my cause~!" He said gleefully, as if it had been a choice._   _"I'm sure we're going to get along, little kittens~!"_

_Hate._

_She hated him._

_Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate!_

_Never forgive! She would never forgive! Only hatred!_

_Never fOrgiVe...nEveR-_

* * *

(Present day)

_"…"_ _Opening her eyes to the setting sun, Natsuru lets out a sigh as a drop of sweat dripped off her chin._

_'_ _That's right... Back then I…' Natsuru blankly stares through the window of the Ferris wheel._

_'_ _No, that's not important now.'_

_Natsuru looks down to see Michael and Rias enter the carnival, it appears that they're heading towards a nearby ice cream booth._

_To the two enjoyed their frozen desserts while wearing satisfied smiles. Smiles. Those were the last things they would experience once all of this was over._

_'_ _It won't be long now…until then enjoy this farce peace while you still can.' Natsuru glared at Rias who was clearly having fun,_

_'_ _Gremory-san, I've given you the perfect setting for a date and more, so don't hold anything against me when I take what I want.'_


	40. Carnival Madness and Cats, everywhere! What kind of date is this!?

**Carnival Madness and Cats, everywhere! What kind of date is this!?**

* * *

_'_ _Okay, Michael, you can do this, you've been preparing for this date for weeks. Now you just have to believe in the red dragon who believes in you!'_

**_[I never said that I believed in you.]_ **

_'_ _Ignoring him! Come on Michael time to show how down you are! Because this isn't their time anymore! No, this is our time, our time! Our time! In the spotlight! Now it's time to show off your guts because you can't make a fool out of yourself on this date!'_

**_[Yeah…it's already too late for that. Look at your hand.]_ **

_'_ _Huh!?'_

"Michael, are you okay, your hand is crushing your ice cream cone?"

Michael's body jolted when he realized he felt the cold melted liquid of his ice cream on his hand. He was pumping himself too much that he forgot what was happening around him. Or specifically what was happening with his hand which was now smeared with his cold sticky ice cream.

Looking at his messy hand, Michael gave a cheeky laugh.

"Sorry, I was getting myself pumped up to make this date the most fun you ever had."

"Oh…" Rias blushed.

Pulling out a handkerchief, Rias helped wipes Michael's hand clean.

"I mean this carnival is amazing and has tons of games and rides, so we'll have an awesome time! Oh, I think we should play a few tent games, first…but I guess doing a ride would seem okay too, but we just ate so that wouldn't turn out well for anyone." Michael grinned and was getting all giddy like a kid in a candy store.

He found the games and rides to be a great bonus for their time together to be extraordinary. The place was really amazing with all of its colorful rides and very lively atmosphere despite them being the only ones there with those creepy workers for the rides. When they were checking in through the entrance they came across one of the workers who welcomed them in with some strange laugh.

It sounded like "Kikikikiki!"

But that wasn't the weird part at all, they were all wearing the same type of clothing which showed little to no skin, face masks, and dark, thick rimmed sunglasses. Michael found them a little suspicious but remembered Natsuru was the one who set all of this up so

 _'_ _He's giving everything so much thought and looks to be having fun. I'm so glad.' Rias laughs quietly to herself._

"Rias, what do you think we should do first?" Michael turned to Rias, who answered back with a shrug.

"To be honest I haven't been to a carnival that many times so I was hoping you could lead for this part of the date."

"For real? But wouldn't you have fun choosing the stalls you would like to go to?"

Rias shook her head and finished cleaning Michael's hand.

"Michael, you already chose the perfect place for the date so just choose the first stall you'd go to. When I see one I like I'll tell you."

"Well if that's what you want then how about we try out the games first? After eating that ice cream I'm so ready to work it off before trying the rides! Sometimes carnivals can have iffy games especially ones who like to scam you out of your money so let's choose the ones where it will be easy to win as many prizes as we want."

Rias was absolutely delighted that Michael was enjoying himself almost as much as her. She knew that their outing was making him a little tense. She also accounted for Michael's selflessness when it came to dates by consulting with Raynare who explained Michael's behavior and how thoughtful he acted during the date. However, that wasn't the problem it was actually sweet what he did, but he didn't consider how stiff he was during most of it.

Rias wanted to change that by letting him be more lax and act like he usually does so that they can truly enjoy their time together.

"Hey, Rias, let's do the dunk tank!" Michael pointed to a stall with a huge tank of water with one of those heavily dressed workers sitting inside on a bench.

"A dunk tank?" Rias said, "Won't you have trouble hitting the bull's eye for that?"

"I would, but games like these don't usually get rigged so I'll take that chance. Come on, I'll even win you one of those prizes."

Grabbing Rias by the hand, invitingly, Michael cheerfully leads her, without feeling wound up like he did before. Rias rolled her eyes and went along with Michael's offer. If they were going to do something together then they should try to act more relaxed around each other so they can enjoy themselves to the fullest.

"Kikikikikiki! Hey there you two, why don't you try hitting that target? Who knows maybe you'll get me in the first throw?"

While approaching the booth, the man inside the tank waved the pair over, he even did that creepy laugh.

"Shut up, man! I know what you're doing and your mind tricks aren't going to work on me, I've seen enough of your provoking tricks on television to know what you're saying!" Michael shouted.

"I'm not trying to trick you. Your chances of hitting the target are high now give it your best shot, dude!"

"Argh! Be quiet I get it, I know I can't hit that target on the first try, but no matter how long it takes your going down!"

"Michael?"

Rias sweatdropped and wondered how Michael was misunderstanding the man's words.

"I may waste all of the money in my wallet but I will dunk you!" Michael dramatically pointed at the man.

"There's no need for that."

"Huh?"

The man laughed that creepy laugh of his once more and made a "no need" gesture.

"This game and all the other attractions are having a free day today since you reserved the carnival for yourselves, so you don't have to pay for any so all of this is on the house."

"Really?" Michael himself didn't know about that, most theme parks that get reserved would never do that.

"This makes things much better, you've really done a good job with picking this place, Michael." Rias complimented the young man, who was just as amazed as her.

"O-Oh, right, I guess I did grab a killer place to come to, huh?"

 _'_ _Wow, Natsuru-senpai really pulled out all the stops for this one, I have to remember to thank her for all of this later.' Michael began to think of way to express his gratitude to his senpai later but for now he had bigger fish to fry._

"Now do your best, kid, I'm rooting for yo-WHOA!"

***SPLASH!***

"Stop provoking me! Now let's continue!" Michael roared, he grabbed one of the nearby baseballs and hit the target right on its mark and forcing the man into the tank of water.

"But you already knocked me down, and with the first throw no less, so you can collect your prize in the corn-Uagh!"

***SPLASH!***

Michael dunked the carney again.

"Get dunked on!" Michael screamed.

Reemerging from the tank, the man gasped out for air and rushed to sit on the dunk tank's bench.

"Hey, you can stop, kid! You already got me so get your damn priz-eeek!" the man yelped and sighed in relief after Michael's third attempt failed.

***DING!***

"Dammit! I missed!" Michael snapped his fingers then held up 3 more balls, "Set me up again!"

"What the heck is wrong with you, you already won. What's the point of continuing my game if you're just here to knock me back in the water!?"

"Because today, my lucky number is 15, so I need to get 15 wins to complete this game before moving on. You said all of these games and rides are free for us, right? Then I'm going to abuse that privilege maliciously!" Michael maniacally laughed.

"B-But my game, y-you can't…!"

"Your game…? No, you must mean MY game!" Michael laughed as he picked up the three balls he threw and went back to the distance he threw them at.

"H-Hey, you!" The man looked to Rias and pointed at Michael, "Control your boyfriend will you, there has to be a limit to how unreasonable he's being right now. It's ridiculous!"

Placing a hand to her forehead, Rias shook her head, "Michael, I'm disappointed in you…"

"Rias?" Michael raised his eyebrows.

"For you to mercilessly dunk this man 2 out of 3 times is unforgivable." Rias crossed her arms under her chest.

"Thank you…someone here who sane…" the man limply sat back in his bench, hoping he could catch a break.

Too bad he wasn't going to.

"You should be able to throw a perfect succession of 15 throws to dunk this man into the water, in fact, I believe you can dunk this man 30 times if you put your mind to it." Rias was encouraging him.

"Really?" Michael gasped with stars glittering his eyes.

All it took was one nod from Rias as Michael pivots on his heel to glare at the soaked man with a grin.

"Prepare yourself because I'm not gonna hold back!"

The man growled at Rias, who passively waved at him as a significant way of saying goodbye.

"You little… you didn't help at all, you just made it wors…Aaaaaaaaaaah!"

***SPLASH!***

"Get DUNKED on!" Michael laughed.

"Nice throw, Michael." Rias giggled.

"Now 29 more to go!" Michael declared and sets up another pitch, he was going to make this vendor's next 30 minutes a living hell.

"Meep!" The man in the dunk tank whimpered as he shivered in fear.

* * *

Elsewhere, landing in that same carnival but on the far right side of it was Shirou who had finally managed to make it to the overflowing natural energy residing in the area. It was quite difficult for him to drop what he had to do, so he decided to wrap the whole thing up and save it for later.

"This is the place." Shirou folds his devil wings behind his back as he exits from the shadows of an empty game tent.

 _'_ _The natural energy this place has is incredible, the person must be a pro at using senjutsu if the entire surrounding is marked with their energy signature.'_

Shirou took his first steps into the bright carnival lighting and looked around at the empty games and rides around him still kept on and active. It was a bizarre sight, seeing these many attractions with no people on them.

Sighing to himself, Shirou wasn't surprised that the culprit chose this place.

**\What is it? Not so thrilled about carnivals? Or is it that you're afraid of the clowns?/**

"No, that's not it, it's just…" Shirou shook his head.

**\If it's about those cookies then you should definitely get over them. It's not like you would have had the time to show-up your "Culinary Rival" while doing your job./**

"It's not that either, and shows what you know. Last time, my dish won compared to hers. Back then her skills were sub-par compared to my cooking by a little and I bet, she is probably at that same level right now. It's not even a contest anymore."

Shirou crossed his arms and smirked.

**\Who knows, maybe she could have gotten better./**

"Pfft, it'd be challenging if she did, but I would still win." Shirou stifled a chuckle and began walking in a random direction.

**\Do you even know where you're going?/**

"Don't ask a retarded question like that especially when you can just read my mind and get the answer yourself."

**_\Hehe, I know all your secrets~!/._ **

"Knock it off, I can't concentrate with you screwing around!" Shirou shouted at the voice in his head.

**\Oh, I'm sorry, but weren't you supposed to be looking for the one messing with the magic circles?/**

"It's kind of hard with you rambling in my head." Shirou growled and looked around the empty area, "And if they can't be found here then I'll just look for a more populated place!"

Shirou dashes off in a random direction to the right where the lights and the activity of the carnival is more vibrant than to the left where most of the tents and the lights were turned off and completely shadowed out as a way of warning people approaching the area that it was closed.

However resurfacing from the shadows was a pair of golden eyes but as the eyes approached the light they turned light blue along with the appearance of Natsuru who just watched Shirou aimlessly look for her.

"This will be easier than I thought."

She thought about using a decoy to lead Shirou on around the place away from her main target. Although since he was aimlessly searching there would be a chance of that happening, but of course, she had a back-up for this setbacks.

Stomping their way partially out of the shadows was a black-furred foot with sharp claws and golden cat like eyes shining in the shadows. The shadows hid the creature's body as it's stature was clearly shown with its eyes being so higher up. It felt intimidating just imagining who or what it was without seeing its complete appearance.

"I'm getting many signals about that devil, Natsuru-sama."

Still wearing her relaxed smirk, Natsuru didn't look back to her hidden subordinate.

"Hm, He is dangerous isn't he? If it were me alone, no, if it were me with all of you, we'd never stand a chance against that man." Natsuru said.

"Shouldn't we prepare to use a strategy to cripple his strength, just enough to make sure he isn't a threat?" the deep voice from the hidden creature asked.

"No need, I've already gotten a plan for that, all we do now is wait for things to finally get underway. So do not engage him until I say so, for now, I'm going to enjoy watching our two guests enjoy themselves." Natsuru fixes her hair and goes in the same direction as Shirou.

"Natsuru-sama, what are you planning? What if he figures things out and kill the others?"

Natsuru pauses and looks back at the shadows with an expressionless stare, with no sympathy. These whelps may be supporting her in all this, but they are just pawns to serve their purpose if a few die, then it's a blessing for her to gain back any space she ever wasted by having them around.

"It's only natural if that happens. The circle of life, as I would say and considering your position I wouldn't have to worry about them but yourself instead. I mean aren't cats supposed to be lazy and selfish and besides you should already know my position on top of your food chain already, so should you really be questioning my judgement?"

"…"

"See, that's what I thought. Now get back into position."

"Yes…ma'am…" The creature leapt further into the shadows, but his reply was husky and dark with restrained anger. Natsuru knew these creatures weren't too happy with serving her, but she knew they wouldn't dare defy her not if their savior/creator had any say in it.

"Now about our newcomer, I'll just have to keep an eye out for him while observing Michael-kun."

Leaping and bounding off a few tents, Natsuru travels to the tents nearest to Michael and Rias where Michael had already finished dunking the dunk tank vendor 30 times in a row. For his prize, he chose a huge stuffed red teddy bear for Rias.

Quietly laughing to herself, Natsuru couldn't help but enjoy how cliché the scene was.

* * *

"So what should we do next?" Michael held the giant stuffed bear in one arm while looking to Rias who leaned in and scolded.

"Don't you remember? I said you should be the one who picks and leads for the date, I'll tell you when I find something I really like."

"But I already had my fun already, so choose one thing that you want to do." Michael didn't felt right if he was the only one choosing the games.

"Okay, I'll choose any game you like for my next choice." Rias placed on hand on her hip and playfully poked Michael's chest.

"That isn't fair." Michael sweatdropped.

"Oops, it isn't? You said so yourself that I can choose one thing that I want to do, and what your next choice is will be what I want so shouldn't we be moving on to the next game?"

 _'_ _Damn, she got me good.' Michael sighed and gave in to Rias' tricky words, but he wouldn't let it end like that._

"Okay, then how about we try tossing rings?" Michael smirked and pointed to the tent doing that game.

Rias wore a plain expression as she looked at the game.

"That looks rather boring."

Michael's face fell after he heard that.

"You mean you wouldn't want to play it?"

"Well, only if I was desperate, which I'm not. But I believe something challenging like that will be entertaining." Rias pointed at the Test your Strength game.

"You mean, you want to do that, why don't you try something easier?" Michael looked at Rias in disbelief.

"Why not? It looks to be quite the challenge and playing it may encourage you to actually act like a man and take charge."

"What?"

Rias was purposely making Michael tap into his competitive side.

"Maybe, I was wrong in thinking you can lead this date since you're so scared about testing your own strength." Rias turned away with one eye open.

Michael tried to suppress the urge to scream for the sake of trying to get past Rias' effective smack talk.

"T-hat's...nrgh Not it, I just wanted you to choose something you wanted play just to be fa-!"

"You don't seem to be gutsy or great as you claim yourself to be."

And that was the very, last straw.

"What did you just say…?" Michael's face zoned out as he blankly stard at her.

**_[She did it now…] Ddraig sighed._ **

"You heard me, I said you're not great if you're too…chicken to play this game." Rias turned around and poked her finger harder into Michael's chest. The gesture was very provoking.

"But Rias…I…" Michael was holding back the reckless beast that was trying to emerging.

"I remember you doing this to Riser because you're speaking like him right now since, but all I hear coming from your mouth is bawk, bawk, bawk!" Rias imitated a chicken then laughed in Michael's face.

Michael's entire appearance went frozen as his face was unresponsive to that comment, the only thing that could be said was the boiling tension coming from within him.

**_[3…2…1…and…] Ddraig counted down._ **

It was at that moment that Michael finally tapped into his competitive side.

***SNAP!***

Michael's eyelid slowly snapped up as he slowly uttered,

"You know what, Gremory?"

Rias was surprised to hear Michael use her last name and was going to address that before he got all up in her face.

"You KNOW what, RIAS! I AM going to be playing that game and I WILL get a perfect score 5 times in a row just to show you that I'm the greatest and prove to you how wrong are about my skills! Because my power dwarfs everyone, who's around here so badly by One-thousand, no, One-Hundred thousand!" Michael's face was contorted into a huge grin with his eyes wide open.

Playing along, Rias said, "Oh, really?"

"REALLY! Let's even make a bet to prove it too!"

"This sounds interesting, what are the terms?" Rias confidently crossed her arms under her chest.

"If I lose and can't get 5 perfect scores on that game, I'll do whatever you want when this date is over, but if I win, I get a kiss from you!"

"Sounds like a deal."

Michael pulled Rias closer to him by grabbing both sides of her face and staring into her eyes.

"No, not just any ordinary kiss. Not a kiss to the forehead, an air blown kiss, or even the cliché cheek kiss! I mean a kiss to the mouth, and I, like you wanted, get to lead are we clear?"

"I-I…" Rias had her face go red and almost match the shade of her crimson hair, she couldn't respond after hearing that, but still tried her best to give an answer.

"I'll take that as a yes. Let's do this, Huaaaaaaaaaah!" Michael released Rias and charged towards the game.

"Kikikiki, hello there young man! Care to test your strength with this mach-iiine!?"

Michael lifted up the approaching vendor by the collar and shook him.

"Let me play your game!"

Looking frazzled, the vendor just nodded and tapped at Michael's wrist.

"Just put me down, kid, and I will!"

Michael released the man and lets him fall on the ground.

"Set me up, man!"

Patting himself down while gesturing to the Test your strength game and the large hammer, leaning on it.

"Such vigor, kikikikiki! Just use that and give that target a big old whal-!"

"Hiyaaaaaaaaaaa!" It was so sudden and so fast that the vendor did not see Michael move from his spot to the game already and he was lifting the huge hammer like it was a toy.

"-lop?"

"This is the heaviest you got? Hah, this is nothing! Do you see this, Rias?" Michael exclaimed as he approached the target while growling and wearing a huge forced grin.

"All I see is a chicken!" Rias' lips curled up while she shouted that, this was turning out to be real fun for her.

"Raaaaaaaargh!" Michael roared and turned back to the game.

"Excuse me, miss, are you sure antagonizing him is the best course of action?" The vendor looked at Michael slowly raise the hammer over his head.

Beginning with a light, innocent chuckle, Rias responds, "Of course not, when he gets like this he loses so much focus."

"EH!?" The vendor had expected a more reassuring answer.

Rias just wanted to toy with Michael just for the heck of it. If she wins, she gets to do anything she wanted to him, well, it will be basically what she does every day, but still the prize is something she would look forward too. Yet, the cost of losing was still in her favor because she would have to kiss Michael on the lips by the end of it. Should she win or lose is not much of a deal for her because either way, in the end, she still wins.

"I'm no chicken!" Michael grunts and holds the hammer way up high while flexing his arms to the correct amount of strength he'll need to get a perfect score.

"I'm gonna wreck it!"

***WHAM!***

***DING! DING! DING!***

With the strength and form of a woodsman, Michael smashed the hammer on the target in front of his with enough force that the target machine itself creaked by the force of the recoil.

"We have a winner~!" The vendor was relieved that tense moment was over and walked closer to Michael.

"Now sir, choose any prize from my wa-!"

"Huraaaaaaaaah!"

***WHAM!***

***HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!***

***DING! DING! DING!***

Michael attempted the game again and won another perfect score. However, the game wasn't looking perfect after the second blow Michael made on it.

"Excuse me, sir, your prize. Don't you want it?"

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

***WHAM!***

***HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICKIKI!***

***DING! DING! DING!***

Michael's next swing crushed the target completely as it started to get more rickety with each growing hit. He needed to prove how strong he was and show he wasn't a chicken but someone unbelievably great!

"I am not a chicken!" Michael roared and swings back the hammer for one more blow.

"Sir, please you're going to-!"

***WHAAAAAM!***

***HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICKIKIKIKIKIKI!***

***DING! DING! DING!***

"The game won't survive, just stop already!" the vendor pleaded in fear that his game will stop functioning like his pay should he let it get broken.

"Never!" Michael yelled and gave the target one more wallop which shook the game down to its very core with most of its design either creaking or opening to show the inner technological equipment making it function.

***DING! Ding…Driiing~!***

Even the bell was breaking down with the hits the machine received.

"Just one more and I'll win." Michael's grip tightened around the grip of the hammer.

"No, no more! If you do then you'll break the game!" No more mister nice guy, the vendor tried to grab the hammer out of Michael's hand.

"Let go!"

"No, just take your crummy prize and leave!"

"I just need one more perfect score then I will leave!"

"Sir, look, you have the highest score imaginably already with 400 points can't you just be satisfied with this much?" the vendor shouted.

"Really? I have the highest score?" Michael showed signs of relenting.

"Y-Yes, yes ,of course, in fact you have the highest score imaginable right now!" the vendor took this ticket to butter Michael up.

"Wow, I guess if I did get those points that would mean I am great and if I were to stop before getting the last perfect score I needed then I would have become a…"

"A…?" the vendor said with uncertainty in his voice.

"CHICKEN! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Nooooo!"

***WHAAM!***

***CREEEEEEEEEEEAK!* *GAN!GAN!GAN!GAN!***

***DING!DING!DING!DING!DING!DING!DING!***

With that final hit, Michael received his perfect chain of 500 points. The machine was shuddering while smoke was coming out of its opened cracks as the rivets and nails keeping it together jittered and shot out of their respective rivetings. It wasn't long before it finally broke down for good.

"I did it!" Michael threw his fists up and banged his head like a rock star to signify his victory.

The vendor fell on his knees and looked at the demolished attraction.

"No…why?"

"Hey, old man…" Michael grinned and raised his thumb.

"Thanks for boosting my spirits with that last comment it really boosted my spirits, knowing that I will always be the top scorer in your game for…" Michael looked back at the destroyed game and chuckled.

"I don't know, um…how long does it take to fix a game like this?"

"You can't…once it's broken it stays broken…" the vendor cried.

"Oh…" Michael frowned then laughs excitedly, "OOH! That makes this even better, now I'm the eternal champion at your game!"

"Ku…" The vendor just gave in to his sorrow and limply laid on the ground.

Oblivious as always, Michael patted the man's back.

"Thanks for the good time, old man. Now to claim my prize." Michael wasn't looking at the prizes in the prize booth but rather someone else.

"Incredible, Michael, you actually got 5 perfect scores!" Rias saw the destroyed game and beamed with pride for her boyfriend's success.

"Yeah, and that means I won the bet!" Michael approached Rias while looking serious.

Understanding the terms of her loss, Rias starts to blush and began to actually feel the weight of the terms that she agreed to.

"R-Right, you did win, and you were able to get 5 perfect scores so…so…" Rias was a little embarrassed when things came down to it. It would have been a different story if Michael were flustered like she was, but the expression that he wore was that of someone intending to get their prize.

Broken from her stupor, Rias felt Michael wrap his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. The close body contact made Rias gasp with surprise, and unconsciously kept looking away from Michael, she could still feel his gaze on her. She enjoyed the attention, but it was kind of overwhelming at the same time.

"Rias…" Michael rubs Rias' cheek with one hand and helps ease her into looking him in the eye. At that moment, it was completely silent for both of them nothing else was getting their attention. It was only just them…

Michael started to gradually lean closer to Rias as he continued to look her in the eyes with his own that were just focused on her.

 _'_ _H-He's…' Rias was getting more caught up with the moment that she too was leaning into him as well. Her embarrassed tick was gone once she met eyes with Michael, just looking at them relaxed her and made unconsciously lean in to meet him halfway._

***Chu!***

Their lips finally met in their soft embrace, and the slow build up for it from before almost took Rias' breath away. Her soft lips pressed up against his made her gasp at first, but afterwards she began to enjoy the passionate liplock. Deepening the kiss, Michael used both arms to pull Rias closer to him for a more intimate kiss, but that was what he wanted her to believe.

Enjoying the lovely interlock of lips, Rias tried to move in for a deeper kiss but Michael pulled away before she could do that.

"E-Eh, what?"

Catching her breath, Rias looked confused and tried to ask why he stopped before she saw the grin on Michael's face.

"Hey, Rias…I just wanted to tell you that…" Michael slowly released Rias from the close hug and took a few steps back.

He coughed then breathed in.

"Never call me a CHICKEN! I'm the best, no scratch that I'm the greatest and gutsiest person ever!" Michael cheered as he laughed in pride, it felt good to win something against her for a change. Usually if he were to enter a conversation or a small bet against Rias, he would lose. But this time with his pride on the line he was able to secure victory.

"Hah! I bet you weren't expecting me to win now did you!?" Michael had expected a response but stopped his gloating to look at Rias, who was still dazed from the kiss.

"Huh, Rias…?"

Touching her lips as a way of confirming the kiss, Rias giggled and looked up at Michael with a very happy smile, "You're right. Michael, you truly are the greatest."

"Urh…" Hearing that made Michael's heart beat a little fast before he composed himself and stretched his arms.

"Of course, I am and don't you ever forget it!" Michael tried to laugh it off.

 _'_ _Why does it feel like I'm not the only winner right now?' Michael debated over why it was a good thing and why it was a bad thing at the same time before he got fed up about it._

"Gah! Forget it, I'm already pumped, so let's go check out the rides!" Running over to Rias, Michael takes her hand in his and briskly leads her to one of the rollercoasters. He knew that she would be persistent in him making the decision on what's next so he decided to just make things easier for both of them and lead them.

"Already?" Rias asked with amusement.

"I need a thrill ride to get me out of this hyped up funk!" Michael laughed, "So let's go!"

"Ufufu, okay." Laughing once again because of her date's childish excitement, Rias followed Michael through the rides entrance.

Watching from out of normal sight, Natsuru was busting a gut of laughter, she couldn't believe how something so small mattered that much to Michael. However Rias wasn't the only who was blushing from that kiss, yes, just the sight alone made Natsuru excited, if only things had progressed a little faster then she wouldn't have to be feeling this much anxiety and contempt.

Don't get her wrong, she did enjoy the interactions Michael had with his date and she didn't really mind the intimacy he exhibited to Rias. It was just the fact that it was Rias receiving all of this that made her resent Rias even more. To be in complete ignorant bliss is something which Natsuru used to envy but now was thankful for the veil that once blinded her was now lifted.

"Now let's see how our other guest is enjoying his stay here." Natsuru creates a window of magic to spy on Shirou. The young man was still looking for her but was nowhere close at all, there however she did get a little laugh out of Shirou's annoyance for not finding her yet and taking it out on one of her lackeys who were dressed like a clown.

* * *

_From the screen of Natsuru's magic window:_

_"_ _Dammit, where are they, this place freaking has every trace of their energy!" Shirou sent a stray trash can rolling with a kick. That didn't even help vent out his frustration even a little and there was still no sign of the suspect._

 _"_ _I swear to maou, this god forsaken place is pissing me off! There's basically no people except these creepy vendors who laugh all weird and shit, and for some reason all of the cotton candy in the god damn place is gone!"_

* * *

Back with Natsuru:

"Teeheehee!"

Natsuru couldn't stop her faint snickering because she was responsible, regretting that should would waste a tasty treat like that resolved her into asking her lackeys into collecting and saving it all for her.

* * *

_With Shirou:_

_"_ _I can't believe how ridiculous this place is! I swear the only bright side to this place is that they have no clowns! Because if there is anything I hate about carnivals…"_

 _"_ _Kikikiki…"_

_From behind Shirou one of the weird vendors dressed as a clown came up behind Shirou and pulled out his horn to honk right next to his ear._

_"_ _Are GOD DAMN CLOWNS! I can't fucking stand them! There painted faces, their goofy as crap hairdos and don't get me started on their laughs!"_

_The clown hesitated with his horn and just watched Shirou shout out his rage in that one moment._

_"_ _I hate! Hate! HATE CLOWNS! I'd probably go nuts after seeing one, no, I'd break every funny bone in their body before shoving their ass in their small cars and tossing off a cliff!"_

_Shirou breathed hard after he got that off his chest, while the clown slowly started to step away from the young man._

_His first step back he stepped on a potato chip which shockingly gave a loud…_

**_*CRUNCH!*_ **

_Looking back at Shirou in fear, the clown saw that it didn't get the anger young man's attention._

_Taking another step back, the clown stepped on a stray pack of bubble wrap._

**_*POP!* *POP!* *POP!* *POP!* *POP!*_ **

_The popping kept on going but it still didn't attract Shirou's attention._

_"_ _Phew!" The clown wiped the sweat off his brow in relief._

 _"_ _Who did that!?"_

**_*SMACK!*_ **

_The clown face palmed as he caught Shirou's unwanted attention._

_Taking this chance to glance at the clown more closely, Shirou wore a blank expression and waved at the clown to come over. His face might have looked calm but his voice was very misleading._

_"_ _Come over here…" Shirou beckoned his hand to the clown who was still taking steps back. Catching this Shirou slowly followed and still kept beckoning for the clown to come over to him._

 _"_ _Don't run away bring your ass back here...I said come here you bastard!"_

 _"_ _Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"_

_As soon as the clown heard the tone in Shirou's voice go loud he booked it and ran as fast as his hilariously large shoes can carry him as Shirou chases after him shouting,_

_"_ _GET BACK HERE SO I CAN BURY YOU!"_

* * *

With Natsuru:

"That's enough of that." Natsuru cuts off the connection, and giggles to herself, things may have going pretty well for her so far now all she needs to do is wait for her new "toy" to be done.

"They really like taking their time don't they? Perhaps their just trying to sour my mood by prolonging this process." Natsuru starts to stand up once she sees Michael and Rias exit the rollercoaster they rid. It was their 5th time doing that kind of ride and Michael was hunching over holding his stomach from all the times they rode it. The thrill of it kept increasing for him and made him a little motion sick.

"That's interesting…hm?" Natsuru noticed the small magic circle that appeared near her ear.

Holding his stomach and leaning on the side of a wall, Michael tried to catch his breath. Maybe taking advantage of not having to wait in lines and riding the rollercoaster a finite amount of times was a bad idea. He felt like throwing up his own stomach after surviving those turns and abrupt climbs up the ramp.

 _'_ _Dear god…ow…if I'm like this then Rias must be sick after that." Michael groaned and tried to settle down his nausea._

**_[Actually, she's fine.]_ **

_'_ _Really!?'_

Rias walks past Michael with a lady-like smile, though her hair might have seemed a little disheveled, it still looked like she didn't even enter that death trap called a roller coaster.

 _'_ _How is that even possible, I could've sworn that she was holding on to my arm the whole time. So she wasn't even scared, and how come she held onto me that tightly?' Michael thought and tries to stomach the rising upchuck going into his mouth before keeping it down._

 _'_ _Ufufu… I was able to cling onto Michael longer than this time…fufu…' Rias was flushed and hid her laughter, she was oblivious to the fast ride when she sat next to Michael. Each time that they did a repeat ride of the same coaster, she would time how long she could hold onto Michael before it ended. Right now she set a new record of 3 minutes with an added bonus from when Michael hugged her (mainly due to his growing fear of the ride)._

"So what next? Do you want to try that?" Rias was all excited to try another ride and pointed at the spinning ride which uses the pressure of its spin to pin the riders to the wall.

Face paling, Michael shook his head and laughed, "Actually, let's get something to eat because I am starving, and you know what they say? Eating is a vital part of getting enough energy to go through the day except for riding anymore rides for at least…30 minutes!"

A little disappointed that she couldn't get on another ride as an excuse to hold on to him, Rias nonetheless complied with the notion, "So what do you want to eat?"

"A funnel cake!"

"Funnel cake?"

"Yes, a funnel cake, because they are so sweet and delicious!"

"They are how many have you had in the past?"

Michael looks down in depression and says, "Never had one, but that's only because the Ero-Ossan took mine while I was getting ketchup for my side of fries…the bastard…"

Michael cried tears of regret, "If only I was a little faster, then I would have tasted it, but no... That bastard just continued eating it while I cried!"

Calming him down, Rias lovingly hugged Michael's head betwixt her breasts and patted his head.

"You poor thing… Lets get you that funnel cake and when Azazel-sensei comes back, I'll be sure to give him a good smack on the head with a paper fan for you." Rias consoled Michael.

"Just a paper fan?" Michael muffled between Rias' breasts, he's gotten used to the treatment and has developed a technique for breathing it.

"It could be with baseball bat if you want?" Rias laughed when Michael peeked his head out to look her in the face.

"Then things are Okay! Now let's find those funnel cakes!"

**Attempt #1**

"I'm sorry…kikikiki…sir we seem to be all out." A vendor of a funnel cake stand said.

 _'_ _How are they out we're the only ones here?' Michael irked and sighed._

"Okay, just tell us where the other stall that has one is." Michael asked.

"It's about 15 minutes that way."

"Thanks." Michael groaned and turned to Rias.

"I'll be back with them, so don't worry about walking that much, okay?"

"OK, but please don't over do it."

"It's just a 15 minute trip I doubt anything will go wrong." Michael waved it off.

**Attempt # 2**

"What do you mean you're out!?" Michael slammed his hands on the counter of the 2nd funnel cake stand.

"What I mean is that we're out of cakes!" the vendor shouted in annoyance.

"But the guy from earlier said you weren't!"

"Well, he's wrong, now if you want to get more just go to the next stand!"

"And how far is that!?" Michael followed the man's pointed finger to the right and saw a long path ahead.

"About 30 minutes."

"30 minut-ack! I can't be away that long, I'm on a date!"

"Too bad, and why are you so excited about getting this snack, it's not even that big of a deal, in fact, just get a salad!"

Grabbing the vendor by the collar Michael growled.

"Never say that to face again…"

"What? That funnel cakes aren't a big deal?" the vendor stammered.

"No, to eat a salad, no one tells me to do that! NOBODY!"

"O-Okay, I'm sorry!"

"You better be!" Michael released the vendor.

"S-S-So…are you going to go to the other funnel cake cart?"

"Of course I am!" Michael snapped at the vendor who hid behind the counter.

"Nyeeeeeeh! Don't hurt me!"

"Fine, I'll just have to run over there and get the funnel cake! Freaking funnel cakes disappearing… Now I'm standing Rias up just for this… Better not be a pattern…"

**Attempt # 3**

"Oh, you want some funnel cake? Sure, we have just one left." The vendor said.

"Are you serious!? I've been-! Wait, are you serious?" Michael stopped himself.

"Yeah, and you're lucky too because this is our last one." The vendor said as he prepared the sweet treat. And was about to hand it to Michael.

"Thank god…ow. If it's still one I could share with Rias at least." Michael sighed in relief and leaned in to grab the cake until a loud whistle from nearby blew.

"Is it already that time? oh, well, better go to break." The vendor takes the funnel cake away and pulls out a card saying he won't be back from lunch for another 3 hours.

"Hey, wait, my cake!" Michael reached out.

"Sorry kid, but this is my time just wait until I can come back."

"I can't wait for 3 hours!" Michael cried.

"Well, sucks to be you."

***SLAM!***

The vendor closes the shop's counter by pulling down a metal screen. Banging his hands on it Michael cried,

"Noooooo!"

Returning back to Rias, Michael exhaustively walks back to see an expectant Rias holding her arms behind her back.

"Hey…" Michael rubbed the back of his neck, wondering how he was going to break the news to her.

"Hello, did you get the funnel cake?" Rias looks at Michael with false curiosity as she still wore her smile.

Michael didn't notice and chuckled bitterly, "Well about that…they didn't have it either and so did the guy after them. I could have went to another stall but I didn't want to leave you alone here waiting for me."

"I see what a shame." Rias tried to stifle her laughter while trying to apologetic.

"But still I think we can get some other food in these stalls they have basically everything here." Michael tried to think of another fun snack they could eat together.

"Michael?" Rias drew close to Michael and called his name.

"What is it?" Michael looks at Rias holding out something in her hands and teared up, "Y-You got a funnel cake, how?"

"Well, after you left I asked the vendor here for a favor to get one made after he went out to get more ingredients. I just got one since I wanted to share with you but if you want he could make you another one."

_'I-I love you...' Michael blushed._

Rias gasps once Michael held her hands while visibly shaking in joy.

"No! No, its fine I don't care about getting my own if I could at least have one it'll be fine…" Michael sniffled and cried, he would finally get to taste the treat he longed for, "And if I can share it with you then it would taste even better."

"I feel the same too, now let me ask him for another fork."

Generally happy with Michael agreeing with her, Rias was about to do just that until Michael pointed at the funnel cake then back to both of them.

"Nope, we're sharing so let's use the fork together." Michael chuckled and took the cake from Rias, "And because you got it I'll help feed you."

"Y-You'll help feed me?" Rias repeated, taking in everything that's happening.

"Yeah, it's only fair if you think about it." Michael pulls Rias to a bench and sits her down with him.

"Now here you go ah…" Michael held a piece of the cake up to Rias.

"Ah…mmm…"

Hesitant, Rias opened her and ate it while humming in enjoyment over its sweet and savory taste.

"It tastes good, huh?" Michael took a piece and ate from the same fork. His face exploded with wonder as he took that bite and began to cry.

"It tastes so good…*Sob!*…this is the bestest thing I've ever eaten!" Michael cried as the delicious taste of the funnel cake touched his tasted buds and danced their delicious flavor all over them.

Rias patted the crying boy's head before they continued eating their shared snack. It didn't dawn on Rias until after they finished, they were technically doing an indirect kiss by sharing the fork and the thought of that made Rias flush. Michael however was still crying and trying to wipe the tears from his eyes. The taste of his long awaited snack was getting to him and the tears just wouldn't stop.

"Are you still crying, Michael?" Rias tapped Michael's shoulder.

"It was just so satisfying!" Michael whimpered.

"Well, we still have to continue our date and I finally decided on a place I want to stop at now." Rias nudged Michael to look up.

"Really?" Michael raises his head and gasps when he sees the Ferris wheel right in front of them.

"Oh, you mean…" Michael got the picture when he looked back at a beaming Rias who nodded and took his hand.

"Ferris wheels are so wonderful especially during this time of the day. This place has pieced together a wide variety of games and rides with this on top was perfect. I'm really grateful that you chose this for the place of our date, Michael."

"Then that means…" Michael's face brightened up.

"Yes, this confirms that you made the correct choice by choosing this place."

"YES!" Michael clenches his hands into a fist and shakes it with his head.

Taking Rias by the hand, Michael starts to lead her to the Ferris wheel.

"M-Michael, calm down!" Rias was startled by the pull but still laughed.

"Only when we get on the Ferris wheel!" Michael chuckled.

"Fine, we'll have it your way…" Rias rolled her eyes.

_Hooting out a howl of victory in his mind, Michael laughed,_

_'_ _Woohoo! Yes, yes I did it! Dear maou, please bestow upon a worthy gift for Natsuru-senpai for establishing this place for me!' Michael prayed._

Approaching the Ferris wheel, the pair come across one of the operators of the ride. He graciously held one door open for them.

"Allow me you, two." The man chuckled.

"Thanks man." Michael said.

"No, thank you…kikikikiki!"

"Hm…you and your friends should get that laugh checked out." Michael commented.

"Sorry, can't help it, I guess we were just made this way." The strange man closed the door.

"Okay..." Michael trailed off and sat next to Rias, he could have sworn that she was giving the man a cautious look after he said that.

"Are you okay?"

"Hm? Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking was all." Rias hid her thoughts from Michael.

"Oh…" Michael leaned his head on the window side of the ride and continued looking at Rias. The setting sunlight shining made an appealing lighting for Rias who looked out the window enjoying the breathtaking scenery of both the carnival and town with its many lights.

Michael just continued to stare at her sunlight dappled body while being oblivious to the surroundings around him. Even to the very person he was staring at.

"It's a wonderful sight, isn't it?" Rias said.

"Huh?" Michael caught himself staring and tried to understand what she meant.

"The view from up here is wonderful, no?" Rias leans back so that Michael could get the same perspective of what she meant.

"You're right... It's so amazing…" Michael said in awe and leaned in a little closer to see the breath taking sight of Kuoh town.

 _'_ _I can see why Natsuru-senpai says girls like ferris wheels, the view they give up here really amazes you.' Michael thought._

Ruining the moment, the ferris wheel abruptly stopped and began to shake making Michael fall on top of Rias, who helped catch him in time before he could put his entire weight on her.

"What's going on?" Michael looked up and felt something strange about the ferris wheel box they entered.

"We appeared to have stopped moving." Rias looked down the window to see that their stranded high up in the air.

"Must mean the ride is probably going through some trouble."

Looking up with a frown, Michael should have known things like this would happen on this kind of ride. Strangely enough, Michael felt a familiar feeling in his hand, it was rather soft and the only two people on this ride were…

"Michael…your hand is." Rias looked away with her face turning a little red.

Looking at where his hand was placed, Michael pulled it away and shouted,

"Sorry, Rias, I didn't mean to do that." Michael shook his hands defensively in front of him but Rias, who was still flustered by the unexpected groping grabbed Michael's hand and placed it back on her breast.

 _'_ _What's happening!?' Michael looked down at the lucky hand that Rias grabbed and back at her._

"Its fine if we do this on a date, right? You don't have to be like that when we're alone like this." Rias looks up at Michael and wore a warm smile, "When it's just the two of we can be as close as we like, you can even do…this if you want."

"Really?" Michael leaned in closer, he was able to act so normally because it was a date with him and Rias so of course he could be relaxed with getting closer to her. He initially thought that just touching her like that was kind of rude and pulled back but if things were okay with Rias then it would another story.

"Yeah…" Rias nods, "I've really enjoyed my time here with you and if we can't do this then I guess it wouldn't be such a satisfying date."

Hand still on Rias' breast, Michael embraced her and brought her closer.

"You're right, I guess this is okay. I mean only when you're fine with it." Michael corrected himself.

Giggling to herself, Rias replies, "Silly boy, don't you know that I'm already fine with anything you do to me?"

"Really?" Michael doubted that with past experiences of his past ideas that always get him into trouble.

"Well, most of the things, but you get the picture, its just like today when you were so concerned about what I really wanted to do. In the end, I was just fine with spending time with you." Rias snuggled up closer to Michael.

"Wait, if that's true then you would have been fine with any place for a date I chose!?" Michael gasped.

"Yeah…" Rias lazily lays her head on Michael's shoulder.

 _'_ _I'm kinda exhausted since any decision for a date would have pleased her either way, but…' Michael's hand gently squeezed Rias' breast which squeezed out of her a faint moan._

 _'_ _In the end, I had a blast with Rias, too. It didn't really matter where we went because we would still be in each other's company. She even wanted me to relax a little and be completely comfortable the whole, in the end even when I planned this whole thing out she made it feel like she was the one in control over the date.' Michael grinned._

Having to say something, Michael said, "Rias."

"Yes?" Rias tries to stifle another moan from Michael's groping hand and looks up at him. His face wore more of a casual smile than before but the kind look he had on really got to her.

"I love you." Michael tapped his forehead onto hers and widened his smiles.

Leaning her forehead onto his, Rias says the words she'll never get tired of saying.

"I love you too, Michael."

The serene silence of their embrace calmed the both of them down as they soon began to lean in closer to each other and share a sweet and tender kiss, but before their lips could meet, a devious voice from outside echoed,

 _"_ _Aw~! How sweet~!"_

Both Michael and Rias broke their embrace and stood up when they heard that unexpected voice.

"Who's there?" Rias gave glances around her surrounding to find the source, the presence was close but she couldn't pinpoint it on time.

"Hm…on the roof!" Michael looked up at the ceiling after concentrating on the presence at a much faster pace than Rias.

***SHIIIIIIIIINE!***

But before one of them could react a glowing magic circle appeared right beneath their feet and it warranted a dangerous aura.

"A magic circle?" Michael said.

"No this one is a spell set to detonate!" Rias gasped.

"For real!" Michael took a step and reached out to Rias, "Then let's get the heck outta!"

"Michael!" Rias reached out for his hand.

***SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!***

But it was already too late.

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

The entire box exploded without warning and sent most of everything on top of the ferris wheel flying including Michael.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Michael shouted as he was momentarily stunned by the blast and sent flying. The force of the explosion was so powerful that it sent him flying in the opposite direction of most of the active carnival.

Emerging herself from out of the smoke with her devil wings, Rias barely escaped, but was still a little harmed since the barrier that she made only protected her from the full brunt of the attack.

"Michael!" Rias cried out and prepared to fly after him.

***DOON!***

***PRANG!* *CRACK!***

"Gugh!" Rias raises up a barrier to shield herself from a blast of demonic energy. No, it didn't feel like it was the power of a devil it felt more pure with a different base for its power. The strength of that blast managed to almost shatter her barrier but luckily it stopped before it could.

 _"_ _Instead of worrying about your date, you should make sure you can stay alive long enough to go see him again." The same seductive voice giggled but her location was unknown._

"Who are you, reveal yourself, if you're only so cowardly as to attack in the shadows!" Rias looked around.

 _"_ _Oh, Rias Gremory I just wanted to separate you from Michael-kun so we can have a little talk. It would be uncomfortable to say something embarrassing with him around." The seductive voice sounded like it was closer to Rias then she expected._

 _'_ _So they know our names too, so could they be a part of the Khaos Brigade or the ones who're…?' Rias shook her head, 'No, right now my biggest priority is to solve this dilemma and help Michael.'_

"Why would an attacker want to just speak with me alone?" Rias needed to get more answer out of them.

"Because." The voice was more audible as a hand tapped Rias' shoulder from behind.

Whipping her head around, Rias' eyes widen, "You, you're-!"

The hand released a ki blast which knocked Rias, who raised a barrier in time crashing into the grounds of the carnival.

"It's just a talk between us girls." Natsuru slowly lands to the ground with the magic circle she levitated on.

The dust raising around where Rias fell covered the area as Natsuru intently watched for any signs of a possible attack.

"Natsuru-sama!" A single shadow appeared behind her in the form of a large creature.

"Did the explosion do it's job?" Natsuru kept her eyes on her target.

"Yes, we've received word that the Red Dragon Emperor is reaching that intruder as we speak." The shadow informed.

"Good…go keep them at bay while I finish my part of the plan. Don't show any hesitation or mercy." Natsuru ordered.

"Then Natsuru-sama that would mean…" the shadow sounded a little thrilled after hearing that.

"Go wild…all of you." Natsuru smirked.

"Yes, ma'am!" The shadow laughed and pounced off into the shadows.

Natsuru knew that letting them all rampage wouldn't kill Michael or the intruder considering the strength those two possess and how powerful they are if they worked together. She just needed the most time she had to finish her part of the plan.

* * *

"Finally caught you!" Shirou shouted.

Finally, he caught up with that cursed clown. Now he was in a corner and wouldn't get away this time. This annoyance was in the way of his work and it was completely justified he received a boot to the face. Yes, that's what he needed to tell himself as an excuse for veering off from the prime objective.

**_\Shouldn't you be more focused on the mission?/_ **

"Shut up, a few minutes off won't change anything the presence is still here!" Shirou cracked his knuckles and approached the clown.

"W-Who are you talking to?" The clown said.

"Quiet! Not you that's for certain, now stay still so I can bury your ass here and now!" Shirou wore a menacing sneer while cracking his knuckles.

Screaming the clown raised his arms to prepare for the beating he'll get.

When suddenly a loud screaming could be heard coming their way.

"What the hell is that?" It took about 5 seconds for Shirou to notice the shadow above him.

"Huh?"

"HELP ME, I CAN'T FLY AND I'M GOING TO DIE!"

"You!?" Shirou stuttered back and couldn't believe who he saw, it was Michael and he was falling, falling fast!

"HELP ME, I'M GOING TO DI-! Oh, right, I forgot that I could fly and wait is that Shi-rou!? Hi, Shi-rou!" Forgetting he was falling out of the sky, Michael laughed and waved at Shirou.

"Goddammit, you punk, I told you to stop call me th-!"

***BOOM!***

Crashing into Shirou with his body, Michael created a crater with both of them in it.

"Hahah! Thanks for breaking my fall, Shi-rou, I would have been a goner if not for you!" Michael stands up and scratches his head.

"I will kill you…" Shirou threatened as he got up on one knee.

"No time for games, Snow White." Michael stood up looking seriously.

"The fuck did you just call me?" Shirou growled and stood up.

"I was just on a date with Ria-! I mean Buchou and just got blindsided by an exploding magic circle. Now I have to go look for her and kick the ass of whoever ruined our date!" Michael pounded his chest.

"No, seriously, what the fuck did you just call… Wait, did you just say…magic circle?" Shirou paused.

"Yeah." Michael nodded.

"And did you just say it exploded?"

"Yup." Michael nodded again.

"Then that would mean that the culprit is over there where you came from!" Shirou gasped.

"Culprit, do you mean…?" Michael's face starts to turn into a knowing grin.

"The magic circle jacker is here?"

"Maybe." Shirou shrugs.

"What do you mean by maybe?" Michael exclaimed.

"I mean maybe it could be them but it could be someone else too." Shirou was thinking more about the true perpetrators.

Running by any other people who would attack them Michael gasped, "You mean it could still be the Khaos Brigade?"

"Maybe." Shirou answered again with a shrug.

"Look just say yes or no!" Michael groaned.

"Listen here, I can't tell the future or read the mind of whoever is doing this so I can't go on based on guessing these facts so the only choice I have is to follow this one lead." Shirou crossed his arms

"And besides aren't you still looking for your master?" Shirou just chose not to question Michael and Rias' relationship status, it wasn't his business despite his approval of a servant and their master falling in love.

"Crap, you're right, we do have to save her!" Michael implied Shirou into his sentence.

"Wait "we"? No, no "we" just "you" bye." Shirou pushed Michael away and began to trace back where Michael came from.

"Come on, Shi-rou, don't be like that!" Michael ran up next to Shirou.

"No, just get your master and leave, this is my job, and stop fucking saying my name like that its pissing me off!" Shirou shouted.

"But you told me to call you that from before." Michael shrugged.

Facepalming, Shirou breathed in and out, "Okay, I'll reintroduce myself just to straighten things, my name is Shirou, alright?"

"Okay, Shirou-Alright, what should we do now." Michael grinned.

Shirou grabbed Michael by the collar and screamed in his face.

"You are the biggest asshole in the world!"

"What about Rosie O. Donnell?" Michael asked with half lidded eyes.

"You are the second biggest asshole in the world! Now get out of my sight!" Shirou knocked Michael aside and continued walking.

Michael still continued to follow.

"Hey, come on, I was just joking, okay? Cool your jets, Sn-"

"Don't fucking finish that sentence." Shirou groaned deeply.

"Snow…" Michael said with a hushed chuckle.

"I'm warning you, asshole!"

"White!"

"Grrrrrrraah!" Shirou in a fit of rage kicked another stray trashcan in the air and sent in landing on the top of a carnival tent.

"Hahahaha! You gotta admit you walked into that one by not finishing with your name." Michael wiped a tear out his eye after his incessant laughter was over.

"That's it! Your ass is considered grass you stupid little-!"

Stopping himself, Shirou and even Michael immediately sensed the lurking malice that surrounded them. The once lively looking carnival slowly darkened with the atmosphere making it very easy that something was approaching.

"Someone's coming." Shirou said.

"Yeah, and I feel like they're right behind us, and wasn't there a clown in that direction?" Michael and Shirou patiently waited for whoever was coming to reveal themselves out the shadows.

And surprise it was the clown from earlier.

"Hey, it is the clown!" Michael sighed in relief but still had a feeling something was up. It was even more evident by the look on Shirou's face as he still kept looking at the clown.

"What's up, it's nothing that big." Michael shrugged.

"I'm not worried about that damn clown, I'm more concerned about the ones behind him." Shirou pointed out at the large number of individuals behind the clown. Their eyes glowed in the dark which sent a slight shiver up Michael's spine.

"Right…" Michael sighed and grew defensive with his suspicions being answered.

"Kikikikikikikikikikikikiki!"

 _'_ _That laugh!'_

Suddenly that strange laugh came upon Michael's ears.

"Who knew, you two really do have so some "skill", huh?" Walking out the shadows were the very vendors who were there during Michael's date, they looked even shadier with their red eyes shining through their glasses.

"Holy shit, you guys are creepy as fuck especially that clown there, oh, wait never mind, I guess you naturally hear that on a daily basis!" Shirou insulted and earned a growl from the clown.

"Hey, aren't you the guys working here? What's going on?" Michael questioned the vendors but they just continued to laugh creepily.

"We are not inclined to tell you anything." One of the vendors growled, compared to before Michael noticed their voices were more feral than human.

"Your master? So does this master of yours have a name?" Any information would do for Shirou who had just been following this master's natural energy.

"Like we said, we are not inclined to tell you anything. Now say your prayers…"

"Let's hack them to pieces…kikikikikikikiki!"

"YEAH!"

The vendors and even the clown started to tremble violently as their bodies start to crack and grow. It was a sickening sound as their bones popped in and out of place as their forms morphed into strange creatures, creatures who resemble cats?

Most of them varied from different subspecies of the ordinary cat. Except for the clown which grew twice in mass and looked to have grown in both height and muscle. The creature was in the form of a Puma-man who now wore clown's clothing.

"Kikikikikikikiki…now we can finally let loose!" The Puma-man laughed.

"Whoa, I knew they were weird, but not creepy Were-cat weird!" Michael gasped.

Clicking his tongue, Shirou said, "I should have known these freaks would be like this it's just like last time."

"Wait, these were the guys?" Michael gasped.

Shirou nodded, "They came at me with those weird forms of theirs so it came at a surprise for me too but I was able knock their clocks off with no problem."

 _'_ _I don't get it why would these guys be here when Natsuru-senpai set this entire carnival up for my date?' Michael pondered but had more concerning matters to think about._

The enemy was about to pounce on them.

"Let's get them and make sure to leave every limb shredded! Especially for the white haired one…" The Puma-man's seemed to hold a grudge against Shirou for earlier and commanded the other creatures like their boss.

"HELL YEAH!" The feline creatures instantly with adept speed dashed towards Michael and Shirou with crazed looks on their faces. Their claws and fangs about ready to tear a new one into their prey!

Figuring out that this many of his lackeys could handle the pair of them, the Puma-man laughed, "Hah! Let's see you struggle against these peons, they may be strong but their power dwarfs mine by a total of 45%. Even if you barely finish defeating them your chances of standing against me is zero to none! Out of all of the others I rank atop as the 4th rank in strength and no one not even you could hope to-!"

***BAAAAAM!***

"Guuuuuuuuuuagh!"

"Agaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Urchk!"

***THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!***

Falling like flies after a single blow from both Michael and Shirou holding their steaming fists out. The feline creatures were blown back with such incredible raw power. Even the puma-man with the rest of his goons were frozen at the sight in front of them.

"For the love of god, shut up! We get it, you're the 4th strongest, but are you even that strong if these guys are so shitty!?" Shirou shouted out in rage after hearing that long gloating.

"I don't know why you're here but all I know is you guys are somewhat responsible for what happened to me and Rias, right? Well then don't regret what happens next!" Michael glared at the enemies.

Him and Shirou cloaked themselves with Touki before the enemies got to them.

Looking pissed off, the Puma-man growled, "What are you morons doing just standing there? Get them!"

The frightened lackeys were hesitant at first but knew if their leader didn't get a response they would be dead either way too.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The enemies once again charged past the Puma-man and headed for Michael and Shirou.

"Bring it!" Michael and Shirou charged right back at them with fists cocked back and infused with Touki.

***DOOOOOOOOON!***

A huge crash as a result of them throwing their punches caused a huge explosion that sent a couple enemies flying. During this up close brawl the differences in the way both Michael and Shirou fought were closely examined.

With a group surrounding him, Shirou just dove right in and handled any who came his way before he went to them. All of his attacks had the intent to kill making it easier to discard the weaker incoming enemies. This fight wasn't too much for him so he's just fighting these guys as if it were a chore for him. However, his techniques along with his power were on a whole other level when compared to Michael's. There's even a moment when he does a few techniques which martial artists would use in a fighting tournament. His techniques allowed him to read an opponent's stature, body movement and eye sight to gain certain advantages over them.

 **"** **Steel Claw!"** A Cougar-man creature attempted to dig his claws into Shirou's head.

"Get real, dumbass!" Leaning his lower body back, Shirou raised his leg and kicked the creature's arm away from him.

"What the-!" The creature gasped.

Shirou used the foot that he kicked with and brought it down to stomp on the ground before he spins around, jumps and slams the heel of his other foot up against the creature's neck.

"Now fucking fall!"

***SNAP!***

"GUAGH!" The creature's head was slammed into the ground along with it's neck getting broken by the impact. As it's body bounced up after the attack, Shirou noticed a few more enemies coming from behind the incapacitated creature.

"Buzz off!" With a powerful kick to the downed Cougar-man's chest, Shirou sent him flying into the approaching enemies before they got any closer.

"Is that all?" Shirou cracked his neck and watched as the enemies grew more hesitant to attack him, but still did anyways.

As for Michael with his group of enemies, he was able to dispatch of the right away with some of his trained hand to hand combat he learned from Kai. He would mostly try to use some techniques that he developed from Kiba, but it still wasn't enough for him when it came to fighting different opponents since these cat enemies varied with different species and abilities. Unlike Shirou he isn't well versed in identifying the opponent's stance or predicting their next attack based on reading their eyes. He struggled a bit at first but kept getting up each time he was almost knocked down.

However, Michael had a way of dealing with his by using unpredictable methods to fight which usually correspond with his pranking nature.

"Die!" A Tomcat creature pounced at Michael and prepared to dig its claws into him.

"Nope!" Michael dodged the attack with a side jump before shouting, "Let's go, Boosted Gear!"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

Michael summoned and thrusts his fist at the Tomcat creature who quickly caught his wrist before he could attack.

"Hah, nice one kid, but you're a little too slow to keep up with m-!"

The Tomcat gasped when Michael opened his closed fist to reveal a baseball sized orb of demonic power.

"Eat it,  **Dragon Shot!"** Michael fired the beam and took the Tomcat's head clean off.

"Haha, don't ever underestimate me, Michael Hanamura and his gu-whoa!" Michael dodged an air cutting blade of wind.

"You, damn bastard just drop dead!" Now a feral cat creature was attacking with its claws that could cut the air and create air cutter blades. He kept wailing Michael with the same attack without stopping.

"Hey, quit it with those things!" Michael said while trying to stay unharmed.

"As if, if I just keep wailing you with far range attacks then it will be easier for the others to get you!" As the feral cat explained that a group of his allies charged at Michael in a straight line.

"Not good! Really not good!" Michael point his boosted gear, well he tried and kept one eye closed to verify the target.

**[Boost!]**

"Come on, Ddraig…"

**[Boost!]**

"Ready…"

**[Boost!]**

"Steady…and now!"

**[Blade!]**

And out came Ascalon from the Boosted Gear's Knuckle.

"What good will that do for yo-?" The Feral cat didn't get enough time to finish.

"Extend!"

**[Boost!]**

***STAB!* STAB!* *STAB!* *STAB!* *STAB!* *STAB!* *STAB!***

Shish-kabobbing the entire line of enemies, Michael extended the length of Ascalon's blade to deal with all of them as quickly as he could.

"H-How did you…?" The Feral cat creature stopped his attack and watched Michael withdraw his blade from his fallen allies.

"Nice one, huh? I've been practicing that one for a couple of days now…  **Dragon Shot!"** Without any warning, Michel fired the beam and annihilated the row of chimera.

 _'_ _How is this even possible!?' The Puma-man cursed himself for having such weak underlings._

He watched as the last of his men get dispatched by two teenagers, he yelped out of a bit of fear as they turned their sights to him.

"Ddraig, begin the countdown."

**[Got it, partner.]**

Michael didn't have time to play around anymore, if these guys were ganging up on them here that would Rias was experiencing the same thing too.

"All that's left is you..." Shirou cracked his knuckles.

"Tch!" The Puma-man then had a magic circle next to his ear as way of communicating someone.

"I'm going to need back up after all get over here now!" The Puma-man swallowed his pride and disconnected the call.

"Calling for back-up, eh? It won't change a thing your beaten now tell me who your boss is now." Shirou was sick of this prolonging denial of that demand's answer.

"Ptoo! You'll have to pry the truth out of me when I'm dead." The Puma-man growled.

"That could be arranged." Shirou stuck out his hand as a blue sphere of light manifested itself over it, creating a black short sword with a handguard and a chain link tassel on the hilt.

***GIN!***

Stabbing the blade of his sword into the ground, Shirou said, "If I can't get the answer out of you before you drop dead then I'll just have to beat it out of your arriving buds!"

Michael had to take a step back when a gale of blue and black aura threatened to blind him.

 _'_ _This aura it's so powerful and keeps building up around him!' Michael tried to look past the rough winds the aura made and caught glance of something behind Shirou. It was a massive Silhouette it had would looked to be a_ _dragon with piercing red eyes with a massive humanoid-reptilian body shrouded in shadows, its wings possessing a membrane that emits a violet glow._

 _'_ _A dragon, so this must be his Sacred Gear!'_

"Urk…" The Puma-man couldn't even respond because of the suffocating pressure the aura had on him, all of his animal senses were telling him to retreat.

"You better prepare yourself because now would be a very good time to die!" Shirou roared and in response the silhouette of the dragon did as well.

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

Suddenly all at once the fierce gale of aura surrounded Shirou and dispersed to reveal the teen donning a takes the form of black, full-body armor with a phantasmagoric defensive film which had a dragon motiff design just like the Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing Scale Mail except the only difference was that it's armor was more slimmed and fitting for Shirou's body.

"This Sacred Gear is called  **Grand Chariot** or  ** _Carnage Incarnate: Grand Chariot,_** whichever you prefer." Shirou cracked his knuckles menacingly.

"All of that power packed into that form, I still get that feeling to run away from its aura but I can't believe how small it looks." The Puma-man had expected a terrifying form after that display.

"That's because transformations like that are bullshit and have bullshit flaws like lack of movement, strength, speed or technique! Power which buffs you up like that is worthless! While this sacred gear syncs with my body and helps amplify my full strength by fitting me in all the correct places. Consider it wearing a glove that's the perfect fit! Now would you like to see me ram this perfect glove up your ass!?" Shirou threatened.

"Dude…you should probably take that back…" Michael's face paled after that line.

"Shut it, he knows what I mean!" Shirou snapped.

"Be quiet! I may have these dangerous signals about you, but I won't let that stop me from crushing you! From the very start I'll use all of my power!" The Puma-man crouched down and exuded a powerful aura along with his muscles increasing in size. It was just surging out of him, this power shouldn't be taken lightly.

"Good at least lighten this drab ambush of yours." Shirou mocked with a smirk behind the helmet of his mask.

"The only thing that will be lighten is your body after I knock your head clean off!" The Puma-man took a single step which was a high-speed gallop towards Shirou who just continued to stand there.

"Then come do it, moron!" Shirou beckoned the creature over.

Michael couldn't understand why the teen wasn't even intent on dodging the approaching attack.

 _'_ _I'll wipe that smirk right off by just dealing all of my attacks on his head, he doesn't seem to be moving so I'll take advantage of this cocky bastard and kill in one series of blows!"_

"Hyraah!" The Puma-Man dug his huge fist into Shirou's face.

***WHAM!***

"…!" Shirou still remained in place and "gasped" after feeling that hit really dig into his head.

"There we go now you'll see why, I'm the fourth strongest! RAAAAAAAAUGH!  **Puma Havoc Strike of Mayhem!"**

"Kah! What is with these long ass attack names!?" Was all Michael could add to this situation.

The Puma-Man roared and shot his arms in rapid speed and dug his fists into Shirou's head without hesitation.

***BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!***

The barrage was ridiculous, but the Puma-Man didn't stop hitting. That signal to retreat and run away from this guy was still there he just needed to keep punching the armored man until it went away for good along with him!

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

***BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!***

His barrage of fists only increased but he started to let up his attack when he heard Shirou growl.

"Dammit, how is he able to attack this hard!"

"Hah, I should have known you were just talk kid!" The Puma-Man's punches started to slow down before he intended to finish things with one more blow.

"Now prepare for the final blow you little piece of shit!"

***BAAAAANG!***

The Puma-Man's last punch was covered in his aura and exploded upon making contact with Shirou's head. Still standing with smoke seeping out of the area, the creature panted heavily and smirked in his glory.

 _'_ _Heh, I should have guessed that little shit couldn't handle me at 100%! Now onto the other-!' The Puma-man still felt the hard surface of metal and gasped, 'No, impossible his head should be rolling how is he-!?'_

The smoke finally disappeared revealing a still standing Shirou glaring at the strange hybrid of man and puma.

"Yo."

"H-How? This shouldn't be happening! You shouldn't be alive!"

"Is that so well you shouldn't be here at all, your senses have been telling you to run haven't they?" Shirou took a step forward and that caused the Puma-man to stagger away in fear.

"I'll take that as a yes." Shirou sighed.

"Just how!?"

"Simple really, your fear was holding you back when you kept wailing at me with those attacks the only real blow you dealt me was that last one when I pretended to have gotten overwhelmed by you."

"W-What?"

"Now don't feel too bad, you did get me to take a small step back, but in the end, you still haven't left one scratch on me." Shirou pointed at himself with his thumb.

"Don't screw with me! You must have felt something!" The Puma-man couldn't believe all of his effort was for nothing.

"I'm not going to answer that because now it's my turn." Shirou raised his fists for his turn of attack.

"Grgh!" The Puma-man raised his fists as well and prepared for whatever.

Sadly, "whatever" wasn't Shirou when he disappeared and reappeared right in front of the creature.

"Now I'll show you how you throw a real barrage of fists to quickly end your enemy!" Shirou leaned in from below the belt and threw his fist at the Puma-man.

"C-Crap! D-Die!" The Puma-man retorted back and threw a couple of his own punches.

But wait…he saw Shirou's fists and noticed their numbers increased to six, no, 10…no, 36… That was when the hybrid creature realized that they weren't the number of his fists but the number of times he's throwing his punches at him!

"Each attack should be thrown with no fear behind them!"

***BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!***

The punches just wouldn't stop as Shirou overwhelmed the poor thing with his faster hits. It was soon over for the Puma hybrid as its face and upper body looked deformed after taking so many hits. He was even unresponsive when Shirou stopped his barrage to tighten his fist for a final attack.

"However your last attack was correct it still wasn't enough to put a scratch on me so I'll do you a favor by showing you my own special move,  **Grand Ascension!"**

***THOOOOOOOOM!***

Swinging his fist upwards, Shirou coated his fist in a black and bluish aura to uppercut the unresponsive Puma-man into the air with enough force to break the air pressure around them.

***THUD!***

Dropping back to the ground like a lifeless ragdoll, the body of the Puma-Man was headless and of course limp. The force of that last attack just made his head implode and gave him an instant death.

"Whoa…that's so cool…"

"Hmph, if this is what their so-called 4th strongest is then I guess this mission will be a cinch for us." Shirou crossed his arms.

"Yeah, wait a minute you just said "us" so I'm a part of the mission now!?" Michael pointed at himself excitedly.

"Crap…! I mean, no just "me" now leave and go find your master!" Shirou shouted.

"You're right, I need to find Rias, first! Don't go anywhere until I come back with her, okay?" Michael still pressed Shirou into allowing him into this mission. He still had Rias as his top priority but if he were to bring her back and persuade her, then he could take part in this mission making it a win-win for him.

"Fool, who says I have to keep a promise with you?" Shirou spat, "Just get out of here!"

"Challenge accepted!" Michael nodded and began running in the direction he could sense Rias at and she wasn't alone either…

Considering that Michael sort of did help him with that fight, Shirou whispered out, "Thank you…"

"Huh, I couldn't hear you, bro…" Michael whispered, since when did he get so close?

"You son of a-! Just get out of here!" Shirou was glad he was wearing his mask because his face was of course rage filled but a little flustered at the same time.

"Sorry, I was able to hear it the first time, so I just wanted to milk it!" Michael laughed and jumped away from Shirou's punch which would have knocked his head clean off.

"Just leave me the fu-! Wait, hold on a minute... The fuck!?"

"I guess that guy's friends are faster than we thought." Michael growled as he grew ready in his fighting stance alongside Shirou, they still weren't out of the woods yet.

The pair looked up to see three shadows standing on the tents surrounding them. The appeared to have taken the same feline forms as the ones they fought before but something was different. They had a dangerous pressure surrounding them as their forms varied with one being very muscular and toned, the other being toned and slim, and lastly the final one being toned with feminine curves and a toned body.

"I guess that pushover couldn't handle them after all." The slim shadow snickered.

"These two seem to be quite strong do you mind if I toy are with them, nya~!" The feminine shadow purred.

"Remember our mission now let's begin!" The muscular shadow lead the two others at Michael and Shirou.

"So we're doing this now, huh!?" Shirou roared as he leaps after them and while cocking his fist back.

"Looks like I have to hurry up and help, Ddraig!" Michael needed an update on the countdown.

***FLASH!***

The gem on Michael's boosted gear flashed in confirmation.

**[Good to go!]**

"All right! Balance Breaker!"

**[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]**

Michael follows after Shirou while immersing himself in his red dragon armor, the opponent they would face seem to be above the level the other ones were. He couldn't help but worry about how Rias was holding up on her own.

 _'_ _Don't worry, Rias, I'll be there in a flash right after I'm through with these turkeys!' Michael roared as he cocked his back and prepared to blow his opponents away._

* * *

"Disappear!"

***DOOOOOOOOOOON!***

In that same location, but farther away, flashing lights of magic and the explosions they made were seen just over the many rides that surrounded the place of fun. One side kept of releasing stream after stream of demonic power blasts at their opponent but each attack was blocked nonetheless.

"Oh, another one of your demonic blasts how unpredictable." A large barrier thick enough to deal with the destructive powers of the blast did a good job of blocking it even if the attack had exploded and covered the area with smoke.

With the smoke starting to clear, it revealed a panting Rias and a smirking Natsuru facing each other off and trying to overpower the other with their own powers.

"Aren't you Natsuru Abe-san? Why are you here and why are you attacking us?" Rias asked.

"Oh, Gremory-san is that a proper way to treat someone you haven't spoken to in such a long time?" Natsuru shrugged her shoulders and sighed playfully as a means to avoid that question.

Well, of course, the two haven't seen too much of one another, but that was because of Natsuru's deep disdain against devils like her. If anything, she would avoid most school events just so she wouldn't be in the same room/space as her.

Rias, herself didn't know how to properly react, she didn't know her fellow 3rd year all that well especially with the little interactions she luckily got in the past, but one thing is for certain. She just ruined her first date.

"I'd say this day is becoming very beneficial for the both of us." Natsuru giggled and took a step forward.

"What do you mean?" Rias exclaimed and released another blast of demonic power at Natsuru.

But countering that attack was child's play, Natsuru simply summoned a barrier thick enough to stay unharmed even through the attack.

"I mean your date with Michael-kun was quite adorable, no?"

"So you've been spying on us!" Rias shot two individual blocks of demonic power at Natsuru.

"No need to be shy, Gremory-san. Like I said it's just a talk between us girls." Natsuru uses her own ki blasts to negate the blocks of power.

"Just what game are you playing at here? Why go through all of this trouble to just attack us?" Rias breathed heavily as she prepared to attack once more.

"Why should I put effort into telling you? You're a high-class devil from the Gremory clan, you figure it out."

***SNAP!***

With a snap of her fingers, Natsuru fired a high-pressured beam of Ki at Rias.

***SHIIIING!***

"…!"

***CRACKLE!* *CRACKLE!***

Raising up a barrier to defend herself, Rias did her best to keep the attack at bay while trying to figure out the different quality of power that Natsuru had instead of her own, but as she soon as she did the attack was already breaching through her barrier.

 _'_ _This isn't any ordinary magic, it's much more powerful than an average spell. Could this be senjutsu?' Rias was quick to verify the nature of this power having some experience noticing this rare trait from the past._

The beam was proving too much for Rias as she started to lose some of her footing from the attack's impact. Doing what was best, she dodged to the side of the beam and used the force of her shattering barrier to help her.

Clapping her hands, Natsuru mocked, "Impressive, you managed to get through that weak attack all by yourself!"

"Nrgh!" Rias fires a large stream of demonic power at Natsuru.

"Nice try~!" Natsuru dodges to the left and avoids making contact with the attack.

 _'_ _There!' Curving the stream's direction with a little concentration, Rias was able to send it barreling behind Natsuru._

Looking unamused, Natsuru sighed, "Is this really the best you have?"

***DOOOON!***

The large stream of demonic energy was dispersed by a convenient barrier Natsuru set behind her back. Looking a little surprised and frustrated Rias decided to keep on coming up with strategies to catch her off guard and formed a sphere of demonic energy until Natsuru placed her hand out as a way saying "stop".

"I think you should just stop because this is just pathetic." Natsuru shook her head.

"Excuse me?" Rias was offended by that comment.

"Like I thought, looks like I was right about you all along." Natsuru said with contempt in her voice.

"What are you getting at?" Rias asked.

"Don't tell me that you haven't noticed, yet? I haven't been trying to actually fight back. The only thing that I've been doing is blocking your simple attacks imbued with that Power of Destruction. That power would be quite terrifying if you try to use it in a more creative way." Natsuru insulted.

"You dare…!" Her demonic aura rising along with her emotions, Rias stakes to attack and blow away the girl who talked so lowly of her power.

"Hm?"

"Disappear!"

***DOOOOOOON!***

Rias releases a huge blast of demonic power which dwarfed the past attacks. Standing comfortably Natsuru simple tapped her finger on her chin and smiled while rolling her eyes.

"Oh dear, a power up, who could have seen this coming?"

Natsuru sticks her hand out and smirks,

"Oh, wait me…!"

***DOOOOOOOOOOON!***

***DWOOON!***

Firing a Ki blast that easily outdid Rias' own attack in terms of size, Natsuru purposely showed the surprised girl that her words from before held some truth. Being blown past her the blast managed to explode into a few carnival tents in the back ground. The blast was only a couple of inches from touching Rias' arm, but it still grazed her.

***SLICK!***

"Urgh!" Rias' entire arm was bleeding; the graze of that attack was so powerful that it dug that deep into her arm.

"Get it now, so just surrender and wait like the pathetic princess you are until your Knight in shining armor comes to save you." Natsuru approaches Rias while looking down on her.

Eyes widening with anger, Rias glares up at Natsuru, "What did you say?"

"Nothing, nothing, I mean for someone, who's the king of their own peerage, I expected you to be much more dependable especially in terms of overall power, but I guess that's why High class devils usually rely too much on their servants. Jesus, you lot sure have fallen, huh?" Natsuru shook her head.

"You…!" Rias tried to force herself to stand and wipe that smug look off her face, but the pain of that last graze really did a number on her.

"Its fine to get mad, but its honestly the truth. When you're alone with none of your servants here to help you, you're just an average devil who's too weak to do anything but carelessly throw around some special attack that's as threatening as a cocker spaniel." Natsuru laughed.

"When you're alone like this it seems that you can't do anything, and somewhere deep down inside you know that." Natsuru turned her back, since she knew that any attack Rias would throw at her would be meaningless.

"I even believe that secretly you wanted to stall just long enough until Michael-kun arrives just at the nick of time to help you. I mean, this isn't the first time so it felt natural for you to think like that, am I right?"

Natsuru enjoyed the ever growing look of anger and frustration on the Crimson head's girl's face.

"That's not…" Rias hesitated to reply, but Natsuru continued.

"True? It's okay, Gremory-san, you don't need to lie. Remember, it's just us girls here. Go on, tell me more about your accomplishments without Michael-kun being there to help save you. If I recall, Kiyo-chan heard that you were formerly engaged to a man from the Phoenix clan by winning a Rating Game. Wanna tell me how you pulled that off yourself?"

"That's…" Rias' frowned.

"What? Not a good enough example, huh? Well, let's move on to that Kokabiel incident. Wasn't it just the dandiest thing that "you" and your peerage did to hold back that Cadre before he… Wait, ah, yes, almost obliterated the town. It would definitely seem impossible for the likes of you to defeat a guy, who survived a war against god and the deceased devil kings. So tell me, how exactly did you "boost" your power of destruction to beat that man, hm?"

Natsuru kept pounding Rias with all of these harsh facts.

"I…" Rias was wavering.

"Oh, wait…" Natsuru held up a finger with mocking gasp, "I get it, there's an important factor in all of this, a factor that has given you so much from those past events, but for some reason I can't put my finger on it, hmm..." Natsuru rubbed her chin before giggling to herself, "Ufufufu, I'm just kidding with you, the factor was all just Michael Hanamura-kun."

Rias widens her eyes and stares at Natsuru's back.

"It's amazing how one individual was able to solve all of your problems. I'd say that you made a lucky catch with making him your servant, or else all of these problems would have ended tragically for you. He defeated the so called immortal phoenix clan member and took out Kokabiel, a fallen angel whose veteran skills ranked him higher up in the fallen angel hierarchy. He even indirectly helped bring together all 3 factions as an alliance. His potential is quite impressive and pretty terrifying if you're on the wrong side."

Natsuru pretended to look clueless and placed a finger on her lips.

"So many unpredictable outcomes revolving around a simple person, who even has the Welsh Dragon Emperor's power residing in him. Isn't that strange? So very strange, and yet very alluring at the same time." Natsuru's purred.

"To think that the secret behind Gremory-san's success was someone so kind and easy to manipulate at the same time. I guess that you loving him back was some sort of a bonus, so that he'll be willing to do anything that you want. Maybe, before you fell in love with him, you were scheming up a plan to use him like one sort of sacrificial pawn." Natsuru couldn't hide that giggle as she still kept her back to Rias.

"Be quiet…!" Rias couldn't stand another second of this.

Looking back for a moment before continuing, Natsuru sighed,

"You're so pathetic, but it wouldn't surprise me if you get off on it though. Being this lowly princess, who could never do anything herself and has to wait for her hero to save the day as always. Either way it's no skin off my nose because this works well for me. Since there won't be any threat for me if I just simply take away the "hero" and leave the pathetic princess alone to despair over her weakness to do nothing to stop me."

A few unsteady steps caught Natsuru's attention as she looks back to see a thick red aura of demonic power start to build up around Rias. Her breaking point was so easy to force out that Natsuru couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's wrong, Gremory-san, you don't want to share?"

"I told you to be quiet!"

***DOOOOOOOOOOON!***

With her one hand, Rias fires a massive blast of demonic power infused with the Power of Destruction, more than half of the carnival was instantly obliterated by the long range blast along with Natsuru who stood within the blasts radius while wearing nothing but a satisfied smirk.

Nothing, but dust collected around Rias after she did that sudden frontal attack

Breathing extremely heavily, Rias exhausted her most of her magical reserves and could barely stand with the remaining strength she had. That last attack was more of a desperate measure in case things got way too difficult for any usual tactic. Nothing could have withstood that point blank blast with losing at least a body part.

"Gee~! That was a surprise, I didn't know you had it in you!" Natsuru giggled from within the cloud of dust.

"…!" Rias tried to retreat, but a hand grabbing her neck begged to differ.

"You're so predictable that it's just cute… Never mind it's just plain sad now." With the dust finally clearing. Rias got a good look at Natsuru, who looked drastically different than before.

"Hm? What is it, oh, you mean this? I know what you're probably going to ask. Are they real and the answer to that is yes."

Leisurely moving in a calm fashion behind, Natsuru were 9 midnight black fox tails and perked up on her head were a pair of black cat ears. The pressure she gave off now was extremely much more powerful than before.

"You're a fox-youkai? No, you don't seem to be just that. What are you?" Rias grunts and tries to breathe through Natsuru's hand crushing choke hold.

"That's a close guess, I'm surprised that you noticed, but I guess cat ears are a bit similar to fox ears if you look at just the shape instead of the size."

Rias gasped, "A nekomata?"

"Well, close again. I'm actually half of each of those two races, but still wow, you're so good at identifying my race could there perhaps be another one hiding amongst your ranks?"

"Gurgh!" Rias coughed once Natsuru felt she would answer.

"No need for that I got all the evidence that I needed from that little tennis game you had with Kiyo-chan." Natsuru smirked.

"Just what are you doing this for? What is your motive for any of this?" Rias struggled to say.

"Motive? Well, that's a long story that I don't want to get into, so I'll make it short and sweet. I'm just here to take your boyfri-Oops! I mean servant, so I can see if I can get a few unpredictable outcomes of my own." Natsuru licked her lips, which maddened Rias to try and shake off the hand strangling her.

"You…!" Rias grunts.

"Hey, just one totally unrelated question: Is Michael-kun still a virgin?"

"Don't you dar-ugh!"

"Was that a threat that I just heard because I couldn't hear you over the sound of your life in my hands." Natsuru smirked sadistically as she watched Rias struggle for air, the sight itself was just satisfying seeing a high-classed devil such as herself be at her mercy.

Before she could things a little too farther, she felt the approaching auras of both Michael and Shirou coming her way and with three other presences colliding with their rising auras.

 _'_ _I suppose its barely decent that they've been held up for this long.' Natsuru sighed._

Ruthlessly tossing Rias to the ground like a doll, Natsuru said, "Welp, time to get ready."

"Nrgh! Are you working for the Khaos Brigade? Is that the reason why you're doing this?" Rias struggled to try and face the women.

"Augh!" But a foot to her back held her down.

"I'm in no interest to join such bigots in their extremist attacks to bring nothing but destruction. My goal here is to bring everlasting prosperity through any means necessary. So my work is mostly independent." Natsuru smiled, "What? Did you really think the Khaos Brigade placed that much effort into hacking into your precious magic circles for fun? I bet they don't even have a proficient senjutsu user, who could easily trap them their cargo in a separate space." Natsuru smirked.

"All of that was you?" Rias exclaimed, but screamed out in agony when Natsuru dug the heel of her foot on her back.

"That's enough questions coming from the pathetic princess. Just stay there and wait for things to play out." Natsuru still tortured Rias with her heel against her back and watched two incoming lights of red and blue overlap each other as they fell to carnival grounds where Natsuru and Rias stayed.

"DAMMIT! WHY DO YOU KEEP GETTING IN MY WAY!"

"I DON'T KNOW, WHY DON'T YOU TRY TO REALIZE I'M ALWAYS IN RANGE OF YOUR ATTACKS, YOU TEAM-KILLING FUCKTARD!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

***KADOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

Creating a massive crater with their armored bodies, Michael and Shirou laid inside of it while arguing to each other. Face planted in the ground while Shirou was stacked over him, Michael growled and pushed him off,

"Get off you, bastard!" Michael shouted.

"Watch it you, idiot!" Shirou shouted back.

"Just what the hell is your problem you keep almost hitting me with your attacks every time I try to catch the opponent off guard!" Michael growled.

"Excuse me for trying to finish a fight with you jumping in front of me like that! Why are you alternating enemies just stick with one and only one already!" Shirou growled.

Michael cried pitifully, "But that's only because I always get stuck with that one opponent whose giving me that rapey vibe, man!"

"I don't care just deal with it and finish the job!" Shirou slapped the back of Michael's head.

"Kikikikikikikiki! How fun we won't have to be the ones to destroy if they destroy each other!"

"Looks like they're back." Michael chuckled bitterly as he looks up at the three shadows standing across from them.

The first one who made that comment was what looked to be a Cheetah-Man, who was basically a hybrid between a human and a cheetah but with more cheetah features. He still had yellow fur with black spots but actually had black hair on his head with green eyes. He only wore a pair of ripped jeans to showcase his powerful legs.

"Aw~! I can't have both of them, how about if one of them dies and I can take the stronger one home with me, nya~!"

The next one was the most feminine one out of the others, she is a woman with fair proportions, possessing green eyes and golden-orange hair that extends to her waist. Her fur is also orange and littered with black spots and covers most of her body excluding her face which appears mainly human (excluding a light underbite which reveals her tiger-like fangs) and her chest which is instead covered in white fur. Her tail is a notably darker color than the rest of her body. She wears white pants with a black belt at her waist.

"Enough games you two." Walking past both the Tiger and Cheetah Hybrids stood a large brawny creature with the features of a panther. It had black fur with a toned and muscular body he stood about 6 feet tall while standing on both his hind legs like a human man. He had a set of toned and very powerful muscles on his body while he wore gray pants and black biker gloves. There is a jagged scar running across his right eye which gave him a veteran look.

"We need to dispose of these two as Natsuru-sama ordered." The Panther-Man said and got the attention of his two fellow hybrids.

"Fine." The Cheetah-Man groaned.

"Don't worry, I know certain ways on how strip a man of his protection." The Tiger-Woman licked her lips.

**\Danger! Danger! Danger! Danger!/ The voice laughed in Shirou's head.**

Shirou grabbed Michael's shoulder and nods, "I'll leave finishing that one off to you."

"Eh? You coward! Why don't you do it?"

"Because I don't want to be raped."

"I don't want be raped either now let me handle the other two!"

"No, you'll just get your ass kicked!"

"I'd rather have it get kicked than get played with by that crazy cat lady now let me face them!"

"I said no!"

***SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!***

"Ow! Ouch! Stop it!"

***SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!***

"Gah! Freaking dang it! You quit it, then I'll stop!"

***SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!***

"NEVER! Ouch, that one was on the ear!"

***SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!* *SLAP!***

Michael and Shirou entered a very feminine slap fight while everyone just watched.

"Ufufufufu, how entertaining so this is how two dragons interact, huh?"

"Natsuru-senpai? What are you-!?" Michael gasped.

"Well, that confirms this natural energy presence but is that really a full blooded Kitsune?" Shirou's eyes widened and struggled to speculate why one was here in the first place.

Grabbing their attention with her voice, Natsuru caught the eye of both Michael and Shirou along with the three cat hybrids who bowed to her.

"Natsuru-sama!"

 _'_ _They bowed could that be their boss?' Shirou slowly edges closer to Natsuru._

"It's okay, you three, everything is according to plan now." Natsuru smirked.

"M-Michael…" Rias weakly muttered.

"R-Rias, what happened to you? Natsuru-senpai, what is this? Why are you standing on Rias like that and why do you look like that?" Michael couldn't believe his eyes, Natsuru was treating Rias like a stepping stool and she had 9 tails and cat ears? Just what was going on?

"Why so pale, Michael-kun? I just wanted to check up on the date that I set up for you. You guys were having a real hootenanny here. Eating funnel cake, riding rollercoasters, playing games, and to top it all of you even took my suggestion about taking her to the Ferris wheel." Natsuru cooed

"How do you know all of that?" Michael had a bad feeling about this.

"Didn't I tell you that I would be "checking" in on your cute date? But I suppose I should have added more cats for a better touch up wouldn't you agree?" Natsuru gestured to the cat hybrids they just faced.

"T-This was all you?" Surprised, Michael turned to the cat hybrids then back to Natsuru.

"Indeed, ask your friend even he could vouch for that." Natsuru points to Shirou who glared at her through the helmet of his armor.

"I find it the goose chase around town has gotten you very desperate to find me due to my random pop ups, huh, Mr. Unexpected guest?" Natsuru teased.

"Oh, you bitch…" Shirou growled.

"By the way…" Natsuru stared at Shirou while licking her lips, "How was it having some this place's cotton candy?"

"They're all sold out, you freaking genius, but why are you asking-?" Shirou paused then slowly looked up at her and roared, "YOU!"

"Guilty~!" Natsuru waved.

"You're the one who-!" Shirou was pushed off to the side by Michael who needed answers.

"Natsuru-senpai, I seriously don't understand, what is going on?" Michael frowned and shook his head.

"Isn't it obvious? I've been the one who's been watching you all very closely so we can get to this exact spot for this exact moment." Natsuru reaches out to her eyes and pulls out her contact lenses, to unveil her golden-yellow eyes.

"Natsuru-sama, you…!"

Looking over at the hybrids, Natsuru wore a false smile and said, "It's been a while since I've taken these off in public and finally stretch myself out in this form. It's sort of gotten to be like wearing a business suit, because when you put it on, you finally get to show people that you'll-!"

***SHIING!***

"Always mean business." Natsuru was met with the sharp edge of Shirou's conjured spear, which is Grand Chariot's auxiliary weapon, but it was only a few inches away from her face.

"What? You don't have the balls to do it?" Natsuru taunted, "Go on, just try to lay a finger on me. See what happens."

"Damn you…" Shirou hesitated, he couldn't really knock her away because of the magic circle directly placed over Rias' head, if there was anything he knew about Senjutsu it was that you never underestimate its sheer power.

"If you wouldn't want Gremory-san's death on your conscious, then I'd suggest you realize who your fucking with here and stay back, Mr. Guest." Natsuru threatened as Shirou slowly retreats back to Michael's side.

"Natsuru-senpai, stop, please tell why you're doing any of this!?" Michael shouted, he couldn't bring himself to rush her and release Rias. He still felt mad that she was in that condition and wanted jump in to help her. but at the same time her captor, Natsuru was still that nice senior of his, who's been helping him whenever he's been in tight binds.

His feelings were conflicting with his actions and prevented him making any move, which precisely what Natsuru wanted.

"Why I'm doing this? Well, isn't it obvious?" Natsuru pointed at Michael, "Basically, I want you."

"Me?" Michael pointed at himself.

"Yes, that has been my goal this whole time. I just need you, an unpredictable factor, who could bring me unbelievable results that could benefit me more than Gremory-san." Natsuru licked her lips.

"All of this finally happened thanks to me jacking those magic circles to gain enough manpower to accomplish my task." Natsuru giggled.

"Wait, so you mean to say…?"

"That she is the one responsible for that? Yeah, I guess that hypothesis from before was right in the end." Shirou felt frustrated that he couldn't put down this girl, but had to hesitate or else he would put Rias Gremory's life in danger.

"So now you know everything. You do know that you two won't be able to leave now, right? So I'll give you a choice starting now." Natsuru's face slowly fell from her smiling exterior to a colder expression.

"If either of you even dare to rush at me, then I'll kill Rias Gremory-san, and that will by when I win, or I can spare Rias Gremory-san while you allow yourselves to get captured by me and I still win."

"Wait, how do I fit into any of this and how would you still win either way?" Shirou asked.

"Mr. Guest, I'm not stupid enough to just let you go and find me again. You'd just ruin my plans in the near future." Natsuru clicked her tongue and shook her head,

"And I'd say I would win because I believe you two aren't so willing to..."

Natsuru prepares to fire a Ki bullet directly to Rias' head.

"…!" Rias whimpers and could feel the complete pressure the attack would do to her head.

"Well, you get the point." Natsuru finished.

 _'_ _Damn, I-I just don't get it! Just why!?' Michael clenched his fist._

"Natsuru-senpai, I just want to know. Why? Why in the hell are you doing this!?" Michael screamed.

"…" Natsuru remained silent and looked at Michael with a half-lidded "really" look.

"I can't believe that you're doing something so cruel as this. I can't see that you're the same nice senpai, who helped me out whenever I got into big messes. I just can't believe that you'd be doing this to Rias because the real Natsuru-senpai that I know isn't someone who would warrant this much pain to get what she wants!" Michael spoke from the heart and each word was completely honest.

That honest speech statement forced Natsuru to shake her head as a way to deal with those thoughts once and for all.

"The Natsuru, you knew wasn't real, she was just a means to an end, Michael-kun." Natsuru said stoically.

"What?" Michael blinked and watched the expressionless attitude Natsuru had and couldn't believe that this was the very same person he met those couple days ago.

"That persona that I wore around you and everyone else at that school was just a façade, so I could get close enough to you and make my ideals come into fruition. You probably just assumed that I was different because you were too naïve to realize that superficial kindness like that never happens in the real world. I intentionally hid my feelings away, so that I can get things done even things that society frowns upon." Natsuru showcased a cute smile and a cheery voice before going back into her serious look.

"You only have yourself to blame. It was your over-trusting attitude which made all of this possible. I would have never gotten this far if you didn't open up to me like you did the other day. So I'll have to "properly" thank you when this is over."

His fist trembling, Michael shook his head, "I hate liars…!"

"Well, in this life its either you lie or be lied to like a fool." Natsuru retorted.

"No, I hate liars, who lie to themselves!"

"Excuse me?"

Natsuru wasn't sure what meant he meant by that.

"You've been talking all this crap about how you did all of that nice stuff just for your goals and that none of it matters unless you get wanted? I just can't take how much crap your saying about yourself! Saying you didn't feel anything is a lie because in the end, you have to feel at least some inkling of an emotion and you know that!"

Michael reverts back into his normal form, he wanted to do this face to face with her without hiding behind his armor. It may have been a dangerous thing to do, but Michael paid no heed to being cautious because he believed that Natsuru wouldn't harm him in such a defenseless state, his trust of her far outweighed his own caution for safety.

"Michael, what the hell are you doing?" Shirou growled.

"It's bad to lie about your feelings, it's even worse to claim you don't them. I, for one think that smile of yours back then was genuine!" Michael wore a serious expression which could almost be on par with Natsuru's own glare,

"So knock it off with all of that crap! In the end, your still Natsuru-senpai the kind senior, who selflessly helped her kouhai out!" Michael shouted with a passionate roar.

Head lowering, Natsuru hid her face away from Michael and began to tremble quite frailly,

"M-Michael-kun, I-I'm so s-sorry..." Natsuru whimpered.

"Senpai?" Michael looked hopeful.

"I-I can't believe h-h-how absolutely-!"

***GLEEAM!***

"Ignorant you are..."

A Huge purple magic circle with sage's seal appeared behind Natsuru and released a menacing purple fog which filled the air with a venomous haze.

 _'_ _What's this purple stuff?' Michael thought._

"Kuh…this is…poison!?" Shirou fell to a knee and keeled over after the purple haze surrounded his body.

"W-What p-pois…!"

***THUD!***

Without himself noticing, Michael's sense of perception began to slow and made it too late for him to realize that the poison was already affecting him, too. He fell down with a surprised look on his face before trying to get up and face the person walking to him. He could literally feel all of his strength getting sapped from his body just from inhaling the tainted air.

"I knew the over dosage of poison that I prepared was a bit overkill for you, Michael-kun, but I didn't expect it to just bring Mr. guest here to just his knees. Just shows you how capable he is for being a potential thorn in my side." Natsuru said over the groveling Michael.

"Now that I've gotten one down, I guess wouldn't need that pathetic hostage anymore." Natsuru looked over at the crawling Rias, she was still doing everything in her power to help rescue Michael.

"Gugh…!" Shirou breathed heavily and heaved himself off the ground to stand his ground.

"Oh my, what determination you have, I can't believe you can still move with my poison still active in the air. I made sure to use my sage arts to paralyze dragons more effectively, but once again your impressive willpower and body have once again confirmed how big a threat you would have posed." Natsuru giggled.

Shirou grunts and balances himself up with his spear, as a shadow from behind locks both their hands together and raises them over their head.

"You bitch, if you honestly believe this will be how things end then you're in for a rude awakening!" Shirou shakily pointed his spear at Natsuru until…

"Take a nap, nya~!"

***SMASH!***

"Buurgh!"

Shirou coughs out a moderate amount of blood after receiving an all-out blow to the back of his head by the Tiger-Woman. The attack both shattered Shirou's armor and made it vanish after it's user's limit had been forcibly met. The effects of the poison dulled his ability to detect those around him as he slowly began to lose consciousness.

"See, I told you that I could easily break through any man's protection, nyanyan~!" The Tiger-Woman purred.

"Good job." Natsuru nodded then knelt down close to Shirou.

"Any last words before I capture you, Mr. Guest?" Natsuru asked.

"Go fuck yourself you damn, cu-!"

***BAM!***

Natsuru made certain that he wouldn't finish sentence with a power blow to the bead.

"Jeez, the mouth on this one." Natsuru looked to the Tiger-Woman, "Put him next to Michael-kun."

"You don't have to ask me twice, ma'am, nya!" Tiger lady happily hoisted Shirou's body over her shoulder and carried him to Michael.

 _'_ _I-I'm fading fast…' Michael's eyes slowly closed until he heard a familiar voice._

"Michael…" Rias weakly cried and reached out for Michael while she crawled.

 _'_ _Rias?' Michael forced his dreary eyes to open and see a crimson blur right in front of him._

"Rias…" Michael reached out, but that the only thing he could do. The rest of his body wasn't responding to him anymore.

The two were almost close enough thanks to Rias' slow, but steady crawling.

 _'_ _I don't want to watch you get taken away from me…' Rias just needed to get close enough, she didn't know how they could escape this mess or how to even defend themselves if they couldn't. All she wanted was to get to Michael._

But a pair of legs made sure to stand in her way.

"How pitiful. That someone like you, the heiress of a prestigious devil family, would be crawling on the ground like a broken woman. Heh, you know it really suits you, Gremory-san." Natsuru mocked and looked down imperiously at Rias.

Rias shot Natsuru a spiteful glare which didn't fit with her helpless condition.

"No, Rias…"

***STOMP!***

"Gagh!"

Michael muttered but had his head slammed into the ground by a paw-padded foot.

"You weaklings have already lost. Resisting the orders of the stronger victor means death." The Panther-Hybrid kept his foot on Michael's head.

"G-Get off…!" Michael grunted in resistance.

***STOMP!***

"Puagh!" Michael coughed out some blood with that stomp.

"You have no right to be giving me orders."

"I said let me go! I-I have to-!"

***STOMP!***

"I-I have to…!"

***STOMP!***

"H-Help…"

***STOMP!***

"R-Ria…!"

***STOMP!***

"Gagh!" Michael finally lost consciousness after that last stomp to the head, he had coughed up a large enough puddle of both blood and vomit.

"Whoa, you sure didn't hold back!" The Cheetah-Man whistled.

"He just didn't know his place." The Panther-Man growled.

"Here's Mister Guest~!" The Tiger-Woman dropped Shirou next to Michael.

"Now things are finally drawing to a conclusion."

Turning back to the knocked out pair, Natsuru summons a small magic circle and pulls out stone handcuffs with worn out red dragon seals written over it as its chained together by a thick metal chain which seems to have an ominous glow around it.

"The time it took to finish developing these cuffs were long, but definitely worth it. These cuffs were mainly used to control rampant criminals in the hidden Celtic Village of Dragons. They were built with a special stone that would be used to completely suppress the dragon's power of whoever is restrained in it."

Natsuru said and made Rias gasp as she remembered Michael's revealed lineage from him essentially hailing from that land.

"These were just supposed to be for Michael-kun but since there's two, improvising will just have to do." Natsuru approached the pair and opened the handcuffs.

***CHINK!***

***CHINK!***

She placed each on both of their opposite wrists and locked them.

"Now everything is complete." Natsuru breathed out and smirked, she was so glad that a carefully handled plan was accomplished.

Looking at the unconscious bodies of Michael and Shirou lustfully, Tiger-Woman asked, "Hey, do you mind if I "play" around with them, Natsuru-sama, nya~!"

"First return them back to base and wait for my final instructions before you do anything else. After that you may do as you wish with our unexpected guest." Natsuru ordered.

"Aww~! But can't I just have both inste-!"

***WHAM!***

"Augh!" The Tiger-Woman received a sharp shockwave of Ki to the stomach and fell down.

"What was that for, nya!"

"Return to base. Listen to my last orders. Have fun with the other one. Michael-kun isn't to be touched by anyone else. Do I make myself clear?" Natsuru said, with her voice filled with annoyed anger.

"R-Right, sorry, nya…" The Tiger-Woman gulped and bowed.

"Good." Natsuru narrowed her eyes.

"Y-You're not mad are you, Natsuru-sama?" The Tiger-Woman asked.

"No, I'm not mad, I just hate repeating myself."

***SNAP!***

***SHIIIIIIIIINE!***

Natsuru snapped her fingers and created a magic portal underneath the 3 Cat hybrids and their captives.

"Aren't you coming with us, Natsuru-sama?" The Cheetah-Man asked.

"I'll be there in just a moment." Natsuru felt a hand gripping her leg and stayed to fix that.

Once they left, Natsuru turned to look down at Rias who with a strong grip held her ankle.

"He's already gone. Why even bother now?" Natsuru mocked.

"Give him back…" Rias' voice wasn't resolute like it was in the past, the confidence in them was no longer there it was just contained sobs now.

"My adorable pawn, Michael give him back…" Rias quietly wept.

Natsuru blinked and mischievously smirked, "So it's all come down to this? Begging like a baby, who wants their toy back, huh?"

Natsuru enjoyed the poor state Rias and just laughed as she cried for Michael to be brought back.

"But I'm afraid you're mistaken about him being yours because he's "mine" now. Not your pawn, but a benefactor to my cause. You see this would be very ironic if they made a story about it. What if there was a princess who was waiting for their hero to save them?" Natsuru tilted her head and continued to smirk,

"Only after days of waiting, she still hasn't been rescued or saved by her beloved hero. What could have happened to that hero? Could he have died along the way? Could he have been captured and imprisoned by some unknown threat, or could he have just forgotten about her and gone on to live an ordinary life? Who knows? But that still leads to one irrefutable truth."

Natsuru's golden eyes shone as her smirk turned up into a creepy Cheshire cat smile.

"The princess doesn't get saved because she's been sitting in the same place where nothing ever changes and her hero never comes to save her. So that's why I decided to take the hero out of the story, so you, the pathetic crimson princess wouldn't get her happy ending." Natsuru giggled, "Of course, it's not a happy ending for the hero, yet, but I'll get to work on it soon..."

Feeling that Rias wasn't letting go of her ankle, Natsuru smiling face momentarily broke as it changed to irate rage even though Rias had been brought down to such a pitiful state, she still had the gall to defy her.

"Do you mind getting your fucking hands off of my legs, you wretch!?"

***BAM!***

"Gugh!" Rias was kicked and sent rolling on the ground, the kick managed to knock the air out of her as she loses all of the remaining energy she has after taking that damage.

"Excuse me for that, I guess I got a little wound up there for a second. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll bid you ado, Gremory-san." Natsuru snapped her fingers and created a magic circle right beneath her feet.

She turned around to leave but not before turning back and pretending to give Rias an innocent smile.

"Oh, and thank you Gremory-san for donating to my cause~! I'm really grateful that we were able to get along and come to a satisfying conclusion~!" Natsuru stuck her tongue out in a cute fashion before smirking, "Unless you want to try and change things by standing up and taking on the forces that I have with me beyond this magic circle all by yourself?"

"…" With her spirit already shattered, Rias could do nothing but look away, the sickeningly bitter taste of failing and not saving Michael was getting her depressed already.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, ta-tah~!" Natsuru narrowed her eyes and turned back, letting her nine fox tails be the last thing Rias sees.

"Michael…I-I'm sorry…" Was all Rias could say as she whimpered and laid on the ground, utterly and completely defeated.

Without her hero to save her the princess continued waiting until she finally gave into doubt. A dreadful doubt that her hero would never come to her aid.

* * *

**Next Chapter- Jail Break and the recollection of Rias' confidence! The time to strike back is now!**


	41. A little chat..

**A little chat…**

* * *

"Hmmmm~! Hmmm~! Hmhmmmmm~!"

Humming like a cute little girl, the black hooded woman was typing away on a massive computer with different files, tabs and images filling her screen. She multi-tasked each section of her work while merrily little humming and tapping her feet.

She had just finished sending her "Partner" the handcuffs that she requested. It wasn't a really easy task to get them to work like she wanted, but the same could be said about retrieving them while avoiding any confrontation with the remnants of the denizens, who still protect the sacred grounds of the ruined Celtic Village of Dragons. They may have lost numbers since that "accident" but they're still just as powerful and threatening with their advancements in dragon-weaponry.

The setting that she was in didn't quite seem to be the place that you would find a normal person to be happily humming in. She stood in  bloody lab filled the limbs of her experiments, who didn't quite make the cut to at least survive to be a success. The room was filled with the scent of death and despair. Chemicals were laid out right next to her in chipped beacons and multicolored chemicals in them. Before the room was given to her by Natsuru it was clean but still damp and in a poor state until the necessary work she had backed up needed to be taken care of.

"Hmmmmmmm~! Well, I certainly hope they didn't have a problem with my beautiful craftsmanship!" The hooded women giggled, "It would be terrible if something were to happen to them."

The hooded woman started compiling the data and wavelength of the energy that she placed inside the handcuffs before saving it on her computer and a flash drive.

"Right, terrible. You talking like you actually care is just a big joke, huh?"

"…" The hooded woman looked over her shoulder to see a small ripple in the air beside her as it grew to become a black void, and stepping out of it was is a 6-foot-tall man wearing the same black hooded coat as the woman. His body was quite muscular and toned as he held in his hand, a long black spear with cursed markings around the shaft, and a black blade at the end where small barbs jutted around the spear's blade.

After an uncomfortable moment of silence, the two mysterious people looked at each other.

"Hiya." The newcomer waved and leaned the shaft of his spear on his shoulder.

"…What are you doing here?" The mysterious woman's voice wasn't at all cute like before, now it was serious.

"Ouch! Is that any way to talk to a fellow ally? I've been watching you very closely ever since you proposed an idea to the Boss." The lance holding man leaned against the computer board and chuckled.

The hooded woman simply pushed the man away from the and continued with her work.

"Eavesdropping is intrusive especially when you cost not only me, but master as well, from gaining precious information." The woman threatened.

"Whoa! Whoa! No need to include the boss in this, I was just curious was all." The man chuckled like he was having fun messing with his fellow ally.

"Why are you even here in the first place? You're too troublesome to have around while I'm working. Shouldn't you and Wallace be looking after the condition of my-?"

"Your puppet is in top shape. Don't you worry about a thing. The Boss wanted me and Wallace to look for more recruits, so we left it with [Wrath], he seems to be very attached to that thing, almost like a sense of grief and longing fills him. You want to explain why though?"

The man wrapped an arm around the woman's shoulder, she replied with an elbow jab to his rib-cage, but that failed to hit due to the man pulling back in time.

"Sheesh! You're getting so worked up over nothing. It was just an honest question." The man raised his hands in defense.

"Just tell me what you want then leave, you toying around will just prolong your desire. After all your [Greed] and this little stalling game will only increase your hunger for something you don't have."

"Shame. That's what made this so much enjoyable. Like the longer you wait, the more satisfying it will be to receive what you want the most." The man said, "But if you're going to be, so pushy about it then fine, I'll talk. Lately, I've been wanting to know why you're doing all of this. The scheming with this little insignificant girl, the gathering of that Governor-General's sacred gear data, and the recorded wavelength of the Red Dragon kid. What's your angle here?"

The man tapped his spear on his shoulder and whistled.

"A careful plan makes great progress and working with someone willing to risk not only their well-being but themselves for another person makes for the perfect scapegoat. You must be wondering why I just didn't attack head-on like you would?" The woman said.

"Heh, yeah…why don't you?" The man snickered.

"Because that will leave more suspicion towards our actions. If I were to be that ruthless, then I would leave a bit of evidence for them to track me. And that could risk everything for us in our current state." The woman explained.

"I see…I see…"

"The sacred gear data is to help me advance my own prototype that a lucky candidate had already tested. If possible, I could even strengthen that spear of your's."

The sounds of a tongue licking a pair of lips were heard from the man, "An upgrade for my weapon how wonderful~!"

"Good, now that you know my intentions then leave." The woman was about to turn back to her work.

"But you still haven't talked about that Red Dragon Emperor kid's wavelength. I could understand why you need it now but saving it for later? What's your agenda?"

The woman glared at the man.

"Nothing, and why does it matter to you?"

"You can say that I'm starting to get a craving for power like that, if someone were to make it available." The man had a dirty laugh that sickened the woman.

"This is being saved for another reason."

"Another?"

The woman walked away from the computer and folded her arms behind her back.

"Have you ever counted the sins of man?"

That one question confused the hooded man.

"That would be impossible."

"Indeed, it would be…for us though."

"Hm?"

"Murder, Jealousy, Hatred, War. These sins and more are what make mankind so imperfect. It felt like it wasn't long ago that there existed beings filled with limitless  **malice** was about to curse and bring about  **doomsday**  to everything in existence until the intervention of God. These beings have been placed as a myth because their very existences were ridiculous. But you'd be surprised if a being with the power of an…let's use an Ultimate-Class Devil as a basis, was nothing more than a grunt when compared to the upper hierarchy."

"…!" The man was surprised a little but intently listened.

"To believe that beings who have the minimum strength of an Ultimate-Class devil can frighten the hearts of many. But to actually believe that there are creatures above that level of power would make you instinctively believe they don't exist. Even uttering the name of the Leader and Creator of those beings would make a God laugh in denial."

"What another God whose been sealed?" The man asked.

"No, this creator had a different title than god, it was much more fitting for him due to his terrifying reputation, yes, that being was in a class different than any old god, they were an  **Overlord."** The woman said.

"But you say that many people believe that it is just a myth, right? Who's to say they were wrong?"

A slight chuckle escaped the woman's lips, "Because we already have living proof of it. My job right now pertains to that while at the same time it doesn't."

"That's rather ambiguous."

"If anything keeps you from acting on your own, then I'll gladly be as vague as I can." The woman coughed then shooed the man away once she saw an alert on her computer screen about Natsuru's arrival,

"Now leave before you break my cover."

"Hmph! Sure, fine, I'll be out of your hair right away…" The man swung his barbed spear in the air and tore a portal into a dark void and walked into it, "Besides, I left Wallace to deal with our stuffy new recruit and I'm pretty sure they're close to killing each other if I leave them alone for any longer. *SIGH!* I'm gonna get sick of being called a "Mongrel" by the new guy..."

The man took a closer look at a small image of Michael on the screen and noticed his physical appearance was quite familiar before turning around and shrugging.

"But you know that is interesting… So that's why those "two" look the same. So if that's the case then you really do fit your spot as [Envy] don't you?" The man snickered and took one last look at the cloaked woman once the portal finished closing.

Coughing to herself once she heard the approaching pattering of footsteps, the woman sighed, "Geez~! That boy is quite a nuisance, Master has a problem with picking out strange people, excluding me of course. I'm the strangest that he could ever get~! It's a little shocking that he's the descendant of the Irish Hero-!"

***GACHA!***

"Just what are you babbling on about?" Natsuru walked into the room while opening the doorknob with a handkerchief.

"*GASP!* Nat-Nat you're back!" The woman leapt at Natsuru like a puma before she was suspended up in the air by 4 fox tails wrapped around her arms and legs. Natsuru was still retaining her youkai form from earlier.

"Don't ever call me that or try to hug me again…" Natsuru growled.

"No promis-kyah!" The woman was dropped on her fanny and rubbed it as Natsuru turned her back to her.

"Ouch! Nat-Nat why did you do that for?"

"…" Natsuru kept silent before muttering, "Your handcuffs were satisfactory, thank you for making my plan a success."

"*GAAAAAAAASP!* Oh my, Non-existent God! Does this mean we're friends n-!"

Natsuru used one of her tails to cover the hooded woman's mouth.

"No, don't push it. Being thankful to you makes me sick." Natsuru growled.

"Right~! The Old tsundere act, well I can along with this for now." Natsuru felt like this woman was just delusional.

"Both, Michael-kun and that new arrival are placed in their cell. Keep jamming any and all magic circles in the area, I don't want any interruptions from Gremory-san and her…I mean Gremory-san's servants. After I've taken a quick breather I'll move on with what needs to be done next." Natsuru began walking to door.

"Does telling me all of that make us frie-?" The hooded woman squealed.

"No, it doesn't. I'm not telling you that because I like or trust you. I'm telling you this because I don't want you near them. Got that?" Natsuru glared at the woman with the most intimidating glare she could as the image of a large cat and fox hybrid glared down right at the hooded woman.

"You got it~!" The woman didn't mind the bloodlust and simply saluted.

Taking one more glance at her, Natsuru shook her head.

"Just don't do anything you'll regret." Natsuru said with some venom behind her tone.

***SLAM!***

Slowly getting up on her feet, the woman walked over to her large computer and typed in a couple of codes.

"Well, if I can't go near them. I could always do the next big thing."

***CLICK!***

On the screen was a surveillance video pointed directly at Michael and Shirou's cells where both laid against the wall unconsciously and ignorant to everything around them.

"I'll just watch in case anything interesting happens." The woman giggled excitedly for finding a loophole through Natsuru's threat. While she was at it why not open every surveillance camera? She did just that and glanced at all of the viewpoints the cameras had to offer. She could see that most of her hybrid experiments have been shortened to only a small army now.

"Meh…if they couldn't survive that mission, then they were just useless failures in the end!" The woman giggled rather morbidly at the wasted lives of her experiments.

Suddenly in one of the cameras something caught her eye.

"Hm, was that a…" She could have sworn she saw a pair of shadows walking through one of the hallways. A distinctive appearance caught her attention as she believed she saw something in the shape of a drill walk by the surveillance camera.

It couldn't have been seen with the hood covering her face but the woman's lips curled up as giggled escaped from between them.

"It looks like we have a rat lurking around~! I guess I should exterminate them before Nat-Nat gets even more frustrated."

The woman slowly made a small magic circle on next to her ear as she communicated with her remaining experiments to keep watch while she did her best to find the intruders through the surveillance.

Whoever it was who were roaming around this place would never escape now that an inkling of their presence here have been caught. But then another thought came to mind.

"Ah, that's right! I have to make sure the exits are all closed so they won't escape or that they won't lead anymore in…teeheehee! This will be the bestest day ever…for me at least!"

The woman giggled madly and focused on all of the surveillance cameras. But unknowingly, she didn't catch something unfold in the Michael and Shirou's cell as both of their bodies faintly glowed as Michael's right hand emitted a green light and Shirou's left hand emitted a blue light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys!
> 
> What myth were they talking about just then? Who were these beings that could bring about doomsday? And is this all even relevant to begin with?
> 
> Who could possibly know the answer to any of these, but when the series reaches that certain point for all to be revealed then these questions will be answered.
> 
> Also, I hope that most of you get the hints of who some of these characters are and who that new "recruit" is... I already gave you a clue within the dialogue so I leave the rest to you...
> 
> Well, guys, I'm Out so Peace Out, so have a wonderful day!


	42. Jail Break and the recollection of Rias' confidence! The time to strike back is now!

**Jail Break and the recollection of Rias' confidence! The time to strike back is now!**

* * *

Their bodies sagging and left crumpled against the back wall of their cell, Michael and Shirou were slowly resting and regaining the strength that was lost thanks to Natsuru's poison and her pack of cat hybrids. Soon afterwards, after their capture, the pair were delicately placed into their cell by Natsuru's orders so that they wouldn't be too damaged to be validated as "unusable."

They were still left with the same damage they received so that if they were to wake up they would be hindered by the pain. Even so they were still recovering at a slower rate than before if they were healed but it was still close for them to regain their consciousness as soon as possible.

"I can't believe that those two took out more than half of the intended men that we sent with Natsuru-sama."

"Goes to show why she would want to capture them in the first place."

"Yeah…but it still makes me wonder... How in the hell did these two kids just destroy about 45% of our main forces?"

Two lynx-hybrids were guarding the hallway to cells were gossiping about the current and future events that are taking place.

"In the end, it took Natsuru-sama and the top three of us to capture them. Not even the 4th strongest could keep up with them and live to come back."

"Natsuru-sama, seems to be just the person to value her mates to be strong and destructive."

"Mates?"

One of the hybrids questioned the other's statement.

"You don't know? Natsuru-sama wanted to capture the Red Dragon Emperor because of all of those achievements that he's been attaining and not to mention the dragon power he possesses."

"I get the gist of that, but why would she want to mate with him?"

"Are you an idiot? Haven't you ever gotten the instinct to have powerful offspring? Just imagine how powerful your child would be if they were given the aura of a dragon and not to mention that dragon being one of the Heavenly Dragons."

"I understand, but what about the other one? Why did she pick that one up too?"

"I guess he was just something extra who was around, well anyways I don't really know much about what's going to happen to him. Either way these two are in for a bad time here."

"If it's something Natsuru-sama has in plan even I'd pity these poor suckers, hell, I pity ourselves for even working for her."

"Shut your trap, complaining about it won't change anything."

"Don't try to act like your loyal to her, we have our own master and we're just following after Natsuru-sama because of orders. In fact, I believe she wanted half of our guys out there to die all for attaining these two."

"Yes, that's true, but are you willing to disobey master's order?"

"N-No, but…!"

"Then be quiet or do you wish to end up like the 45% of those who had been destroyed?"

"Grr…fine!"

"Now if you're done with your whining, let's get to work before we get caught."

The two lynx guards dropped the subject and went off to search the perimeter of the next hallway containing cells in case of any intruders or unwanted attention crawling under their noses.

From within the cell that held Michael and Shirou, two lights with two different colors illuminated the cell as Michael's right hand started to glow green and Shirou's left hand started to glow blue.

Suddenly two voices echoed out from their perspective bodies.

**\Heh, what a predicament that our hosts have gotten themselves into./**

**[Actually, I've gotten used to my host getting caught up into strange situations like this.]**

**\You too, huh? I thought I was the only one, but I guess it should be obvious, right? You must have been in way more dangerous stuff with your host right, Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor?/**

**[Ah right, I forgot, we haven't spoken to each other in ages, but I thought you, yourself would have gotten into crazier shenanigans with your possessor considering you are the, King of all Monsters, Typhon.]**

**\What can I say, things just tend to be more entertaining whenever my host stumbles into something fun./**

**Typhon laughs while Ddraig sighs with a slight chuckle under his breath.**

**[You've changed, the last time I remember, you were still bent up about taking out all of the Gods on Olympus. You were a complete and utter monster who wanted nothing more than chaos. You've really mellowed out, and I was shocked to see that you were trapped inside of a sacred gear.]**

**\The same could be said about you and Abby, after hearing that the both of you were sealed in Sacred Gears, I was just about to blow up everything on Mount Olympus to see if the rumors were true./**

**[Yeah, that's something I don't want to talk about.]**

**\Hah, you two were seriously done in by those Angels and Devils having that stupid squabble? Hahahaha! I can't believe how carried away you two got by getting into a fight!/**

**[Typhon, I underst-!]**

**\The only saving grace you can use as an excuse is that God personally sealed your souls into the sacred gears! I don't know about you, but you two must have felt so embarrassed to tarnish the title of the Heavenly Dragons like that./**

**[…You're right about that Typhon. But wouldn't it be close to the shame that you felt?]**

**\Shame? What do you mean?/**

**[Oh nothing. I just thought that you the King of all Monsters would have still kept his body after all these years, but look at you crammed inside a sacred gear of your own. I guess your imprisonment in Mt. Etna wasn't too dignified for you. I mean to be used as a source of power to humans, I guess your legend of having once struck fear into the heart of gods and defeating Zeus wasn't enough… Scratch that last part, I believe Zeus was the god, who sealed you away in the first place before handing your soul over to God. Now wouldn't that be disgraceful for your title as the King of Monsters?]**

**Ddraig really went in depth with his comeback.**

**\\... …Your lucky that I respect you more than Abby…/**

**Typhon growled.**

**\Also that fight would have been mine if he didn't have the help of those other gods and…that** **_human._ ** **If only I had realized it sooner that I was getting distracted, then I could have destroyed Zeus and that mountain before I got sealed./**

**[Look, we're both idiots, who were defeated with unfair.]**

**\Simple./**

**Typhon snickered and verbally jabbed at Ddraig with that one word.**

**[*Groans!* Tactics...]**

**\It's true, I mean look how our hosts look right now. They got caught so easily with such a simple and clever trick. Personally, I think it's flattering that enemies are finding quicker ways to get rid of us, dragons, but after a while it gets annoying./**

**[It may be annoying, but I think our hosts will find a way out of this mess.]**

**\So how's your possessor? He seems to be an interesting guy. Even my partner sees him in a new light after that little fight they had./**

**[He does? I got the impression that he didn't like Michael.]**

**\Oh, don't mind that thing he does, it's just him being a tsundere./**

"Mmmmrrgh!" Shirou growled lowly and unconsciously.

**[Is he okay?]**

**\Don't worry, it's a natural tsundere response for being called a** **_tsundere._ ** **You'll get used to it./**

**[Michael's fine, he's just recovering and unconsciously thinking about his senior or kidnapper.]**

**\Oooh! Is it one of those inner monologues about the past events and they're floating aimlessly in a black void?/**

**[So I'm not the only one who has a partner who does that?]**

**\Nope, it only happens whenever he's worried about someone, preferably his master from time to time…or actually every day./**

**[The same could be said about Michael but right now he's really worried about Rias Gremory, it was his first date with her too. The way the kidnapper defeated her was crushing not only her pride but her spirit. It might be difficult for her to repair her broken spirit without Michael there to support her.]**

**\Well, I for one should say she needs to get over it, she should have expected baggage like that to be brought up when she's involved with a Heavenly Dragon. But that doesn't mean she won't stay beaten. If a dragon chose her as a lover, then she'll have to have redeeming qualities so its a good bet that she'll be getting back up again./**

**[I guess you're right. It makes me wonder how the other ones will make it through similar situations.]**

**\Wait…others so does that mean he has a harem?/**

**[Yes, well, he's a little aware of it but is a little oblivious, but yes, he has one.]**

**\Impressive, I can only hope that he doesn't wind up like you did with all of that unfinished business you had with Tiamat./**

**[Unfinished? What do you mean?]**

**\What are you talking about? You and her promised to… Oh my god, you forgot didn't you!?/**

**[Of course, all the memories that I had when I was alive became blurry when I was sealed inside the sacred gear. She attacked us last time and I couldn't understand what she was saying!]**

**\Hahahahahahaha! That's so hysterical, I can't believe that really happened. Aw…man, you really screwed yourself over, your one unlucky bastard~!/**

**[Tell me! What did I do that made her mad!]**

**\Well…whoops~! My partner is waking up so see you later~!/**

**[Dammit! Typhon, don't you hold out on me! Tell me exactly what happened!]**

**Typhon's laughter faded away along with a cry from Ddraig fading away following soon after.**

Groggily waking up, both Michael and Shirou open their eyes to see themselves in a damp cell.

"Urgh…man, my head hurts…" Michael rubbed his head.

"Bleck…I have a terrible taste in my mouth." Shirou stuck out his tongue in disgust.

 _'_ _I feel like I had the most awful hangover…huh, what is this?' Michael moved his other hand and tried to scratch his head, but he heard the sound of chains jostling along with some extra weight_

"What the hell are you doing to my arm?" Shirou growled and pulled back his arm thus pulling Michael's in turn.

"Your arm? This is my arm!"

"Then explain why my arm is moving by itself!"

"Well, I don't know ask these handcu-gah!"

"Ack!"

Both, Michael and Shirou froze when they looked at their restraints chaining their wrists together. It took them a mere second to respond in an over exaggerated fashion.

"What the hell did you do!?" Shirou shouted at Michael.

"Oi! Why do you assume that I was the one who did this!?" Michael yelled.

"I don't know it just felt natural to assume it was your fault." Shirou said.

"Well, that's normal but…" Michael looked around and saw the cell they were in.

"Where are we?"

"Looks like a cell, and I can only assume that we've been captured by that fox-chick and those 3 other bastards." Shirou spat and sat back down.

"Fox-chick? Hm, oh my, Maou!" Michael looked up in thought, until he gasped upon remembering the past events which occurred with Natsuru and an image of a beaten Rias on the ground.

"Rias! Natsuru-senpai!"

"Gagh! Jesus, what the hell are you doing!?"

It was so fast that even Shirou yelped in surprise, being dragged along the ground, he was forced to trail after Michael, who ran to the cell bars and shouted out the names of the two people on his mind.

"Natsuru-senpai, where are you!?" Michael shouted and tried to shake the cell bars, but Shirou used the chains of the handcuffs to pull him away from the bars.

"Hey, moron, don't yell out like that we still don't know where we are." Shirou said while holding back Michael and looking back at the bar.

"But I need to find Natsuru-senpai and get back to Rias! Everything that happened... I really need an answer for it and…!"

"Look, I don't get what's up between you and that chick who captured us, but we can't keep dicking around in here. So let's focus on getting the hell out."

"But-!"

"Screaming will attract enemies to this place and if we get more enemies to handle, then the harder it will be for us to escape and find that girl who did all of this." Shirou walked in front of Michael and pointed his hand at the bars.

"You're right… I guess we can't do anything if we're stuck in here." Michael agreed.

"Now let's go wreck their shit!" Shirou prepared to fire his dragon power in the form of a blast, but nothing came out.

"What?"

"Is something the matter?" Michael asked.

"What the hell? Hyah!" Shirou looked at his hand then tried again, but nothing happened. Then he voiced out a question that popped up in his head,

"Why can't I use my power?"

"What for real you can't do it?"

"If I could then we would be out of here by now." Shirou gritted his teeth, "I can't use my dragon power to break us out."

"Really? Let me try by summoning my Booster Gear." Michael thrusts his fist out and shouted, "Boosted Gear!"

Only silence filled the room as Michael saw his naked fist with no red gauntlet forming on it.

"That's strange that usually works… How about again! BOOSTED GEAR, I choose you!"

Michael thrusts his fist in the air in a dramatic fashion, but nothing happened.

"The heck is wrong with it; it never did this before." Michael tilts his head.

"I can't summon my sacred gear either." Shirou attempted it while Michael was exaggerating his own attempts.

"What's blocking out all of our powers?" Michael asked.

"It could be this thing. I've never felt so restrained and cut off from power before. These cuffs may be the cause of this." Shirou examined the cuffs.

"So even our demonic power won't work?" Michael stood in front of the bars and thrusted both his hands out.

"I don't know probably."

"Then let's try it out! With fire magic!"

***FWOM!***

Michael roared and conjured up a small orb of flames in his hands which died out.

"Wow, you suck." Shirou looked at Michael with a disappointed expression.

"I swear this never happened to me before!" Michael tried again but this time he only shot out a puff of smoke.

"Why don't you actually try another spell other than fire?" Shirou crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"I could, but fire is more my specialty, you know?" Michael sweatdropped and continued using the same attack. His awkward answer was more than enough for Shirou to get the point,

"It is true, you can't use any other elemental magic!" Shirou laughed.

"Shut up, I can do it! I just choose not to…" Michael trailed off, his many other attempts usually blew up in his face.

"Just move and let me do it." Shirou shoved Michael to the side and prepared a bigger magic circle in his hand, "I'll use lightning magic to decimate these bars."

***Z-zzt…***

"The hell?" Shirou looked at his hand in confusion.

"…Mmmmmmmm~!" Michael's cheeks were puffed out in restrained laughter.

"Don't you dare…"

"Mmmmmmm~!" Michael trembled.

"Don't!" Shirou growled.

"Fah…fine, I won't laugh…" Michael exhaled in relief and held a hand behind his back.

"Good, now we can say these cuffs block out our dragon power and dampen our demonic…"

"Psyche! BWA….HAHAHAHA! HA! HA! HA! Ha…ha…ha…oh, you looked ridiculous…oh…oh…oh…"

Shirou looked at the handcuffs, but was interrupted by Michael's sudden laughter which soon peered out after a while.

"You done yet…?" Shirou had an angered tick mark on his forehead as he waited for Michael's laughter to end.

"Yeah… I think I'm good." Michael sighed.

"Okay, these cuffs are the problem…" Shirou began again.

"Snrk…OW! What the heck!?"

Shirou punched Michael's arm in annoyance.

"Look, I'm going to speak to you simply because you're getting on my nerves! Ahem! We can't use powers. Because of Cuffs. We can't…break out. Us. Need. Freedom." Shirou clears his throat, "You understand?"

"What the hell is with that explanation, you're acting like I'm a cave man!"

"Then stop messing around, dumbass. We need to get out of here quickly and we can't use magic to do it." Shirou said, he was getting real tired of Michael's crap.

"Fine, fine, now if we want to break out, we should probably get rid of these handcuffs we really can't escape with them on." Michael pointed at the handcuffs.

"Understatement of the fucking century." Shirou was irked that Michael had said that.

"Wait, just hear me out let's get them off by cutting off one of our arms."

"…" Shirou gave Michael a dirty look.

"Aren't you going to reply?"

"You're not going to like what I'm thinking." Shirou shook his head and looked away.

"Shi-rou, look!"

"Hm!" Shirou angrily looked back at Michael.

"I mean, Shirou, just listen. What other choice do we have to escape we can't use our magic or our sacred gears. Unless you have another power you have hidden to break us out?" Michael made a good point.

"…" Shirou stayed quiet, at that question.

**_\Well, you can use your "other" form to break yourselves out of this mess./_ **

_'_ _No, I would never use especially not in front of this guy…' Shirou held in his breath as he weighed his options._

Exhaling heaving, Shirou groaned, "So, who'll lose their arm?"

"Pfft! What makes you think I'm going to do it?" Michael looked at Shirou, expectedly.

"Whoa, no, no, no, you're the one who brought it up so you do it." Shirou disagreed and argued back.

"Hey, I made up the idea, so you give up your arm and later get it reattached by Asia."

"Hell no! Why don't you do it?"

"Because…" Michael stalled and tried to get his point across, "Because…look if you can't do it yourself then let me do it for you!"

"You touch me and I break your arm!"

"Hey, don't try to stack your kind offer over my own!"

"How is any of this kind!?"

Michael and Shirou's fight escalated so much that Michael lunged out and tried to grab Shirou's arm, who did the same to him in return. Soon enough a huge scuffle broke out between the two, each of them trying to take each other's arms off.

"Just give it up!" Michael screamed and was pulling Shirou's arm while pushing him away with his hand to the side of his face, "Why are you getting so skeptical? You could always get Asia to heal her!"

"You're making it sound like losing a limb is natural!" Shirou socking Michael in the face.

Pushing the fist that Shirou threw back with his face, Michael growled, "At this point, I wouldn't mind if I lost an arm just a while ago, I had a huge gaping hole through my abdomen that Asia completely healed. Making this situation totally legit!"

"Then why don't you cut off your arm!?" Shirou yelled.

"Dude…no…no…no… Just cut off your arm already!"

"If that's how you're going to play it, then I'll just rip your arm off before you do it to me!" Shirou started pulling Michael's arm even harder.

"Oh yeah, well, I'll pull your arm off when you'd least expect it, and nothing will distract me!"

"Look someone got hit in the nuts!" Shirou pointed outside of the cell.

"Oh shit, where!?"

Michael obviously got distracted and looked to find no one on the ground gripping their crotch in pain.

"Gotcha!" Shirou was able to get the upper hand and was about to dislocate Michael's shoulder.

Stretching back Michael managed to get Shirou's opposite arm and began to pull it really hard while twisting it.

"Hah! Now I got your arm!"

"That's the wrong arm, moron!" Shirou gritted his teeth in pain.

"I don't care; I'm not going to lose to you!" Michael shouted with intensity that rivaled the pain he was going through.

"Aaaaaaaaargh!"

"Roooooooooargh!"

Both yelled in the vain attempt to take each other's arms right off.

Looking down at the two with a weirded out expression, a quiet Kiyome appeared before the bars of the cells asking, "Michael-kun, what are you doing?"

Both stopping to look at their visitor, Michael and Shirou looked at Kiyome with two different reactions and responses.

"Kiyome-senpai?"

"Who?" Shirou blinked in surprise.

Releasing, Shirou's arm, thus putting an end to their crazy argument about taking each other's arms off. Michael and Shirou approached the bars to get a better look at Kiyome, who was rummaging around in a bag, she brought.

"What are you doing here!?" Michael exclaimed in surprise.

"Shh, they'll hear us…" Kiyome shushes him before returning to her bag, "First, let me get you out, I found their extra set of keys hidden in a room nearby, I managed to get them while they were out on patrol."

Kiyome pulls out a ring of keys from her bag and starts flipping through them to finally find the right one and open the cell doors, releasing the two from their imprisonment.

"There we go." Kiyome unlocked the door and lets Michael and Shirou rush out to see her.

"Thanks for the save, but Kiyome-senpai, what's going on, why are you here?" Michael asked, but received a from and a wave of a hand to follow her as she begins to walk ahead of them.

"Let's move away from here first before we get caught." Kiyome whispered.

With no objections, everyone decided to leave the area and quietly stalk down the silent hallways while avoiding the passing guards who were thorough with their daily rounds or surveillance. As soon as a guard passed their hallway, they made sure to move further ahead to a more secluded hallway where the guards have already finished their posts around the space.

"We're safe here, we can talk, but afterwards we need to leave." Kiyome breathed out in relief.

Michael wanted to ask his questions and explain what had happened with Natsuru, but Shirou voiced his own first.

"Well, I don't mean to question a free break out of jail, but I'm pretty sure I may have a problem with the person breaking me out, mind telling me who the hell you are miss…" Shirou said, bluntly and honestly suspicious.

"Oh right, you don't know her, she's Kiyome Abe-senpai at Kuoh Academy, basically, she lives with me. And this is Shirou, Kiyome-senpai." Michael introduced Kiyome who bowed and greeted herself with.

"Nice to meet you."

"You too, but wait, why does she live you?" Shirou asked.

"Well, you see, we're kind of…" Michael trailed off.

"Engaged…" Kiyome's cheeks flushed as she said that last part.

Raising an eyebrow, Shirou said, "Engaged, doesn't that make you two fiancés? But aren't you dating Gremory-sama?"

Michael and Kiyome responded with the following: Michael looked away while scratching his cheek and Kiyome who blushed while looking down in embarrassment.

"You know what, it's not my place to judge." Shirou shrugged.

"You serious?" Michael was surprised by Shirou's normal reaction.

"We're devils, this shouldn't be to any of us." Shirou rolled his eyes.

"I guess that's true." Michael shrugged then remembered their predicament.

"Hey Kiyome-senpai, how did you come to save us. No, how did you even know we needed to be saved at all?"

"Um…there's a reason for that…but I'd have to bring up the one who planned to capture you." Kiyome's face was pale, the one, who started all of this, must be on her conscious.

"Huh?"

"You mean that Youkai bitch from earlier?" Shirou caught Kiyome's glare and raised his hands defensively, "I only say it because she captured me, no offense…"

"None taken, and yeah, I can't beat around the bush, so I'll just say it flat out just to make this certain. The one who captured you and the one who's plan I overheard one day was Natsu-nee, herself." Kiyome's expression was serious with a hint of sadness in her tone.

"Ngh…! I-I know, but we still have to…" Michael gasped but tried to say something.

"It may be difficult for you to believe, but it's true. Natsu-nee actually thought about your capture this whole time even the magic circle hijackings were her doing, too." Kiyome pulls out from her bag a thick book with mystical symbols written on the cover, "The only way I could have gotten here was with this, it has a vast amount of content concerning magic circles, and the only circle which worked throughout the jamming was the magic circle in my home, the only viable access that's connected to this facility."

Kiyome revealed the proof, but that still didn't sway what Michael wanted to say.

"But even so, we…"

"Even this facility is on an island, my family gave to her. The magic circle I used was only one-way since all others were still being jammed. There's also the case that this island is the epicenter for the jamming's source." Kiyome explained.

"So this is the place, huh?" Shirou shifted his eyes to observe the facility, he will soon take down, but decided to listen to the conversation. Something about Natsuru's youkai lineage wasn't answered yet.

"Michael-kun, everyone already found Rias-san at the carnival that you two went to. She's…she's not doing too good after what happened. She really needs your support or else it will be hard for her to recover from that terrible experience."

Kiyome could remember that broken look in Rias' eyes, it made her shocked that the once confident Rias was brought down to such a level, and it was Natsuru out of all people who did it, too.

"…!" Michael clenched his fist and lowered his head, mixed with conflicting thoughts on what he should do before he shook his head and raised his head looking serious.

"Right now, I want to see Natsuru-senpai."

Kiyome's eyes widened as she exclaimed, "Are you nuts? Why do you want to see Natsu-nee now? You should focus on returning to everybody, especially Rias-san, she really needs your help!" Kiyome tried to reason with Michael who shook his head.

"I know that…" Michael was now digging his nails into his hands which drew blood between his clenched fingers, even he feels compelled to go back and help Rias, but there was something he needed to do with Natsuru before anything else.

"Natsuru-senpai, what she said I can't just let things stand this way, or else I'll regret it!" Michael wasn't going to change his mind.

"Are you serious? Your master, no, your girlfriend is a total mess and needs you by her side right now, why won't you go rushing back to her when you have the chance?" Kiyome growled and grabbed Michael by the collar of his clothes.

"I know that Buchou needs me and I really want to see her again. I mean, its eating away at me. The fact that I'm basically leaving Rias alone like this." Michael looked downcast as he slowly opened his bleeding hand.

"Then why don't you try to escape and go back to her?" Kiyome's grip started to loosen on Michael's collar.

"Because, I know that regret will soon disappear once I'm through with Natsuru-senpai and have her apologize to Buchou in the end." Michael's serious expression softened into a smile.

"What? That's too simple, what makes you think that will happen, even after Natsu-nee did all of that stuff?" Kiyome said in disbelief.

"I can't deny that she didn't do all of this, but I still can't let this go. Saying that all of your feelings are fake is a lie. Convincing yourself that your emotions aren't even real is something that I can't leave alone!"

Grabbing Kiyome's hands and slowly taking them off him, Michael grinned and laughed, "And even if I feel regretful, I still have faith in Rias."

"Faith?" Kiyome looked at Michael's reassuring smile as he nodded.

"Of course, her strong personality is just another factor as to why I love her after all." Michael smiled.

Kiyome didn't expect that response and even blushed a little at Michael's genuine words.

"B-But she can barely even stand right now, her confidence has been shattered and she's not strong enough to stand on her o-!"

***PING!***

"Ehn! What was that for?" Kiyome winces back and rubbed her forehead, apparently Michael flicked her on the forehead.

"Don't dis, Rias' strength, she is strong, she just needs to remember that. You just wait, she just needs to get her second wind is all. I believe that she'll stand tall and come back stronger than ever because after all she is my master and anyone who can put up with my greatness has to be very strong in my books!" Michael's bright demeanor brought Kiyome's relentless questions to an end. His strong belief in Rias was all the answer that she needed.

"B-But I still can't understand…Natsu-nee captured you, so why do you still want to see her?" Kiyome fell to her knees as her eyes teared up.

"Well, I'm not going to see her alone." Michael smiled and looked at Natsuru with a kind look in his eyes.

"Huh?" Kiyome looked up at Michael, who crossed his arms and laughed.

"You're coming too. You would feel more regret because you're senpai's sister, and even if Natsuru-senpai did that to me, I still see her as my senpai and you still see her as your older sister. In fact, even when you figured out all the stuff she did, you still tried to believe her by trying to escape with us out of here before seeing her."

"I-I…" Kiyome whimpered until Michael's hand was placed out in front of her.

"Come on, let's go see Natsuru-senpai together."

"O-Okay…"

Slowly smiling, Kiyome reaches out to grab Michael's hand and pulls herself up to stand.

Looking back at Shirou with a grin, Michael said, "So this may cut in with you capturing the culprit, so is this cool with you?"

"I don't know about that, but I'll just stay out of what you have planned." Shirou crossed his arm and looked away.

After watching that display, Shirou's mind still didn't change because sooner or later he would get the person behind all of this, but instead felt that he should just watch as things played along.

"Yosh, we're already agreed on it! Now let's go see Natsuru-senpai!" Michael began running in a random direction while tugging the chain of the handcuffs.

"Have you forgotten something you, idiot?" Shirou pulled the chain and tugged Michael back to where he was.

"Guh…your right, we can't do squat without these things holding us back." Michael stood up and looked at the cuffs, dejectedly.

"Holding you back?" Kiyome blinked.

"Yeah, these handcuffs are dampening our powers along with blocking out our dragon auras which also blocks out our sacred gears." Shirou gestured to the handcuffs.

"That would make sense, Natsu-nee was talking with some woman in some black clothing about some "toy" that she needed." Kiyome realized what that conversation was about now.

"There's another person involved?" Shirou asked.

"I think so, but I haven't really heard that much about her apart from there. She looks to be the one who's responsible for those handcuffs blocking off your powers." Kiyome explained.

"Great, now we have someone else to look out for, while we're stuck like this." Shirou could only wonder what kind of other stuff they have to stump them, if the handcuffs weren't already enough.

"Hey, we can break out of this." Michael looked at Shirou with a gentle/serious look.

"What the hell, why are you looking at me like that?" Shirou asked.

"Would you please cut off your arm?" Michael asked nicely.

Shirou looked at Michael before slapping him across the face.

"Ouch!"

"The fuck is wrong with you? Why would you say that while looking that way!"

"I asked nicely!"

"You asked like a freaking creep!"

"Either way, cut off your arm so that I can use my powers!"

"No, you do it so that I can use my powers!"

Both Michael and Shirou butted heads and argued in an over the top fashion.

Realizing a mistake, Kiyome voiced her opinion, "So wait, you guys are trying to cut off each other's arms because you want to keep both of your arms while you can use your powers?"

"Yeah." Both men nod.

"Wouldn't it be better if you two would just cut off your own arms instead of fighting over who gets to keep their own so that you can cut out the middleman?" Kiyome suggested the idea.

"Boo!" Michael gave a thumbs down while Shirou disapprovingly shook his head.

"Yeah, that kills the value of one us losing their arm. What would be cool about two guys who only have one arm?" Shirou said.

"Well there's Naruto and Sasuke from the manga, Naruto." Kiyome suggested.

"Let me repeat that, what would be cool about two guys who only have one arm?" Shirou repeated.

"Yeah, it cuts the cool factor in half!" Michael nodded.

 _'_ _So you two are in opposition to cut off each other's arms but agree that cutting off both of your arms is lame?' Kiyome sweatdropped._

"I don't get what you two mean but the one who still has their arm in the end still won't use their powers."

"What you talking about Kiyome-senpai?" Michael asked.

"The handcuffs will still be attached to one of you who still has both of their arms." Kiyome pointed out.

"…"

"…"

Both Michael and Shirou looked blankly at the handcuffs before they looked to each other and shouted.

"Hey, let me cut off my arm, it's only fair because I want to use my powers!"

"Like hell its fair, I should be the one who cuts my arm off first so keep yours on!"

"Hah, why would I let you do that, don't you see how much I need this!? Hell, I might even get that robotic arm, the Ero-sensei has! Yeah…that'd be pretty sweet…" Michael daydreamed at the thought of having a rocket arm.

"Pft! Who needs a robotic arm when I could be a badass with a single arm?" Shirou smirked.

"Like I said my arms the one that's going to break off!"

"No way, as the person who planned this idea in the first place you should let me do this to be equal."

"Oh, now, you want to be fair and square with this you, indecisive jerk!"

Kiyome couldn't believe that they were bickering over the opposite argument they had before. Thus making her state another way they could solve things.

"Why don't you two just cut off both of your-"

"No."

Both responded in a monotone voice before going back into their scuffle.

"Are you kidding me!?" Kiyome facepalmed and shook her head as she watched the two idiot's scuffle. It looked like their escape would have to be delayed for now, all she needed to do was hope that they'll be prepared for the message she prepared to send to them.

* * *

While things were slowly progressing for Michael's side, back at the Hanamura residence, everyone was all over the place trying their best to locate Michael's whereabouts and find the one who kidnap him, Natsuru. However, the concerns of the Occult Research Club were still on Rias, they managed to detect a supernatural disturbance where their date was, but because of their teleportation not working they were too late to arrive. All they could see was a demolished Carnival and a beaten and bruised Rias, who was crying on the ground with no Michael around in sight.

As quickly as possible, the club was able to transport their master back to the residence while healing her wounds so that her ability to speak was unhindered by the pain. By the time they got back, they were all waiting for her to reveal what happened on their date and who harmed her and the cause of Michael's disappearance.

With Asia's twilight healing, she was able to heal all of Rias' wounds, so that she can start to move again and actually explain the attackers who assaulted her and Michael. When she regained enough strength, she got up in a panic and became all distraught while looking at her surroundings, it took the reassurance of Akeno to calm her down enough to speak.

Calming down for only a moment before realizing what happened, Rias began to push herself too much before it took her almost collapsing because of her lack of stamina. Everyone did their best to voice their worry for the Gremory girl and urged her to reveal what happened to her and where Michael could be. With heavy breathing, Rias first brought up the assaulter before anything else, Natsuru Abe, the older sister to Kiyome was the one who captured both Michael and even Shirou, who was in the middle of their attack. This revelation shocked mostly everyone and they asked how exactly Natsuru was able to overpower Rias.

Which made the even more unbelievable truth come out that Natsuru was actually a youkai, with the mixed species of a Kitsune and a nekomata. Koneko, herself was frightened by this news and looked very alarmed. Rias then went on to tell them about how she used some strange creatures to help her do it, but aside from all of that, they knew next to nothing about what she's planning or why she's doing it.

Their first thought was to ask Kiyome, but before they could think about it, they realized that she was absent. Koneko, herself, even voiced some of what she knew about Kiyome leaving right after Michael and Rias went off to their date. They couldn't contemplate about her well-being further because Rias was too busy focused on finding Natsuru before anything else and demanded that her servants track her down right now.

Her tone of voice was agitated and filled with impatience which didn't sit well with everyone.

But knowing the severity they decided to do that, worried about Michael themselves, too. So they began their search with Akeno and Kiba using magical formulas as a way to lock-on to any traces of Natsuru's energy. Asia and Raynare did the same, but with Raynare helping Asia along the way in case she made a mistake and accidentally tracked the presence of someone else.

As for Gasper, he was with Koneko trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Sure, he knew about her circumstances, but she was rather unresponsive the entire time while she prepared her gear and fighting gloves. Just the mention of a youkai being so nearby must have really frighten her.

As for Rias, she was seen waiting patiently in Michael's bedroom for any results of Natsuru's whereabouts. She changed back into her school uniform since the dress she wore was now ruined because of the attack. Tapping her foot, impatiently, she was too eager to find the one who ruined her entire night.

 _'_ _What's taking so long…' Rias gritted her teeth as her mind became plagued with terrible flashbacks._

_-"Get it now, so just surrender and wait like the pathetic princes you are until your, Knight in Dragon Armor comes to save you."- An image of Natsuru's smirk filled Rias' head._

_'_   _Unforgivable…' Rias bit her lower lip._

_-"When you're alone, you can't do anything and somewhere deep down inside you know that."- Now Natsuru was shown looking back at Rias with a mocking smile on her face._

_'_ _How could I…?' Rias clenched the fabric of skirt and continued to be plagued by these flashbacks._

_-"Was that a threat that I just heard because I couldn't hear you over the sound of your life in my hands."- From her own perspective, Rias was looking down at a sadistic Natsuru holding her up by the neck._

_'_ _I-It's just unforgivable…how could I-I-!' Rias lowered her head and began to tear up._

_But what really hit home was apparently the final one._

_-"Rias…"- The image of Michael, beaten up and trying to reach out to her as her hand tries to reach out for him until Natsuru steps in between them to mockingly laugh at Rias' state._

_-"How pitiful. That someone like you, the heiress of a prestigious devil family, would be crawling on the ground like a broken woman. Heh, you know it really suits you, Gremory-san."-_

_Holding in her breathe to subdue the growing frustration temporarily, Rias finally voices her thought out loud in a quiet whisper._

"How could I be so powerless when he needed me the most…?"

The feelings of rage towards Natsuru mixed with the depression of powerlessness Rias felt against her and filled Rias with so much frustration that it began eating away at her and her perception of the things around her.

"Buchou?"

"…!"

***SMACK!***

It wasn't until she realized that a hand placed in front of her made her snap back into reality and slap it away before realizing that hand belonged to a surprised Asia who was trying to check on her.

"Asia, what are you doing here? Are there any news regarding Natsuru yet?"

"U-Um, actually I…"

Breathing in and out, Rias asked, "Asia, I asked you whether or not we have intel about Natsuru, do you have it or not?" Rias' forced the tone of her voice to emphasize her mad disposition.

"W-Well no, but I actually came to see if you were okay and that if I missed any wounds that are bothering you so…."

"If you don't have anything important to say, then please return back to your search, Asia." Rias shrugged Asia's offer off and resumed to waiting patiently.

"O-Okay, I'm sorry for bothering you, Buchou-san…" Asia apologized with her face turning sad before she turned to exit the room.

Slowly closing her eyes, Rias could only wait in silence until some "actual" information could be found without any unneeded distractions. But once she heard the voice of someone who should be putting their efforts into finding Natsuru, she opened her eyes in irritation.

"Hey, Rias-san, and Asia-san, how did it go, was she okay?" Raynare entered the bedroom and asked Asia directly, she was more worried about Michael's current location, but placed that aside for now and decided to be concerned about any lingering wounds that Rias may have had.

"Actually, Buchou-san was fine, and I think she'd rather be alone right now." Asia tried to hint that they should leave if the silent glare that Rias shot the both of them with was any indication.

"Really, but maybe you should try and check yourself just to clear things." Raynare voiced her opinion.

 _'_ _Why are they still here? They should be working to find Michael.' Rias thought while sending another glare their way._

"B-But I don't think Buchou-san would lie about her own injuries, so its fine to take her word on it." Asia felt the glare's intensity and tried to urge Raynare out of the room.

"Your right. actually, I guess I started to make confirming things a habit since Michael-sama usually tends to hide his wounds when we ask, haha…" Raynare gave a worried laugh, "I only hope that we can find him in time before anything bad happens to him."

"Y-Yeah." Asia nodded.

Suddenly a voice coldly said, "Then continue looking for Natsuru's location instead of goofing off."

Raynare and Asia's chat stopped when they heard that with Raynare looking offended and confused while Asia was highly worried about what was happening.

"What?" Raynare slowly moved Asia to the side and walked up to Rias, who is angrily looking at Raynare while slowly getting up to face her.

"What I said is that instead of you and Asia slacking off, you two can actually be more helpful by searching for the attackers, who took Michael away!" Rias had an edge in her voice which annoyed Raynare enough to retort with as much anger in her tone.

"How can you say that!? Don't you see that we're worried about you, and can't you consider that it's really hard on Asia to track someone, who is very deceptive using that kind of magic formula for the first time?" Raynare exclaimed and pointed at Asia, "I decided to help Asia before trying to do it myself because she didn't know the first thing about how to do this. Rias-san, why don't you try to comprehend that we're trying our best!?"

"Because you're actually not putting enough effort into trying anything now! You're here making excuses when you should be searching!" Rias crossed her arms and the argument between her and Raynare heated up.

"R-Raynare-san, B-Buchou-san, it's okay, we'll go back to locating Michael-san and Shirou-san so please don't fight." Asia tugged at Raynare's sleeve as a way of holding her back.

"Then get to it, Asia and Raynare you're both tracking Natsuru separately to raise our chances of finding her." Rias demanded.

"What!?" Raynare understood that Asia alone still wasn't ready to do that yet and could be liable to make a mistake.

"U-Understood, Buch-." Asia bowed and would have done so had Raynare not said.

"No."

Eyes widening upon Raynare's denial, Rias growls, "Did you say no?"

"Of course I did, you're being completely irrational." Raynare asserted.

"How exactly am I being irrational?" Rias narrowed her eyes.

"Because Asia still doesn't know how to completely do it by herself!"

"She'll just have to go along with it and learn herself, now won't she?"

"No, I'm going to teach her how to do it properly before continuing my search."

"Are you-?"

"Undermining your authority? Of course I am, I may respect you, but don't think I'm like your servants. I actually don't have to listen to you, after all, the only reason I'm here helping is because I'm actually worried about Michael-sama, too!"

"Hah! Don't play games, if you were worried then you wouldn't be messing around right now. Your actions may have delayed our progress, do you really not care if we find Natsuru, hmph, if so then this just proves how little you actually care about Michael, huh!?"

***Glare!***

"Excuse me...?"

"B-Buchou-san, saying that to Raynare-san is too cruel! W-We also want to find Michael-san just like you…"

Raynare didn't react too kindly to that statement and so did Asia who cried but was getting defensive for Raynare's sake this time.

"What's going on up here? We could hear this screaming from all the way downstairs."

Now entering the bedroom, Akeno questioned everyone in the room. She and Kiba just needed a small break after their search took 2 hours straight, which put a little strain on them.

"How could you possibly know how much I care about Michael-sama? You don't have any right to say that!"

Raynare's argument with Rias intensified.

"I do have a right since I'm the one who's actually focusing on our goal! You and Asia have been doing nothing to contribute to this, you're both acting childish with your duties! If you two were more focused on doing your jobs, then we would have probably caught a sign of where they may be."

"Rias?" Akeno has never seen Rias so wound up like this before.

"And Akeno, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Kiba searching for any traces of Natsuru?" Rias now looked to Akeno who shook her head.

"So far we've found nothing, right now me and Kiba are taking a short break to recuperate our focus." Akeno explained.

"What? Who said you guys could stop, if you couldn't find anything on them before then keep doing it until you actually find something!"

"Rias, we've been searching nonstop, we need to conserve our strength should we find them." Akeno said, with a serious look on her face.

"Your rest could possibly be used to actually find Michael and Natsuru, but if you want to be lazy then fine! I guess that's how little Michael is to you, too, huh, Akeno?" Rias surprised Akeno with that rude remark.

"Rias, just what has been up with you lately?" Akeno gasped.

"Nothing, nothing is wrong with me! The only ones who're acting strange are you guys, who can't even take this seriously."

"Rias-san, you're the one, who's acting childish. Shouting at people just because you're mad that Michael-sama was taken from you? That won't make anything change if you're taking your anger out on us!" Raynare couldn't stand to be an outlet for taking all of Rias' pent up aggression.

"Buchou-san, please, you have to know that we're just as concerned about Michael-san, too. We wouldn't be thinking about doing anything else besides saving him." Asia looked up to Rias with a sad frown and sincerity in her tone.

"…!" Rias lowered her head and bit her lower lip as she was getting calmed down by her friends.

"Rias, please, we're all equally as worried as you when it's come to this, we all want to ensure Michael-kun's safety just like you, but we can't do that if you keep forcing us to overwork like this." Akeno said soothingly and walked to Rias and was about to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

***Smack!***

But Rias smacked Akeno's hand away from her.

"What?"

"You all don't understand. None of you were even there! How could you possibly be so calm as to say all of that when you don't know anything? You all don't understand what it felt like to be so powerless to stop anything, to not even help when he was calling out to me, and to just watch as he was dragged away! How can any of you know how worried  was when you weren't the ones getting humiliated and beaten!?"

Rias shook her head and kept crying out her vexation about the harsh memory on her "date".

***SLAP!***

It was at that moment, everyone in the room remained silent with shock written on their faces. Rias herself didn't quite know what happen until she looked in front of her to Akeno who had a pensive expression.

Just now, she slapped Rias into silence.

"Enough of that, I won't let you go on any further than that." Akeno said, if she allowed Rias to talk so hopeless like this then she would only bury herself in even more depression, and right now they don't have the time for that.

"Akeno-san…" Asia wanted to say something but a pat to the shoulder and shake of the head from Raynare was all Asia needed to push anything she wanted to say.

"Do you believe that we honestly don't care about Michael-kun as much as you? That we couldn't possibly understand what it felt not to be able to do anything? You may be right, but don't underestimate our feelings, Rias."

Rias could only stay quiet and listen to her Queen.

"We may not know how it felt to be there, but did you ever wonder how terrifying it was for us not to have been there in the first place? To have felt a disturbance occur where you two were, and couldn't arrive in time to do anything? At least you did something, all of us here would have killed to have at least a minute to do something to prevent this!"

Looking away and rubbing her arm, Rias muttered, "But it was pointless for me, in the end, I lost without even putting up a decent fight against her."

"That may be true, but what you're doing right now isn't going to make a difference should we confront Natsuru again. Your moping, Rias, and that won't change anything. You have to think about doing something different and trying to do better so it won't be the same result all over again." Akeno looked Rias in the eye, she needed to get to her, and to do that she'll have to use an example.

"I just don't see a way for me to do that…she's just too strong for me to handle…" Rias sadly mumbled and looked down.

"Why are you giving up? Michael-kun was in the same position as you and kept trying when we had to deal with Riser Phoenix-sama."

"What, but he had Son Kai-sama to train him."

Rias' eyes started to brighten a little once she heard Michael's name.

"No, before Kai-sama's appearance, he was struggling, he kept on failing with the basics of demonic power and all the other lessons, he couldn't get any progress done. But…"

Shaking her head, Akeno reminisced back to the very beginning of that Training Week and the night which ensued right after the first day ended.

* * *

 

_(Flashback)_

_Late at night, behind the Gremory mansion and inside of the woods, Akeno woke up after noticing the bright light of explosions happening outside of the mansion. Curious, she went out into the woods without waking anyone up. After a while the explosions seemed to have stopped until an even larger one had gone off just a few feet ahead of her._

_"_ _Who could be up doing this so late?" Akeno wandered to the area, but stops to hide behind a tree when she looks at a familiar figure standing in between a clearing of burnt, knocked down trees._

 _"_ _Comeoncomeonecomeon…YES, I did it!" The figure was balancing a large sphere of condensed demonic power in their hand and turned it into a huge orb of fire. That fire illuminated the figure revealing themselves to be Michael wearing his burned and soot stained jersey._

 _"_ _Michael-kun?" Akeno whispered quietly._

 _"_ _I did it! I did it! Hah, and who says 60_ _th_ _times not the charm?" Michael's eyes had bags under them as he was physically exhausted from his many attempts._

 _"_ _He's been doing it for this long…?" Akeno held her chin and watched the concentration Michael was putting into his spell, it was an improvement from before but it still looked a little too shaky to be stable._

 _"_ _Yes sir! I finally managed to master magic. Nothing is too hard for the Gre-I mean me! *Sniff!* what smells like burning 'me'?"_

_It was at that moment, Michael had realized that the demonic sphere of magic wasn't the only thing that was covered in flames, his entire arm was catching itself up in flames._

_"_ _Aiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyi!" Michael shook his arm while yipping out in pain._

 _"_ _Oh dear…" Akeno gasped then had her eyes widen, "Wait, no, Michael-kun, you can't lose focus on the spell or else it will-!"_

**_*BOOOM!*_ **

_"_ _Gyaaaaaaaaaah!"_

 _"_ _Destabilize…" Akeno sweatdropped._

_The demonic power sphere blew up in Michael's face and now his entire body was covered in flames, so he ducked and rolled on the ground._

_"_ _Chachachacha!" Michael slowly stopped the fire and laid flat on his back, breathing heavily and gritting his teeth, "Darn it, that hurt…"_

_Looking so disgruntled with his failed attempt, Michael raised his hand in the air and looked at it, covered in burns and scratches._

_"_ _Another failure…" Michael sighed and dropped his hand, "I can't believe these flames have been hurting me, and they're my flames, too. I wonder if that yakitori's flames would hurt even more? No, if I couldn't have taken that rook servant's hit then it might hurt like hell…"_

 _"_ _Heh, me the Great Hanamura? Yeah right, what right do I have to call myself after that happened? I basically looked like a weakling…" Michael clenched his fist in frustration._

_The thought about Riser's flames and how they could do away with him much faster got into his mind along with the humiliating defeat he suffered at the hands of his Rook as well. They were both getting him down until he remembered something._

_Shaking his head, Michael sits up and growls, "Crap, no time for keeping myself down, this isn't about me! I still have to do Buchou proud by getting better so I'll have to work twice as hard!"_

_Michael got up once again and prepared to summon the element of fire._

_Akeno didn't quite sure why he would still keep using the same element, it was always the most dangerous one for those who can't yet control their magic. And another explosion to the face confirmed it, but Michael just got back up again. It was a continuous cycle of explosions and Michael getting back up to do it over again._

_Akeno didn't know why he just kept on doing the same thing, but had realized the physical and mental struggle he was going through. The pummeling he received that day when he met Riser, who indirectly beat him impacted Michael a lot harder than she thought. But seeing him attempt the same thing over and over again without just giving up in a fit of anger caught her full attention, she just couldn't break her sight away from the hard working boy._

_She was even watching him for the remaining few hours until it was almost the crack of morning. Her eyes brightened when she had finally saw something different occur. It wasn't the usual get back up and exploding bit, but Michael actually standing on his feet while forming a small orb of fire in his hands. Michael wasted so much demonic power that his control was able to form the fire without any restraints._

_Michael, even Akeno were smiling at the slight progress he made, but with so much energy lost, he fell back and rested with a big smile on his face, content with his results. Rushing over to heal him, Akeno does her best to repair his state of physical attire as well, but the one thing she couldn't help but notice was Michael's big smile._

_It wasn't that BIG of an accomplishment in her case, but she felt that it must have been for him, or why else would he be so happy about it? Any progress that small was something he was proud of even though it was insignificant to the powers his opponents have._

_Akeno couldn't help but feel happy about her kouhai's accomplishment and personally took him back to the mansion to properly rest for the next day of training. She, of course, couldn't be easy on him since training camp has only just begun, but she will still root for him through his time of trails._

* * *

 

(Present)

"Even so…he didn't just cry about not being able to be strong enough after he was beaten. He just kept trying and trying to get better results." Akeno smiled along with Asia and Raynare who could just see that happening even though they weren't there.

"And in the end, he kept pushing through all of that pain so that he could make you proud and freed from that engagement." Akeno approached Rias who stayed silent but was moved by Akeno's story and began to tremble in an effort to hold in her tears.

"B-But…" Rias stuttered under her breath.

Her uneasiness went away once Akeno wrapped her into a warm hug.

"It's okay to feel frustrated, it's normal, but don't forget to think more about what "you" can do right now to fix things. You'll find a way to overcome that hurdle against Natsuru, but not as you are now. We need our leader, Rias Gremory-Buchou, to be there for us whenever us, servants can't think straight either." Akeno giggled and rubbed Rias' back in a comforting manner, she could hear the light sobs Rias was making into her shoulder and smiled.

It took Rias a couple of minutes to settle down her silent crying before she was able to compose herself.

"So let's go find Michael-kun, okay?" Akeno's lady-like smile returned once Rias broke the hug to finish wiping her eyes of any stray tears.

Once again standing tall, Rias nodded and wore a considerate smile with that confident look in her eye.

"Right, I can't be showing a side like this, right now."

Looking to Raynare and Asia, she apologizes for her past behavior, "Asia…forgive me for my past behavior. I was just so blinded in self-pity that I selfishly took it out on you."

"N-No, it's fine, Buchou, I understand that you were going through a rough time." Asia was considerate and accepted the apology.

But Rias looked to Raynare, who still looked a little mad about the fight they just had.

"And Raynare, I'm sorry, excusing your worries for Michael because I was angry wasn't right at all." Rias bowed her head.

"…" Raynare looked at Rias before rolling her eyes and sighing, "It's okay, I get that you were having a rough time. Even I would be in the same boat as you, if it were to happen in front of me too."

"Thank you…everyone, you've been doing your best, so let's do our best to locate and find Natsuru and save Michael and Shirou."

"Right, Buchou!" Everyone agreed.

Raynare had a sympathetic smile with worry in her eyes, that was when Rias realized very clearly that she, too, was worried about Michael's well-being, no, not just her, she had finally managed to catch glances at the sad looks in everyone's eyes as well. It was totally selfish of her to be so blind to the feelings of her friends in this situation.

 _'_ _I can't believe how horrible I was to them, but not anymore. We have to settle things and figure out everything that Natsuru is planning to do. I may not know if I can change the outcome should I face Natsuru again, but I'm certain enough to believe that things won't end the same way like before.' Rias nods and prepares herself for the time they do find any trace of Natsuru's whereabouts._

"Buchou!"

Soon after, calls for Rias and thumping footsteps entered the room, Kiba and Gasper entered the room with heavy breaths.

"Yuuto and Gasper, what is it?"

"Buchou, we just received a message from Abe-senpai!" Kiba revealed a magic circle with the Gremory family crest.

"What, but that's my family crest only those affiliated with us can… Yuuto start the message!" Rias grasped the identity of who was sending the message.

Kiba nods and starts the message which shows a holographic image of Kiyome standing and transmitting her message:

[Rias-san and everyone, if you get this message then you may already know that I'm already with Michael-kun and his…friend? I don't know, h-he's kind of denying it but I'm getting Tsundere vibes from him.]

[The fuck did you call me, bitch!?]

[Hahaha! She called you a tsundere, and it's so true…!]

Everyone gasped and let out a sigh of relief once they heard Michael's voice, it appears that Kiyome has found a way to get to them without anyone noticing.

[Who are you calling a tsundere, you moron!]

[You of course, and don't call me a moron, you also got captured so you're the moron!]

[You care to repeat that while I bury you 6 feet under!?]

[I wouldn't be surprised if you could you team-killing fuckta-!]

[Would you two be quiet, your shouting is going to get us caught, geez!]

[…You didn't have to shout.]

[Yeah, Kiyome-senpai you could have just asked nicely…]

The hologram message of Kiyome held her head down at the pain of talking with these two impossible men. It made everyone else understand her struggle with those two. Continuing where she left off, Natsuru bowed her head,

[Rias-san, I'm sorry for what Natsu-nee did to you, and I'm sorry for keeping quiet about this, too, I knew that something like this would happen, but I just couldn't believe that she would do it in the end. Right now, we're a little busy with a situation regarding Michael and…Shirou?]

[Yes, that's my name.]

[No, it's Shi-rou!]

[I swear to God-ow!]

[Oh, so you do that, too?]

Everyone sweatdropped at the random comments Michael and Shirou were making, they felt like the two shouldn't necessarily be there.

[Forgive them, but I couldn't use this messaging with the Gremory crest without Michael-kun, his affiliation under the Gremory family as your servant was convenient enough for this. It also makes thing easier for me to summon all of you here. This place is on an island and we're in a facility, and while coming in I heard one of the guards mention how this place works. A barrier is keeping anyone from entering from the outside without a proper magic circle.]

"Making all of our effort to detect them pointless if they are being protected by that barrier." Raynare rubbed her chin.

[But that's where the Gremory crest comes in, I just have to create a large enough magic circle with it to summon everyone here. Apparently, the barrier doesn't work on the inside, which we can use to our advantage. Right now I'm almost done with sketching the circumference of the magic circle and now I just have to finish with the cre-]

The sounds of footsteps filled the message as Kiyome gasps and looks behind herself with some fear in her voice.

[W-What was that?]

[Some of them are coming this way, we have to move…] Michael whispered.

[O-Okay, it looks like we have to find a more secure place to do this, so please wait until we summon you...] Kiyome finished the message and it along with the magic circle vanished.

"A battle is closely approaching, everyone, prepare yourselves for anything once we receive the magic circle to transport us into enemy territory, we're going to blow away all of our enemies. We will end these magic circle jackings and rescue Michael. Do I make myself clear, everyone?"

"Hai, Rias-Buchou!"

Rias told everyone their objective with stern, brighter eyes and a tall standing composure which befitted a leader, she was finally back. Although, she was confident, she was still a little self-conscious about her own strength, but for right now she couldn't just focus about pitying herself. Right now she needed to focus on getting Michael back.

Noticing something, Asia looks from left to right and asks, "Um…where's Koneko-san?"

"Buchou…"

Before anyone could say out their own questions about the Rook's absence, the girl simply walked in dragging someone by the collar of their clothes.

"Koneko? Who is that with you?" Rias asked.

"Someone that I found trespassing the area." Koneko dragged the person to sit right in front of them as everyone's eyes widened at their new arrival.

"You, aren't you…?"

"P-P-Please…Kiyome-neechan…Natsu-nee, I can't find them…could you please take me to them?" Makoto sniffled.

* * *

Back with Michael and the others, their situation has currently changed due to the incoming footsteps they were hearing in the other hallways around them. Carefully advancing through the hallways, they all kept a low profile while searching for a way out. The message they sent out had to be end because of the imminent threat of being caught.

Reaching one corner leading to another hallway, Kiyome was sure that the way to the exit was almost there. They just needed to peer through this one last hallway to check if the coast is clear.

"Hey, check to see if there are any guards there." Shirou looked to Kiyome.

"Why, me?" Kiyome asked.

"Because you obviously came here first so you must know this place inside-out."

"That may be true, but why don't you do it since you're the one obviously closer to peek in on them?" Kiyome gave Shirou a condescending look.

"Well we may be at the wrong place so you go check."

"If you think its the wrong way, then why don't you give it a try?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, who's the one who came here to save us? Oh, that's right, you did." Shirou growled.

"I came to save Michael-kun, your connected to him so you're just an added factor into this." Kiyome placed her hands on her hips and glared at Shirou who glared back with Michael looking at them with a tired expression.

"OK, if you guys are going to be such big babies about a stupid corner, *I'll* check for enemies." He poked his head around the corner, using his eyes to observe what laid beyond. After less than second, Michael immediately pulled away from the corner, taking several steps back with a disturbingly blank expression.

"What's the matter, Mike?" Shirou asked, weirded-out by his friend's behavior.

It took a few moments for Michael to respond, Kiyome nervously hanging behind the pair. She couldn't quite understand what the hold-up was considering what a dire situation they were in at the moment.

"OK, so I got some good news and I got some bad news."

"What's the bad news?"

"There is no good news."

A pause.

"So-wait, there's no news?"

Michael shook his head, "No, the news is that there is no good news."

"What the hell kind of news-reporting is that?" Shirou asked, his left eye twitching in irritation, "I have some good news and I have some bad news."

"What's the good news?"

"There is no bad news."

"...What's the bad news?"

"You're an idiot."

"Michael, will you just tell us what's the matter?!" Kiyome snapped, looking as though she were on the verge of a panic attack.

The Pawn suddenly stiffened, looking attentive once more. "Oh! Right! Uh...We apparently have company..."

"What are you-?" Shirou barely took two steps past his unwanted partner before finding himself face-to-face with a beast with the face of a lion.

GOOOOOOOOOOOON!

Shirou didn't flinch, simply standing there while the lion's breath blew back his hair and spattered his face in saliva. Standing behind the lion-type chimera was what could have qualified as an small army of expendable prison guards.

"OOOOOHHHH, I get it...There is no *good* news because all the news is baaad..."

Another pause enveloped the three unwillingly captive teenagers.

"We should probably run now."

It was the first smart thing Shirou had ever heard coming out of Michael Hanamura's mouth.

"GET THEM!" The lion type chimera pointed at the running teens and pursued after them with their pack of guards closely following behind them.

"Quick, we need to find a safe place to set up the magic circle!" Kiyome was lagging behind the two as the Lion Chimera took this chance as a way to eliminate the slowest of the three by baring its claws.

"The weak ones are always the ones to die first!"

"Kiyome-senpai!" Michael gasped and lagged behind Shirou a little to pull Kiyome up closer to them.

***SLICK!***

"Gah!" Michael's arm took the attack and began to bleed out.

"Michael-kun!"

"Come on, Mike, compared to our fight that shouldn't be anything to you!"

Kiyome gasped out in worry, and even Shirou looked back at the teen's condition too while focusing on running.

"R-Right…" Michael winced and made quick work of Kiyome's deteriorating stamina by carrying her in the bridal position.

"W-Wha-? Michael-kun!?" Kiyome blushed.

"You already did so much for us, so let me carry you whenever you're tired, Kiyome-senpai." Michael grinned at Kiyome.

"O-Okay, I…thank you, Michael."

That reassured, Kiyome so much that she even started flush a little more in the cheeks.

"Look, the way out!"

"We're almost there!" Shirou pointed up ahead as they finally reached the outside which was still dark in the middle of the night.

Despite catching the attention of their enemies they were correct to find that the hallway they entered was in fact leading towards the exit and as soon as they escaped the facility building, they were met with the large expanse of a forest that seemed to fill 75% of the whole island.

"Whoa, Ddraig, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore…" Michael said in awe at the sheer landscape.

**[Of course not we're still in Japan, Michael.]**

"Excuse me for trying to fit a Wizard of Oz reference to lighten the mood!"

Hearing the incoming sounds of footsteps, the group began to think more about how to stay alive.

"Look, we can't fight as we are now, so let's seek shelter in these trees until we get help to come!" Shirou pointed at the forest.

"Right! Here we go!" Michael looked to Kiyome who nodded and held on tightly to him as they ran into the forest blindly finding a safe enough place to rest and summon more help.

Making their way outside the small army of cat chimera guards and the Lion chimera see that their targets were gone. Taking a wild guess, the Lion chimera figured they were going to seek refuge in the forest.

A bad choice on their part since the forest was on their side from the start, especially with their animal senses to help guide them through the sheer darkness the forest has inside of it.

"Begin your search by fanning out, once you find them give us any sign so that we can overwhelm them and finish them off!"

"Yessir!"

The guards began their search by entering the forest in separate directions while the Lion chimera went off on his own search but noticed something wet on the grass in front of him. It was Michael's blood. It was a trail of blood and it was directly leading to his prey.

All the Chimera could do was smirk and crack his knuckles, ready to find his prey and tear them completely open.

"Kikikiki! Oh, this just got a whole easier, it's not even a hunt anymore…" The Lion chimera smirked and chased decided to give his easy prey a handicap by briskly walking through the dark depths of the forest with a growing urge to rip them apart only growing more by each second.

* * *

**Next Chapter- The Occult Research Club Assembles; Devils vs. Chimeras, we'll show you what it happens when you mess with us!**


	43. The Occult Research Club assembles; Devils vs. Chimeras, we'll show you what happens when you mess with us!

**The Occult Research Club assembles; Devils vs. Chimeras, we'll show you what happens when you mess with us!**

* * *

"My, my! What a twist~! A real pookie palooka! A real drumming conundrum! A big-oh, it's just so terrible that I can't come up with any catchier words~!"

In her blood tainted and twisted lab, the female figure was dramatically crying out loud while she was spinning around in a rolling chair. Apparently, she had just seen the escape of Natsuru's prisoners, who were powerless, who couldn't defend themselves against her creations. But what did they do? Yes, those very same weak prisoners escaped from the very same creations, who were powerful enough to stop them.

"But master, you don't seem to be concerned, nya~!"

Cautiously purring to her leader, the tiger woman along with the two other Feline hybrids who captured Michael and Shirou stood behind the hooded woman, who continued to spin around in her chair.

"That's right! That's right!" The figure sang and jumped out of her spinning chair.

"Because this became so entertaining! Watching you all with your animal genetics turn you into natural hunters to hunt down your prey! It's almost like freaking watching the Discovery Channel it's amazing! Also Lookie here~!" The figure pointed to a row of names next to bulbs of lights. They each revealed the status of every active and deceased creation that's out there right now.

Looking closely, the tiger woman blinked as she was the only one who took interest.

"What's this, master?"

"They are chips that I've ingrained into all of your bodies to keep me up to date about each of your statuses. Whether your alive or mashed up into a bloody stew of flesh, broken bones and splattered guts."

"Kya! The way you described that made my skin crawl! Nya~!"

The tiger woman shivered and hugged herself in fear.

The hooded female sat back in her rolling chair and rolled back towards the panel of lights.

"Oh don't worry, you three are an exception. The ones outside, however, aren't… If they die to them, then they weren't worthy enough to get my attention."

Looking at the panel of lights, she noticed that each bulb was dying after 5 or 10 minutes passed. She was really disappointed that her creations were being killed by a pair of teenagers, but the fact that those boys were still able to hold their own after having their power dampened showed that things would get even more interesting in the future. But even so, for them all to escape like that was just another factor to how incompetent her other chimera soldiers were.

"Dying by the hands of those insignificant kids, if we have guys like that on our side then we shouldn't bother ourselves worrying about them." The Panther man said, coldly.

"Kikikiki! That's right, that's right! If they can't cut it then let them roll over and die!" The Cheetah man laughed.

"Hm…If they don't make it then I'm not interested either. I only like the strong guys, nya…" The tiger woman traced a finger on her chin and looked up.

Despite being on the same side, these three didn't naturally care for their subordinates, it was about survival of the fittest to them. If the others prove to be strong by surviving then good for them, if they die then they die.

"But either way, I feel as though we should do something to capture the escaped prisoners." The hooded woman rubbed her chin before looking back to her three creations.

"What is Nat-Nat doing right now? It would be a shame if she were to hear of this?" The hooded woman asked.

"Natsuru-sama is currently freshening up in her quarters to begin her copulation with the Red Dragon Emperor host. She requested that we bring him to her after she was finished."

The Cheetah man explained, with the Tiger woman looking quite jealous that Natsuru was getting a crack at one of the two they captured.

"Oooohoooooo~! So Nat-Nat wants to go straight into it, eh? She's still so young, but already wants to make babies that quickly? It's a shame that her boy-toy escaped before they could get into it. What a shame indeed!"

The hooded woman cooed and wailed.

"So does that mean you want us to capture them alive, again!?" The tiger woman breathed heavily, she could probably get away with a few things before she handed them back to Natsuru.

"No."

"Eh? But isn't it bad if they find a way to escape, nya?"

"Not to mention that Natsuru-sama would be pissed."

"…"

The three genetically enhanced chimeras looked to their original master for answers.

"And how do you suppose they'll escape, hm?" The hooded woman said, "With the use of a magic circle? Even though we raised a barrier to jam anyone that activated one? Using their powers, that have been dampened because of the handcuffs I enhanced? Nope, none of them will escape, But if I was a betting girl, I'd say they were probably trying to summon help."

"Really, nya?"

"Ufufu, I did create this place's jamming system and barrier by the way. It's impossible to track this location and teleport to it on the outside. It would be a different story if they summoned someone here instead."

"But shouldn't the magic circles here be jammed, so it's pointless." The Cheetah man said.

"Yes, it would be if it were any ordinary magic circle, but if it was a direct summoning circle then it would be a different story. Only devils who belong in a clan can execute that."

"And we captured devils so why shouldn't we go after them, Master, nya?" The tiger woman asked.

"Because…" The hooded woman sighed and giggled, "Isn't the thrill of suspense the best?"

"Eh?"

"..?"

The three hybrid chimera didn't know how to respond to their master's question.

"Just think about it. A battle between the strong and the weak. Big animals vs. small animals. David vs. Goliath! All of that good shiz... Between my creations and the weakened dragons, who would win? There's no question that number 5, wait, no since the original number 4 is dead then I guess Lion-kun would be four now. Anyways, it would still be in his favor if he were to gang up on them, but as it is now, they could barely capture the little rats. Even if the standings aren't in their favor, the escapees still fight! Isn't it just fun to give them that chance while they get whittled down?"

"But what if there's the off chance that they kill all of them in the process?"

"Then you guys end things by going in yourselves to capture the two exhausted captives. Make sure to kill any surviving failures if you come across them, if the majority fail, then the rest should be discarded as well. So when the time is right, have a super spectacular happy hunting~!"

The hooded woman may have been excited to see the outcome and potential that these devils had, but at the same time, she was absolutely livid and tried to mask it with her over the top cute voice. In the end, the captives did escape with the help of some sneaky rat, who snuck through their tightened defenses and freed them. Being lenient as to send her three top chimera wouldn't change that fact.

They're on their own now, if they could redeem themselves, then they were worth further experimenting on, if not, then they could just die and spare her the memory of ever bothering to make them a successful creation in the first place.

"You want us to capture the one who broke them out of their cell, too?" The panther man for the first time spoke, he wants to know for certain if they should leave the one who started all of this alive or not.

The hooded woman took a moment to think it through and looked back up at the past surveillance recordings. Glossing over the figure of the infiltrator while going over the guesses and possibilities through her mind, she was able to come to a conclusion with a smirk hidden beneath her hood, her voice no longer high and creepily cheery anymore.

"I remembered one thing that Nat-Nat told me once, and that was to make this operation completely sound with no interruptions, no loose ends, and definitely no interferers. No matter who they seem to be, they must be taken care of. So when you capture the two captives and you see the stealthy sneak who caused all of this with, then I want you to end her life as soon as possible."

"Wait "her" so you already know who it is, nya?" The tiger-woman asked.

"Uh-huh, but that doesn't matter now. All I want you to do, if the others down there don't get it taken care of, is to kill the one person who broke them free. They're the biggest threat to everything we've worked for, so show no mercy when you see them. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Master." The three loyal chimera bowed to their leader.

"Good, now run off all of you~! Go make yourselves scarce before I give the signal~!" The woman returned to using her cute over the top voice again.

"And should Natsuru-sama ask us of the current situation?"

"Hmm…sure, you can tell only if she asks for the information, if not then don't worry about spilling the beans." The woman found that if that were to happen then it would be best to spill the beans, either way whether she knows or not makes no difference about the fun that will ensue.

"Now you're all dismissed." With that the three chimera leave the hooded woman to her lonesome in her lab as she glosses over the panel of lights depicting the status of her remaining creations. Almost a third of them have been wiped out ever since they entered the forest.

"Ufufufufu, ara ara, how pitiful they're dropping like flies, but that's good... The more that die, the more that tire our adorable captives~! I wonder where number 4 is? Probably is getting close to finding them or killing the one that broke them out."

She had only wished that she could have installed some surveillance in the forest, but the suspense of not knowing only drove her into keeping a closer eye out for the fallen chimeras who were slowly dying. But the only one that she focused on was the Lion Chimera's status, until he dies then things will finally end for the escapees and their little friend.

"Now let's see who can survive out there the longest. You, devils, or my creations…" The woman huskily whispered as her attention was completely on the panel.

* * *

The sound of pattering water filled a huge shower facility as Natsuru bathed inside of the warm water. She made sure to clean any lingering sweat she may have procured from her plan. However, she wasn't all that sweaty because the entire thing went off without a hitch, there was no challenge that she didn't find difficult when in the farce set up for a carnival.

Her opponent wasn't even worth acknowledging, she could have ended her life if she had wanted to, but it would have been pointless like the opponents' vain attempt to overpower her with just her natural given devil ability.

"Finally…" Natsuru slowly pushes some of her hair away from her eyes. Her expression was content and she knew that things were as they should be, in her favor. There would be no one to interfere with her and there is definitely no one powerful enough to even make her reconsider her plans.

The game has been set.

_'_ _Gremory-san, you may have prospered this far with the help of your servant, but I'll do much bigger things with him on my side.' Natsuru let out a kittenish giggle, while placing a finger on her mischievous smile._

"The Red Dragon Emperor, an amazing asset like that will make a suitable stepping stone for my fallen race's revival. It will probably take a while, breaking Michael-kun's spirit will be difficult, but if push comes to shove, I'll just utilize any method I can to get what I need."

Natsuru rubs her stomach gently.

"Maybe I'll be lucky enough to give birth to a strong enough child with our session, perhaps they will inherit his dragon aura. Ufufu, who knows, maybe I could give birth to a pair of twins so the other wouldn't be so lonely." Natsuru licked her lips as she lazily reveled in the warm water, "If I could add more powerful kin to my race, then I could slowly raise its standings against even the devils. We won't be just a minority amongst the other youkai anymore."

Natsuru knew how serious a matter this was and was willing to go through with it even if it meant she had to do a few questionable things to accomplish her task. It was her responsibility to pick up the broken pieces of her fallen kin that were killed right in front of her. The method didn't matter anymore, she was so caught up with completing this task that she even used the same tactics that "they" did back then against her entire race.

All of this, she would commit heinous crimes, hurt even the loved ones of others and break even the proudest of people because of just a single promise she made.

"Makoto-chan…" The smiling face of her little brother flashed through her mind, her eyes showed a faint look of sadness before she says, "Don't worry, your Onee-chan will make sure your dream will come true…"

She began to think about Makoto's friendship with Michael and went over the details on how she could break Michael enough to be absolutely loyal to him, it would save her the heartache of seeing her little brother potentially losing one of the first friends he's ever had.

But that thought wouldn't assure her of a clear conscious about her family considering she was taking her little sister's fiancé. Making a plan to appease Makoto's worries would be easy since he wouldn't catch on, but what she was doing right now wasn't going to get past Kiyome's attention. She would probably have to think of a plan sooner on how to handle her when she finds out, but until then she'll do her best to comfort her.

She could only do this much for her sister, despite being the cause of her eventual depression. Doing this for her shows how much trust and devotion she has for Kiyome as her older sister. She loved both of her siblings and didn't want them to be indirect victims to her actions, but any precautions made would lessen the guilt she would get by getting them involved.

"Kiyo-chan, please, just endure it. You'll understand one day. Just like Makoto-chan, I'll make sure you won't suffer because I'm your older sister. Even if we don't share the same blood, I'll always consider you as my family after all that you've done for me and Makoto-chan."

Natsuru smiled and reminisced about the past, back then it would have been just her and Makoto drifting around with no home to stay in. They could never return to the home that was taken from them, so they drifted and drifted to the point of complete exhaustion. Wandering was all they could do and with no food to give them the energy they needed, they eventually broke down and settled in a small town to slowly regain their energy by stealing and scrounging off of the food of any careless humans.

It would always be her responsibility to keep her brother well fed before she could eat herself. She would always place his wellbeing above her own, and that was why she kept feeding him all of the available food she had kept for herself. Neglecting her own appetite, she was close to verge of death from starvation and one day fainted during one of her scrounging runs. With no more energy left to even lift a finger, she would have died a pathetic death and by extension soon enough Makoto would follow along with her.

The shape the two were in was already worse for wear as they pushed themselves too hard to survive all at once.

It would have been her last moments in this world had it not been for the curious and sympathetic kindness that a young Kiyome showed to her that day. As soon as she caught a glimpse of Natsuru's injured body, she didn't even hesitate at all to call her parents for help. Natsuru was at a lost of words mostly because of her loss of energy but also because of the kindness this true Samaritan showed for her. Doing her best to mumble some words, she was able to reveal of Makoto's nearby location and with a plea begged her to him before herself.

And with a smile, a bright smile that Natsuru still to do this day could never forget, Kiyome agreed to do her best to help her sibling once they found him, and they did without any problems. Of course, the identity of their true forms were revealed to their saviors, but that didn't change their hospitality towards them. Kiyome and her parents were already accustomed to supernatural creatures and only welcomed the fact that they had the chance to meet even more newer ones.

It didn't take that long for them to be accepted by the rest of them. Soon enough, Kiyome grew attached to the two siblings while they stayed to regain their strength. Not being able to do much, Natsuru was grateful that Kiyome was able to fill in for her and watch over Makoto who soon saw her as just another older sister. And soon enough as enough time passed, it was natural for the two to be around the Abe household and soon enough they were gradually accepted into the family after Kiyome's parents saw how attached she grew to them.

Because of the kindness that Kiyome exhibited to them, she was able to live up to this very day. Wronging the person, who not only saved her life, but also the life of her little brother's too, was something she couldn't bring herself to even fathom.

"No, I can worry about that later." Shaking off her worries, Natsuru turned off the shower and stood inside of the steamy stall with a smirk, "Pointlessly worrying about the future won't do, I just need to do what I already can now. Which is make sure nothing gets in the way of my plan."

The image of her hooded contributor reminded her of something crucial in the very future.

"Even if I have to get rid of the support that I've been given so far." Natsuru said with a slowly, but subtle killing intent in her words. It was understandable now that she's gotten what she wanted, there was no more use for them unless something like the devils locating them for an attack should it happen then she would hold that thought until it was completely over.

"So far, I can rely that they can at least handle a simple job of bringing Michael-kun to me when I ask them to." Natsuru exits the shower to dry herself off to prepare for her tryst with the restrained Red Dragon Emperor, still not knowledgeable about their current escape. If she could, she would have at least felt a spike in their energy signatures should they have escaped with their restraints off.

"Now what would be the most appropriate thing to wear for an occasion like this?" Natsuru naughtily cooed as she went through her lingerie filled wardrobe.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the forest just outside of the facility.

***CHING!* *CHING!***

"Whoa there! Where do you think you're going!?"

"You're going down, cat-guy!"

The sounds of chains jostled as they were tied around the throat of a chimera soldier who was caught in his pursuit for the escaped captives. Standing on both sides of the captured creature while tugging their chains, Michael and Shirou had to make do with what they got so they used the long chain of their handcuffs to their advantage along with their heightened devil senses to try and predict the movement of any incoming chimeras.

"Graauk! Damn you, two! Just you wait when I get out of this-!"

"Save it, freak, you were after us first, so we decided to get rid of you before you got rid of us!"

Tugging the chain even harder the two of them made sure that the chimera wasn't going to be given a chance to escape. Knowing that he would lose the vying battle to prevent his windpipe from breaking, the chimera slowly released one hand and tried to sneak something out of his pocket.

Eyes widening, Shirou shouted, "He's pulling a fast one like the others! Pull harder now!"

"Huraaaaah!"

"Gyaaack!"

***SNAP!***

The sickening sound of the chimera's breath being strangled filled the forest around them while being followed by a loud snap of his neck. He was dead.

Releasing the deceased chimera, Shirou wiped his forehead and walked over to the corpse and took from it a flare.

"This one was so close to revealing where we were this time." Shirou said as he tossed the flare aside and shook his head as he walked back with Michael who looked back at the dead body of the chimera.

"Yeah, but he gave us an opening so we managed to make quick work of him." Michael scratched his cheek as he thought back on the past catches they were able to make. Fleeing into the forest was the only thing that they could think of at the time and they knew that the chimera would obviously chase after them so quick off the bat, so they decided to keep them at bay by getting rid of the closest chimera approaching the location they've currently been hiding in.

"Guess your right about something." Shirou said.

"Now that we handled that guy, lets hurry back and see if Kiyome-senpai finished the summoning circle." Michael grinned.

It was actually their idea to make use of their weakness to be their main strength by using the chain to wrap around the chimera's neck. Even if you were to be a powerful monster, you would still drop dead after having your windpipe broken.

They trudged back a couple of miles into a vast forest clearing which was one out of the many others they passed. Moving deeper into the forest when they were retreating they needed to find a safe place to hide far enough so that they can stop any enemies from interrupting their plan to summon to the entire Occult Research Club to their location.

But to do that they needed time to craft it and the only one who's able to do that was Kiyome, who stayed behind at the clearing.

Arriving back, the two see that the magic circle was almost complete with the base of it finally completed. Kiyome exhaled in relief once she finished creating the perfect circumference for the circle, but once she heard the sound of footsteps approaching she jumps up and gasps in fright and turns back to see that it was just Michael and Shirou returning from another perimeter check.

"Oh my goodness! You two almost gave me a heart attack." Kiyome breathed out.

"We're all done with clearing the area." Michael said.

"So do you have that magic circle done yet or what?" Shirou asked.

"Well, if you must know, I just need to create the Gremory family crest along with using Michael-kun's blood to activate it." Kiyome pulled out a small vile filled with Michael's blood the attack he shielded her from made it easy for her to procure a big enough sample.

"So how long will that take?"

"It shouldn't be too hard. So probably 5 minutes."

The thought of having that much time made everyone wonder if they could hold out for that long. More and more of those chimeras were reaching this spot and they're numbers compared to theirs were still giving them the advantage.

"So all we have to do is hold these guys off until those 5 minutes are over?" Michael said looking over to Kiyome.

"Well, 5 minutes is the expected time, but it may go over a minute or two depending on any mistakes I made." Kiyome explained then looked closely at Michael's bleeding arm.

"Hah! An extra minute won't change a thing! I'll show you how I get things done no problem!" Michael grinned cracked his knuckles.

"Shush! Keep your voice down, stupid. You're gonna get us caught!" Shirou slapped Michael's head.

"Ouch! Hey what was that for, and why are you shouting at me about being quiet when you're as loud as me, Hypocrite!" Michael rubbed his head.

"Out of the both of us, you keep cheering loudly every time we kill one of the things, and now your yelling when we're trying to speed things up for this summoning to work." Shirou growled.

"Geez…fine, but still my head hurts…a lot…" Michael complained.

"Michael-kun." Kiyome approached Michael, worriedly.

"Yes, senpai?"

"How is your arm?" Kiyome reached for Michael's bleeding arm.

"You mean this?" Michael looked at it, which also caught Shirou's attention.

"Holy shit! How long have you left it like that!?" Shirou said and looked at Michael for his strange inability to bring up the injury.

"Actually, it all started when…oh…" Michael realized something.

"What?" Shirou questioned the pause to his explanation.

"Shh…your yelling is going to get us caught…" Michael shushed at Shirou.

"You know just because I can't use my powers doesn't mean I don't know how to break an arm." Shirou threatened Michael who sweatdropped.

"Michael-kun, can I see?" Kiyome pushed Shirou to the side to approach Michael.

"Sure."

Compliantly letting her see it, Michael gave Kiyome his hand to examine.

"Does it still hurt?" Kiyome felt some pain once she saw the deep wounds embedded on his arm and wrist.

"Actually the pain stopped a while ago, but for some reason it's still bleeding a little. Don't worry, it'll stop eventually." Michael passed it off as a temporary bother.

Looking at Michael closely, Kiyome needed ask another question, "Okay. Let me ask you another question. Can you feel anything with this arm?" Kiyome bounced the arm up in her arm and expected Michael to react on the pain, but he didn't at all.

"…" Rubbing the shoulder of his limp arm, with some alarm on his face, Michael's face began to grow pale as he slumped down and muttered, "B-But I still don't f-feel the pain, so that's normal, r-right?"

Covering her mouth, Kiyome gasped, "Oh good lord, you've been bleeding out… Oh my god, you've been bleeding out this entire time!? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't think it would be this big of a problem." Michael exclaimed.

"Well, it is because your veins were torn up and is the cause of all of this blood leakage." Kiyome pointed at the trail of blood dripping off of Michael's injured arm.

"We need to tighten the injury around the arm with a bandage, but we don't have one, so we have to find a substitute." Kiyome looked around frantically before turning back to Shirou who looked at her strangely.

"What?" Shirou blinked.

"Your sleeves." Kiyome said.

"Yeah, what about them?" Shirou slowly said.

***RIIP!***

"Would this work?" Michael said after ripping one of Shirou's sleeves right off without his consent.

"…"

Looking at his bare arm then back at Michael, Shirou gave Michael a death glare which was powerful enough to make him notice.

"Oh my…uh…yeah. Just let me tie it for you, while I stand riiight here..." Kiyome scooted in between Shirou and Michael to prevent the young man from attacking the injured teen.

"M-Michael-kun…" Kiyome whispered low enough to Michael, "I think you should say something to him before he gets really mad."

"Oh, don't worry, I know exactly what to say." Michael whispered back with a wink.

Using his free hand, Michael pats Shirou on his naked shoulder and nodded, "Thank you for your noble sacrifice, Shi-rou, I swear it won't be in vain."

"I meant an apology!" Kiyome tightened the knot of Michael's makeshift bandaged arm enough to make him flinch back in pain.

Breathing in sharply, Shirou shakes his head, "You know what? After all that's happened today, I'm not surprised you would say that. So I'll just let it pass for now and…" Shirou touches the shoulder that Michael touched and paused, "What the hell is this?"

"Oh crap, I forgot that I had some blood on my hand and accidentally rubbed it on you." Michael nervously chuckled, "So are you still mad or…"

"…You know what fuck it!" Shirou's calm expression slowly turned to that of pure rage before he sternly said this is a resolute yet dark voice, "You filthy, god damn son of a bitch! I will smother you in your sleep and bury you alive! I will kick your ass from here to the darkest, vilest pits of the Underworld, you disgusting bastard!"

Looking at each other after that released display of anger, Michael and Kiyome were a little cautious of Shirou until he breathed out in relief.

"Whew…my bad didn't mean to spring that up on you, I just felt really mad and needed to say all of th-"

"Shush! You're going to get us caught." Michael shushed.

"They'll never find your body." Shirou threatened.

Breaking the growing tension, Kiyome finished covering Michael's wound, cutting off his blood loss.

"You're good to go now. Please be sure to tell us about this or we would have had to worry about you and making contact with the others." Kiyome may have not meant to but she scolded Michael for his reckless behavior.

Rubbing his patched up arm with a dubious expression, Michael said and raised his hands up defensively, "R-Right, I'll make sure not to make the same mistake twice, okay?"

"Are you sure?" Kiyome poked Michael's chest, she wasn't too sure about that and needed to hear a complete and honest promise.

_'_ _Geez, it's almost like she's interrogating me…' Michael's eyebrow twitched._

"Absolutely, I promise to speak up next time." Michael nervously chuckled.

"That's better." Kiyome looks back at Michael fiddling with his injuries before saying, "I'm sorry about your injuries though."

"Huh?"

"If I wasn't a burden back there then you wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first pla-." Kiyome started to blame herself.

"Boo!" But a poke to the head from Michael stopped her, "Don't go thinking like that, senpai. It's not your fault that you were attacked so don't worry about it."

Kiyome rubbed her forehead and looked at Michael with a little guilt.

"After you risked your neck to save us, I wouldn't dare start to blame you for getting myself hurt, and besides it was my choice to take the hit for you, so don't beat yourself up about it, kay?" Michael lightly tapped Kiyome's forehead again but this time he did it in a gentler manner than before.

The gentle physical contact made her cheeks flush a little as she looks up at his bright smile.

"So don't worry too much about it and don't worry too much about me because soon we'll handle all of this and see Natsuru-senpai together. So let's do our best."

Slowly nodding, Kiyome smiles and says,

"Thank you, Michael-kun, for still believing in Natsu-nee. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who still feels that way about her."

"Hey, she's my senpai too, so I'll do whatever it takes to straighten things out with her." Michael said.

The two forgot about their third party member, who turned away and said,

"My, my, you two are looking at each other so passionately."

Michael and Kiyome had turned a little red when they turned back to see Shirou facing the other way commenting about that little moment they had.

"Makes me feel like I'm the odd man out. Maybe I need to pick a song to sing, so I can block out the eventual making out you engaged idiots will be doing."

"I-It's not like that." Kiyome shook her like mad after hearing that implication.

"No, no…it's cools. I understand how it is because you two are engaged and all, but if you want to get all close and stuff, then you can. But let me give you a piece of some advice, before you two start to get into this romantic scene maybe you would like to get back to making sure we get out of this mess alive!"

Shirou said with a pushy tone.

"Aw…Shirou you seem to be very stressed right now. Do you, do you need a hug?" Michael opened his arms.

"No, don't touch me! We're still in the middle of trying to get the upper hand on the enemy! So shut up and-!"

"Hey, Shirou."

"What?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Well, what!?"

"Is it your time of the month?"

"I swear to god, Mike! Just one pillow is all I need to shut you up for good!"

"But he's right, messing around will prolong our chances of getting out of this mess. I'll just go back to carving out the magic circle." Kiyome picked up her long stick and continued to draw the seal inside of the blank circle. It wouldn't be an effective circle if her hands were unsteady so she has to do things slowly and precise.

"As for us, we have to be prepared for when one of those creatures get close to this spot. So move it." Shirou yanked on the chain of the handcuffs and forcibly tugged Michael to follow him.

"Hey, why don't you try asking me to follow you, you bastard?" Michael grunted and rubbed the chafing wrist Shirou tugged his arm with, "I'm not a dog, you know."

"Well, at least a dog would actually listen unlike you." Shirou groaned and started walking towards the trees, "Let's get moving, I think we have another one closing in."

"Fine…let me lead the w-whoa!"" Michael got interrupted by tugging back on the chain Shirou.

"You must be out of your mind if you think I'm letting you lead. You've already done enough to piss me off, and I don't want to get an aneurysm because of you. I'm leading and I'm going to make sure that we get rid of this next scrub, do you understand?" Shirou turned around, but still looked back at Michael who was staring into the dark depths of the forest, he could faintly see the outlining of some tall bush behind Shirou. But the darkness the forest was surrounded in was making it hard to vaguely see anything.

_'_ _Is that thing moving?' Michael looked at the outlining of the object within the darkness and noticed something. It was moving slow, so slow that he couldn't even tell by a first glance. Perhaps if his eyes weren't more attuned to the darkness then he would have missed that the object wasn't just any insignificant bush!_

Michael quickly grabbed onto the chain of the handcuffs and shouted.

"Look out, Shirou! Behind you!"

"Hm?" Shirou was confused and considered the warning by looking back.

"TOO LATE!"

But once he realized that it was already too late because out from the shadows appeared a large clawed hand to lacerate Shirou's neck.

"Get over here!" Michael pulled the chain and by extension Shirou without constraint of using his strength. However, he didn't take into account how much strength he was using and threw Shirou up in the air.

"WHOA!"

"WAH!"

Because of the handcuffs linking them together, Michael was pulled up into the air too and followed Shirou on his way back to the ground where they stuck a shaky landing.

"Gyah! Dammit, that hurts!" Shirou rubbed his pained bottom.

"Argh! My ass! My ass!" Michael cried and rolled around over the ground.

"What happened, you two?" Kiyome tried to approach the boys, but was stopped by Michael's raised hand. She caught the humorless expression he was wearing as he glared through the shadows of the tall trees.

"Stay back, senpai…" Michael was crouching down as Shirou propped himself up on a knee.

"Dammit, I can't believe how careless I was!" Shirou blamed the handcuffs for dampening his abilities. Whoever it was that attacked him must have completely concealed their presence for them to not even notice.

"Shucks! I missed, next time I'll have to do better to not get detected." Walking from out of the shadows was the very same leader of the chimera soldiers who attacked them in the facility. It was a large and muscular lion-man chimera who wore torn black clothing that matched with the other low ranking chimeras.

"Grr! We've been found out!" Michael growled.

"Just how the hell did you know we were here?" Shirou glared at the big chimera.

"It wasn't hard to find a couple of rats. Also the screaming gave you all away at the last minute." The lion chimera sized up each of his prey while talking to them.

Staring accusingly at Shirou, Michael and Kiyome sighed and said, "Way to go…"

"O-Oi!" Shirou growled and was embarrassed that everything was led to being his fault.

"You seriously suck at keeping your mouth sh-!"

"No, shut up, you don't have any right to say that to me!"

Shirou interrupted Michael from saying something very ironic.

"Heh! Still doesn't disprove that you caused all of this to happen!" Michael said.

"The screaming was just a bonus compared to the trail of blood I followed to get halfway here. And when the trail ended, I just sampled some of the blood and followed your scent." The lion chimera tapped his nose, saying that he smelled his way here.

Everyone looked at Michael's bandaged arm then back to him with mad looks as he simply coughs.

"Oh…" Michael gulped.

***SMACK!***

"Ow!"

"Idiot!" Shirou smacks Michael from behind the head.

"Now that we've confirmed things, how should we go about doing this?" The Lion chimera confidently approached the three and stretched out his clawed hands.

"Do what?" Michael asked.

"I mean how should we handle capturing you all? I know the choice you weaklings have don't matter to the real strong ones, but I'd like to know how you want things to go down. We can do this the easy way or my personal favorite, the hard way? The choice is yours." The Lion-man bared his sharp teeth with a huge grin.

"Give us a sec." Shirou raised his index finger.

"What? No, you have to decide right n-!"

"Sir, sir! We just need to discuss things so would you please give us some time to think of our answer?" Michael shouted.

"But I-!" The Lion-man began

Shirou whispered into Michael's ear.

"Also you hurt Shirou's feelings by almost denying the request. Say you're sorry!" Michael shouted.

"You have got to be kidding me, why should I?"

"Hey, man. We all have feelings how would you like it if we just trampled all over your feelings and hurt them, huh? Would you feel good?"

"W-Well, no actually not at all."

"Well, you hurt Shirou's feelings. Now say you're sorry!" Michael placed a hand onto his chest.

"I'm sorry." Kiyome couldn't believe her ears, he actually made this monster apologize.

"Good, now the healing can begin. Do you have anything else you want to say, Shirou?" Shirou whispered into Michael's ear one last time.

"Really?"

"Yup."

"Are you sure?"

"I can do it if you want." Shirou shrugged.

"No, no. It's just the apology then this?" Michael bit his knuckle while Shirou shrugged in a uncaring manner.

"Well, okay. Also, Shirou wants to thank you and also says to "Go fuck yourself" by the way." Michael said nonchalantly which angered the Lion chimera.

_'_ _Anger...rising!' The Lion-man thought and was THIS close to just killing them all._

Getting close enough to still stay within the sights of the magic circle, Kiyome whispered, "What are we going to do? You guys can't fight him that thing, your powers are all gone."

"We can try fighting him but we should focus on stalling." Shirou said.

"Do you think he has more of his soldiers around?" Kiyome asked.

"I only saw his shadow, so I think it's just him for now." Michael inferred.

"Then shouldn't we be careful in case he signals them?" Kiyome looked between the two, worriedly.

"This guy won't be doing that anytime soon." Shirou noticed the overconfidence the chimera had, "He's probably too confident that we're powerless to match his current strength. So he thinks that no assistance is necessary. We'll use that to our advantage."

Michael thought about that and said, "Eventually, he will call for help so we have to stall him until that happens, right?"

"Bingo."

"Hey, senpai, do you know how long it will take to finish that magic circle?" Michael turned back to Kiyome who looked at the half finished work she's done.

"About three more minutes is all I need. But the time won't be exactly at that minute it could take a couple of more seconds if the activation time is slow."

"I think this guy could take us out in under 30 seconds, but if its 3 minutes then I guess we'll have to do our best." Shirou groaned then looked between the two and raised his hands to either of them, "I know I'll regret asking but do either of you know how to be extremely annoying so we can piss this guy off?"

Shirou immediately looked at Michael who was giving him that knowing smile.

"Ugh…well do you?" Shirou rolled his eyes.

"I'll do it, only if you promise to do two things for me." Michael raised 3 fingers.

"Should have seen this coming. Okay, what do you want?"

"First, I want a rematch."

"What?"

"A rematch. Not after this thing is sorted out, but a rematch someday after I get strong enough. I want a rematch because after that fight I had with you, I realized that I still had way more things to take care of before I can face you again." Michael also included Vali too. Both Shirou and Vali were now people, he needed to face after getting enough control and power to surpass them.

"If that is all then I can make that promise, no sweat." Shirou grinned challengingly and raised his fist.

"Good." Michael raised his fist and fist pounded with Shirou.

"Now onto my last request."

"Hm?" Shirou blinked as Michael leaned in to whisper something to him and pulled back.

"That it?" Shirou asked.

"Yup, so are we good?"

"No complaints so far? Heh, who'd knew I'd get to do that in the place of my rival. This will make a very delicious victory on my part."

Facing the Lion-chimera together, the two young men stood in front of Kiyome who proceeded to draw out the magic circle's crest.

"So we've been talking and…" Michael began.

"We'll take the hard way." Shirou finished.

The Lion-man's muscles pulsated as his eyes grew redder, his teeth were now bared to threaten them.

"Are you sure? Because before you make that choice let me tell you that I am the fourth strongest out of the others. My power is on a whole other scale compared to those weakling soldiers I control. Now do you understand what could happen if you mess with my might?"

"Fourth strongest? Wasn't there a guy like that we fought?"

"And I killed, remember?"

Michael and Shirou remembered the Chimera, who proclaimed that title back at that fake carnival.

"…!" The Lion-man almost bit his tongue when he heard that, "You must have been hearing things."

"No, pretty sure he called himself the fourth strongest. Well, not anymore because that guys deader than Aaron's love life."

"I don't know who this Aaron is, but he sounds more disappointing than Saji." Michael said.

"Huh? Wow…Saji…that sounds kind of disappointing, too." Shirou scratched his head.

"So since this guy is the fourth strongest now, then doesn't that mean he earned that title by default?" Michael gasped in surprise.

"Grrr! You'd better watch your mouth, boy!"

"Hahahahaha! So it is true, you did earn that by default! Aren't you supposed to be the king of all cats because you're a lion? But I guess not since you had to claim the rank of fourth strongest! Hehehehe...Bwahahaha…!" Michael laughed

"Grrrrrrgh! Hard way it is then!" The Lion-man leans down and prepares to pounce on them with his razor edged claws. His hind legs were pulsing as he lunged at them with the built up energy he placed in them.

"You punks, I won't walk away after wounding my pride!"

"Here he comes!"

"Hit the deck!" Michael shouted.

"No, wait, stop!"

By dodging to the left, Michael accidentally pulled Shirou with him as the Lion-man's claws made contact with the ground and created a medium sized crater.

"Idiot, we're chained together! You can't just jump ahead like that!" Shirou shouted.

"Then just follow my lead!" Michael pointed at himself.

"No, you'll have to follow my lead!" Shirou growled and got up, but Michael shushed him.

"No, follow my  **lead!"** Michael winked.

"I don't get what you're saying." Shirou shook his head.

"My  **lead!"** Michael winked.

"Just because you do the same weird thing the first time doesn't mean I'll get it the second time." Shirou shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"You weasly, little-!" The Lion-man got back up and charged at Michael and Shirou while thrusting his clawed hand at them, more likely Michael who didn't notice the attack on time.

"Grgh!" Shirou pulled the cuff chain to drag Michael out of the attack's range.

"Drat!" The Lion-man clicked his tongue.

"Hah, you missed, and you call yourself the King of Animals? Pfft! You really suck, y'know?" Michael insulted the chimera. He was to act like the diversion until Kiyome was finished with the magic circle, all Shirou needed to do was act like his back up.

"Tch! I'm really going to tear out that throat of yours!"

"Yeah, right! Like you can even do that! Fourth Best! Oh, wait a minute, Fourth best by default!" Michael squats down and puts his hand in the dirt.

"Graaaaaaaaargh!" The chimera growled and took the bait and raised his hand to swipe at their defenseless bodies.

"What? You mad bro!?" Michael smirked.

_'_ _Just a little more and…!' Shirou thought as he sidestepped once the chimera got close enough and pulled Michael out of the way._

"Whew! That was a close one! NOT!" Michael threw some dirt at the Chimera's eyes.

"Gyaaaaaaargh!" The lion-man cried out in pain and held his dirtied eye.

"Yeah, got him!" Michael grinned then gasped when he realized the world around him was spinning, "Wuh-whoa! What's happening!?"

Spinning Michael around in a circle, Shirou roared like a mad man as he spun on his heel to increase the speed he was going at, "Uooooooooooh!" Taking a single step to stop himself, Shirou leans in closer to the wincing lion chimera and tried to stall the built up kinetic force of his swinging.

_'_ _What are they- no, stay concentrated. I only have this last rune to carve out until I'm done.' Kiyome thought as she proceeded to do that._

"Shirou, what are you doing!?" Michael mumbled as he tried to compose his dizzy self.

"The hell is this!?" Even the Lion chimera was at a loss of words as he saw the incoming teen hold back the semi-airborne Michael.

"Prepare to taste my new attack,  **Human Flail!"**

"I'm the Human Flail!? No, stop, this is gonna hurt me, dude!" Michael screamed.

"Don't worry, I'm following your lead!"

"That's not what I me-!"

***THUD!***

"Byergh!"

Shirou roared and released the chain and slammed Michael atop of the Lion Chimera's head slamming him into the ground with some minor damage.

"Ouch! Damn it that hurts!" Michael jumped up and bounced around rubbing his back in pain.

"Wow, that actually worked." Shirou rubbed his chin.

"You psycho! Warn me next time!" Michael cried.

"Okay, so how about you act as the  **Human Shield** next time?"

"You know, how about we take turns being the flail? Now let me swing you around like a ragdoll!" Michael grabbed the chain.

"No way, you're the decoy, now prepare to shield me with your body, test dummy!" Shirou pulled the chain, too.

"So my name is Test dummy now, huh, Test dummy # 2?"

"Don't call me that and you #2, I'm obviously #1!"

"No, I'm afraid I'm number one here, Number two!"

Arguing like a couple of immature children, Michael and Shirou were not taking notice of the growing shadow right behind them.

It only took Kiyome a mere second to see their progress and gasp while screaming, "Both of you, look out!"

"Huh?"

"Oh shit…"

The Lion-man stood over the pair with his one good eye glaring down at them, his body was emanating a fierce killing intent which momentarily paralyzed everyone. Trembling, the Lion-man started to shout, "I am officially One-Hundred and Ten Percent done!"

"Hah! Who ever heard of the King of all animals having to use their full power right off the bat? Geez, you really are living up to that fourth strongest title. Oops, sorry. That's a title you didn't earn yourself, right?"

"UOOOOOOOOOH!"

"I know that wasn't necessary, and this might come back to bite us in the ass. But kudos, Mike. I'm actually proud of you for once!" Shirou had to shout because of the chimera' loud roaring.

Michael may have known that making the Lion-man mad would only make their chances of holding out until Kiyome was done highly unlikely, but it was pretty much necessary to have him stay concentrated on them rather than her.

The Lion-man's muscles pulsated to the extent to where they grew in size along with his entire body as his overgrown muscles ripped through his clothes' top. The pressure around his body was growing more and more as the ground shook from all of the power that coursed through his body.

"UOOOOH! GET SHREDDED TO RIBBIONS! WOOOOH! I'M ABOUT TO GO WILD!"

The Lion-man excitedly laughed and rejoiced in the full indulgence of his full power as he stood over the speechless young men.

"Whoa! That's a big kitty cat!" Michael whistled.

"I'll smash both of you!"

***THUUUUUD!***

Making a fist with his large hands the Lion-man leaned in to clobber them with a single punch. Luckily they dodged just when he was about to hit them because the blow created crater in the shape of his fist. He was now utilizing superhuman strength against them, which would prove very fatal should he actually hit them with it.

"He increased his muscle mass to do that, so of course he was able to get this strong. I bet any damage done to him physically wouldn't affect him because of his new durable body."

"But with that bigger body, he's a lot slower now, isn't he?" Michael asked.

"You're right, so we just have to move faster to avoid getting hit. Just remember a single hit from him could cripple or kill us." Shirou nodded.

"So run and make sure not to blown to pieces by a single punch, got it."

Though things might have looked bleak, there was still some hope for them.

Slowly hunching over and flexing his muscles the Lion-man wore a twisted grin as he heard their plan.

"If you think I've lost my speed then your sorely mistaken, you brats!" The Lion-man jumped high up in the air and spun around in a spiral while extending out his claws.

**"** **Beast King Dual Shredder!"** Like a buzz saw, the Lion-man spun with his razor claws out and zoomed right after Michael and Shirou. Unprepared for this new development, the pair quickly ducked and watched as the spinning Lion-man slashed a row of trees behind them down.

"You guys!" Kiyome screamed while looking at the surprised boys who watched the amazing display of power.

"Dang! I thought he can't move faster than us!" Michael wiped his lip.

"Kikikikiki! My body for a while may be slower when using individual limbs to attack but altogether at this impeccable speed, I've been able to combine my might with it to cut down my victims!"

The Lion-man prepared to go in for another attack by spinning at them from behind.

"Dod-Crap!" Shirou tried pull Michael with the chains of the handcuffs but found that the attack wasn't just going for both of them anymore but for him personally.

"Don't worry, I've got you!" Michael instead pulled Shirou away from danger as the spiraling attack missed.

"Thanks."

Shirou gasps as he looks behind Michael, "Look out, he's coming back from behind you!"

"Huh?" Michael gasped then tried to move as he heard the frightening sound of razor claws swinging wildly as it approached his back.

***SHING!***

***SPLURT!***

"Duuargh!" The spiraling Lion-man raised himself high and left a deep wound on Michael's shoulder.

"This one's way worse than the wrist!" Michael gripped his bleeding shoulder in pain, the wound was way deeper than the one from before.

"Hmph!" The Lion-man returned to normal and stopped his attack, "I've officially decided to change my tactics. Instead of trying to get you both at the same time I'll just resort to taking one of you out. If there's a body dragging either of you down, then that makes your chances of survival very slim!"

The Lion-man jumped in the air and resumed his previous attack,  **"Beast King Dual Shredder!"**

"We gotta move!"

"Nrggh! I'm doing my best!"

Shirou tried to pull Michael who was still holding his wound, the blood loss from before is impacting his train of focus and reaction time.

"You better start running or else you'll die!"

The Lion-man laughed as he was about to cut the two sitting ducks in half.

"Move!"

Looking at the situation, Shirou decided to push Michael to the ground while trying to fall right after him. If Michael were to get taken out now, then he wouldn't last trying to protect him and drag around his body while under attack.

***SHING!***

***SCHLICK!***

"Guuuargh!" Shirou received 3 deep wounds to his back as he falls forward, it would have been a fatal attack that might have ripped him apart, were he to stay sitting up.

"Chi! I missed!" The Lion-man clicked his tongue, and maneuvered around along the ground

"Michael-kun, Shirou-kun!" Kiyome cried.

"Senpai, don't worry about us!" Michael turned back to face Kiyome, she was no longer holding that long stick to carve out the crests anymore. Michael took that as her putting the final touch to the magic circle, so the only thing she needed right now was time to activate it. Time that they have to manage for her even if it worsens their health.

"Just focus on what you can do!" Michael gave a thumbs up before helping Shirou up, the wounds on his back were deep and inflicted pain to his back which impaired some of his stature to stand up straight.

Kiyome was hesitant, if those two were to die then all of this would be for nothing. Swallowing her hesitation, she resumed with the needed procedures to activate the magic circle. Pulling out the vial of Michael's blood, she begins with the ritual of summoning through the magic circle.

"I'mma run you both over like roadkill!" The chimera's buzz saw-like attack tore through the ground as he made his way towards Michael and Shirou.

"Damn him!"

"Don't worry! I got you, man!"

Using his free shoulder, Michael helped Shirou up and started to run away from the spiraling clawed ball of death. His wounded shoulder was still bothering him, but they weren't as fresh as Shirou's so he decided to take endure the stinging pain of his shredded shoulder and help move them away from their imminent deaths.

Being huddled together like that made things easier for the lion-man, they've managed to slow down because of their bleeding injuries and since they weren't separately running as two individuals that made his job of tearing them apart easier.

_'_ _Everyone, please, hurry we won't last long like this." Kiyome prayed in her head as she poured the blood within the magic circle. There was a dim light that was starting to come from the circle's round circumference. It was working but the startup time was still taking too long, 'It just needs one more minute, one more minute and we're finally in the clear!'_

"Where do you think you're running off to!?"

***SHIIING!* *THUD!***

"Guuuuargh!"

"I've had about enough of you, you bastard!"

"Pathetic!"

***SHIIIIIING!* *SCHLUUUCK!***

"Uuuuuuuurgh!"

Receiving fresh wounds while howling out in pain, Michael received multiple claw wounds to the back while Shirou's right torso was carved out by the Lion-man's rather fast claws. The pain was just a hindrance to them, it might have hurt then but it didn't stop them from trying to evade the chimera' deadly attacks.

_'_ _Hurry…this is way too much…' Kiyome trembled in fear and could do nothing but listen to the blood curdling screams of her friends getting maimed by some weird large cat creature._

There were so many close calls whenever the lion-man tried to devastate them with aerial attacks by jumping in the air while trying to crush and tear their bodies into the ground. Stamina was all they had to rely on in this fight, and they didn't have a ton to spare if they continued to get cornered by this monster.

_'_ _He's not slowing down!' Michael's eye twitched as the Lion-man was getting closer with each attack he made._

Barely hanging on by a thread, the two young men could only hope that they're breath won't get any harder to take because this chimera was letting up his attacks. They were getting to exhausted to even take short gasps of air as the chimera arrogantly landed on the ground. He stopped his deadly technique after getting a good look at the two.

They were already fatigued so any hope of escaping they had was very slim.

"Kikikikiki! How sad, out of steam already?" Stomping his way over to them, the menace loomed over them with his smarmy toothed smile and clenched his fist. He didn't need speed to finish things anymore, his superhuman strength will be the tools to end this little hunt.

"Are you kidding, we can do this all day." Michael tiredly grinned.

"Easy for you to say that because I've been dragging your ass the whole time…!" Shirou panted.

"Whoa! No, no, no, I've been dragging you after you got hit and twisted your ankle, dumbass!"

Arguing with each other with the Lion-man relishing in his soon to be victory, he laughed, "It doesn't matter who was the deadweight between you two because you both won't be moving after I'm done with you!"

The Lion-man's fist held way up high would finally end things for both of the tired teens who awaited to receive the hit.

***SHIIIIINE!***

* * *

"Is that-!?" Natsuru dropped a black risqué babydoll and questioned the appearance of multiple presences on the island.

"…That better not be what I think it is…" Natsuru snapped her fingers and instantly clothed herself in her Kuoh Academy uniform, she's made it to be much more durable than most of her other clothing. Barging through her room's doors, she made a straight beeline to a place where she'll get answers.

* * *

But just in the nick of time a bright light flashed and took the attention of not just the saved boys but the Lion chimera as well as they see the back of Kiyome facing the magic circle she had just finished crafting.

"It's working!" Kiyome shielded her eyes as she looked through the bright light of the magic circle, it was a close call, but it managed to send a direct link right away.

"Oh, yeah!" Michael fist pumped.

"A magic circle?" The Lion-man gasped, "How is that possible those shouldn't work here? I get it now you two were obviously keeping me from that girl friend of yours! That magic circle won't teleport you all away, but to be safe I'll just smother it out with your friend's blood!"

The Lion-man charged at Kiyome while ignoring the distressed opponents he has yet to dealt with.

"He's going after her!"

"Oh, no! Senpai, run away!"

"…!" Kiyome froze in fear as she turned back to see the charging monster coming at her.

"We have to go save her now!"

"Hold up! Whup!"

***THUD!* *THUD!***

Michael and Shirou couldn't make it in time as they fell down in an attempt to follow them.

"Come to me, little girl! Kikikikiki!" The Lion-man pulls out his claws as he lunged at Kiyome once he got close enough.

"Senpai!" Was the only thing Michael could scream as he cursed himself for being too weak to save her.

"Mngh!" Stricken with fear, Kiyome closed her and waited for the inevitable.

***ZAN!* *THUD!***

"Gyaaaaaaaa!"

The sound of flesh being severed filled the forest followed by a heavy thud, everyone and everything was silent as a lone scream filled the entire forest clearing. And that scream belonged to the Lion-chimera himself as he held his new stub for an arm after it had been mercilessly chopped off by a figure who stood in front of Kiyome, who everyone recognized.

"Sorry to keep everyone waiting. Are you all, okay?" The one who saved Kiyome was Kiyome who brandished a black steeled katana which radiated Kiba's demonic energy.

"Pretty Boy!" Michael with a jaunty smile, laughed upon the arrival of one of his best friends.

"Michael-kun? What a relief, I'm glad I was able to make it just in time." Kiba released a breath of relief, "Thank you, Kiyome-senpai for summoning us like you did."

Kiyome could only shake her head and thank him back for making it in just in time.

"Aren't you forgetting, someone, you blonde asshat?" Shirou coughed.

"Oh? Sorry, Shirou-kun. I didn't mean to leave you out like that." Kiba's handsome smile pissed Shirou off, "You seem to be in a similar state as Michael-kun, do you need any help, if so, I can always-!"

"Shut the fuck up, Kiba!" Shirou shouted.

"Okay, he's fine."

Earning that familiar response, Kiba could tell that Shirou was still okay, mentally though. Maybe…

"Grrgh!"

"Now as for you." Kiba saw the beaten states of almost everyone there and turned back to ruefully, glare at the chimera whose arm was now severed.

Holding his bleeding arm, the chimera growled, "Who in the flying fuck are you!?"

"My name is Kiba Yuuto, Knight to Rias Gremory and friends to these people that you harmed." Kiba introduced himself.

"AHEM! Just to clarify, when he means friends he means both Michael and Kiyome, not me!"

Kiba almost sweatdropped after hearing Shirou say that.

"What a devil? But how? No one can pinpoint this location and your magic circles shouldn't even work!" The Lion chimera hissed.

"True, but we didn't need to pinpoint this location ourselves thanks to Abe-senpai summoning us with the Gremory Clan's seal embedded into this magic circle. It was all because of that we were given a chance to arrive."

Clenching his fist, the Lion-man knew that he wouldn't get out of this one alive, he had first failed to capture these powerless whelps in the facility, now he has to deal with the impending onslaught of these devils. If he were to get overpowered then he had better make use of the situation, he slowly reached back into one of his pockets as he roared,

"You maggots…You bothersome maggots!"

Swinging the blood off of his blade, Kiba threateningly points it at the chimera, "Give it up, if you don't then I can't promise you'll walk out of here with your life."

"Yeah, right! I won't be the only one who won't be getting out of this alive!" The Lion-man pulled out a flare gun and points it high up in the sky.

Kiba didn't get the gist of what was happening until Shirou had to shout out,

"You, bastard! He's about to alert the other enemies! Stop him!"

"…!" But before Kiba could take his first step.

"Too late!"

***BAAAAANG!***

A big red burst of light filled the night sky of the forest as it immediately alerted the many other soldiers coming their way.

"A flare?"

"Woohoo! Somebody's found them!"

"Let's go rip them apart!"

The hollering and wild calls of the all the chimera soldiers filled the forest as the clearing was get louder by the approaching enemies that would infest it soon enough. Wearing his cocky grin, the Lion-man laughed at the shocked faced of everyone around him and laughed in victory.

"Heh! All of you are dead for sure, I may know that I can't handle a group of devils alone, but if I had my entire squadron of soldiers with me to help then my chances of killing each and every one of you would increase! Kikikikiki! No matter what happens, I'm still going to have the advantage!"

The Lion-man couldn't help but laugh but as soon as he saw the shock expression on Kiba's face slowly change into a smile, he had to ask out of discomfort,

"Why are you so chipper, devil?"

"Because you decided to do things the hard way. I wanted to give you an out, but you just made things harder for yourself." Kiba shook his head, "When I threatened that your life would be lost, I didn't say I was the one to take it, in fact, there was a person that I was referring to and right now she is  **royally** displeased. So don't regret what happens next."

"Who the hell are you talking ab-!"

"He means "She" with a capital "S" by the way!"

Another voice added.

***DOOON!* *DOOON!***

Shooting past both of Kiba's sides were two blocks of demonic energy imbued with the power of destruction. The Lion-man struggled, but managed to dodge each of them in time as they zipped past him. He looked up and gasped upon seeing a group of other individuals walk out of the intense light the magic made.

"Forgive me, Buchou, he was able to alert his comrades." Kiba bowed his head, apologetically.

"Don't burden yourself, Yuuto. Even if we came here undetected, we would still be sensed by our collected powers suddenly appearing in their home base."

Walking ahead of the group was one more individual, she stood taller than the others and was wrapped around in a thick, red veil of demonic aura which matched her livid mood. It was Rias and she wasn't too thrilled about the current scene in front of her.

"Personally, I want them to know we're here, and this time, we're the ones who are going to take back what they've taken from us." Rias crossed her arms, it was her intention to get caught so that Natsuru can know that she was back. And this time, she'll settle things with her for kidnapping her boyfriend.

"Gremory-san, I-" Kiyome rushes over to Rias while looking reluctant.

"Forgive me for not speaking up sooner about this, I just…" Kiyome did her best to apologize, because after all her sister ruined they're and stole her servant.

"You don't have to say anything. Without you, we would never have found this place before it was too late. Thank you, Abe-san." Rias placed a hand on Kiyome's shoulder and smiled, she wasn't about to be mad at someone who did their best to help them.

Kiyome was relieved that Rias wasn't that mad with her, but felt concerned since she could literally feel the animosity she had towards Natsuru. Her thoughts however were interrupted by the sight of her younger brother, Makoto, running towards her in tears.

"Kiyome-neechan!" Makoto ran from the group and into Kiyome's arms.

"M-Makoto-chan? Why and how did you get here?"

"K-Kiyome-neechan…! I couldn't find you or Natsu-neechan anywhere!" Makoto sniffled and hugged Kiyome tightly, "I-I was so sc-scared that I asked Rias-san to bring me along in case they ever found you."

Noticing Makoto's loneliness, Kiyome could only blame herself for not even thinking about his feelings in all this. Not just that, but the fact that his own blood sister was the cause for all of these terrible things made it difficult for Kiyome to say anything but,

"I'm sorry for scaring you like that." Kiyome quietly said as she hugged the frightened boy back.

"It's okay, I'm just so glad your fine! But…" Makoto looked around, "Where's Natsu-neechan, I thought she would be here with you?"

Kiyome could only respond with silence that until they were interrupted by the shouting of the Lion-chimera.

"Hey! Stop ignoring me, you filthy devils!"

Her attention now on the giant chimera, Rias now proceeded to cast him a glare as her aura went a little wild with rage. She was silent and saw no use in responding.

"You all may think your clever by coming here alone, but don't underestimate us! I was able to handle these two schmucks over there so easily because they were weak, I'm the fourth strongest of my master's creations so don't think I'll keel over like those two weaklings over there."

***CHING!* *THUD!* *CHING!* *THUD!***

Looking past the monster's shoulders, Rias blinked before wearing a confident smile, "Weaklings? Just who are you talking about?"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

**[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]**

Two calls were heard along with two different colored bright lights which filled the clearing.

"The meatbags that are obviously bleeding out on the gro-!" The Lion-chimera froze in fear as there stood two fully armored men donning their sacred gears. Michael's with his Boosted Scale Mail and Shirou with his Grand Chariot, the two both exuded a powerful dragon's aura as they stood over there enemy without their handcuffs.

"Yo." Michael cracked his knuckles.

"Care to repeat that, Meatbag?" Shirou crossed his arms.

"How!? You two shouldn't be able to use your powers! How did you take off the handcuffs!?" The Lion-man staggered back and almost fell down, but suddenly remembered the two blasts of demonic power that he dodged,  _'Wait a minute, that attack was meant to set them free!?'_

The Lion-man gulped as the two young men were pressuring him with all of their pent up energy flowing out in rage after the beat down they had received from this creature.

"So do you want to pummel him into a bloody pulp or do you just want to end it?" Michael was mad, and it wasn't because of just the ass whooping this guy smacked down on them. It was also because he was about to kill Kiyome right in front of his eyes, so he needed something to quell his anger."

"I'm still a little pissed from him trying to dice us into pieces. So let's have some fun with him." Shirou may have laughed that part off, but the tone in his voice was dark and just about the same level of mad Michael was at.

Grinding his teeth, the Lion-man shouted, "Don't screw with me! I just knocked both of your blocks off minutes ago. Just because you have your powers back doesn't mean things will change that drastically! I'll probably do even worse to you, too. Especially to that wimpy white haired punk, he went down rather easily after Natsuru-sama used her poison on him, so prepare for the nightmarish battle of your life!"

Shirou paused as Michael put a hand to his mouth, that was blocked by the Scale Mail's mask, and looked back at Shirou.

"*INHALES!* Hmmmmmmmm!"

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

Everyone blinked and turned back to Shirou whose reaction was hard to read through the mask of his armor, but the dragon aura which came out of him on grew in pressure. He was mad.

"What? Did I touch a nerve?" The beast smirked.

"You pushed the Shirou button." Michael was holding in a smirk of laughter.

"And what's th-!"

***BAAANG!***

"Goooough!"

From point A to point B. Shirou's aura cladded fist made contact with the chimera's stomach which forced the beast to throw up a mixture of his vomit and blood. Looking up at the beast with his eyes shining through the helmet of Grand Chariot, Shirou growls,

"You shouldn't have done that…"

"Bloough! Why you little-!"

***SWOOSH!***

"You missed, jackass." Shirou dodges a punch to the face and raises his foots while surrounding it with touki once the lion-chimera left his unbalanced leg wide open for an attack.

"W-What are you-!?"

***SNAAAP!***

"Gyaaaaargh!" The impact of Shirou's leg smashed and broke the chimera's leg leaving him to sprawl out on the ground and crying in extreme agony.

"You, god damn bastard, don't expect that I'll let you live for th-!"

"Hey, Mike, you want a shot now?"

"Are you kidding, I've been waiting to get some payback!"

"No, hey, stop it!"

"Okay." Michel shrugged.

"R-Really?" The lion-chimera blinked in surprise, he seriously didn't think that would work.

"Of course, you asked me to stop so I stopped, walking. That is." Michael stood over the beast while cracking his hands and grab the lion and pulled him up by the fur on his chest and cocked back his fist while imbuing it with touki.

"So lets me get started on the payback for almost killing Kiyome-senpai!"

"No, let me g-Aaaaaaaaaaah!"

***WHACK!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

Jumping into things, Michael punches the chimera across the face and kept beating him senselessly until the beast's entire face was swollen to the point to where he couldn't even form proper words.

"Vurce…tvou, Vasterds! I'm the bourth stroungets!" The Lion chimera muttered through his beaten face.

"There's my well-deserved satisfaction payback done, so…" Michael placed his hand out in front of him.

"Let's take out the trash." Shirou stood by him and did the same as he did the same.

Both created large masses of demonic aura within their palms as they begun to eliminate the chimera beast, who grinded what was left of his teeth and muttered,

"Vall, Heil, Measteress Aszreal, mwey her pwower shoh yuou twue hwell!" His words were tough to translate but he had a deep sense of loyalty in them. Sadly, they were his last.

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

The two demonic blasts fused and engulfed the body of the lion-chimera turning him into ash along with the forest trees behind him. Where a massive crater of their attack carved out the entire landscape.

"Phew! Now we get to breathe a little easier!" Michael and Shirou drop back to the ground once their past wounds started to get to them as they took off their armor to catch their breath.

"Michael-san, Shirou-san!"

"Thank goodness you're alright, Michael-sama!"

Thankfully rushing towards their aid was Asia, along with the entire Occult Research Club to circle around them to check on the two's well-being. Attending to their wounds, Asia made quick work of their collected damage since they were captured.

"Thanks for that, Asia. I feel all better now." Michael stretched his arms, he still felt a little exhausted after running away all of this time but thankfully, he could still move and he had enough stamina to enter his Balance Breaker, so things aren't that bad.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that, Michael-san, but I'm glad that we were able to make it in time." Asia turned to Shirou, "How are your injuries, Shirou-san? Are they still bothering you?"

"No, they are gone, thanks to you. Thank you, Asia."

Shirou smiled gratefully.

"Holy crap! Shirou! You just thanked someone with an honest to god smile!"

"Ara, ara, who'd knew this would ever happen?"

"…Amazing…"

"I-I didn't even know this was possible!"

"I see, the mysteries of the world truly is a marvelous place."

Michael, Akeno, Koneko, Gasper, and Kiba made surprised remarks about Shirou's kind attitude towards Asia.

"Okay, all of you can officially go straight to hell!" Shirou cursed them, they made him sound like an apathetic person.

"Heheh! He's so easy!" Michael stood up and laughed.

Approaching him, Xenovia looked concerned, "Michael, are you sure you are okay?"

"She's right, you three just barely escaped almost getting captured twice in a row. Maybe you should sit this one out for a while Michel-sama." Raynare approached with the same concerned look as Xenovia, she was worried to death when she heard he was taken. This time being at the scene of it almost happening again has made her worried.

"Don't worry, it's not like I was crippled and too broken to fight. I just need some time to catch my breath that's all." Michael grinned, "I mean it is me, we're talking about remember? I'm the greatest!"

"…"

"Hmmm?"

Michael looked back and noticed a long faced Koneko, she looked really anxious and depressed. Right now would have been a perfect chance for her to get a shot in at him. He couldn't help, but worry a little for her strange new attitude.

_'_ _Did something happen?' Michael was curious enough to bring up Koneko's worried look._

"Michael."

But realizing who called him, he swore to himself to dive into what was happening with Koneko later. Michael smiled and turned around to face Rias with his usual smile and a wave, "Hey, Buchou, I see that you guys had finally arrived!"

Pacing her way towards him, Rias was silent but Michael who didn't get the message still rambled on.

"I mean it was pretty flashy for an entrance, but I think it made for an awesome comeback for our part in the end, and besides I knew you would come, eventually. I didn't even have a doubt in my mi-!"

***HUG!***

Getting embraced by Rias, Michael could feel the tight amount of pressure she placed in her arms, like she wasn't going to ever think about letting go. She was also trembling, realizing all of the pain that his absence brought to her made him feel a little sad but incredibly happy.

_'_ _See? Rias being able to overcome all of this to save me is something I'd expect no less from her.' Michael's face formed a gentle smile as he soothingly rubs Rias' back before the pair broke their subtle embrace._

Rias didn't want to let go of him so earl, but knew things weren't over. Not when Natsuru was still out there to plan the same tricks like before. She still had to finish things with her before she can even think about savoring her time with Michael. Turning back to face all of her servants, Rias says,

"At this moment, we are in enemy territory, so we cannot advance until we have taken out a decent amount of their men. Only when we finish our time with eliminating them, do we proceed." Turning back to face Shirou and Michael, she asks,

"Just what are their main forces, if you've seen what they could do?"

Sighing, Shirou couldn't believe he had to debrief someone who wasn't his own master, but figuring how things played out. He just decided to listen to orders, "To be honest, we've faced some pathetic enemies who are easy to handle if it were handled one at a time. But those freaks… they're a pain in the ass to kill if they work together."

Shirou looks at the massive crater they made and says, "They'll go after the weak ones first while trying to allude the strong ones with confusing traps and techniques."

Nodding, Michael grits his teeth, "And not to mention that we have those 3 bastards from earlier possibly coming out to get us. Together they could be a pain in the ass for us in our Balance Breaker states! Especially that panther-guy!" Michael grinded his teeth, "He treated my head as a floor mat, so I'm definitely going to pay him back, you sure as hell can bet on that!"

"Balance Breaker?" Shirou looks up at Michael with a questioning look.

"Yeah, our armor balance breakers. Our Scale Mails." Michael nodded.

"Mike, I haven't used my balance breaker yet."

This caught Michael off guard, "… …What?"

"It's true. I only just use my standard Sacred Gear."

"But! But! Your using dragon armor!"

"Yeah, that's my sacred gear's basic state. My balance breaker is something else though..."

"And you were that strong without it? Hacks!"

Michael pointed at Shirou's face.

"What, what are you doing?"

"Calling hacks! Your sacred gear is freaking broken as hell!"

"It's not broken, idiot! And how is this my fault it's not like I was given the choice for this power to be like this!"

"Then why don't you just use it and help speed things along?"

"Because I don't want to use it and also it makes my shoulders stiff just after using it." Shirou rubbed his shoulder.

"The heck kind of excuse is that? No, you have to use it now! No excuses! Now I'm curious!" Michael grabbed Shirou by the shoulders and shook him, excitedly.

"Don't touch me!" Shirou slapped Michael's hands away.

"Come on already just use i-hm?" Michael cuts himself off once he heard the approaching sounds of footsteps, everyone was silent once they heard the encroaching feeling of malice surround the clearing.

"They're almost here." Kiba's grip on his katana tightened as soon as he heard the sound of grass crunching under swift heavy footsteps.

"Buchou, what are your commands? What strategy do you think we should take?" Akeno purposely requests, she knew that the best one to make the decisions from here on out would be Rias.

Pondering over the thought of the impending battle, Rias thought more closely about the main three enemies Michael described. She vaguely remembered them as they were there when Michael and Shirou were kidnapped. If those three could hold back those two then it would be a problem if they fought altogether, not to mention with their lackeys around stirring enough trouble.

Wearing her serious yet beautiful expression, Rias nods to herself as a way to confirm her thoughts before saying, "All right everyone, listen. This must be handled with the utmost urgency or else we will be boxed in."

***GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!* *GLEAM!***

The forest around them filled with blood red eerie pairs of eyes, they were filled with blood lust as only one thing went through each one of their minds and that is to: mutilate and rip apart all of their vulnerable prey, who were blinded in the dark.

Despite the multiple malignant stares being thrown their way, the Occult Research club plus Shirou stood tall as they finished listening to the plan that Rias had created. Standing even taller than the others, Rias sports her usual confident smile, she didn't know whether this idea would work, but still had faith that the tides of this whole battle will be in their favor.

"Now…" Rias breathes in once the chimera soldiers hidden within the dark forest began to inch out slowly into the moonlight covered clearing. The sounds of their footsteps were echoing in her mind, the time to begin their counterattack is about to commence!

"Move out!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Everyone bellowed with the same fervor as their leader as they rushed into the fray of the fight.

* * *

"Hmhmhmhm~!" Humming so cheerfully, the cloaked woman taps her fingers against the dimmed light of the leader over the chimera soldiers. She didn't expect much and actually found that his death was much more entertaining than him actually surviving. Dragged out battles with someone who wasn't important enough to still be alive wasn't entertaining.

And because of his death, even more fun things will be happening now!

"Oh well~! Looks like Number 4 by default couldn't make the cut! So you 3 know what that means~!"

Turning around in her rolling chair, the cloaked woman laughed and faced her top 3 experimented chimeras. They all nodded in response to their master's gesture. Their signal to head out was already set. Now all they had to do was-

"Gyaaaaaagh!"

***SNAP!***

"N-Natsuru-sama, please, n-no, n-gyaaaah!"

***BANG!* *SPLATTER!***

The horrific dying sounds of a few chimera soldiers guarding the lab door interrupted their plans as the door slowly creaks open. The three chimeras were shocked once they saw the approaching, nine-tailed figure of Natsuru covered in a furious amount of aura and the spattered blood stains of the guards she just killed.

"You…" Natsuru lowly mutters as she glares at the cloaked woman while ignoring the threatening pressure the chimeras made as a way to indicate their willingness to protect their  _true_ master from her, but to Natsuru, she didn't really care about them, her attention was on the giddily laughing mystery woman who was hidden beneath the hood of her black coated jacket.

"Hey, Nat-Nat! How you doin'?" The hooded woman tried to play around with Natsuru but was met with a blast of ki grazing the side of her body and destroying one of her large computer screens. The dangerous pressure Natsuru had around her body told her that she wasn't in the mood for trivial games anymore, she was pissed off and needed answers.

"Explain."

"Explain my day? Why thank you, that's very nice of-!"

***BAAAAM!* *BAAAAM!* *BAAAAM!* *BAAAAAM!***

"Explain… _everything…"_ Natsuru's golden eyes shimmered through the dimly lit room.

Swinging around the place, Natsuru used her 9 tails to demolish more than half of the lab around her. During most of this, she did not break eye contact with the hooded woman, who just remained silent.

Breaking that silence, the hooded woman said, "You three have been permitted to leave, you may go~!"

"B-But, master, what about you, nya?" The tiger-woman whispered.

"Yeah?" The cheetah-man voiced his concern.

"…" As the panther-man stayed silent and observed his master.

The chimeras were worried about the safety of their master, but the hooded woman figured they could have been allowed to go since Natsuru was only focused on her.

"Oh! You three! Surely you must know that this a talk just between us two girls! Like an unexpected rat giving us trouble? Am I right, Nat-Nat?" The hooded figure giggled, but had some edge in her tone that took even Natsuru by surprise.

Natsuru was still mad and stayed quiet, partially interested in what the hooded woman meant.

"Of course, I'm right! So you three better move out! Remember, to kill any stragglers that are in the way, okay? And try to get as much blood on you so I can know how effective your skills are!"

"Yes, ma'am!" The tiger-woman and cheetah-man nodded along with the panther-man who gave Natsuru a cold glare before the three dashed out of the lab and the facility altogether with their superhuman speed. Following the powerful presences that reside within the forest.

Left alone inside of the lab, the hooded woman sat down in her chair and giggled, "Now, we have our deserved privacy, Nat-Nat! Just tell me about the juicy details you had planned for that Red Dragon Emperor-boy? Were you going to torture him with pleasure? Pain? Or did you want to tickle the sensitive spot on the back of his neck until he wets himself?"

"Address your past comment about that rat. How could you even imply that someone from the outside could manage to break in this tightly guarded facility, free our prisoners, escape with them, and summon the entire bleeding Gremory family onto this island?" Natsuru pressed for answers and wasn't in the mood for false accusations.

Spinning around in her rolling chair, the hooded woman shrugged, "I don't know who it is, but they caused all of this to happen, didn't they? At this point it doesn't matter. All we know is that they did it."

Giving the woman a suspecting glare, Natsuru began to circle around her, "You know, maybe you're the one who freed them yourself?"

"Le Gasp! Moi~!?" The woman playfully gasped, "Now why would I ever do such a thing like that? It's not like I'm in it to betray you."

"I don't know about that... I just have a hunch that you're trying to lead my plans astray for your own goals. Goals, that you've kept hidden from me… It would be a shame if those goals were meant to ruin everything I had in store, right?" Natsuru loomed over the woman while her nine tails were spread out in a threatening manner as an orb of Ki floats in her hand dangerously. Her intentions were to make use of this benefactor until she proved useful or until she was proven useless.

She had no need for someone who would purposely sabotage all of her progress. The hooded woman was treading on thin ice now but the only reaction she made towards that accusation was just a simple giddy giggle.

"Goals? No, no, I only have a goal, but not that many. A goal that I would make sure to achieve even if I had to destroy your well thought out plans to achieve them."

She didn't deny to the accusation.

"I see, then you are no longer of use to me…"

***FWOOOOOSH!***

"Die…"

Natsuru's orb of ki suddenly was surrounded by a harsh blue flame that threatened to burn alive anything it came in contact with. It should be enough to turn this dirty trouble maker into

Lazily leaning back in her chair, the hooded lady looks up at Natsuru with her revealed pair of violet eyes which halted Natsuru impending attack along with the words,

"Are you sure you want to waste so much of your time with killing little old me, right now? Especially when you can get a permanent result for your plans?" The woman said.

"Permanent result?" Natsuru questioned.

"That's right~! You can probably already tell that all of Rias Gremory's servants are on this island. Right now should be the time they fight my lackluster experiments who'll tire them out along with the three strong ones that I sent to deal some effective damage before they become "inefficient" for any more of my tasks. By the time things end, you'll probably be able to wipe them out."

The hooded woman explained her plans while telling Natsuru, her chances of a "possible" victory.

"That would be obvious."

"But if you take them all on by yourself, you would most definitely lose wouldn't you? I mean how would you handle the Red Dragon Emperor and that other young man with a dragon?"

"Hmph, you surely must be dense. I still have the poison that I created to subdue them before I can just use it again."

"Except that you only made a single powerful dosage which took you an entire month to create, right?"

The hooded woman saw through the bluff. Natsuru was trying to avoid the big picture that was leading to…

"If you kill me now, then your chances of getting your preferred results would be  _very_ slim, but if you were to say leave me alive, then I could help assist you with any invaders that may prove a hassle to you."

The hooded figure stood up once Natsuru dispersed her flaming blue orb of ki.

"If you were to eliminate everyone who's a threat to you now then you wouldn't have anything to worry about when you've successfully recaptured the Red Dragon Emperor-boy. Killing his loved ones may also make subduing him easier. It will break his spirit faster that way. Any loose ends afterwards will be taken care of easily."

Natsuru's temper calms down as she reverts back from her youkai form to her base form. Whether she was telling the truth or just spouting a petty lie to live a little longer, Natsuru actually thought through about that plan.

Although, it made her question the woman's motives if she would take any measures to sabotage her work any further. She wasn't in any position anymore to be stingy with choosing her allies, even though they may be her plan's main antagonist. In the end, she does need a strong accomplice to carry half of the weight needed to get her plan to succeed.

Seeing the hooded woman hold her hand out, Natsuru looks at her with a wary glare.

"So do we have a deal, partner?" The woman asked.

Looking at her hand then back up, Natsuru cursed herself for being too lax around this person to even make a deal with them, someone who allowed things to progress this far, it was like making a promise with the devil, himself.

"Deal." Natsuru agreed only with this temporary truce, but made killing her, her top thing to do after they finished things, "Don't kill-"

"The Red Dragon Emperor? You know, I haven't forgotten your objective. Don't worry, I'll make sure to destroy  _anyone,_  who would even dare to stop your plans." The woman smirked under her hood, as a subtle, dangerous blackish-pale yellow light surrounded her body.

"Thanks for the sincerity, but that won't change my initial impression on you." Natsuru's body was starting to get wrapped up in a fierce and calm aura. Her emotions referenced her caged up rage that was meant to be released upon this woman, but was kept under wraps until the right moment.

But it still did not stop it from leaking out enough power to describe exactly what she was thinking/feeling. Soon…she'll finally get rid of Rias Gremory and her servants, cut off and kill this hindrance of a benefactor, and finally seize Michael's dragon power through their offspring.

These things must be done, or the effort she made just to fulfill a promise for  _him,_ would be for nothing.

* * *

**Next Chapter- Divide and Conquer! The Gremory Family's Rook awakens and Rias vs. Natsuru! The Climax of the Wild Beast brawl is about to begin!**


	44. Abrupt Interruption!

**Abrupt Interruption!**

* * *

"Things are just getting damn ridiculous…"

The heavy chatter and sound of machines filled the Fallen Angel's Headquarters in the underworld, Grigori. Walking past each lab, he had personally fitted for each of his past researches, Azazel was down the hallways of the HQ while reading a status report on the stolen sacred research they have gathered over the years.

It was just a couple of weeks ago that Azazel was called in because of an error dealing with the artificial sacred gear research being stolen by bits and pieces. As soon as he entered the facility all of the issues remained stagnant, the bugs that had occurred with their magic circles were still continuing, but it was still at the rate where it was too faint of a trail to track the culprit.

So they've been watching for any rise in activities that could help them get a clue on who is doing all of this, but in the end nothing would change. Until Azazel decided to check more on the other research data that they kept filed away and later felt like kicking himself for not realizing the wool pulled over his eyes.

"In the end, we've followed along with their ruse, they wanted us to focus on the stolen sacred gear research. These sly bastards went after something else that's too forbidden to open."

Azazel held a file with a red Celtic dragon insignia on the front of it along with a few other folders with multiple biographies. There was even a black folder that gave off an ominous vibe.

"Azazel-sama, wait!" Rushing up to the Governor-General's side was a lab coated Mittelt, who forgo her usual goth dress for a more reserved one piece black and purple dress. In her hands were a stack of pages from a more recent report the other fallen angel leaders have devised.

"We don't have any time to stand around talking, walk with me."

"O-Okay."

"Tell me what's happening. First, how did someone bypass our security and hack us, and second, how much have they stolen from the main database?" Azazel kept looking forward as he and Mittelt briskly walked down the busy hallways of the Grigori.

"We haven't been able to identify how they did it, but we do know that they did hack us way before this incident started, they've been into our database for quite some time after the conference."

"So they waited, eh? Let me guess, they remained hidden until it was the right moment to strike, right?" Azazel pushed opened a door without acknowledging that another fallen angel researcher was behind it.

"U-Urh…" Mittelt was torn on whether to help the individual up or continue walking.

"Mittelt, keeping walking with me. Your report isn't done yet!"

Continue walking it is.

Mittelt caught up and looked at the report, "Shemhazai-sama has been able to find that they're still continuing their hacking, as we speak, they've uploaded and stolen more than a third of our information."

"Including the ones regarding the devils and their territory?" Azazel asked, he was quite concerned about that data because of the trading they've began with the other race.

"Their information was the first of the others to be stolen just like your private, forbidden files you kept to yourself." Mittelt hesitantly informed as she avoided eye contact with the peeved Azazel, "Right now, Shemhazai-sama is doing his best to slow down the uploading process, but it still won't stop that it's still ongoing."

"Just great..." Azazel clicked his tongue, "Where is Kalawarner?"

"Right now she's with Raymond-sama being updated about that the status of the arm that you took from that hooded person at the conference, they'll be sure to contact you when it will be ready for any experimentation." Mittelt said.

"Good, that takes high priority despite this mess we're in." Azazel looked a little discomforted by this turn of events, usually he would be the one having his enemies running around like chickens without their heads. Only a few people he knew or begrudgingly knew could do this to him and most of them were either dead or fell of the face of the earth.

"Ah, there's also been word that we may have a lead on where to find the culprit."

Once those words entered his eyes, Azazel dropped his files through a magic circle and forcibly asked, "Tell me everything. Starting withhow they were able to track it."

Mittelt gulped from the pressure her leader had around him and said, "We weren't able to trace the location of the culprit per say, but we traced the one-way magic circle trail of the Gremory family to an unidentified island. We don't know if that is where the true cause of it is, but…" Mittelt trailed off.

His students weren't the ones to go to unidentified territories for nothing, and most of all Michael was with them so it can't be just a coincidence that it could be for something else. This issue can finally be resolved once he arrives to settle things.

"Prepare a magic circle to send us there, use coordinates that are nearby the island. If we can't directly be transferred there, then we'll just have to manage with flying there ourselves." Azazel found a way around that interference with magic circles and made his way towards the main room of the facility where they kept their transportation magic circles.

"Yes, Azazel-sama." Mittelt bowed and used a small magic circle to communicate with the staff to ready the coordinates.

Straightening his lab coat and grabbing his  **Downfall Dragon Spear,** the modifications made to it were quite better than last time, but it still had some kinks to work out before it could be completed.

_'_ _It looks like I'll have to take you on yet another test run, Fafnir.' Azazel thought as he pocketed the spear._

Making their way to the magic circle that the Grigori staff was able to create in impeccable time, both Azazel and Mittelt entered and disappeared in a large flash of light. Their trip near the island should be quick once they unfurled their wings and fly to the aid of the Gremory family.

***Staaaaatic~!***

"What?" Mittelt gasped.

Suddenly the magic circle's transportation began to go all static as a pair of black gloved hands began to tear through the light surrounding them.

"Tch! Should have expected this. Things were going too easy for us…" Azazel gritted his teeth as he almost gasped at the sight as a figure enters the magic circle.

"…" Standing in front of them was a five foot eight figure who wore the exact same black coated jacket as the person, Azazel fought at the conference. But instead they had a much more muscular and toned look despite looking young with the hood covering their head. They wore black gloves, black jeans, and black sneakers with red highlights.

"Identify yourself, why are you ambushing, Azazel-sama!" Mittelt didn't waste any time and formed her pink light spear as she stood in front of Azazel.

"…" The figure simply remained quiet.

He raised his hand rather slowly before…

***SNAP!***

***SHIIIIIIINE!***

* * *

Standing through a bright light, Azazel found him and Mittelt in a windy wasteland as the bright light of the sun was on their faces. Well, he thinks so because the light was easy to see since the entire wasteland was in black and white. It was incredibly boring to just look at the place.

"What is this?" Mittelt looks around at the vast empty lot of the wasteland before her then turns back to stare at the figure before her just laying down on the ground, "Where are we?"

"…" The figure stayed laying down and kept quiet.

"Hey, I'm speaking to you just where the hell are we!?" Mittelt demanded.

"…" Picking themselves up the figure sat up and looks at the monotone sun before setting his eyes on the two fallen angels, preferably Azazel, who remained quiet once he caught a glimpse of something beneath the hood, violet eyes.

_'_ _This…feels strange.' Azazel felt an uncomfortable vibe about this attacker, it was still threatening, but it just wasn't something he could fathom correctly, 'Who is this guy?'_

"If you aren't going to talk then just get out of our way!" Mittelt threw two pink light spears at the figure, who professionally got up on a knee and caught one while knocking the other into a rock formation beside him.

He was holding onto the light spears without it burning his hands!?

"What in the-!" Mittelt gasped as she then felt something ooze out of the figure as a red strong aura wrapped itself around the light spear she threw and formed it into a massive dark red spear of light. Winding their arm back, the figure prepared to aim it at the two fallen angels.

"Dodge!" Azazel grasped the intentions of the hooded figure and grabbed Mittelt while soaring high up in the air.

***ZIIIIIIIING!***

***KaBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

A loud humming noise filled the air as the light spear was thrown at almost light speed before it created a massive explosion in the horizon. The sheer strength of the attack was incredible, even Azazel could match that kind of light spear power output to his own. As the rough winds blew past him, the figure who was still on the ground silently muttered,

_"_ _I'm your distraction now feel my wrath…"_

Suddenly those eyes that he saw were violet, shined red for a single moment before turning back to normal. Those eyes were still on him, Azazel could only sigh with a smirk once he realized that another catastrophe would be coming his way,

"Well…it looks like I'll just have to indulge myself in this fight before handling that problem."

Azazel allowed Mittelt to fly for herself and tell her to stay back from the quick little skirmish he'll be getting into. A pale-yellow aura surrounded his body as he sized up his quiet opponent who allowed his dark red aura to flow out in a more controlled and tamed fashion as it slowly amassed itself to look similar to that of a dragon's.

_'_ _This one seems different than the one before…' Azazel slowly pulls out his Downfall Dragon Spear and ponders on the thought of using it out of the blue, 'This will seriously cut in the time I will need to get there…just hang in there a little longer, kiddos. Your sensei has to deal with this stranger first.'_

***SHING!***

Spinning the spear in his hand, Azazel stops to point it down and bellows,  **"Balance Break!"**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading you guys!
> 
> I hope you enjoy your weekend and I hope you have a nice day, I'm Out so Peace Out!


	45. Divide and Conquer! The Gremory Family's Rook awakens and Rias vs. Natsuru! The Climax of the Wild Beast brawl is about to begin!

**Divide and Conquer! The Gremory Family's Rook awakens and Rias vs. Natsuru! The Climax of the Wild Beast brawl is about to begin!**

* * *

The sound of feet making brisk contact with the grassy ground filled the dark, unwelcoming environment of the forest.

The top three chimera that were sent out to destroy the devils that infiltrated their base of operations were finally allowed to go wild, they're the best among the others when it came down to overall power, speed, and natural instincts. No one amongst the other experiments could ever have hoped to have matched them, they were the very pinnacle of their master's experiments.

For them, locating the devils were an easy task since they could sense that they were being boxed in by their less powerful chimera grunts. The ones that were successfully doing their jobs to annihilate the devils were all right in their books, but the stragglers, who were still left scattered around the forest were unfortunate to have met up with them upon their arrival in the forest.

They didn't see it coming at all, the weaker chimera soldiers were instantly killed by the three without a second's notice. Even though it was due to their master's orders to do the dirty deed, to them, it felt like a task that needed to be done. They literally looked fearful of the devils' might exhibited once they began to fend off the others, they purposely stayed back and only came out when they were assured that much powerful back up would come.

Disgraceful, showing such reliance on power besides your own was shameful to the them as it only encouraged the three chimera to eradicate them. Only the strong live while the weak shall perish.

"Nyahoo~! Nyahoo~!" The Tiger-woman cheered as she goes from running to jumping off the branches of trees and rolling around as they approached the main fight.

"You seem to be in a good mood! What? You actually excited to battle these devils?" The cheetah-man poked fun at the female chimera's jaunty attitude.

"Of course because this time I have a lot more options to choose from! Apart from those two strong guys, who have dragon aura. There's another strong male on the island with some unique power as well, nya! So many choices for me to choose from!"

It wasn't only her, the other two could feel the arrival of another strong one who came upon the island. They couldn't verify how strong he was compared to them, but they could at least tell that he was a substantial threat that must be taken care of.

"Aside from your overly horny mating urges…" The cheetah man rolled his eyes, "I'm actually having my heart beat a few ticks faster thanks to this intrusion. A chance to face off against those dragons again will really test to see how fast I can go, heh!"

The cheetah man smirked and rubbed his nose, "But it's not like they'll keep up with my superior speed, so I'll make sure to toy with the weaker ones before going heads up against them!"

"We were ordered to kill them. Don't play around with the likes of trash or else you will end up being killed by trash!" The Panther-man broke his silence and reprimanded the cheetah chimera.

"Well, excuse me for finding some enjoyment in my job, you prick!" The cheetah jeered at the panther chimera with a glare.

"Say what about you? Aren't you excited to face these devils?" The Tiger-woman asked the panther-chimera.

"No." The immediate answer earned the curious looks of the other two chimeras.

"But why?" The Tiger-woman pushed on for more answers.

"Because all of these opponents can't compare to me. I am the very pinnacle of complete evolution, simple as that. The weak die and the strong live on. That is the code I follow and that will be the code that leads them to their inevitable ends."

The Panther-man's set of beliefs took the two by surprise. But then they remembered that in the end there was some truth behind his words since he was ranked as number one for his unbelievable power that neither one of them could match. Being labeled at that high of a rank would give anyone that impression of nobody ever matching them.

"Now focus, once we arrive, we'll cut in and execute the devils that are too close together, their limited amount of movement will give us our advanta-!"

***KaBOOOOOOM!***

A huge explosion shook the forest as the area they were closing in on had smoking filling the night sky above.

"What could have happened there, nya?"

***SNAP!***

[—!]

Their senses kicked in at the right moment before they began to discuss their plan of attack. The three chimera stop in their tracks to feel out the situation.

"Crap, a few of them managed to break free from being boxed in, and now they're headed towards the facility!"

The cheetah-man clenched his fist as he sensed a group of them spread out in different parts of the forest.

"I can sense about 2… No, it's more than two… Three probably…?" The panther-man second guessed himself and only could ponder about why those devils decided to break off into groups. It wasn't like there weren't any left behind with that massive group of chimera grunts back there. If they could have made an opening that big then they would have all charged through. So why were they attacking individually.

"Oh, no! Then they're going after master and Natsuru-sama then, nya!" The tiger-woman gasped.

"Yeah, and if they were able to get out of that mess back there, then that means they're the strong guys that we felt." The Cheetah-chimera bared his teeth into a big white grin, and out of those strong guys he could sense that one of them were moving quite faster when compared to the others. Meaning a real challenger for his incredible speed has arrived.

"Hou…so one of those powerful dragon guys are the ones going there? Geez, what a way to pressure me into choosing which one I want to take…hmm…oh well, I'll just take the closest one that I find, nya~!"

"Strong ones…wait, this is exactly what they want us to-!" The Panther-man was too late when he came upon the truth of this tactic.

"Guess the only way to get this done is by splitting up and meeting them halfway there! Yahooo!"

In the blink of an eye, the Cheetah-man vanished and surge of wind from the shockwave of his upstart running blew most of the trees and vegetation down.

"Nyahoo! I've decided to choose the one that's going this way then, nya! I can't wait to have him all to myself this time! Bye-Bye!"

The Tiger-woman was quick to jump on a tree and jump from branch to branch to chase after the more brazenly stronger presence out of the others. This left the Panther-man alone to curse the gullibility of the two idiots who fell right into the enemy's trap.

"You fools…grrgh! Damn you both for being so gullible!"

The Panther-man decided that a change in their plans was in order since the formation literally broke itself.

"No time to hesitate now…tch…being dragged into this is so irritating. I'll just finish the unpicked stragglers as soon I get my hands on them."

He followed the directions his heightened senses gave to him and began advance to meet his opponent half-way to the facility. He noticed the level of his opponent, and could distinguish just who it is he'll be facing. But there was something odd too. He could also sense that, there was someone else there like Natsuru, but with a different "natural" presence.

The Panther-man scoffed at the possibility of their being multiple enemies.

"It doesn't matter. Any amount of enemies won't ever match up to me! The strongest of our master's experiments, I am the very definition of an elite beast who has perfectly evolved past his own limitations!"

To show a small example of his strength, the Panther man throws a single punch at a tree he passes by. The punch blew the tree out from the ground and caused it to collapse with a heavy thud which was followed by a loud chain of thuds. The shockwave of that single punch reached even the trees that stood around the one that he punched. Even though he was holding back, his strength alone will still be just enough to dispatch a devil or two.

Running through his designated direction of the woods, Kiba was able to get as far as he could from the clearing. Using his speed to get a head start from the others, he was able to confirm the presence of one of the three powerful enemies coming his way. The plan was already set in motion.

* * *

 

Things would have been catastrophic had everyone stay huddled in the same area. It would have given the enemy an advantage, so Rias planned a way around it by allowing the strongest ones in the group to split up into three directions heading towards the facility. This would cause panic and tension for the three strong chimera forcing them to separate and go after them. Leaving a large opening for their second phase of the plan to go into effect.

"This should be far enough." Kiba surveyed the surrounding area. These neck of the woods were incredibly dark and hard for him to run through. His eyes just weren't adjusted to this type of darkness where the moonlight doesn't even illuminate through the branches of the trees.

With some distance away from the encroaching enemy he attracted, Kiba began to question his choice of weapon to defend himself with. He debated over whether to use his Balance Breaker's Holy-Demonic Sword or the weapon that's been handed to him by Zethyr, yes, Zethyr Lucifer. It was a surprise for even Kiba once he heard that the most powerful swordsman in the Underworld wanted to personally interview his Balance Breaker which breaks the barrier between Holy and Demonic powers.

However, the interview never happened because of some "business" Zethyr had with Kai at the time, but after he arrived to the Khaos Brigade's full on assault on the conference, he was able to actually see Kiba and harshly criticize his swordsmanship. In the end, he never really specified what business he wanted with him only that he should properly wield this weapon before even considering to speak with him any further.

"It's won't do me any good by just using one weapon, but this experience could help me break through this brick wall in my way." Kiba looked at the sheathed black katana in frustration, the weapon was a real mystery to him based on how it functions thanks to the past sparring matches he's had with Michael.

***SHING!***

His hand pulling out the katana from its sheathe, Kiba quickly turned around to face the direction that had made a rough gouging sound, but all that he could see was darkness, the forest was just too thick to see through. The sound was fast along with the presence that Kiba felt coming after him.

Keeping a steady pace, Kiba walked towards the direction where he thought he heard the noise. Everything was very quiet, the tension around the forest made it difficult for him to make a sound. Closing in on a tree, Kiba reaches his hand out to feel it's surface. The bark of the tree had 5 claw marks running through it.

"So this is where the sound came from…" Kiba does his best to whisper as silently as possible, the sound of pattering footsteps dashed right behind him as he kept his focus on the tree. He wasn't alone in these dark woods anymore, he had very dangerous company.

_'_ _He's fast…that would explain why the cuts on the tree bark weren't so deep…' Kiba still made it seem like he was examining the cuts or else his company might decide to try something fishy. If you faced an enemy whose specialty is speed, then you're sure to realize that they'll have an advantage against those who couldn't keep up with their pace._

Kiba secretly begins to ready his katana once he hears the sounds of footsteps increase.

"Kikikikikikiki!"

"…" Kiba's shoulder began to unwind as he takes a couple of moments to listen to the footsteps grow more rapid with each step.

Soon enough they were picking up the pace as they were coming closer and closer and closer to Kiba!

"Hngh!"

***GIN* *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE!***

Whipping his sword arm back to defend himself, Kiba's katana managed to catch the jagged claws of the Cheetah chimera, who wore the biggest of grins.

"Hello there, devil." The Cheetah-man tried to push back Kiba's blade, "Fancy meeting you here."

"Are you sure about that? Out of the others, you seemed to be the only fast one to chase after me and make it." Kiba's lips curled up into a challenging smile, "Oh, wait a minute. You were actually able to make it here before I arrived, didn't you?"

"Kikikikiki! Perhaps…" The Cheetah-man saw the blade slowly push back his claws and jumps back before he could get grazed.

The speed this creature exhibited matches or even surpasses Kiba's own speed. Gripping the hilt of his blade tightly, he starts to size up the opponent before taking his first stuttering step to see if he could get a reaction. But the Cheetah chimera just stood there and watched with a cocky grin.

"You don't seem to be wary of me, why?" Kiba asked.

"Because I don't want to settle things so easily, so I will just wait to lessen my speed to match yours." The Cheetah-man shrugged.

"You're so sure of your own speed that much?"

"I haven't been given a real challenge so far, so I wanna take things slow before getting serious to end this fight, ya know?"

"You're going to regret doing that."

"Hm?"

"Speed may be an important factor in a fight, but it isn't the only determining factor." Kiba said.

The Chimera looked at the devil's trembling hands gripping the hilt of his katana. He knew it wasn't out of fear, but instead anxiety.

"..." Kiba took a deep breath, the thought of being underestimated must have reminded him of his past battle with Drayfus.

"So you like to use swords, eh? Well, I'm mostly a guy who prefers ripping things apart with my own claws, you know? With just my body as my weapon. I could do way more than you since that weapon is weighing you down."

"I assure you that this blade has a couple of surprises that won't slow me down."

Kiba could feel the overconfidence this creature had. He knew his speed wasn't something to sneeze at but this cockiness could be used to his advantage because people, who hold back are most likely to slip up and when this chimera does, Kiba will be prepared to end things.

Neither dumb enough to outright charge at each other, the two combatants dashed to the side of each other while running through the dark woods. Even through the darkness they could still make eye contact as they begin their high-speed duel of blades and claws.

* * *

Trudging past the seemingly endless rows of trees around him, Shirou utilized the speed of his Grand Chariot's armor to get far enough away from the cluster of enemies holding them back. He could already sense that one of the others have engaged one of the three strong chimeras and steeled himself to prepare for his opponent's arrival.

**\I'm really surprised, I never thought that this one would be able to tail you so effectively./ Typhon whistled, he knew Shirou was purposely lagging back with his speed, but the prospect of this chimera to have this much tenacity to keep up was impressive.**

_'_ _Goes to show you that I can't let my guard down around these guys.' Shirou's body charged up some dragon aura into his fist._

"They're coming in hot." Shirou looked over his shoulders and clenched his fist and prepared to fire it at the air above him towards the treetops where he could sense how the enemy was gaining more and more distance between them.

Stopping and turning to throw the punch, Shirou fired his attack, "Fly you, son of a bit-!"

"Nyahoo~! I found ya!"

Jumping off of the tree branch, the Tiger-chimera joyously pounces on Shirou.

"Wh-What the he-gya!?"

Using his head as a springboard, she manages to avoid and redirect Shirou's punch the created a powerful blast of draconic aura that completely wiped out an acre of the forest.

"Amazing, you're really strong, nya~! I'm so glad that I was able to find you first!" The tiger-chimera watched the collateral damage and was really impressed with Shirou's strength.

_'_ _Damn it to hell! I get the rapey cat girl for my opponent?' Shirou picked himself up and faced the Tiger-woman._

**_\And she's a tricky one too. To be honest, you should at least be careful. Her attacks may be unpredictable./_ **

_'_ _I'm just worried about any other "attacks" she has planned for me.' Shirou shuddered as he could feel the lust filled stare of the Chimera, 'Just one strike should be enough to finish her.'_

"You guys are absolutely powerful to break free with your powers dampened! It just made the prospect of capturing you two a whole lot better! Kikikiki! This even gives me a chance to have you all to myse-!"

Shirou disappeared from his spot and reappeared behind the Tiger-chimera with his fist cocked back.

"Huraaah!"

***DOOON!***

Shirou's punch created a large crater into the ground, he really intended to end the fight in a single blow, but the chimera managed to slip away right before getting hit.

"Dammit, she really is a slippery one." Shirou looked over his shoulders to see that the Tiger-chimera was hanging upside down from a tree branch. She wore the biggest of smirks and swung back and forth.

"I'm sorry Mr. Dragon, but you missed me this time! I didn't really expect you to come first. Don't you know that its rude to make a lady come right after you?" She teased.

"…So it's going to be this kind of fight, isn't it?" Shirou inhaled sharply at the obvious innuendo.

Landing on the ground, the Tiger chimera was quick to use her feet to charge at Shirou with her claws extended out.

"Here! Allow me to come at you this time!"

Reacting in time before the thrusted claws touched his armor, Shirou jumped above her vulnerable body and prepared another punch this time with touki infused into the fist.

"Missed me ya bitch!" Shirou's punch was way faster and better timed with the help of his touki, however the blow didn't hit the chimera as her body flexes away from the hit at the last second.

"Are you kidding me!?" Shirou's punch yet again created a crater and a bunch of dirt to pick up into the air.

"Nice try, nya!"

***GIN!* *GIN!***

Taking his slow reaction to the dodge into effect the Tiger-chimera used her claws to try and penetrate Shirou's armor but it was too thick to break.

"Yow! That's some hard armor you have there, nya! It will be difficult to try and penetrate it as it is, so I'll just look for any weak points your armor may have."

**\Wow, she's really milking this innuendo thing isn't she?/**

_'_ _I don't care because right now I can barely hit her without her dodging during the last minute. I would understand why she's fast and a little strong but why is she so flexible?' Shirou growled._

**\It appears that she doesn't just have Tiger DNA in her./ Typhon examined.**

_'_ _True, but what else could she have in her?' Shirou focused on her long flexible tail appendage lazily moving behind her and gasped, 'No freaking way…she has a-?'_

Catching on to where he's looking, the Tiger woman giggled, "What? It looks like you've never seen a monkey's tail before?"

"So that makes sense. That would explain why you were able to dodge all of my attacks so far." Shirou muttered as he decided to rush in with another attack.

"Not just that, but out of the others, I'm not only the most flexible creation or master has made but also the most sensitive one to sense danger." The Tiger-woman's closed her eyes while she explained, "All of my senses work together as one to form a sixth sense that warns me of any immediate danger coming my way sort of like-."

***BAAAM!***

Reacting in time, she swings a kick which clashes with another of Shirou's attacks, a kick intended to knock the chimera's head off of her shoulders.

"This."

"Grr!"

**\This could take a while…/ Typhon chuckled at his partner's predicament.**

* * *

The ongoing sparks and flashes of light filled the forest clearing where the remaining devils of the Gremory family fended of the remnants of chimera soldiers. The strange abilities the chimeras possessed were troublesome for the group, but they were able to push through it by supporting each of their own attacks.

"First, we add some water!" Akeno creates a large magic circle which released a raging torrent of water all over the chimera before holding her hand up and shouting, "Next, we bring out, Thunder!"

***BZZZZZZZT!***

"Guuuuuuargh!" "Huagrh!" "Gyaaah!"

Electrocution made more effective by the water, Akeno managed to rid herself of a trio of chimeras, they managed to force into trying a combination technique due to their swiftness. The stress of getting caught up and injured by cowardly ambushes has really exhausted her stamina.

"You bitch!" A wild cat chimera who hid amongst the shadows lunged at Akeno's back, "Die!"

"Akeno-san!" Raynare called out and threw a light spear through the chimera's head, turning the creature into dust.

"Thanks!" Akeno calls upon more thunder and uses it to burn another group of chimeras to a crisp before getting pushed back by more who hid back in the shadows of the forest. Seeing this as her chance, Akeno called Asia to her side to provide healing support.

"These things are too quick to land a hit on!" Raynare placed her hands out in front of her and kept firing a barrage of light spears at the soldiers. They kept maneuvering around the clearing, dodging each spear that almost touches.

With her time to react shortened, one the chimera managed to get close to her and bared his claws.

"Kikikiki! Surprise!"

***RIIIP!***

"Kyaa!" Raynare managed to barely lean away from the attack as the claws tore her school uniform's top.

Ready to land another blow, the chimera raised his claws, "This is it for you!"

"Get baaaack!" A voice filled with fighting spirit caught the attention of the chimera as he met face to face with a large arc of destructive holy aura.

***ZAAAAAAAN!***

"Duuuuuuuagh!" The chimera was erased, instantly.

"Raynare, are you okay?" Xenovia rushes over to Raynare's side with Durandal in hand. She didn't look too good, there were some evident signs of damage like the various bloody gash marks on her shoulder, arms and legs.

"Thank you, Xenovia, but what about you, you seem to be in a worse condition than me." Raynare gasped, the enemies that they were facing tended to resort to dirty tricks and ambushes that mostly get them whenever they're too preoccupied in the fight.

"These were a result of my carelessness." When faced with multiple quick enemies, Xenovia was at a disadvantage. Her main and only option of attack was just with pure power, she may be a knight but her speed was second to none when compared with Kiba's.

Looking over her shoulder, Xenovia finds Asia healing Akeno after she wipes out the remaining chimera that was brave enough to show its face while the many others stayed hidden in the woods to wait for their chance to strike.

"Akeno-fukabuchou is busy receiving some treatment from Asia, so I'll have to push myself to handle the rest." Xenovia gripped Durandal's handle tightly.

"I'm sorry for making you worry while you're injured like this, but what about Gasper? Shouldn't you be helping him?" Raynare asked, they were assigned by Rias to clear the chimera soldiers while keeping Kiyome and Makoto safe.

"Don't worry, he's fine right now. He was able to freeze quite a few of them as I cut them down." Xenovia helps up Raynare and winces a little herself as she gripped her bleeding arm.

"Xenovia!" Raynare helps her up and proceeds to use some magic to heal the wounds just enough to stop the bleeding. It wasn't Twilight Healing, but it was still better than bleeding out.

From off to the side of the main battle, Gasper held back any Chimera trying to sneak up onto them.

"Ngh!" "I-I can't move!" "Dammit! How can a brat that small do this to us!?"

"A-As a man, I can't allow you to move past this point!" Gasper's eyes shined as he froze a few mid-air chimeras that were about to attack him, Kiyome, and Makoto from all directions. The two non-devils looked at the dhampir in amazement as the once timid boy was actually sporting a bold face.

"Gasper-kun?" Kiyome held Makoto tightly as she watched the Devil protect them from the Chimera.

"Don't worry, K-Kiyome-senpai. I'll make sure neither of you will get hurt. I made a promise to Michael-nii to protect you guys, and if I can't keep it then I-I won't be able to face him ever again!"

"Michael-nii?" Makoto repeated to himself as he watched Gasper push himself even more, "Is he the reason why Gasper-san is really working hard at this?"

Suddenly the slow steps of a lynx chimera were coming at them from behind, he kept the noise down as a way to not alert Gasper and prepared to dig his claws into the throats of both of the weaker non-devils.

"Kikik-!"

"Ky-!"

***FREEEZE!***

"Not…so…fa-fast…"

Before any of them could scream, Gasper managed to turn his head in time to stop chimera from slitting their throats. The claws were just a breadth away from their necks. The strain of having to freeze multiple enemies at once was quite taxing, he still hasn't attained complete control over his power and without the boost from Michael's blood, he's basically relying on his own strength in the end.

Almost reaching his limit, Gasper was close to losing his hold over the enemy and cried out, "Akeno-senpai, Raynare-senpai, Xenovia-senpai! I've managed to gather enough! Let it rip!"

"Come and resound! Thunder!" Akeno fired a large burst of thunder.

"Durandal!" With a swing of Durandal, Xenovia was able to create a large sharp arc of destructive holy energy.

"You're finished!" Conjuring up a large magic circle, Raynare shot out light spears in rapid fire.

They didn't even hesitate once the boy gave them the go as they fired their respective attacks at the frozen chimeras who were completely terminated once the attacks engulfed their unresponsive bodies.

Falling to his knees, Gasper prepares to take a short break to regain some of his lost stamina because things weren't over yet. There were still chimera crawling around in the dark forest and they weren't too keen on just giving up yet. Though they were reluctant after witnessing their comrades getting eradicated.

With enough time, Asia managed to heal Xenovia and Raynare's wounds and proceeded to do the same for Gasper should he have any injuries.

Leaning in to whisper, Xenovia says, "We still have a few more left to handle."

"Should we smoke them out by attacking the woods?" Raynare creates a large light spear.

Shaking her head, Akeno said, "No, doing that will force us to believe that they've been dealt with. We may get rid of a few that way, but I believe a few survivors would just wait and attack us once our guard is down."

"So all we have to do is wait until they decide to strike?" Xenovia asked.

"It's our only option…" Raynare sighed.

If not for the next few seconds of silence, the group would have been prepared to stand in the darkness and await the next move of their opponents. As they waited the chimera were stuck deciding on a plan of attack, but any plan they came up with always ended with them possibly getting killed. No matter what clever, dirty trick they had in mind it would end in dying still…

Their whispers filled the forest as they panicked,

_"_ _What do we do? We can't keep going in like this… A lot of our guys were killed doing the same thing!"_

_"_ _Our numbers don't even matter, they're just too powerful."_

_"_ _Weren't the top three among our ranks supposed to be here? What is taking them so long?"_

_"_ _I don't know, but if we go out and search for them then maybe we could stand a chance! No, we can stand a chance! Let's g-!"_

***Shiiiiiiiiiiiiine~!***

A bright light filled the thick woods as the figures of the chimera were shown to those in the clearing.

"What's that?" Akeno gasped.

"M-Master? What are you do-Aaaaaaaaaah!"

A big burst of light enveloped one shadow and left nothing remaining.

"W-Why? We were doing our jobs! Why are you doing thi-Nyaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

"Gyahaagh!"

"No, no, no, no, no, n-Hiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

The figures of the remaining chimera disappeared with large bursts of light filling the forest. Everyone in the clearing could hear the murderous cries of each chimera. They could only imagine the type of monster killing them so heartlessly. Through the light there was only one figure left who fell down and cried,

"N-No more! Please have mercy! Ma-Master, please don't kill me! I don't want to die!"

A cold, harsh voice groaned, "All of you are such boring specimen, I should have known experimenting on you all would be a waste of time. In the end, you were just glorified cannon fodder. Bye-Bye…"

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

The last burst of light finally destroyed the last figure and soon after the light dimmed down until it died as well. Everything was completely silent as everyone heard someone walking towards the clearing.

"Hey-Hey~! How's everybody doing!? Great? That's so great!" Posing like a magical girl, the hooded woman appeared from out of the forest's shadows.

No one knew how to react to this new stranger so they still kept quiet.

"Come on now y'all, you should at least greet me back. Its only courteous that way, ya know!?" The woman laughed and snapped her fingers, "Oh, I get it! All of you might not see me because of my clothes, well, excuse me for this! Wearing the wardrobe that your boss forces you to wear every single day can be such a drag... You get me, right, my fellow girls out there? Eh? See? She knows what I'm talking about!"

The stranger points at Gasper who awkwardly looks around.

"U-Um…I'm a boy…"

"Hey don't take it personal girl, I didn't mean to push your buttons! All of us have our own self-perspectives and if you envision yourself as a boy then you're a boy in your heart…and your vagi-!"

"Look, just tell us who you are!" Raynare growled, she still felt a little threatened from that horrifying display of power on the chimera but still kept the main objective in mind.

"Who I am? WHO I AM!? The nerve of you devils to demand my identity when we haven't even exchanged a proper greeting! I am deeply hurt by your rudeness! Harumph!" The hooded woman huffed and crossed her arms.

"Excuse me, but we haven't the luxury to go along with whatever you're doing." Akeno's hand starts emit a pale gold aura which emitted thunder, Akeno's smile was calm but the aura she surrounded herself with was growing with a grave seriousness, "So start explaining who you are."

"Oh come on, can't a girl just have a little fun?" The hooded woman shrugged.

Kiyome blinked as she got a better look at her, "Wait a minute… You're that person that Natsu-nee was discussing her plan to in her study the other night!"

"Eh?" Makoto was confused, he didn't really understand what was going on. Just what is going on and how did it relate to his older sister?

"Ping-Pong! That's true, and now I know who the rat amongst you all is. Thanks, drill head!"

The hooded woman gave a thumbs up.

"Then that would mean you're working with our enemy." Raynare prepared her light spear.

"Ping-Pong! Ping-Pong!" The hooded woman nodded.

"Then this will become an inevitable fight that we can't avoid." Akeno led the remaining group of devils to face the hooded woman. As the Vice-President to the Occult Research club and Queen to Rias, she needed to think cautiously and get a better read out of anyone suspicious.

"Ping-Pong! Ping-Pong! Ping-Pong! Yup, yup! That is the reason why I'm here after all! But wait, where is your master along with the Red Dragon boy and that other dragon boy? Geez, did you guys split up? Well, after I'm done with all of you, I will just have to round them up and take them out…"

***ZAAAAN!* *BOOM!***

The hooded woman groaned then watched as a destructive blast of holy power collide with her body.

"The first strike in battle always decides the victor." Xenovia says that calmly.

Raynare sweatdropped and shook her head, "That may be true, but attacking out of the blue like that isn't very smart, Xenovia."

"Eh? But doesn't Michael do it all of the time?"

"Well…" Raynare trailed off.

* * *

"What the-!?"

The panther-man still keeping chase after the presence he chose, started to notice something weird. The powers weren't even going towards the facility any more, it was now going in a different direction. And it was his direction!

A bright red aura flashed right in front of him as it was knocking down trees, and within that bursting aura was a Scale Mail armored Michael screaming his little heart out,

"FIRST BLOOD!"

"…!" The Panther chimera stopped in his tracks as he tried to turn back but was too late once he saw the armored fist just inches away from his face.

***WHAAM!***

The force of the punch heavily distorted the panther-man's face as his body was sent flying through the air and off into the distance.

"That was for stomping on my head, you bastard!" Michael stayed afloat in the air with Koneko riding on his back with her arms around his neck.

"Michael-senpai…" Koneko reminded him of their task, veering off track like that could have caused them trouble.

"Now prepare for me to kick your ass!"

"Michael-senpai…"

"Hah! Payback is going to make you it's bitc-!"

***CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!***

Koneko wrapped her knuckle against the back of Michael's helmet covered head.

"Gyagh! My ears! Koneko-chan just what are you-!?"

"…You knocked our target too far away…"

"Eh? Holy shi-! I did? Oh my maou, I did! Oi, get back here, I wasn't done with you yet."

_"…_ _Idiot…"_

"What?"

"…Hm?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing…"

Almost by instinct, Michael had expected those words to come out from Koneko's mouth, but instead he just heard her sigh. Taking a look back at her, Michael could see her troubled and faraway expression. There was something going on with her, and he needed to know what before they enter the heat of battle.

"Koneko-chan, are you okay?"

Koneko realizes her mistake of letting her thoughts cloud her mind and continued to wear he stoic expression, "Yes, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"…"

That answer wasn't good enough, if she was okay then she would have been acting like her usual self by insulting him or actual putting more effort into scolding him, despite being the underclassmen in their relationship.

"Because lately you've been acting pretty weird and it wasn't just here. Back at home you were kind of..."

"He's right over there, Michael-senpai…"

Koneko immediately pointed to a stack of fallen trees. The way that she immediately steered of the subject only made Michael more suspicious about her behavior, but he went along with it for now.

"Right, thanks." Michael landed and places Koneko down on the ground as they confronted their enemy who was shakily getting up by pushing the trees out of the way, unfazed by that powerful attack.

* * *

"The thought was good, but…attacking out of the blue isn't very tactical." Raynare said, awkwardly.

"And also it's very obvious enough to block~!"

The hooded woman stood through the smoke with her hand stretched out. No one could believe what they saw. This stranger blocked out Durandal's destructive blast of holy power with no signs of injuries.

"Durandal had no effect?" Xenovia gasped.

"Teehee! That's a holy sword, right? The blade may be sharp, but its owner's wit is incredibly dull! The holy sword Durandal you say? It's a remarkable weapon if only it were in more...capable hands!" The stranger insulted Xenovia, which earned a small growl from her.

_'_ _This person isn't someone to trifle with. There's nothing to read from them to determine their strength, but if they can stand through Xenovia-chan's attack unharmed then it won't be good for us either.' Akeno thought_

"Don't be swayed by this person's words! We may not know who they are or what they have up their sleeve, but remember our task from Buchou! We are not to leave until all possible threats in the area have been vanquished!"

Using her position as a [Queen], Akeno started reciting a strategy to everyone, who listened intently to their vice-club president,

"Gasper-kun, stay alert and continue to protect Abe Kiyome-san and Makoto-chan. Asia-chan, stay back and provide us any healing should we sustain any fatal injuries. Xenovia-chan, you're still exhausted form handling those past enemies, stay back and only attack when there is a full opening. As for us, Raynare-san, we'll be attacking the opponent head-on, don't let up the pressure! Now, do your best to fulfill your roles dutifully understand!?"

"Hai, Fuka-buchou!" Everyone went into place, heeding the words of their sub-leader as she and Raynare unfurl their wings and engage the stranger.

"A combination of both a devil and a fallen angel? My, what a treat!" The stranger was surprised when she saw Raynare's black feathered wings along with Akeno's devil wings.

"Come down, Thunder!"

A violent stroke of lightning came down at the hooded woman, but missed once the hooded woman dodged it by jumping to the side.

"That's nothing special, a predictable attack!" The hooded woman laughed.

"Freeze!" Akeno casts a blizzard spell which rained multiple sharp shards of ice.

"Hup! Hup!" The figure dodges it by doing a quick jump in the air, "Still nothing special!"

***WHOOSH!***

Soon black feathers fell down upon them as a shadow was shown above the hooded woman, Raynare was able to get a good chance to get behind the opponent for an attack as she tries to impale her with a large light spear.

"Ohoho! You're good! You're good~!"

***ZANK!***

_'_ _How in the-?'_

The figure laughed as she catches Raynare's light spear that was just inches away from her chest. No ordinary person would've been able to touch a light spear without their hands burning from the searing pain.

"Come on, Miss Fallen Angel-chan! You can try better than that!"

***BAM!***

"Guugh…"

The figure pulled the spear and dug their fist into Raynare's stomach, sending her reeling back in pain before catching herself from falling to the ground.

"Raynare-san!" Asia cried out.

"I-I'm fine…" Raynare heavily gasped as she held her midriff in pain, the blow from that punch wasn't ordinary. It literally shook her very body as a stinging sensation filled the inside of her body too.

"Not for long if you keep staying there~!"

The figure now held Raynare's light spear and chucked it at her with incredible form, the speed it was going at was fast and Raynare was still too much in pain to dodge it.

"Hah!"

***SHIIIINE!***

***SHATTER!***

"It broke it apart that easily?"

Flying in front of Raynare just in time, Akeno creates a barrier which instantly shatters upon the light spear crashing into it, causing Akeno to almost fall back from the recoil.

"Incredible…"

Xenovia stepped back and still held Durandal up, she was catching her breathe while slowly charging holy aura into the blade of Durandal. This opponent was no joke, they're physical strength up till now has been forcing them back, but she knew that when the moment is right, she'll properly overpower this mysterious enemy in a single blow.

Landing on the ground, the figure shakes her wrists and sighs, "Ouchies~! Look at what you've done to my beautiful hands? I was going to experiment on a few corpses later! Oh, well I guess I'll need to compromise all of your bodies instead!"

Everyone could tell that behind that over the top cute persona was someone actually being honest.

"Raynare-san, are you okay?" Akeno and Raynare slowly drift down to the ground with Akeno helping Raynare.

"I'm fine, the burning sensation is slowly cooling off." Raynare winced in pain as she started to rub away the last ebbs of pain.

Looking out at the figure stretching their limbs so flippantly, Akeno narrowed her eyes, "We haven't fully seen the extent of their power, but if they're holding back then we could use this chance to overwhelm them."

"R-Right…I'll follow your lead…" Raynare coughed as she regained enough strength to stand on her own.

"You two should just let that power idiot, sword swinger over there help you!"

"Hey!"

Xenovia felt insulted to hear that, but felt like she was called that before by some others in the past. Somewhere out in the woods, two sneezes coming from two different directions could be heard, one coming from Michael while the other came from Kiba.

"Why are you making it harder for yourself by allowing more of our allies to attack you? Are you going to stop holding back?" Akeno asked.

"Hold back? To do that, I'd actually have to start trying wouldn't you agree?" The hooded woman shrugged.

"!"

"I just wanted to play around with you all at first, and boy, you guys really suck~! Suckity! Suck! Suck! Suck!" The hooded woman giggled, the ire of being insulted made everyone focus their killing intent at her.

"Whoa, what's going on little ones? Did I strike a nerve, but it's the truth though! I can't get serious with you all the way you are! I mean, if you two would at least get serious then I could actually put up some sort of self-defense to fight back with~!"

"Resound and tear the ground asunder, Thunder!"

Without warning, Akeno fired a violent and powerful torrent of lightning that tore up the ground and headed towards the hooded woman,

"Is that serious enough for you?"

"Hmhmhmhm~!" The hooded woman placed out her hand and created a small enough barrier to block out the large spell, "Nope! I'd suggest you actually put some effort into your attack. I mean you're lightning is pitiful. At least try to live up to the name of Barakiel, wielder of the infamous "Holy Lightning"!"

"…!" Emotions started to well up inside of Akeno as the mentioning of that "Thing's" name shook her to the very core.

Turning around and opening their hand the figure says, "And you…"

***ZANK!***

The figure caught the light spear that Raynare was about to thrust through their back.

"Aren't you tired of using the same light spear trick over and over again? Try to spicen things up, I honestly expected more from a relative of the "Nightmare Flame" Raymond."

"Y-You…how do you know about h-him…?"

The hooded woman didn't dignify that with an answer, she allowed her actions to speak instead. She tore Raynare's light spear out of her hand and cocked back their arm.

***WHAAM!***

"Guuuagh!" Raynare literally loses her breath as the hooded woman delivers a crushing palm strike to her chest, the burning sensation she felt again coursed throughout her entire body and made it difficult for her to recover as she limply fell to the ground instead.

"Raynare-san! You…!" Akeno uses her wings to soar directly towards the hooded woman.

"Take a seat, spawn of Barakiel…"

***SHING!* *BOOOM!***

The hooded woman threw Raynare's light spear a few feet ahead of Akeno and allowed the force of the attack to push her back and into the air with some exception of the rubble scarring her shrine maiden attire.

"Raynare-san, are you okay?" Asia rushes over to Raynare's side and mends the pain that she's going through.

"T-This person…just who are they?" After getting another feel of that stinging sensation, Raynare could manage to compare it to the equivalent of a light spear, but instead it felt like more than 30 of them had been lunged through her body.

"I swear you Fallen Angels have gotten pathetic over the years… First, your race dwindles down after being the first ones to back out of a war. Now you're being so stubborn as to not fight seriously especially the blood relatives of the leaders. Hehe…it's so funny that it would hurt to laugh if I actually cared."

The hooded woman could feel a rising killing intent fill the air above her, she knew it was a small step up from before, but that much increase in power wouldn't do much to her.

"That creature…don't you dare lump me in with it… That's absolutely unforgiveable…" Akeno's expression was very unpleasant as she glared at the figure, her aura was bursting out around her in a yellow clad wall of lightning surging out of her.

"Ohoho! Now don't be getting mad at me, you're the one who is being shrewd. The both of you, in fact. Holding back the full extent of your powers is rather wasteful, if you two were to actually continue on as miserable suckers like this, then killing you all off here would actually be doing you both a favor."

***SUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

A fierce gale of wind rose and shook almost everyone back as the figure released a powerful aura of a darkish-yellow light which pressured everyone around them. The power they exhibited was phenomenal, even Akeno who had her mind clouded with rage could feel the overwhelming pressure in front of her. Things were starting to heat up.

Opening her arms wide in a welcoming fashion, the hooded woman laughed, "Now come here, I'll put you both out of your misery. Don't worry about your bodies going to waste, I'll be sure to preserve them and dissect them so I can pick up where you last started and see how they actually tick!"

The cute laugh the hooded woman had was overshadowed by the crazed maniacal laughter of a deranged person. No one could safely say that they can feel safe anymore.

"Kiyome-neechan, what's going to happen to us?" Makoto trembled closer to Kiyome who did her best to comfort him while trying her best to not shiver in utter fear.

"Nothing, Makoto-chan, we'll be just fine, okay?" Kiyome assured herself when she said that.

_'_ _Natsu-nee, just…why? Why would you involve yourself with a-a person like this? I don't understand why you're doing any of this at all!' Kiyome's head was getting filled with doubt as she stood within the midst of an upcoming heated battle._

"Huuuuuuah! Resound, Thunder!"

***BAKABAKABAKABAKABAKABAKA!***

Not letting this display of power hold her back, Akeno holds up a single finger and summons a large magic circle above her which brought down a massive thunderclap of lightning that came down upon the hooded woman whose face's lower half was revealed to be a huge excited smile.

"Teehee! The stubborn ones are so fun to rile up~!"

***BAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!***

A huge explosion filled the clearing as a huge ball of smoke rose up in the air.

* * *

"Hiyah!" Michael swung his fist directly at the Panther-chimera's face

***BAAAM!***

"Hmph!" The Chimera used the bicep of his muscles to block the attack.

In their part of the woods, Michael and Koneko were engaging their opponent, the Panther-chimera. They were surprised by the creature's rapid recovery from their powerful blitz attack from earlier, how could someone who was punched by a fist full of dragon power get right back up after being crushed by a group of fallen trees?

Now they had to stick with the original plan in mind by trying to completely defeat him with any form of attack they can come up with.

"…There."

***BAM!***

Koneko who stayed low to allow Michael to attack the top landed a blow directly at the Chimera's solar plexus, but the beast didn't react in pain, he still looked unbothered by the attack.

"Is that it?"

"…!" Koneko gasped as her reaction time was too slow to realize that the Panther-man was already aiming to land a blow on her.

"Koneko-chan!" Michael quickly pulls her back in his arms as the punch made contact with the ground and created a large crater.

"Dammit..." Michael growled as he jumped a far distance away.

"He wasn't joking around with that hit, are you okay, Koneko-chan?" Michael placed the girl down.

"…I'm fine…" Koneko said, but her distanced look told Michael that she wasn't all there.

Michael wanted to ask what was going on with her, but the imposing Panther-man walking out of the crater caught his attention. He was looking down at them and that brawny display of his power was supposed to be an example.

"You two should already know your chances of survival are very grim against a stronger creature like me, it would be wise to give up so your suffering can end." The Panther-man walks over to them, he was going to take this nice and slow.

"That's right, I don't know of our chances of survival and neither do you, but I sure know that I'm not going to roll over and let you kill us. I'm in this thing to win it!" Michael lowers himself into his fighting stance and slowly breathes out, a white aura flowed out and around his body. By using his touki, he increases the power of his strength, speed and skills.

Michael signals to Koneko to listen, "Koneko-chan, I'm about to go at him with everything that I can throw at him. Try to find an opening whenever he tries to attack me, okay?"

"…Right." Koneko nodded.

"Let's go!" Michael uses the jets of his armor to propel himself at the Panther-man who takes a few jumps back before catching one of Michael's fists with less force placed into it due to continuous movement.

"Not good enough…"

"Kch!" Michael tried to pull back his fist but the grip was too strong to break free.

Very soon, the Panther-man throws a punch at Michael's head only for it to be blocked by Michael's armored forearm, but the armor surrounding it began to crack after receiving the blow. Even Michael's naked arm could feel the impact of the attack.

_'_ _Wow, this guy's strength is just too crazy! The damage can even reach through my touki and my armor!' Michael winced in pain._

"Its not over yet…"

Holding his other arm in place while preparing another punch, the Panther-chimera intended to keep bashing through Michael's forearm.

"You think?"

**[Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

"…!"

**"** **Dragon Shot!"**

Before the Panther-man could even react Michael boosted his power and fired a blast at the creature in point blank range, however, the chimera managed to dodge by releasing Michael's arm and slowly falling back as he flexibly allowed the attack the go over him.

"Darn it, that didn't work too?" Michael growled as he saw the Panther-man jump back on his feet as the impact of his dragon shot exploded in the background.

"Nice try, but you'll have to do a lot better than that." The Panther-man wasted no time and lunged at Michael now with his claws bared.

"Heh, now we're fighting up close and personal, huh? Come on, bring it, you turkey!" Michael roared as he and the Panther started throwing their fists in a rapid close quarters confrontation. Each hit that they threw at one another was intended to batter the opponent's endurance down along.

Through the storm of fists, Michael had to grit his teeth a couple of times whenever he left himself open to try and leave a devastating blow on the Panther-chimera. At first when he attempted it, he thought it would be okay to acquire some damage while dishing out even more than the chimera, but when he did attack, it would land a powerful blow against the chimera, but it would never affect him that much, the creature's body was just too thick and durable.

_'_ _This guy is too tough…!' Michael thought as he receives a sharp blow to the chest, but fights through it to hit the chimera's jaw with a bone shattering uppercut, but after sustaining the blow the chimera spat out some blood and just kept attacking,_

_'_ _I can't tell if that really hurt him or not, he just keeps looking to be the same as when we started! From my surprise attack to this, how can he be so durable to my punches!?' Michael thought then grinned, "Maybe I should try to-!'_

**_[No.]_ **

_'_ _But you don't even know what I was about to say!' Michael groaned._

**_[If you overdo your boosting, you will just break your arms that have already been damaged way more before thanks to the past recoils.]_ **

_'_ _But I'm going to need way more power to break through this guy's tough defenses!' Michael raises one arm to defend against a swinging right hook._

"…" Koneko watches at a good distance as she tries to find an opening she can exploit, but while she thinks of it another thought crosses her mind when she feels a small part of that natural presence that has been bothering her these past few days.

The encroaching feeling of anxiety has been terrifying her and the only way that she could act normal was suppressing those urges, and right now she still was. Her focus wasn't on just the fight anymore, it was now placed on fighting the fears that were holding her back.

"Hyah! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora! Ora!" Michael fired a strong barrage of fists at the Panther-chimera who does the same, but with each punch thrown they would usually clash knuckles which made them recoil back and try again.

"I'm impressed that you're keeping up with me even though all of your attacks can barely scratch me, a superior creature. I am surprised, you went down as fast you did the first time we met, but that would suggest how pitiful you really are."

"I'm impressed that you can still stand after I knocked you up into the sky. I'm surprised a Superior being like yourself can be so easily tricked to get blindsided by me!"

"Graaaaaargh!"

That comment may have ticked the Panther off as he cocks back a fist with his muscles pulsating from the pressure. He was about to do a fatal damaging punch but Michael wasn't going to be left out to receive a hit like that alone.

"Huraaaaaaah!"

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Michael's dragon aura flared out as he multiplied the strength of his power on his arm while coating his entire body with touki.

_'_ _I will have to stay on my toes for this one. When we both attack, I'll look for an opening to dodge so I can at least make it out with no harm. If not, then I'll just leave have to get hit and hope this bastard keels over too.' Michael narrowed his eyes as he focused on the punch coming right at him._

The two slowly enclosed the gap between one another and prepared to slug each other with their deadly attacks. The two enclosing fists were getting closer and not too far away from impact as the panther-man's fist was inches away from Michael's face due to being taller. As Michael's fist was close enough to reach the left side of his chest.

_'_ _There!'_

***SMASH!* *BREAK!***

_Michael sees an opportunity and barely moves his head to the side of the fist as it destroys half of his scale mail's helmet and visor. But that's not the only thing that happened, the shockwave of the punch visibly tore up the forest right behind Michael as it bore a carving tunnel along the ground which sent most trees and vegetation crumbling._

_'_ _You nimble, little brat!' The Panther-man gritted his teeth then widened his eyes where Michael's fist was about to hit him._

"Look who just discovered an opening!  **Dragon Crushing Fist!"**

***BAAAAAAAAAAAM!***

The aura clad fist dug in to the Panther-man's chest and visibly forced the creature to finally wince in an unbelievable amount of pain. Michael grinned and chuckled, "So this is where you've been keeping your weak spot!"

Michael's fist made direct contact with the Chimera's left chest and it sunk right in a good amount of damage rather easily.

"Huuuarck!" The Panther-man coughs out a large amount of blood and loses his breathe, he leans back to retreat from the critical blow.

"Oh no you don't! You stay right here!" Michael grabbed the shoulder of the panther-man and held him in place, for extra measure, he dug his fist deeper into the weak chest spot to make it harder for him to move.

"Curse you!" The Panther-man glared spitefully at Michael.

Whipping his head back, Michael shouted, "Koneko-chan, quick come over here and find another opening by using his back!"

Koneko was unresponsive as she was just standing there with her head down, trembling.

"Koneko-chan?" Michael called out once in question, then began to notice something strange, the Panther-chimera wasn't trembling as much as before. He was recovering!

_'_ _But how is he getting up so fast, I just literally prodded more at his weak spot?' Michael gasped then began to feel the Panther-man try to shake him off, 'Dammit, I won't be able to hold on for long if he gets up again!'_

"Let go of me!" The Panther-man was regaining his strength as he slowly forces Michael to lose his grip on him.

"Nrgh! Never! Koneko-chan! Koneko-chan!" Michael grunted as he began to struggle with holding

But she didn't respond, her hair was covering her face and made it hard for Michael to read her expression, but he could definitely tell that she wasn't paying attention. All to herself, she muttered, "O-Onee-san…"

Sucking up all the air that his lungs could hold, Michael screams,

"Koneko-chan, what the hell are you doing over there!?" Michael snapped at his kouhai, breaking her out of her funk just in time to notice Michael struggling to pin down the Panther-man.

"…Michael-senpai?" Koneko was slowly catching on to what was happening.

"Koneko-chan! Hurry! Find another opening! Find it quick!" Michael holding the panther-man in place was getting to be a challenge.

Immediately jumping in to make up for her absentmindedness, Koneko rushes in, she wasn't really sure where to attack so she assumed to just head straight in without heeding Michael's words.

Seeing her come at them from the front, Michael shook his head, "No Koneko-chan, wait! I said attack from the back!"

His words couldn't reach her anymore, it was like she listened for a moment then switched off her ability to fully assess the situation.

***BAM!***

Attacking at the place she targeted, Koneko's punch made contact with the bottom midriff of the Panther-man.

It had no effect, but by paying attention, she was able to grasp something strange about the chimera's body but before she could question it, a big hand lunged right at her.

"Hraah!" The Panther-man roared as he regained enough strength to his other free arm not restrained by Michael, "Get over here!"

"Ngh…!" Koneko's cry of pain was cut short when the Panther-man's hand strangled her throat and held her in the air.

"Koneko-chan!" Michael decided to stop holding the panther-man back and use his jets to break Koneko out of his grip.

"I'm not forgetting about you either, boy!"

***SMAAAASH!***

"Guuuuack!"

The Panther-man's released arm made sure to repay the favor of being restrained by stabbing 5 claws into Michael's lower stomach. Blood splattered from the cracks of the armor as Michael was literally held up and impaled by the Panther-man's claws.

_'_ _M-Michael-senpai…' Koneko could only voice out her worries in her mind as she was losing air flowing to her head. His choke was crushing the life out of her._

"Pathetic, you did well so far but look what it all amounted to. Maybe if you were alone, kid, then things would have been different for you. However, you brought along this weak little scrub that made things difficult for the both of you." The Panther-man's grip tightened, "I'll just handle this by snapping her neck for you..."

Despite losing her ability to speak and breathe, she didn't lose her hearing,  _'I-I'm holding senpai back? …Baka-senpai, forgive me…'_

"You know what, because of you-!"

***GRIP!* *GRAB!***

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

**[Michael, you're overdoing it!]**

Grabbing the wrist of the arm holding him up and the head of the Chimera, the jewels of his Scale Mail began to glow as he boosted his power multiple times.

"I'm starting prefer dogs over cats!  **Dragon Shot!"**

***DOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

A huge blast of red energy decimated the head and the top half of the Chimera's body as only its limp arms and legs were still intact. Dropping to the ground, the body fell back with both Michael impaled on his claws and with Koneko still locked within a deadly strangulation.

"Urgh! Get ou-agh! That stings!" Michael pulls himself off the claws which caused a lot of blood to spray out. Trying to use another one of his hands, he instantly cringes and screams, "Ouch, that hurts like a bitch!"

**_[That's because you broke your knuckle with that attack, for now you won't be able to make a fist with it.]_ **

Michael removed his helmet and visor in order to better breathe.

_'He was this close to breaking Koneko-chan's neck! I had to something…wait…' He thought._

"Koneko-chan!" Realizing that she was still being chocked by the panther's still tightened grip on her neck, Michael quickly tore apart the chimera's fingers to free her.

"Koneko-chan!" Michael helps the girl up with his good hand as she coughs out and regains some of her strength.

"M-Michael-senpai, I-I'm…" Koneko muttered as she insistently tried to get back up, "I-I can…"

"It's okay, breathe...breathe..." Michael rubbed the girl's back, comfortingly, "We're safe now…"

Shaking her head, Koneko points back at the limp body, "…No, he felt strange…his body isn't normal."

"I know, he was really tough. His body was able to take most of my attacks." Michael coughed.

"It's not just that, his body isn't just durable…when you attacked his weak spot, I felt that his heart had exploded…no,  _one_ of his hearts were destroyed…"

"Two hearts? I don't get it and how can you sense that?"

"…Because…" Koneko avoided to answer the second question and went on to saying, "That heart that you destroyed was rapidly healing itself over a matter of seconds before it started beating again."

"It healed itself? Then wouldn't that mean this guy has-!"

***DON!***

Slowly turning back at the headless body, Michael sees that one of the limp had created a small crater under its closed fist before doing with the other free arm. It was a bizarre sight as the hands rapidly searched around for what could only be their victims. Soon enough a bright light flashed and filled the top half of the chimera as the form of its head shaping slowly began.

"Freaking regeneration!?" Michael shouted, "That is just hacks, but to be honest a little cool…"

"…L-Lets handle him…I'll be able to fight more clearly now…" Koneko attempted to get up, but struggled to stand with Michael holding her down, "Michael-senpai…?"

"You're going to have to stay back for this one, Koneko-chan."

"N-No, I can…"

"Koneko-chan."

The look on Michael's face told it all, it was a concerned look of not just a fellow servant but of a senior about to scold his kouhai. She hasn't been scolded like this by him since the Kokabiel fight, meaning things were that serious enough for him to make that call.

Looking at the regenerating chimera, Michael looks deeper into the woods and coughs out some blood, "Let's just *COUGH!* regroup…"

"H-Hai…" Koneko complies as Michael kneels down and lets her wrap her arms around his neck as he unfurls his dragon wings. A few miles away will give them just enough time to regain some of their strength, but first, they needed a head start.

Opening his good hand, Michael prepares a basketball sized sphere of demonic energy in his hand and aims it at the regenerating Chimera's head.

***DOOOOON!***

The blast recreated the same destroyed body that was about to regenerate before the process began again.

"That should give us enough time." Michael said, but the response Koneko gave him was silence. That same silence followed them as they began to leave this area of the destroyed woods.

Michael took flight into the air and flew through the night sky searching for a good distance to rest at. It only took them three minutes or so to find the right spot near another forest clearing. Their landing a little bumpy, Michael places Koneko down a couple of feet away from him as he walks up to a tree and unequips his armor to better breathe.

_'_ _Man, this hurts…' Michael held the bleeding wound in pain and gritted his teeth._

"Michael-senpai, are you okay…?"

Michael turns his head around to look at Koneko's face, it was cute, but at the same time really sad especially if she thought it was her fault.

"Wha-! Oh you mean this? Psssh! This ain't nothing to someone of my great caliber, see?"

Michael flicked the wounds and twitched in pain before grinning to cheer her up. Suddenly the dam of pain was broken when he had realized that he flicked with the hand that had the broken knuckles and also the fact that he had just flicked 5 fresh wounds that dug into his midriff.

***SLAM!***

"I-I mean, I'm fine so don't worry…" Michael hit his forearm against the side of the tree and tried to regain his breathe.

"…I-I see…" Koneko looked down, she wasn't dumb enough to believe that act and Michael knew it.

Groaning before looking right at Koneko with a serious expression, Michael asked, "But my wounds aside, what about you, Koneko-chan? Are you okay?"

"…I-I'm fi-" Koneko was interrupted.

"Don't lie." Michael coughed and wiped some blood off of his lip, "I want the truth."

Koneko avoided eye contact with Michael, a maneuver to dodge the subject. Unfortunately for her, Michael wasn't going to let that happen.

"Lately, you haven't been acting like yourself. At home, you weren't eating as much as you used to, and your way quieter than usual." Michael walks over to her and kneels down to see her face to face which only resulted in her to try and keep herself from making eye contact with him, "Even out here, you broke focus more times than I could count. It's like you weren't all there when I called for you. That's not like you. The Koneko-chan that I know would have focused on the task the whole time. You may say that you're fine but you're not and you have to tell me why you're acting this way or else you'll just be getting into more trouble like earlier. So will you tell me what's wrong?"

"…" Koneko still wouldn't answer him.

Lowering his head, Michael sadly smiled, "I see, so it really looks like I am a failure in your eyes then, huh?"

"…?" Koneko was taken back when she heard that.

"What kind of senior am I if my underclassman can't even be comfortable with talking about their worries with. I guess my duty as your senior, someone to watch over you, didn't give you the results you needed." Michael wore a sad smile, "You're so afraid, and you can't even tell me why? Hehe! Man, what a joke of senior I am…"

"!?" Koneko's eyes widened.

Getting up and turning his back to Koneko, Michael says, "If I can't even relieve you of whatever is ailing you, then I guess I'm not that great of a senpai to you after all..."

Koneko clenched her hands as she trembled,  _'N-No…that's not…'_

"Go on, you can say it, I'm just Baka-senpai, the most terrible senpai, who isn't even that great for his kouhai to trust." While Michael was poking fun at himself, he rubbed his eyes of any moisture, he may have been sounding all jaunty and playful, but deep down, he really felt that what he was saying was the truth.

_'_ _M-Michael-senpai, please, no more…' Koneko's lips began to tremble, she was about to break._

Turning around wearing an apologetic grin, Michael finally broke the last remaining wall that kept Koneko silent,

"Koneko-chan, sorry that you had to have this failure as your senior…"

"N-No…"

For the first time since he joined the Occult Research club, Michael had finally heard Koneko's voice start to break up. Getting on her feet, Koneko was filled with so much rushing emotions that they could be contained anymore the gates holding her back were now open.

"D-Don't say that anymore, please, no more…" Koneko staggers slowly towards Michael while raising her head.

***Drip!* *Drip!* *Drip!***

Michael gasped when he saw streams of tears go down her cheeks. Koneko was crying.

"Koneko-chan?"

"Michael-senpai, I-I don't…"

"Huh?"

"I don't like it when you speak that way… Michael-senpai isn't a terrible senior, he's not. H-He's a senior, who kept protecting me, he even shows me kindness even when I make trouble for him. I-I trust you…! S-So y-you're not a failure! M-Michael-senpai isn't a failure…! H-He's n-not!"

Koneko's cries grew louder, her usual calm speech was starting to crumble away. Right now she was acting exactly how a girl her age would. Her words were getting shorter and more frantic as her voice was rising and cracking up.

"I-I don't...*SNIFF!* W-Want to ever regret having you as my senpai… I just keep bringing you so much trouble, you always get hurt because of me since you just keep trying to keep me safe. I just keep messing up over and over again b-because...I'm so weak…!"

Koneko closes the distance and wraps her arms around Michael's waist and buries her head into his chest, "…Because I'm so scared…"

Koneko sobbed into Michael's chest, "I'm only holding you back and I really want to "help" but I'm afraid… this place is… I…I'm just so scared! Letting my fears interfere with my actions really makes me more of nuisance for yo-!"

"Koneko-chan." Michael's voice was neutral as he called her to look at him.

***PING!***

"…ow!" Koneko winces back and holds her head in slight pain, "S-Senpai?"

Having just flicked her on the head, Michael shook his head and smiled, "Go on keep talking like that and there will be more where that came from."

Koneko tilted her head and didn't understand why Michael did that.

"You may say that I'm not a failure, but you speaking like this only confirms how bad of senior I am, you're thinking that your useless because your scared, and it is all because of this place, right?"

Koneko tried to deny Michael's thoughts, and tried to tell him the full truth, "N-No, that's not all. I-!"

"You don't have to tell me any more. Knowing that your just afraid is good enough for me. Now I have to do my job as your senpai to handle your fears and make you feel more safe with yourself."

Michael scratched his neck.

Looking doubtful, Koneko said, "…But you don't know why I'm scared, so can you really do that? What if… What if it's something you can't handle, and it gets you harmed even further?"

***PING!***

"Uh…" That one received another flick to the head.

"You know that I can keep doing this all night. Stop worrying and leave it to me, I'm supposed to be your senior, I have to watch out for you and I sure as hell know that I will do everything in my power to protect you. Before, you said you were a nuisance? No, I let myself get hurt for you because it's my duty as your senior and quite frankly I did it because I wanted to."

***PAT!***

Michael grins and rubs Koneko's hair affectionately.

"When I watch over you, I always swear to protect you because you're my very important underclassman and nothing will ever get to you unless they get through me first."

"Michael-senpai…"

Michael pulls her in for a hug with his good arm, "So just have faith in me for this single thing. You know that I'm an idiot, so I'll probably mess up on most things, but trust me with handling your fears because I'll always blow them away…"

"O-Okay…" Koneko tears this time came with a light blush on her cheeks. She didn't know why, but her fear was starting to subside. She felt lighter than before like she was burdened by the thought of running rampant, not to the extent that she was before. Her fear wasn't gone it just lessened all because of a few reassuring words from a single guy. A guy she trusts.

Her senpai.

Looking ahead, Michael glared at the direction of an incoming presence.

_'_ _He's coming.'_

It was that damn Panther-chimera and it was coming straight for them fast. That regeneration of his was looking to be a real pain, and he just closed the distance between them by running in just less than a couple of minutes.

Fearing that Koneko was not ready to fight again, Michael tries to push her back, but she wouldn't budge.

"Koneko-chan?"

"Michael-senpai, I-I can help too." She was still a bit too shaky, but her eyes said it all. She was intent on fighting all-out like Michael.

Michael shook his head, "No, let me handle this. Forcing yourself to fight won't work when facing this guy."

"But Michael-senpai, your injuries are going to hinder you with your fight."

"You mean these wounds? Pfft! I can still fight with a broken knuckle. If my hand won't work I'll use my elbow. If that gets broken then legs. I'll use any limb I have to make sure to beat this guy." Michael clenched his good fist, "So just stay back and wait for me to wipe the floor with this guy."

Koneko was still reluctant, "But his two hearts, I can help you with finding the second one. You need to destroy both if you want defeat him."

"Destroy both?"

"…He's using two hearts which act as key sources for his regeneration ability. Whenever one gets destroyed the other acts as a fail safety and heals it back up again. The only real way to end this is by stopping both of his hearts, and I can help you by finding where the second one is hidden within his body."

"That sounds about right…but…" Michael addresses a question that Koneko had been avoiding, "Koneko-chan, how can you sense all of that in the first place?"

It wasn't something she wanted to bring up personally, but if it means Michael would let her fight with him then she'll gladly reveal herself, "B-Because I'm a-!"

Eyes widening, Michael senses the presence of the Panther-man in the area of them, but he wasn't on the ground, but in the air as his shadow slowly casts over Koneko's!

"Above you!" Michael pushes Koneko out of the way as a big black fist came barreling straight down at him.

***DOOOON!***

"Michael-senpai!" Scrambling up to her feet, Koneko watched as the Panther-man's fist missed Michael's head by a few inches as the ground beneath him was smashed apart.

"Stay back!" Michael shouted.

"I was hoping to get rid of the weakest link out of the two of you, but I see your still persistent to keep her alive." The Panther-man clicked his tongue.

**[Dragon Booster!]**

A soft ball sized sphere of demonic energy levitated over Michael's index finger as he equipped the Boosted Gear while pointing it at the chimera's chest.

**"** **Dragon Shot!"**

The chimera backs off at the sight of danger as the beam of energy goes up into the night sky.

Getting back up, Michael conjures a single spiraling ball of flames in his hand,  **"Dragon Flare!"**

***FWOOOSH!***

"Hng!"

***KaBoooom!***

The Chimera crossed his arms over his chest and took on the brunt of the attack as a smoky explosion filled the clearing.

_'_ _Ddraig, how much time do I have left if I enter my Balance Breaker state?' Michael panted, the surprise attack caught him by surprise._

**_[With all of the training that you've been doing lately, you were able to raise your time limit to about 3 hours and 30 minutes. As of now you have at least 2 hours due to all of your past boosting.]_ **

_'_ _Two hours already? Damn, I'll just have to save it for later. Right now I'll just rely on the Boosted Gear itself.' Michael clenched his right fist._

**[Boost!]**

_'_ _I'll save up enough energy to pierce through the first heart, he'll probably try to evade my attacks to heal it, but Bam! I'll stay keyed on him the entire time and try to find any weak spots.' Michael's plan had one flaw and it was the boosting setback with only 10 seconds needing to boost again._

"Annoying."

Deftly avoiding his head being clashed off his neck, Michael dodges the Panther-man's close attack as he pounced through the smoke. Afterwards that close call seemed like a walk in the park when compared to all of the hits he was now either taking directly or barely blocking.

"Hraaah!"

"Ngh!"

***SMACK!***

Michael caught the chimera's fist with his good hand and was pushed back.

**[Boost!]**

_'_ _I still need more than that…' Michael grunted as his feet were dragging through the ground thanks to being pushed back by the creature's punch._

"Your other side is wide open!"

"…!" See a side kick being swung after the side of his with his broken knuckle, the only way Michael could react was by releasing the balled up fist in his grasp in order to duck down beneath the swift kick. With the kick still in motion, the Panther-man was too late to regain his balance.

Surging touki into his fist, Michael took the chance to knock the Panther-chimera's face off with a clean slugger to the face, but the result was the same. His body was too sturdy to receive any damage from his attacks.

"In your regular state, you can barely make me feel anything from that weak punch." The Panther-chimera took hold of Michael's wrist and held it up, so he wouldn't pull it back so easily.

**[Boost!]**

"Let go!" Michael struggled to break free as he boosted his power once more.

"Your using your sacred gear but not to its full extent, just return back to that form so things will at least be more interesting. It alone was able to rough up my entire thick body, made to survive through the harshest of blows." The Panther-man explained.

_'_ _Thick body, eh?' Michael pondered then grinned, 'Heh! Time to show this guy, I ain't no joke!'_

_Michael swings back his leg and yells,_

"Thick body? What makes you so sure about that!?"

***BOONG!***

That's right Michael had kicked this guy in the nads, really hard. It was an achievement he had been wanting to do for a long time.

"Hah! That's for letting your guard do-!"

"Was that supposed to hurt?" The Panther-man asked with half-lidded eyes.

"Eh?" Michael sweatdropped, "B-B-But how come you're not hunched over in pain? I definitely kicked you in your nuts so how come it didn't work?"

"My  **entire** body was made to be this thick so that it can endure the  **harshest** of blows." The Panther-man emphasized and cocked back his fist.

"Hm?" It took Michael a while to process this before he widened his eyes upon realization, "Oh… Damn…"

***BAAAAAAM!***

"Wuuuuuuuuagh!" Being punched and sent crashing through a tree, Michael ate the dust fast as the panther-man still charged right at him, things were about to get a lot more painful.

"Michael-senpai!"

"Stay back!"

Koneko hesitated for only a moment at the raw display of violence in front of her.

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

**[Boost!]**

Interlocked in a battle of desperate fisticuffs, Michael was in the worst possible disadvantage ever. One of his fists were broken. He was losing ground. He was trying to focus on boosting and fighting at the same time. And he was the one mostly getting hit.

Staggering back after receiving the most gnarliest of punches to the face, Michael started to breathe heavily as he wiped his bleeding nose clean.

**[Boost!]**

"What a joke, to think this was what Natsuru-sama wanted. Your genes must really be what she's craving for kid because you're definitely not showing me all of those impressive feats you've done in the past." The Panther-man crossed his arms.

_'_ _Just need a few more boosts…just a few more, but how can I be sure that I will get a chance to hit him with my attack to get to the next heart, that has yet to be found?' Michael growled._

**[Boost!]**

"Say all you want! Let's just continue with our fight!"

"I'm ending things now."

"…!" Both Michael and Koneko were stunned when they head the intentions of the chimera.

"True, I've been going at you normally while trying to destroy you, but this is literally wasting all of my time when I should be eliminating every single one of you devils. So continue boosting your power because it will be useless once I'm ripping out that heart of yours. This could have been prolonged if you weren't wasting your time protecting that insignificant beta over there and refusing to use your sacred gear's full power is what brought you here. Remember that these unnecessary factors were what lessened your standings."

Taking one last leap, the Panther-chimera charged at Michael and cocked back its fist, this was the final blow!

"Kch!" Still standing his ground, Michael was met with an opponent who was someone dangerous. For the first time Michael was facing someone who saw him as a threat or wasn't seeing things as a total game. He wanted him dead and that creates no more opportunities that he can take for himself to get stronger.

_'_ _Dammit!' Michael gritted his teeth and prepared to meet the creature halfway for his attack. He wasn't about to go down so halfheartedly as to be struck down while waiting for the attack to happen._

***SNAP!***

***SNAP!***

_'_ _Hey, wait a minute… What's that?' Michael thought._

_'_ _Is that Natsuru-sama, no, it's not the same like her's but who's-?'_

But then suddenly something clicked with him and not only that, but the Panther-chimera stopped in his tracks as well as he felt something too. It was that natural presence again, at first the chimera doubted himself since none of the two he fought acted like this big of a threat. However, now after feeling this much natural power form in one place, he couldn't help but place his eyes on the same person as Michael,

"Koneko-chan?" Michael saw a white warm Ki surround Koneko's small body as it kept flowing out around her.

"Michael-senpai, I-I…" Her eyes were tightened as her hands trembled at the thought of summoning up this power she has grown to detest, but that fear alone was in the way and must not allow it to be the reason why she couldn't help her beloved senior in aid,

"I can help too!" Soon enough the white aura disappeared, soon enough a new change in appearance had happened for Koneko.

***FLOP!* *FLOP!* *Groow~!***

Two white cat ears grew out of her head along with a white cat tail which swayed side to side.

"Nya~!"

* * *

So many things were happening around her. Briskly running through the forest, Rias could feel the waging battles occurring throughout the entire forest. Her plan to use the strongest out of her servants and Shirou to separate and tackle down the other chimera was an effective plan. The only thing she had to do now was place her faith in them.

_'_ _With no other chimeras in the way and with the stronger ones distracted my path is clear to follow. Natsuru…' Rias bit her lower lip at the memory of the shameful defat she had suffered. Not only was her pride shattered and her power was mocked. But the most damaging blow which she really cared about the most was that her most prized servant and boyfriend was stolen from her so shamelessly._

_'_ _For doing all of this, I will make sure that you will pay for ever messing with me, my servants and my friends.' Rias thought, it wasn't that long until she would reach the facility._

A voice echoed from around the forest that surrounded Rias, "So you came back. I was sure the little "princess" would have been crying her little eyes out in her castle waiting for her hero to come."

Stopping her running, Rias listened to the voice and could already figure out that it was Natsuru speaking to her throughout the entire woods. Rias, who kept her eyes on the road ahead continued to move forward but at a confident pace.

"Teehee! Why the serious look? You know that you're not fooling me with that confident act. We already know that alone you're just a weakling when compared to me. Your servants are the real capable force in your entire peerage while you the [King] can barely hold a candle to their useful powers."

"…" Rias wasn't responding as she remained walking at the same pace.

"You know I was planning on having Michael-kun to myself if it weren't for the interruptions. He's such a nice guy, a bit of a big mouth but a really nice catch you know? Plus, he comes with a bonus of being the Red Dragon Emperor. I hope you don't mind me keeping him in my more…capable hands."

Clenching her hands into a balled up fist, Rias still continued to walk down the path. She wasn't blocking out any of this incessant dribble, she was listening to every single word said to her with a clear mind. This was obviously a tactic, using venomous words to get anger the enemy into entering a fight with irrational thoughts.

"Hm? What, you don't want to reply to that? Could it be that you've come to accept that you just see him as nothing but a sacrificial pawn? Or do you just hate everything I'm saying and want to keep ignoring every word I say to justify that your true intentions were right?"

"…"

Rias continued to walk through the forest and could see the light up ahead, the end of the forest. Taking her last footsteps through the exit, the first thing that she saw was the calm swaying of 9 midnight black fox tails.

"Natsuru Abe…"

"Although your company wasn't to be expected to show up," Natsuru was all smiles as she opened her arms, "Welcome, Rias Gremory. I see you've managed to get here by using your servants without having to lift up a finger and yet by now you are probably thinking that I'm just spewing out nonsense about how your much useless compared to their aid. Ignoring me won't change how insignificantly weak you are when compared to me."

"I wasn't ignoring you?" Rias shook her head.

"Excuse me?"

Rias' had on a doubtful expression as she says, "It may be hard to swallow, but most of what you've said before was true. I can't deny that. Without my servants being here with me, I would have never made it this far. My power alone may completely destroy anything it touches, but that can only get me so far... Without my peerage by my side, I am…weak."

Rias had a hard time swallowing all of this, but it needed to be said so she can finally be resolute about this inner conflict waging in her mind.

"Ah, I see. The first step to progress is acceptance. I never knew you were the type of devil to accept their mistakes, but why are you here if you did realize that? Obviously, you should know what happened the last time you fought me like this." Natsuru crossed her arms under her chest.

"Yes, I know that you could have killed me back then… And I would have been powerless to stop it like how you took Michael away from me. But I don't intend to let my weakness be an excuse to avoid fighting you. Our power gap may be wide, but that won't stop me from finding a way to defeat you."

Natsuru smirked and giggled, "So it leads back to your pride as a high-class devil, right?"

"Yes, but that's only part of the reason why I'm here." Rias' shoulders tense up.

"Hm?" Crimson demonic aura starts flowing around Rias in a deadly manner. Natsuru caught on to that change it wasn't threatening to her, but just different when compared to the aura that she felt in their fight at the carnival. It wasn't growing bigger either it was just leaking with utter sheer wrath and self-loathing.

"Unforgivable. You ruined my first date with Michael and took him away from me. I can't forgive you for getting in the way of enjoying my cherished time with my precious boyfriend. I can't forgive even myself for being too weak to stop it. Watching you drag him away was something that I could never forget. That's why I'm going to face you. You may be stronger than me in every way possible, that is true, but I won't allow myself to be defeated by the hands of someone like you." Rias raised her hand and created a levitating sphere of demonic energy imbued with the power of destruction.

Very soon Ki was flowing out of Natsuru's body at a greater amount than Rias' as she held within her hand an orb of energy that had a dangerous glow around it.

"So you're going to just barrel in and try to defeat me? Don't think that this will end with you being spared again. Last time, I left you alive on a whim. Right now, I don't see any use in keeping you all around."

"I won't be just a trivial obstacle that you can easily trample over. Natsuru-san, you can come up with a whole set of plans that can undoubtedly top mine, and you can keep masking yourself with that big smirk of yours as you use your power that very easily overpowers my own, but there's one thing you should know between us girls. As my servant's [King], I won't be letting you leave so neat proper like before, are we clear?"

Rias' choice of words really made Natsuru's image break as her once smirking face became a bit serious at the pure blooded devil's irritating resistance.

"Peachy."

***DOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

The response was the gunshot that started the battle. Both blasts of magic and chi collided and created a huge explosion which almost shook down the foundations of the facility behind them. Not just that, but a barrage of demonic blasts and Ki blasts were flying about and causing explosions into the forest that was around them! A viscous standoff of attrition and overwhelming power was going off without a hitch.

* * *

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *SHING!***

An unstoppable chain of Kiba's katana and the Cheetah chimera's claws slammed into each other as the trees around them were getting slashed down. The force of their speed alone made it impossible for neither of them to gain any ground. All they had to rely on was their speed and the impact their attacks had on their opponent.

"Kikikiki! Way to match my speed, devil. I'd say your giving me an effective challenge!" The Cheetah-chimera ran beside Kiba as he trained his eyes on his sword.

"You too. But I can tell you're leaving some vulnerable points wide open because you're not using your full speed!"

"Kikikiki! It's much more fun when you think you're on the ropes that way!"

Kiba has been taking large strides during this battle. He was able to catch this guy off guard way too many times and he still wasn't able to finish him. Each time his blade would even come within an inch of his body, the creature would burst out in his full speed and effortlessly dodge him. His own speed was impressive, but this chimera had a higher level of speed that surpasses his own by a single margin.

The two kept clashing with each other yet again, slowing down would mean the end of either of them.

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

***SLICK!***

"Grgh!" Kiba gritted his teeth as the Chimera got a quick shot at him by the thigh.

"Kikikikiki! Come on! You have to stand after that, it's not even that deep, I swear! I even made sure to hold back on that one."

_'_ _This is getting rather irritating.' Kiba grunted as he bit through the pain of his bleeding leg and continually chased after the Chimera who had a head start in front of him,_

_'_ _He's seeing this as a game. I'll just take advantage of his mindset and end things quickly!' Kiba closed his eyes and concentrated as he focuses to create a large magic circle beneath the large range ahead of the cheetah-man._

"Oh, is that a spell, hah! I'll just run through it before you have time to cast i-!"

**"** **Sword Birth!"**

***SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!* *SHING!***

Kiba summoned a cluster of demon swords to block the Chimera's path.

"Shit!" The chimera kicks the ground rapidly as a means to stop crashing into the wall of swords, thankfully he did stop. Unfortunately for him, he  **stopped.**

"Huraaaaaah!" Kiba who dashed with most of his speed, jumped high up in the air and prepared to cut down the chimera.

"Bastard, you trapped me!"

"This is iiiit!" Kiba roared.

***Badump!***

"Eh?" Kiba gasped as the moment broke some concentration that he was holding throughout the entire fight.

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

An enormous wave of demonic energy surged out of the katana and came down at the chimera.

"What the actual hell!?"

"Dammit!" Kiba growled as he tried to regain his focus, but it was already too late.

***DOOOOOOOOON!* *BOOOOM!***

A massive explosion destroyed a massive cluster of trees and visibly scared the earth beneath him. Kiba landed out of breath as he looked at the mighty display of power sucked out of him and into his blade.

"You must be insane!" The cheetah-man was a little frightened as he barely survived that blast, he was covered in the dirt picked up by the unexpected explosion.

_'_ _I got too wound up and allowed my adrenaline to break my concentration. If I allowed this weapon to continue sucking up my demonic power, then I'll be way exhausted before this fight ends.' Kiba thought._

Yes, the katana itself was sucking out Kiba's power in a constant flow of absorption. The weapon that was given to him by Zethyr was one that required the owner to have a massive amount of demonic power reserves. Kiba has a lot of it but not a lot to give, in the past during his training he found out that he could only stand about throwing 2 waves of overwhelming attacks like that before falling over in exhaustion.

Through his training alone he couldn't get anywhere because he would pass out from exerting the same limit over and over again. The only visible change that helped him learned of a better way was by training with Michael back at the Hanamura Residence. Through the time reviewing each of their faults in each session they were able to create ways to counteract a few of their weaknesses. Through the combined thinking of two minds they were able to create a different solution for Kiba's problem.

It sounded weird at first but what if they Kiba could harness all of the power he blasts with the katana and stores it within the blade so that it can have the same power as each concentrated blast of demonic power it releases. The plan was a bit shaky but things managed to work out a little since he wasn't just firing large blasts of his demonic energy anymore.

But his sword's strength still remained the same as any of his other ones because of how hard it was to control all 100% of the power the blade fires with each swing. The only way he managed to bypass that was by standing completely still and concentrating his demonic energy into the blade. Staying still wasn't suited for Kiba's style for fighting so compressing 50% of the power into the blade was able to hold back the unnecessary blasts but it didn't really improve its strength that well.

The alternative was a great start, but hasn't really gotten him to where he needed to be. And trying to figure out a way to use both holy and demonic power at once wasn't the solution Zethyr had wanted Kiba to use.

Finally catching his breath, Kiba stands up to meet the cheetah-man face to face as his expression was now hardened and serious.

"Okay I get it. Even I have to say that was a close call. That would have killed me so I won't be letting that happen again…" The cheetah-man grunted as he began stretching his legs seriously. The shocking truth of almost dying must have gotten to his playful, prideful attitude. Now he was about to pull out all the stops.

Taking one last gasp of air, Kiba concentrates on 50% of the demonic power being compressed into the blade and says, "Good. Then bring it."

Wiping his nose with his thumb the Cheetah-man said, "Don't blink."

He took one step and he vanished from thin air, he was completely gone from visible sight.

Focusing on sensing where the chimera will be attacking, Kiba stayed quiet as he heard the rapid sounds of footsteps filling the empty woods. After a long wait the footsteps gradually grew closer and were coming his way.

Raising his katana, Kiba prepares to parry the blow.

***GI-!* *SLICK!***

He was too slow to barely even change the course of the chimera's claws as it went by the side of his blade and hit his torso. The claws dug in real hard as they forced him to stagger back.

"Don't hate me or anything but I'm through with having fun." The Cheetah-man's playful tone was now gone it was replaced with that of a killer's, "It was fun while it lasted. Now how about I make it so that you can't run…"

"Try it…" Kiba dashed at maximum speed before the Cheetah man could respond.

"Stay focused. Stay foc-ungh!" Kiba grunts in pain.

Pressing down on the wound, Kiba took his chance with using his speed to get a better read out for the cheetah-man's next attack.

***RUSTLE!***

Kiba initially reacted with raising his blade once he heard the sound of the bushes rustling once he passed it.

***SHING!***

***SCHLICK!***

Crying out in pain and breathing in sharply, Kiba stops his running to hold onto his bleeding, gouged shoulder.

"He got me good…" Kiba winced in pain as he prepared to dash off once more, but was met with another rush of steps coming his way and tried to once again parry the claws headed his way.

***SHING!***

"Gagh!" Kiba growled in pain as his left leg was slashed by the claws, now he was too impaired to run at full speed.

"Good luck trying to run now, devil!" The Cheetah-man cackled as he used his speed to vanish from plain sight again.

_'_ _With my leg like this, I can't run too well. My only choice right now is to…' Kiba was already immobile so he just needed to get into a perfect enough stance to concentrate on the enemy and his weapon._

"Have to stay focused…" Holding his blade with two hands, Kiba was getting into a defensive stance used for perfectly balanced attacks.

"It's over for you, you can't even keep up with my speed and you can't escape anymore, you sitting duck!"

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *SCHLICK!* *SCHLICK!**GIN!* *SCHLICK!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

The Cheetah-man's voice echoed, another rush of footsteps came and with that a merciless onslaught of claws that just wouldn't stop coming. Kiba parried most of the high speed attacks but couldn't avoid getting stabbed by a few that were just of his range.

A bloody mess, Kiba still stayed standing and concentrated with keeping up with the enemy's tempo and the amount of power compressed within the katana's blade. They were coming together quite nicely but it was still difficult to get a perfect reaction time when the chimera gets close enough to attack. Right now luck was needed on his side.

"You look to be on your last peg, Mr. Devil! Guess I better end things for you, it was fun while it lasted!" The Chimera-man said his thoughts and prepared to finish things based on how hyperactive his footsteps were going. Trees that stood in his way were chopped down by the trunks.

It was all or nothing now…

_'_ _Being so sure of his victory will be a plight he will regret.' Kiba inhaled then exhaled, letting everything loose from his arms to his stance._

_'_ _He's finished now!' The Cheetah-man saw nothing but opening as he goes in and bares his claws out towards the Knight's vulnerable back. His speed was connected with his one track mind, hard to stop. The momentum he carried with him would have been enough to impale his claws through Kiba's back and through his chest. The kill was very certain but then something flashed before his eyes and-_

**_*SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!*_ **

_A Massive wave of demonic energy flowed from out of Kiba's blade once more, the chimera was shocked and tried to dig his feet into the ground to stop, but the momentum of his speed made it too powerful to resist._

Twisting the back of his heel, Kiba prepares the big swing to wipe out everything.

_'_ _Oh godohgodohgodohgod! He's doing it again and I can't stop myself again! Goddammit! Hey wait I'll just wait for the last minute of the attack and dodge like last time it was really slow and I've been lucky last so what's to say that I won't-!'_

**_*SUUUUUUUUUUU-GIN!*_ **

"Grgh!" Clenched his arm muscles and leg muscles to compress all of the demonic power into the blade again. Relaxing for a split second only for him to eventually tighten his hold over the wild wave of energy bursting out of his sword.

_'_ _Eh?' The Cheetah-man gasped when he saw that the blade of the sword just sucked up all of that overwhelming power and grew a compressed aura that was overlapping itself with a staggering pressure._

It took only one leaning step forward to end things.

***ZAAAAN!* *SPLIIIT!***

The blade of the katana infused with the pressured demonic power cut the chimera in half. His literal upper body was cut clean from the hips. But frankly he wasn't the only thing that Kiba had cut down because trees, a row of trees, fell down after getting chopped in half by the invisible shockwave of Kiba swinging that compressed katana.

"Are you kidding me…" The Cheetah-man uttered his final words as he grimly saw the bottom half of his body before his upper half fell to the ground.

"Don't blink." Kiba grabs the sheath strapped to his hip and slides in his blade.

***Chnk!* *Thud!* *Thud!***

Falling over lifelessly, the cheetah-man's bisected body remained lifeless on the ground.

"Your Overconfidence was your downfall…" Kiba sputtered through some pained gasps.

Limping his way to a nearby tree, Kiba sits back against its trunk and breathed out, "That could have gone mildly better…"

He placed one hand on his leg and wrapped it with a warm light, he was a proficient user in using his demonic magic so he at least knew the basics of healing magic.

"It will take a while for me to regain some of my stamina and get back on my feet. All I have to do now is believe that everyone didn't go through the same trouble as me." Kiba leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes for some solace.

* * *

"You're too slow, nya~!"

"Hold still!"

***DOOOOOOON!***

"Nyahahaha, you missed!"

"Why you little!"

***DOOOOOOOON!* *CRASH!***

"Another try for a little kiss? I don't mind~!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

From bashing trees and carving out the ground with his bare fists, Shirou's attempts at putting down the Tiger-woman have been complicated. She was really slick whenever he tried to grab onto her and do the final blow but her flexibility was an issue that always factored in as a problem. Whenever he tried throwing one punch she would dodge it and retaliate.

So far her claws have been attacking some vital areas that were shielded by his armor to where cracks were being formed. Whittling down his defenses, the only downside was that Shirou wasn't the only one aware during that fight so Typhon managed the maintenance of his armor and filled in any damaged cracks.

"Nyahooo~!" Once again dodging on her nimble toes, the tiger-woman hopped up on a tree and used her tail to balance upside down from one its branches.

"Wow, you were so close there! Say how about we about we do a little trade?" The Tiger-woman watched Shirou walk out of the crater he created with his bare fists, "You take off that mask of yours and give me a big smooch~! And I allow you to get a single shot at me, fair?"

***CRACK!* *CRACK!***

Shirou cracked his neck out of annoyance, "You know what? How about instead of a kiss you, what about my fist being shoved in your ass?"

"Ooooh! So you're into rough stuff? Talk about 50 shades of gray…" She purred as she wore a teasing kitty smile.

"Stop doing that." Shirou held his head and shook it.

"Doing what? All I want to do is you~!"

"THAT! Why are you using so many double entendres!? This fight started off so intense now it's completely awkward and generally uncomfortable for me! So could you please knock it off so that we can get on with the rest of this Maou forsake fig-!"

"I want to be your double entendre…" She purred.

Shirou was already at the base of that tree and sent it falling down,

"Quit it with the bullshit already!"

**_\Timbeeeeeeeeeer!/_ **

***THUD!***

"Nyaha~!" The tiger-woman landed with ease, that flexibility of hers was incredibly handy for helping her get out of a falling tree unharmed.

"This thing is really pushing my buttons!" Shirou grinded his teeth.

**_\I don't know, I kind of like her…/_ **

_'_ _Only because she's using sexual innuendos to trip me up!' Shirou growled at the dragon in his head._

**_\There's that but there's also the fact that your letting her uncomfortable chit-chat get in the way of your focus on the fight./_ **

_'_ _The what?' Shirou said._

"You're not paying attention, nya, nya~!" The tiger-woman charged in.

"Holy sh-!"

***BAM!***

Shirou managed to block the surprise attack with his elbow.

"Aw! Is someone desperate for me to come for him!" The Tiger-woman giggled.

"Grrr!" Shirou grumbled through his breath.

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

Interlocked in hand to hand combat, Shirou catches and blocks each blow the strangely experienced tiger-woman was throwing his way. His past attacks were a little straightforward as she still bends the center of her body out of the way.

***WHOOSH!***

"You sure do like to miss, nya~!" The Tiger-woman dodged a punch thrown by Shirou and retaliated by going for the armor's helmet and visor.

***SHING!***

Her claws managed to leave a small dent on his armor but it wasn't too much to make any progress.

"Tsk! Tsk! Even the head is sturdy too. My, my, your entire body sure is a thick enough to stall my penetration~!"

"*INHALES!* Okay, I'm done." Shirou says surprisingly calmly.

***DOOOOOOM!***

He uses touki to strength his power and create a powerful shockwave which pushed back the Tiger-woman into the air.

"Woah! Hya~! Nice try!" She catches herself before being completely thrown back by the brunt force of the attack and remained in mid-air before falling back, "Maybe next time for some hugs and kisses?"

The tiger-woman was about to land to a tree branch and reclaim her footing in the battle. If she's up here, then he would waste time jumping after her because she'll just jump back again.

"I'm so FUCKING DONE!"

***SLAAAAAAAM!***

Shirou banged his fists together and knelt down, he slammed his knuckles into the ground with some boosted help from his touki. That enough caused a small crack to trail below the trees that the Tiger-woman was jumping back into for cover. The cracks slowly began to open up and devour the trees that once stood over the once hard ground now turned into a giant crevice.

 **"** **Grand Fissure."** Using the touki to enhance his strength, Shirou created a seismic wave to split the ground apart to rid himself of the tiger-woman's insistent fleeing.

"How bad for me…" The tiger-woman gasped.

"Lets see you try to get out of this one!"

Looking below herself, the chimera saw that just landing wouldn't do her any good because the ground was replaced with a huge crevice. So she simply looks to her right and smiles, "There!"

Her tail extends out like rope and tries to reach a tree from the far right of the fissure, it was just barely there before gravity would dictate where she would land. Latching on she made it to the tree branch and used her tail to retract her body just in the nick of time.

"Nice try, but there's always next ti-!"

***DON!***

A blast of dragon power decimated the tree she stood on, but she just went to another one after that.

_'_ _These goddamn woods! And this goddamn cat lady with her fucking innuendos and stupid flexibility and-!'_

**_\Pfft! You're having such a terrible time with things because you're not mad enough!/_ **

_'_ _What are you even-?'_

**_\You do know  thatshe'll keep repeating the same process over and over again until you get too fed up to even try anymore. She'll keep laying on more of those sexual phrases through those trees. So is that making you mad? Those trees will always be the reason why you'll end up going through so much of this torture, and you know what? If your master were to find out that you were to allow yourself to get "taken" by this cat-girl, then you would be suffering even more than you already are. So, partner. Does that make you any madder than you are now? Are you going to let these trees dictate your life…?/ Typhon went into a long detailed explanation that he saw could help Shirou with his conundrum._ **

_'_ _Trees.. trees…trees…!' Shirou clenched his fist, his anger focused on the environment around him, Shirou began to mask his body within a thick blue dragon aura._

**_\Get 'em…/ Typhon chuckled._ **

Leaning against the top of the tree the tiger-woman giggled, "Still frustrated I see, but doing the same thing over again won't work on me unless it was through a different way y'see-!"

"RAAAAAAAAARGH!"

With that hearty yell of a warrior and crazed man, Shirou jumps high up into the sky with enough force to gouge out the ground beneath him.

"Nya?" the tiger-woman didn't know what was going on at that point until she saw two bright lights emanating from Shirou's hands, "W-What are you doing up there, nya!?"

Her cries weren't reaching him anymore as Shirou bellowed,

"FUCK YOU, TREES!"

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

A continuous barrage of demonic blasts bombarded the forest around his perimeter of sight, nothing was getting left untouched. All of the trees were blown up and torn out from the earth below. It was like a bombing had taken place on a wasteland after, Shirou had finished clearing the area of trees. The Tiger-woman was caught up within the explosions that she took shelter underneath unrooted tree trunks.

Landing on the ground and stretching out his joints, Shirou was able to release the stress and the placed hatred for trees that Typhon ingrained into his brain.

**\So you feel better?/**

"Hm…it definitely relieves some of the load off my shoulders and…wow, I really jacked this place up didn't I?"

**\Yes, you did and that takes care of your terrain problem now…/**

"Ack!" The Tiger-woman pushed off the tree trunks and coughed out the dust that surrounded the treeless wasteland. Her terrain advantage was gone and the only trees that were around ranged from about 10 meters. The idea that this guy took out a big chunk of the forest really got her thinking.

"There will be no more stalling…" Shirou growled, his eyes locked on his target as he clenched his fists.

Looking like a deer in front of two headlights, she tried to play things off like normal, "Wow, you surely have a lot of power don't you, nya? It felt like you needed to release all of that after being so pent u-"

Shirou automatically charged at the chimera before she could finish her sentence.

"Kyaa!" The Tiger-woman broke off into a desperate run towards the part of the forest where she could once again gain her advantages.

Appearing in her way, Shirou's speed obviously outclassed hers as he cocked back his fist, "I'm not giving you any chances of getting the upper hand anymore."

***THOOOM!***

Shirou threw his touki-clad fist through the air and fired a shockwave which effectively sent the tiger-woman tumbling on the ground. She gasped for air as the wind was just knocked out of her and the punch had barely even touched.

**\If you want to end things you could always leave breaking her spirit to me./**

"No, I'm going to guess that she finally realizes the gap in our strengths and is finally going to give u-."

"Nyaa~!"

"Oh for maou's sake!" Shirou fired another shockwave which sent her rolling through the ground again, "Look, you know how this will end. I'm stronger than you and faster than you. You may dodge some moves here and there but that's all. All of my blows will eventually hit and you know how things will end for you after that, right?"

The tiger-woman sighed, "I guess you're right…"

"Then do you see why you have to stop attacking m-?"

"I'll just use this chance to attack you when your guard is down, nya!" the tiger-woman pulled out her claws and prepared to impale Shirou's armored neck.

***CATCH!***

"Really?"

"I-I'll officially stop attacking you right now, so could you release me please?"

"No."

_'_ _She's not going to stop…' Shirou thought._

Shirou grabbed the chimera's wrist and stared dumbly at her as he heard the chuckle of his sacred gear's spirit speak with him.

**\Hahaha, so do you want to change your mind now? Can I have my own set of fun?/**

Shirou knew what the dragon meant and only spoke to the tiger-woman, "You were given a chance out of this. Don't regret it."

**\Kukukukukuku! Thanks for acting up so much lass now you get to entertain me. Hohohoho! You are so going to get mind-fucked./ Typhon laughed.**

"Uh-Oh!" The Tiger-woman panicked and failed in her attempt to escape from Shirou's strong grip over her wrists.

"Come over here!" Shirou next grabbed her by the sides of her head and forced her to look though the armored eyes of Grand Chariot.

"L-Let me go-nya~!" The Tiger-woman fidgeted.

"No, because you'll just keep bothering me with this flexible shit of yours. Now look into my eyes!"

***Shiiiiiiiiine~!***

Shirou growled as his eyes shined brightly and the light from it filled the wasteland as it engulfed most of the chimera's body.

* * *

"Kyaaaa! Huh?"

The Tiger-woman cried out loud and shut her eyes only to open them to see that she wasn't being held by the head to look at the armored man. She wasn't even on the island anymore, but in some Japanese feudal estate household. The buildings were old fashioned and constructed to look traditional.

"Where am I?"

***STOMP!* *STOMP!* *STOMP!* *STOMP!***

The earth was shaking in loud thumps; her heart wasn't ready to go through any of this because earthquakes weren't so frequent as to stop every second like this before happening again. Then came a shadowy mist which engulfed the entire area. But after that a huge shadow which towered over her was the peace of resistance that sealed her fate.

Turning around, she came face to face with a dragon that was standing over 16 meters tall.  _The reptilian creature was massive; it had piercing red eyes with a hulking dragonoid body that for some reason looked to have limbs that were shifting form but were hidden in the dark mist to make anything out. Its wings possessed a membrane that emitted a violet glow_ _._

**\Hello, Miss Tiger...my host really wanted us to meet and personally I've been really bored being cramped up in here so...fight with me instead if you want.../ The overshadowing bulky and powerful figure of a creature that was over twice her size looked down upon her while covered in its own shadows by just looking down at her. The overwhelming aura that the creature exuded terrified the Tiger-woman.**

"W-What are you?"

 **\Welcome to my neighborhood.../**  Typhon's great white teeth shined through his own shadow as he visibly terrified the Tiger-woman into falling on the ground with weak knees.

"T-This monster is-!"

 **\Monster? No... I'm no run of the mill monster, Miss Kitty Cat... I'm the King of all Monsters and you know what?/**   **Typhon raised a single large claw that was about more than thrice the height of the average human body, no 5 human bodies, \Your first impression towards me has gotten me into a bad mood, so bye-bye~!/**  
  
Typhon tried to imitate the tiger-woman's own pattern of speech.

"N-No wait, nya! Forgive me!"

**\Why should I? It's better to kill you than wait for you to try and ambush my host again!/**

"I won't do it anymore so please don't crush me, nya~!"

**\Oh, really!?/**

"Yes, I do. I promise not to try anything again, I swear!" The tiger-woman cried and covered her head as she nonetheless waited for what would be her final last moments of being alive.

**\Hehehehehehahahahahaha!/ Typhon gave a growing evil laugh which made the Tiger-woman tremble in fear until he laughed through the dark mist was terrifying grin which was felt to be good mannered despite the ambiance of the dark fog, \ I think we're good here. Is that response good enough for you, partner?/ Typhon chuckled.**

"Eh?" The tiger-woman was literally in tears after experiencing that type of fear.

Walking from out of the dark mist, in his regular form cross armed, Shirou nods,

"Yeah, that'll do."

He raised one hand and snapped his fingers.

* * *

 

Soon enough the Tiger-woman became aware that she wasn't in that weird space anymore but in the wasteland of the forest that Shirou nuked. Shirou was back to wearing his armor like before and she was on the ground looking around like a chicken who lost its head.

"What? But! How? I just saw a-!"

**\Never get tired of seeing that reaction…/ Typhon chuckled.**

Kneeling down, Shirou removes his helmet and visor to look the Tiger-woman in eye, "That my dear was just a little thing I would call magic, and with that was the art of intimidation. A little trick us Sacred Gear users with spirits can do to make guys like you piss your pants. Like for me, I just used it so that you can see the giant asshole that lives inside of my mindscape."

**\Why hello mister kettle, I'm mister pot did I tell you how black you are?/**

"Anyways!" Shirou grinded his teeth at that comment, "I've decided to let you off for the second time. So instead of that "Oh, I can still get this guy" bullshit. You can actually just stop and continue to keep your head on your shoulders. I don't want to waste any more time doing this, but if you want to keep attacking go ahead. Also heads up..." Shirou whispered the last part, "I can make him scare the ever loving piss out of you again. He doesn't get out that much and do you really want to stay around him when he's had nothing to do?"

**\ =) /**

**Typhon's huge grin could be visibly seen inside of her head.**

"Ugh…!" The Tiger-woman could visibly remember that creepy grin Typhon had and coldly shuddered.

"Is that enough to persuade you?"

"M-Mmm-hmmm!" the tiger-woman nodded.

"Good." Shirou groaned as he turns on a heel and starts walking away.

**\You're such a softie sometimes you know that?/**

"Quiet you, don't get all pissy with me because you couldn't terrorize her. It would have been a waste of time anyways..." Shirou reverts back to his base state and tries to sense the others.

 **\You could have let me finish things with her by destroying her mind while you dealt with her physical body, but you...you just sat there and waited for the right moment to end my fun.../**  
  
"Boohoo! Go cry about it, Typhon...wait a minute is this…" Shirou felt something strange, he managed to locate Natsuru's position by using her senjutsu energy signature but he was catching another energy signature just like that entirely different but familiar at the same time.

"I know it's not that kid, Michael's fiancé is hugging like an abused puppy. It's that little midget…" Shirou was bewildered by Koneko's decision, "She's finally stopped holding that power back."

**\Heh, who'd knew? I guess anything is possible now these days./**

_'_ _Yeah, I bet Kai-sama would be proud…hey, did you hear? Apparently from my uncle, he has a new student now.' Shirou thought._

**_\So that Monkey-Boy has finally decided to take on another apprentice? What? Was that Lion-kid not giving him the results he wanted anymore?/_ **

_'_ _No, it's just that he can't teach Sairaorg anything that he already knows. I've been wondering whether or not this new apprentice can pose as a challenge to us.' Shirou yawned._

**_\Is the second strongest Young Devil afraid that he'll lose his title?/_ **

_'_ _Second? No, no, no! I haven't faced off against Sairaorg in a couple of years that title has no more validity anymore. And this new guy holds no chance because this time I'm going to bury all of them and take Sairaorg's title as Strongest Young Devil.' Shirou thought._

**_\And what about your master will you bury her as well considering she wants to be the Strongest Young Devil too./_ **

_'_ _You know that will be a fight I will gladly lose.'_

**_\Why because your loyalty as her servant tops your own selfishness?/_ **

_'_ _She scares me.' Shirou didn't play games with the truth._

**\\...Partner, as much as I enjoy the thought of how whipped you are by your master. I think you should try shaking off that tiger-woman, who's stalking you right now./**  
  
"What the hell are you on about?" Shirou turned his head to see the cute smile the Chimera was giving him.

"Hi~!"

_'_ _Oh my maou, you weren't kidding…' Shirou groaned._

"Listen…you, why are yo-?"

"My name is Anzu."

"What?"

"I'm just introducing myself." The Chimera revealed her name, "I normally don't say it out loud since nobody ever bothered to ask so I decided to tell you, hmhm~!" Anzu giggled.

"O-Okay…" Shirou trailed off and rolled his eyes, "Look, Anzu, just tell me why the heck you're in the same perimeter as me. Do you really want to see what's in my head again?"

**\Do you./ Typhon asked in a sadistic fashion as a way to get a scared reaction out of the girl.**

It worked though, "Please anything but that, but that's not the reason why I'm still following you though."

Anzu shook her head, as she kept her eyes on Shirou.

"I don't see any possible reason why you're even following me so you better hope you can explain yourself quickly before I leave your ass in the dust." Shirou began stretching out as he tried locating any others who were finished with their jobs by sensing their energy signatures.

Breathing in and exhaling, she confessed, "You see the thing that happens around here is that if you're too weak to do anything right then you're dead. The strong live and the weak perish."

"Yeah, and…how is this explaining you following me?"

"And since you spared me."

"Ah, It's not sparing when I choose to find the fight to be a complete waste of time to finish." Shirou corrected.

"I'll just cut to the chase. After what you did I can't return to my master because she'll kill me when I report in to her. And I don't like the notion of walking straight to my death, and you're a lot less scary to be around."

Shirou stopped his stretching to give her the half-lidded gaze that asked "really."

"Okay, you're scary, but not as scary as her and plus your stronger than me and faster than me that I can't possibly…"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Are you smitten over me?" Shirou saw the signs with Anzu's new nervous posture and the fact that she hasn't used a single sexual innuendo the whole time.

"Mmmmmmm…yes…?" Anzu shrugged.

Shirou's eyes widen as he shakes his head, "Oh my maou, the day where I finally make my own enemy fall in love with me is here…"

"Look, I know how you feel, but let's calm down!" Anzu panicked.

"I don't even know how to feel about this!" Shirou shrugged, "Look, I just need to get this job done and take care of the bitch, not you, whose causing all of this so if you would so kindly please-!" Shirou paused, there was this moment that he sensed Akeno's energy signature shoot up in power then it dropped so quickly.

"The hell…" Shirou muttered to himself.

"What?" Shirou shushed Anzu as he started sensing the others, Xenovia, Raynare, no her too? Even Gasper and Asia's energy signatures were fading fast.

"Hey is something wrong?"

"Bye!" Shirou instantly donned his Grand Chariot armor and dashed through the woods.

"Hold on, wait, let me come with you!"

"Listen I don't care about this  **thing** that's going on with you! I need to go help my comrades, something's up and I can tell they won't be around anytime soon because of it." Shirou shouted.

"Then let me come to help you, nya!"

"Help!?"

"If it deals with Natsuru-sama and my Master then I could probably help you!"

"Wait, that bitch isn't your only master?" Shirou said to himself, perhaps having some help could prove beneficial for him after all,

"Fine, just don't get in the way!" Shirou's acceptance made Anzu smile in glee, but to him, he wished that right now he could be that positive about what was going on.

_'_ _Just what in the hell happened to them?' Shirou stated his worries, as he mushed past through the dark forest with his new companion by his side._

* * *

It was all just a blur, one second everything seemed to be going their way in the fight and the next the tides were drastically changed. No, the tides were never shifted in their favor in the first place.

"Ngurgh…" Laying unconsciously on the trunk of a torn tree was Raynare, she wasn't respondent to the things going on around her and her body was in the worse of shape with injures and bruises everywhere. Her uniform was a complete mess and had some drippings of blood on her top.

"Ngugh!" Xenovia who struggled to get up was flat on her stomach with Durandal just a few inches away from her grasp, the powerful blade stood tall over its tired master. Her injuries were just as severe as Raynare's except that she had received blunt trauma to the head and blood flowed down her forehead.

The main support-types were left unconscious due to being taken out first before the others. Asia was laid out on the ground with no serious injury but was hurt enough to lose consciousness as Gasper was the second priority to be dealt with, he did his best to protect Natsuru and Makoto while lending aid to Akeno and the others but was hit with a merciless blow from the mysterious hooded woman. He laid face down on the ground with a bloody face.

As for Kiyome and Makoto they were both strew against each other, they were forced into a deep sleep thanks to a spell the hooded woman used. No harm was even done to them.

"Hmmm-hmmm~!" The hooded woman hummed as she walked through the battle-torn clearing with a pep in her step, she even rudely walked over each of their inactive bodies to reach the only person who was left conscious enough to entertain her landslide of a victory.

"And that's how the cookie crumbles, hahahaha!" The hooded woman laughed as she stood over Akeno's laid out body as she motionlessly stays on her back.

"Mmmngh!" Akeno was in too much pain to speak, her body sustained the most critical of damage out of the others. Her body was covered in bruises and some burns as her Miko attire's white haori was torn away with some of what's left stained in her blood.

"You know, I expected more from you devils. You were brimming with confidence before when you were taking down my failed experiments and that led me to believe you guys would actually be a threat alone, but that was just me overestimating all of you." The hooded woman knelt down and could hear Akeno's heavy breathing and intense glare, obvious signs of disgust she's exhibiting towards the mysterious enemy.

"I kind of get the feeling that you don't like me. Oh, well. I guess, I can understand since you're obviously mad about me talking about your daddy." The hooded-woman revealed a sleeveless feminine arm with red painted finger nails and the Greek letter for "E" tattooed on the back of her hand.

"Even when you denied to use his power, you were able to at least do this much." The mysterious woman remembered back to the onslaught of lighting and thunder Akeno shot at her, she was able to raise a barrier to block it, but some of the attack managed to break through a small crack and destroy the sleeve and the glove of the hand that she used to create the barrier with.

"But holding in all of that backed up luggage isn't going to help you here, Missy!" The woman bopped Akeno's nose and said, "But I can understand where you're coming from. You hate your daddy so much that you despise your own existence, and sister, I know just what you're going through. Refusing to use the power that he's given you could be a bonus, but in the end, it reminds you of how pathetic you would be to rely on your  **precious** daddy's power. We're a lot alike you know that?"

Akeno casts a confused look the hooded woman's way as her hand was about to stroke her cheek.

"If you weren't reincarnated as a devil, then maybe we could have been close friends." The hooded-woman gently whispered.

"Don't touch me…" Akeno forced out these words as she moved her head away from the woman's calm stroking one. Being compared to horrible people who sympathized with her made her sick to her stomach.

And the gesture wasn't lost on the hooded woman as she pulls back her hand but strangely giggles, "Teehee! Refusing the comfort of someone whose pouring their heart for you is really a cold move, but I get it because that's the same thing I would do."

***SHIIIINE!***

"…!" Akeno's eyes widened as her eyes were placed on the figure's hand holding a yellow light spear with a black glow. Like an executioner, the hooded woman stood over Akeno and watched her shocked expression turned spiteful.

"Too bad. I hate anything that even remotely looks the same as me." The hooded woman held up the light spear and coldly sang, "Bye-Bye~!"

With one might thrust the tip of the spear came down and-!

***SHIIING~!***

* * *

**Next Chapter- The Gusty Dragon and Nekomata Duo Prevail! Natsuru's secret trump card is revealed!**


	46. The Gusty Dragon and Nekomata Duo Prevail! Natsuru's secret trump card is revealed!

**The Gusty Dragon and Nekomata Duo Prevail! Natsuru's secret trump card [Code: Unknown] is revealed!**

* * *

Standing in the presence of a newly transformed Koneko, neither Michael nor the Panther-man were ready to face this new development.

"Koneko-chan?" Michael's eyes trailed up from Koneko's cat tail to her cat ears.

"Senjutsu… You're just like Natsuru-sama…" The Panther-man growled.

"…Get back." Koneko forms a sphere of chi and shoots it at the chimera.

The beast's skills allowed for him to nimbly dodge the blast, but at the same time, the blast exploded and took with it a tree that was unfortunate enough to stand in its way.

"That's some firepower…" Michael said in awe.

Koneko rushed to Michael's side, "Michael-senpai, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, thanks, but what happened to you? You change into a cat or something?" Michael asked.

_'So she was that natural presence I sensed earlier, she suppressed it surprisingly well. If she's anything like Natsuru-sama, then I'll have to take a few precautions with her.' The Panther-man thought as he set his sights on Koneko._

Sensing his killing intent, both Michael and Koneko prepped themselves in their stances as they face the chimera.

"So I guess this was how you were able to sense that second heart of his." Michael said.

"Michael-senpai, I…" Koneko wanted to say something but Michael shook his head.

"Let's talk about it after this fight, so you lead and I'll back you up." Michael said, Koneko was still not sure whether to feel right about withholding her secret for any longer, so Michael decided to release the tension by leaning in to whisper,

"Make sure to tell me exactly what you have planned, remember, I'm a idiot, so I'd personally just go in and try to deck this guy in the face or try to kick his balls. Whichever works would be my top pick. So tell me what you have planned."

Giggling at Michael's comment, Koneko brightened up a little and whispered, "…He's very protective of his first heart, occupy his time by trying to hit it. While he focuses on that, I'll come in to support you by attacking as well. His heart seems to be in the…"

Koneko glances at the Panther-man's body and could use her senjutsu to sense the chi networking in its body, two large amounts of life energy were shown on the left side of his chest and the lower right half of body.

_'Got it…' Koneko nodded._

"Found it."

"Really where?"

"It's-! Michael-senpai!"

"Oi!"

Michael and Koneko instinctively jump back as the Panther-man attacked them so suddenly. The creature's claws looked about ready to rip into them.

"If you're just going to stand there, then let me kill you!" The Panther-man growled as he lunged at Michael.

"Koneko-chan!" Michael felt a little ill-prepared because he wasn't told about the other heart in time.

"It's alright, senpai! Hold him off while I get ready!" Koneko exclaimed and prepared to calm down.

"What is he doing?" Taking more precautions, the Panther-man was about to take a look back.

"Hey, never turn your back to your opponent."

***BAM!***

A touki-clad side kick sent the Panther-man packing, he skidded to the right by a few feet with Michael still pursuing him, so he decided to raise his guard and take each incoming blow thrown his way. A barrage of kicks and punches was all that Michael could manage to do to hold the guy back just enough, so that he could stall for Koneko.

_'How come he's only guarding all of my attacks?' Michael thought, 'Maybe I should make him start to fight more on his toes by boosting.'_

**[Boost!]**

"Just a few more…" Michael grunted, purposely.

"Hm?" The Panther-chimera was suspicious,  _'This boy doesn't seem to be my biggest concern now. After learning about that girl's power, I feel like I should be more concerned with her.'_

The Panther-man looked over to Koneko who was quietly calming her nerves enough so that she can channel her Ki effectively.

_'What do you know, my gut feeling wasn't wrong.' The Panther-man gritted his teeth._

"That's not good…" Michael's eyes widened as he felt the arms of the Panther-man tense up as all of his punches and kicks felt like they were bouncing off of hard mountain boulders. And the worst came when the force of those arms tensing sent him reeling back.

"Buzz off!"

"Wuh-oh!"

***WHAAAAM!***

***CRASH!***

With a mighty swing with his large arm, the chimera broke the barrage of attacks and shot Michael into a few trees which almost topple over him. A little taken back by the pain, he tries to get up but could already see that the Panther-man was already setting his sights on Koneko.

"Koneko-chan!" Michael gasped.

"I'll deal with you later. As for her! She's the first to go!" The Panther-man was closing in, his hulking body over Koneko's lither form. His sharp claws just mere inches away from his target as he prepares to skewer the life out of her. Sensing the danger, Koneko's eyes opened as a thick white aura formed on her fist as her body takes one step forward with one arm outstretched leaving her completely open for the clawed hands that were just about to rip it off.

***BAM!***

The sound of a good blow being landed was followed by the razor sharp sound of claws about to sink into flesh.

***SHIING!***

"Gugh!"

"N-Ngh!"

Blood spilled itself on the ground as the figure of Koneko's body tilted against the bloody clawed Panther-man's body. Her shoulder had large cuts wet with her spilt blood. The pain was almost too much to bare, but she pushed through to keep her arm up in place on the Panther-man's abdomen. As the Panther-man's mind was filled with questions.

He could kill her, he managed to wound her so she should be easy enough to kill now. But why? Why couldn't he move a single inch of his body?

Slowly raising her head, Koneko looked the chimera dead in the eye and said, "With my chi, I can inflict upon your body tons of external and internal damage. Right now I just stopped your blood vessels by hitting the spot where you kept your second heart."

"…!" The Panther-chimera couldn't feel his regeneration fix the damage, and tried to contemplate the reason why.

"Your body has an interesting system, magic was constantly flowing within your hearts, so that if one was destroyed then the constant beating of the other heart left untouched would pump it back to the destroyed heart, healing it back to its original form. With those vessels disrupted along with the others that kept your body moving means..." Koneko slowly pulls herself back and held her scarred arm. The Panther-man fell to his knees and could only see the ground and Koneko's feet right in front of him.

"That this is the end."

"I-I am the pinnacle of evolution…I can't…I won't accept this…" The panther-man's usual stoic and confident tone was now just a faint pathetic whimper. His one good heart was still beating, but it wouldn't flow any magic to heal his ruined blood vessels.

"It's already over…" Koneko closed her eyes, a way of that this battle had already met its conclusion.

"Don't be foolish…it isn't over ye-!"

**[Boost!]**

The Panther-man still wouldn't accept his loss, but the sudden call from Michael's boosted gear begged to differ.

"A weakling that had already lost will be finished off swiftly. Not the exact words, but still a little similar to the ones you said before, big guy."

The panther's vocal defiance died once he felt Michael's shadow creep up behind him.

"You're done." Michael's dragon aura and touki surrounded both his index and middle finger in an ongoing helix spiral and pressed his two fingers against the panther's untouched chest.

The look the Panther-man had was filled with despair and contempt, this was definitely going to end with his life being taken.

"This was for hurting my precious kouhai." Michael prepared the shot as he heard the panther-man mutter an apology,

"M-Master, I failed…"

**"Dragon Burst Drill!"**

***DON!* *GIIIIN!***

The drilling beam shot through the heart of the chimera bore a hole into the ground in front of him. His corpse fell over with a loud thud. Nothing was left to heal or regenerate this time, this time he was staying down for good and Michael couldn't be happier to get a little breather before heading out to help Rias.

"Finally did it. That was a little harder that I thought, but hey, he's finally gone." Michael sighed in relief, but then realized Koneko was still in pain from her wound,

"Koneko-chan!"

"…I'm okay, I can still move…" Koneko tried to take a few steps forward, but almost fainted from pushing herself.

"Hold up there, you almost fainted just now." Michael caught her in time and helped her up.

_'That wound must be deep. That guy wasn't a pushover whenever he threw his punches.' Michael thought then turned around and squatted._

"Let me carry you back to the others and get you healed by Asia." Michael said.

Koneko noticed that she was becoming a liability again and shook her head, "N-No, I'm fine senpai. We should be focusing on rendezvousing with Buchou like we planned. I can stand on my own and I wouldn't hinder you at all so…"

"Bleh!" Michael vomited a mouthful of blood that had been building up in his stomach, his wounds were still deep too.

"Michael-senpai!?"

"On second thought, lets go back because I don't think I'll be able to help Buchou like this, and you should probably get healed, too." Michael made sure to push the blame on himself so that Koneko wouldn't feel guilty.

Seeing that forced smile on his face, Koneko had nothing to do but comply. Getting carried off in a piggyback ride, she and Michael made their way back to the rest of the ORC club.

"You feeling alright back there?"

Koneko nodded.

"Good, but what you did back there was really awesome. Way to show off your cool side."

"T-Thanks…" Koneko snuggled into Michael's back, "Michael-senpai, I'm a nekomata, a youkai."

"A youkai, huh? That makes sense since you were talking about using spiritual energy before." Michael didn't seem bothered and remembered back to his training with Kai, "Senjutsu…you were using that too. Guess one of those youkai that Shishou talked about was you."

Koneko nodded once again.

"And now that I think about it that whole fiasco back at the club room with you pouncing on me wasn't just you cosplaying as a cat, right?"

"Yes…"

"I see…okay, it is really nice to know this much about you Koneko-chan. Before I never thought we'd be able to talk like this, but now I'm glad I know something else about you." Michael chuckled.

""You're okay with this...?" Koneko gasped.

"Why wouldn't I?" Michael asked.

"Usually people would be mad if a secret like this would be kept from them, and I don't want you to think that you failed as my senpai again." Koneko said, sadly.

"I'm not mad, but I'm not gonna lie when I say that I'm not exactly happy about it. Sure, I was a little sad, but you had your reasons not to tell me. Reasons that prevented you from using it, but now you can, so what's the point in feeling bad anymore, huh? I'm just happy that you can tell me this now. Good job, Koneko-chan, as your senior I'm really proud of you."

"...Thank you..." Koneko blushed and felt her heart beat a few ticks too fast.

"Don't mention it, and besides now that we're all kosher about you being a cat demon, I have one more question to ask you."

"Yes?" Koneko was still in the moment and was really compliant to anything Michael would ask.

"Since you're a cat, have you ever licked yourself clean?"

She wasn't compliant enough to tolerate that question, "What?"

"I mean, you're a nekomata and cats lick themselves clean, so does that mean you do that from time to time and if so have you ever licked your...?"

***POW!***

Koneko head-butted the back of Michael's head.

"Ouch! What the heck, I was just curious!"

"Idiot..." Koneko started walking off as Michael chased after her.

"Hey, don't judge me! A guy gets curious! And it's not like I want you to do it right in front of me." Michael pauses for a moment, "Unless you want to. Is that what this is about because if it's okay with you t-then I'm okay with it..."

"Pervert." Koneko's cold insult really stabbed through Michael's heart.

"Oi! Wait, it's just being curious and you know what people say about curiosity and cats! Koneko-chan! Koneko-chan?" Michael cried as he tried to state the hollow reasoning behind his curiosity.

Koneko was a little mad at the question and decided to ignore his questions as she enjoyed the comforting feeling of being carried. The question really looked like it sullied her mood, but the constant swaying of her tail begged to differ.

_'Great, now she's ignoring me. I have to think of something else to say, but wait if she's a cat does she cough up hairballs, too? Or is her favorite drink milk? Does she chase around the laser pointer lights like a cat, too? Gah! I have so many unanswered questions!'_

Michael was already coming up with tons of questions to ask, but most would earn him a punch to the face. His mind was steering off track, so he couldn't sense the real situation that happened with the other Occult Research Club members up ahead.

* * *

The collision of demonic blasts of magic and Ki waves filled the starry sky. Both Rias and Natsuru were on the move as they tried to one up each other's own planned attacks and strategies. Rias was effectively erasing all of the attacks that Natsuru was throwing at her, holding her own was fairly easy this time around since she was actually prepared for a fight.

The power gap was still apparent because Natsuru contained more obviously stronger techniques in her arsenal of Senjutsu. Natural energy gave her the advantage since they were fighting in her home base on an island filled with nature.

Using the grass and the forest around them, she hindered Rias' movements by increasing the grasses' growth and to wrap around her legs and hold her down. The only way possible she could escape was with the use of her power of destruction to annihilate her bindings.

Drawing out the fight into a battle of attrition wouldn't be in Rias' favor, her attacks may be devastatingly effective when erasing Natsuru's Ki attacks. But she can't keep this up for very much longer. Her stamina was minuscule when compared to Natsuru, who can literally fire Ki blasts at max power without breaking a sweat.

She knew her chances of becoming the victor were slim, but at this rate, things would end up with her being overpowered by Natsuru all over again.

"Wow, when you're actually prepared to fight, you seem to be somewhat strong." Natsuru's words were like thorns to Rias' side.

"Silence!" Rias shot a blast of her demonic power, but it was shielded by a barrier that Natsuru crafted, but it wasn't over yet since there were two more incoming blasts that were flanking her on both sides and upon impact exploded. Using a direct approach to distract her, Rias sought to use more time delayed tactics to trip her up.

"Nice try!"

"…!"

Natsuru pounces out the smoke with her now sharpened nails/claws in order to lunge them into Rias while having a white aura surround her body and her 9 tails. She was using touki!

"This really shouldn't be a surprise to you. Michael-kun and that other devil may have learned it through training, but for me, I'm a born natural at this." Natsuru's furious swipes with her clawed nails forced Rias back into dodging with a lot of effort.

Needing to catch some of her breathe she raised a barrier, but that didn't put a stop to Natsuru's virtually continuous attack.

***SHATTER!***

Just one hit broke it, but Rias still tried to put some distance between them, but was too slow to react in time before Natsuru's claws had reached her midriff. It wasn't a deep wound just barely a graze, but the pain was still enough to almost make her fall over. Shooting another block of demonic power at Natsuru, she was able to get some breathing space as Natsuru landed back to look at the wound she inflicted along with the blood she drew with her claws.

Looking at the panting Rias, Natsuru smiled, "What luck, you managed to barely miss that one, but something tells me by your startled reaction back there that you aren't someone to fancy close quarters combat."

Rias' eyes turning from sheer exhaustion to somewhat unpleasant was plenty for Natsuru to understand.

"I never really dabble hand to hand combat as much either, but I at least know some self-defense in case my magic doesn't work, but you a high-class devil must have been relying on your inherited ability without having to lift a finger, right?"

"That's true, I'm not so proficient in self-defense, but I can't do anything about it now. In this fight, I'll be relying on my magical prowess to win." Rias created a sphere of demonic power in hand and throws it at Natsuru, who thickens the shell of touki that covers her body and knocks it in the air.

"It would be a change of pace, but know that if your Power of Destruction factor can't touch me, then don't expect other elemental magic to be effective either." Natsuru crouches down and extends her claws out like a tamed beast about to strike.

"Now take that into account along with your inability to physically defend yourself, you have about no chance of winning. Putting the pressure on you will make ending you faster for my convenience!" Natsuru pounces on Rias and begins to furiously swipe her claws again. It was obvious that Rias was getting injured even when she manages to dodge a few. Some moderate cuts along with a few deep ones were getting placed all over her wrists, arms and shoulders.

Natsuru's touki not only enhances her strength, but also her speed and senses. Anything she would try to pull would be stopped the moment she would even lift a finger, but she wasn't going to let herself lose without showing one of her aces up her sleeve.

Before she could get pushed back even further against the wall, Rias used her devil wings to take flight and regain her breath as she looked down at the amused Natsuru. Right now it was a game of cat and mouse to her, and as the cat, it was so thrilling to see how far she could corner the mouse.

"Whether it be on land or in the air, your advantage was just the surprise upstart you and your servants caused!" Natsuru jumped into the air and created a few magic circles as platforms before vaulting herself higher into the air with her touki increasing the power of her jumps.

_'I won't be able to withstand a fight in the air, so I'll have to take action now!' Rias does her best to use her demonic aura to toughen her body as she flies down at Natsuru with her hand stuck out._

The two charging forces collided and flew past each other after a moment of contact. Neither stopped moving until they landed on the ground apart from each other.

"Uagh!" Rias fell on a knee and held her stomach, the original graze wound from before had a much deeper cut, Natsuru exploited the graze and made sure to attack it again to create a much deeper wound.

"See? No hope for victory." Natsuru turns around, unaware of a magic circle marker disappearing on her chest.

Still on her knees, Rias held the bleeding wound and breathed in heavy breathes, but they weren't being soothed since the approaching footsteps of her opponent were drawing near.

"Come here, I'll put an end to suffering right now." Natsuru focused most of her touki into her claws and rushed Rias.

***SNAP!***

***SHINE!***

"Huuuuuuuah!"

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

Waiting until she was close enough, Rias simultaneously snapped her fingers and formed a massive sphere of demonic power imbued with the Power of Destruction. The marker on Natsuru's body began to shine as the wave of the attack almost took her by surprise. She dodge rolled out of the way and prepared to lunge in for the kill again.

"You're just desperately wasting your stamina. Pulling off a few big attacks like that will tire you ou-!"

***DWOOOOON!***

"What in the-?" Natsuru questioned the blast's sudden change in course as it tailed after her. From jumping to running, it wasn't letting her off the hook at all, and because of her slow time to see that the blast was being shot, she was dangerously close from being directly hit with it.

A gentle glow soothes, Rias' pain as she uses healing magic to heal the wound and prevent and more blood loss. She watched Natsuru be pursued by her attack and smiled, she said to herself, "Magic is what I'm currently good at. It may not be on par with your destructive power, but I can still learn "other" types of magic. Michael's technique  **Dragon Break.**

After witnessing it a few times, she was interested in the tracking spell and asked Michael how he did it. However, at first, that did not go well…for Michael…

* * *

_(Flashback)_

* * *

_Standing outside of the bathroom door, Rias wore a worried expression and knocked on the door, "Michael, I'm mot trying to steal your secrets or anything. I was just curious will you come out?"_

_"No! A man's secret technique is his alone! Nyeh! Ngyah!" Michael was on the floor of the bathroom cradling and hugging his knees. He was really sensitive about talking about the secrets (obvious truths) of his techniques._

_"But I heard from Koneko that you er…plagiarized from Kai-sama." Rias blinked._

_"I DIDN'T STEAL IT FROM HIM! I-IT'S MY IDEEAAAAAA! Nguaaaaaaaah!" Michael was wailed and threw a tantrum._

_"Oh dear…" Rias knew that this wasn't going to blow over any time soon._

* * *

**Present**

* * *

_'It nearly took us about a day to force him out the bathroom. Thankfully Koneko was there the first time to tell me the specifics about it, and eventually I figured how to do it myself.' Rias thought, 'I'll have to take heed not to let Michael know about this or else he'll start crying again.'_

"I'm not shaking it off, but why!?" Natsuru was all over the place, she tried to chase it off by going in the or using the trees as cover. The attack was dangerous because not only its speed was a threat, but also it's properties to annihilate anything it touches.

"Enough of this!" Natsuru fires a burst of Ki to balance out and disperse the attack, but it only proved to worsen the problem because the blast rebounded the attack into numerous sphere of demonic power which still continued to pursue her.

"You're joking…" Natsuru gritted her teeth as she stopped her running and decided to block the incoming beams with her nine fox tails. She added more to her defensive factor by using her touki to dull out the dangerous properties of the power through overpowering its quantity and quality.

"Now how does it feel to be cornered now?" Rias remarked as she managed to get behind her through the use of her devil wings.

_Biting her lower lip, Natsuru cursed herself, 'Damn her, she used this tactic as a way to gain time to heal herself!'_

"How long can you withstand an attack from both sides!?"

***DOOOOOOOOOON!***

"Guh!" Natsuru thrusts her palm out and crafted a barrier, and not just with that hand but with the other one keeping the targeted attack of multiple dangerous blasts at bay, as well. Rias was putting the pressure on Natsuru and wasn't about to let this chance slip out of her hands and placed her all into that single blast of demonic energy.

Natsuru for the first time was starting to feel some pressure, to effectively block both attacks she needed to transfer about 50/50 of her defenses through touki to put into both of her barriers. The Power of Destruction may be used improperly if not used by a genuine user, but it doesn't excuse the fact that it was a one hit kill move. If she were to let her guard down even a little, then it would mean the permanent loss or damage of something she'll definitely need to survive with.

"Who'd knew that you could accomplish so much by using such a petty trick! So what did you do to make the attack track me!?" Natsuru egged Rias into tell her.

"If I were you, I would be more focused on getting out of this in one piece!" Rias sent out a pulse through the blast to make Natsuru stagger a little, it was evident by the growling she was making that she was finally getting overwhelmed for once.

_'I have her on the ropes now. There could be a possibility of her breaking free by dispersing the targeted blast I fired. Good, if I wish it, I could use the other side and have it take the old one's place in order to have it continue tailing her. This way I can whittle her defenses down by doing this as many times as it takes.' Rias thought out the possible scenarios and prepared herself for any dynamic changes._

_'Being pushed back? Me? This can't be right. Sure, she may have stumped me once, but this? She's completely inferior! She can't do anything herself and has to rely on her servants! She's no real threat because her phony Power of Destruction is the only thing she has going for her, but even so! She's still able to drive me this far!?'_

Natsuru grinded her teeth as her nine tails started to sway more ominously behind her as a purple aura began to ooze around her original aura like a water being tainted by food coloring. The tone of the battle was dramatically about to change.

***BADUMP!* *BADUMP!***

_'W-What was…no I have to put an end to her now!' Rias took wind of some throbbing coming from Natsuru and found that to be a very bad sign._

A suspicious purple aura caught her eye as well, it was thick and completely visible. Rias felt its great pressure as it fused with Natsuru's present aura and kept up with her attack. If she needed to execute the final blow then now was the time.

With one more deep breath, Rias released an unrestrained pulse of power that enlarged the blast and forced Natsuru's hand to jerk back and shatter pieces of her barrier.

Lowering her head almost in shame, Natsuru muttered to herself, "I was underestimating you. I admit that but I had no intention to play around with you this time. No, it was because I was underestimated you in the first place that I couldn't even consider to kill you by desperate standards. That was my mistake and I'll make sure to leave nothing left of you by using everything I have. Everything including this disgusting "scar" that I've been carrying inside me for so long."

Letting her hands fall, Natsuru deactivated her barriers and allowed the attacks to encroach on her. She was vulnerable and she knew it. If she were to be touched by the boxed in demonic blasts, she would be totally annihilated. But once the purple aura that oozed out of her began to slither up her 9 fox tails.

The purple aura enshrouded her entire body then began to illuminate into a bright light that began to engulf everything into its brightness. Rias had to shield her eyes as it engulfed her too, she couldn't see anything happen and soon enough she couldn't hear her attacks immediately landing at all.

It took one second to realize that her attack may have not worked at all, and then suddenly a sharp pain to her stomach caused by 5 sharp claws stabbed themselves into the same wound she healed not too long ago.

And following that pain, she heard only one thing through the blinding light.

**"Executing [Code: Unknown]."**

* * *

Shirou's exact words described the sight that he saw, "What the flying fuck happened here?"

On a knee, helping and supporting the remaining injured Occult Research Club members, Shirou was healing the wounds of Akeno and Xenovia simultaneously as Asia was completing her healing on Raynare and Gasper. Kiyome though unharmed was still unconscious and was laid to rest until she wakes.

It was just mere moments ago that Shirou stumbled upon the unresponsive bodies of the entire Gremory Peerage and company. Thankfully he was able to get Asia to wake up due to having close to none damage done on her from whatever attacked her. Explaining his new "companion" was a tedious task, considering that she just mostly stayed back and meowed with a wave whenever she was referenced.

He had to remind himself later that he needed to get the information she knew about explaining this whole kidnapping charade, but his top priority was the recovery of both Akeno and Xenovia, both had sustained pretty terrible injuries including Raynare, who's injuries were about complete thanks to Asia's powerful healing abilities with Twilight Healing.

"Raynare-san?" Asia tried to shake her awake, but she wouldn't get a reply. The damage done to her must have seriously dealt a taxing amount of exhaustion to her consciousness. But her breathing was less ragged than it was before so she'll manage to be active again once she wakes up.

"Asia, what exactly happened?" Shirou asked as he finished his healing on Xenovia who was resting as well.

Looking down, Asia remembers the dreadful memory, "It was a woman. She wore a black hooded jacket and attacked us so suddenly. First, she got rid of the rest of the chimera then she took all of us out."

"What? I thought that bi-! I mean that girl who kidnapped us was the only person aligned with those creeps." Shirou asked.

Coughing as she wakes up in the middle of her healing, Akeno said, "The remaining chimera called her their master right before she killed them."

"Akeno-san!"

"You're up already, eh?"

Both Asia and Shirou look to the awakening [Queen] as she gets her remaining wounds healed. She tried to get up but found that the remaining energy in her body has been completely exhausted.

"Don't try to get up now, you need to rest like everyone else that was here. Thank Maou, I got to you guys in time or else a few of you would have bled out." Shirou gently forced Akeno to relax.

"…thank you…" Akeno's thanks was sincere but her expression was unpleasant, her mind was trailing off as she looked off to the side.

"Don't mention it. How are they over there?" Shirou asked.

"Gasper-san and Raynare-san's wounds are healed, they're resting." Asia smiled in relief as she laid her friends out to gather up their stamina.

"Good, we've covered that mess now we move onto you…" Shirou began and turned around to face…

"I knew this day would come…the day when you would officially acknowledge my great potential. Now hurry! Recite the "Michael is awesome Song"!"

A laughing and cheering Michael whose face was positively glowing in pride despite his pale complexion due to the blood loss.

"No." Shirou shook his head, he didn't know of the song and even if he did there was no way in hell he would comply and feed the little maniac what he wanted.

"Gyah! Fine then, Ddraig! You know the song! Sing it!"

**[Ahem...He's never, never gonna get laid! Hooray~]**

"Yes, I am never gonna get lai-! Wait, excuse me!?"

**[Kukukukukukuku!] Ddraig laughed.**

**\Bwahahahahahaaha!/ Even Typhon was laughing his ass off.**

"Pfft! Hahahahahaha!" Shirou laughed **.**

"Ddraig, noooooo! You ruined everything!" Michael cried.

"And besides, I was talking about her." Shirou pointed at Anzu.

"Hello, Red Dragon Emperor, nya~!"

"Woah! She's here! She's going to rip me to shreds, rape me, and kill me and not in that order!" Michael cried and panicked.

"No, she's on our side. Apparently." Shirou groaned.

"I'm a new woman…or should I say cat woman…nya~!" She tried to make a pun.

"That pun visibly hurt me. You disgrace all jokes everywhere! Even embarrass me. ME!" Michael groaned, "And you, weren't you the one who was fighting her?" Michael asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Shirou looked away then notices something, "And would you like to explain why Koneko is carrying you like that? Because if you wanted to lose all of your man points you could have just decided to wear a wedding dress as she wears the tux."

Emerging through the forest, Koneko was discovered to be holding Michael in the bridal position.

"I'll have you know that I was gravely injured and am currently bleeding and now if you'll excuse me I'm going to pass o-!"

***THUD!***

Falling out of her arms, Michael fell face first into the ground.

"Michael-san!" Asia felt like she would be susceptible for a heart attack each time she would find how badly injured Michael was. She immediately hurried over and began to heal his punctured and fractured wounds. But right beside her she noticed that Koneko was placing her hands on his chest with cool soothing waves of Ki.

"Koneko-san?"

"…This will help Michael-senpai recover his stamina. It'll also smoothe out your healing, Asia-senpai."

Asia was amazed and wanted to say something but noticed her cat ears and cat tails, which brought back some embarrassing memories, "Those are-!"

"Koneko-chan, are you…?" Even Akeno was breathless at the sight.

"So look who decided to come out of their shell. You know Kai-sama would be ecstatic to see how far you've came. You know that right?" Shirou wasn't as visibly excited about Koneko's nekomata transformation, you could say that he was more relieved that she wasn't holding herself back anymore because of her familiar issues.

"So what made you finally decide to stop holding it in?" Shirou asked, curiously.

"My fear almost made me lose sight of something important. I couldn't suppress this urge to use it when Michael-senpai was almost backed into a corner. I was still afraid, but at that moment when I finally decided to use senjutsu, I felt something else. I couldn't tell if it was bad or good, but once I used it I felt vindicated." Koneko kept her eyes on Michael as she could feel his groaning slowly turn to comforting breathes.

"Incredible. His body really is healing much faster." Asia was already done healing the impaled holes on his midriff and went to healing his self-injured knuckles that might need some time to carefully heal.

"I don't know how to exactly feel about this power yet. I need time to get my feelings in order before I can come to a clear answer. But right now if I can help everyone with it then I'll bear with it." Koneko showed the slightest hint of a smile as she helped with the process of healing Michael's broken knuckles.

_'…Bearing with it…it's not much like accepting it but rather temporarily looking past it for the benefits it could give.' Akeno thought as her own problems began to spiral around her mind, 'No, it can't be that easy…never…'_

"I wonder where that Blonde Bastard is? He hasn't come back and I know that he took care of his opponent…" Shirou wondered to himself.

"Kiba-kun will be fine, he's very versatile when he's moving on his own at times." Akeno reassured Shirou's worrying.

"I-It's not like I care about whether he's alive. I just don't want him to fuck things over by getting caught and forced into being a hostage by that other guy who did this." Shirou coughed.

"Tsun…Tsun…" A quiet voice sang.

"I swear once he gets up, he'll never see broad day light again." Shirou growled, and assumed that it was Michael.

"…Tsundere." Shirou whipped his head back to see that it was Koneko singing and was shocked.

"Why would you-?" He asked.

"…It shouldn't be such a shocking truth when you know that it's blatantly obvious." Koneko said with a straight face.

"For Maou's sake I am not a damned Tsu-!"

"Tsun…Tsun…" Michael tiredly grumbled.

"I'll kill him." Shirou said without hesitation.

"W-Wait, what's going on?" Rousing everyone to look her way, Kiyome screams when she awakens from her forced slumber.

"Kiyome-senpai, how was your rest?" Asia politely smiled.

But the concerned expression on Kiyome's face told her that her question wasn't going to be answered anytime soon.

"He's not here…why isn't he here!?" Kiyome panicked and frantically looked around.

"Whoa, calm down, Missy. We have to catch our breaths before-!"

"Where is Makoto-chan!?" Kiyome screamed, and that scream caught everyone's attention even the resting Michael instantly opened his eyes as he began to wake up right in the middle of his recovery.

Everyone was too busy focusing on the situation of bleeding out to death and getting healed to notice that most of everyone there was gone.

"Makoto?" Michael murmured to himself, and began to engage in the conversation of the apparent missing Makoto.

* * *

"Thanks for complying with me, Makoto-chan. I cannot believe that Natsu-chan didn't tell me all about her little brother! This calls for an immediate get together!"

Leading a quite perturbed Makoto by the hand, the hooded woman hummed a catchy song that seemed close to a lullaby, but the humming didn't soothe Makoto down it only heightened the fear that he was feeling. It was an impossible decision to make at the time.

Awakening to your attacker can easily give a kid his age a heart attack. When he had been told of the current state of the others, his mind instantly went straight to Kiyome and he desperately cried to know of her safety. Gladly he was told that they were all very much alive, but that could change if he didn't comply and based on his answer things wouldn't end too good for him.

"Are you really taking me to see, Natsu-nee?" His eyes were averted from the figure in front of him.

"Of course, I'm one of her closest friends! BFFs forever! What you don't trust me? If you like you could probably escape from me, but I wouldn't promise that your friends back there would be kept spared if you did. Either save yourself and allow them to perish or trust this spectacular guide and be reunited with your beloved Onee-chan~!"

Makoto knew for a fact that his sister would never befriend someone like her, but kept his mouth closed to avoid the ire of his apprehend-er.

"Just p-please don't hurt Kiyome-neechan and the others. I promise that I won't run away, so please... Take me to see Natsu-nee!" The figure patted Makoto's bowed head as she took this token of submission quite warmly.

"Aw~! I can't stay mad at you…now onwards!" She re-initiated their long walk, with a few probable detours along the way. What? If she just took the straight and narrow path, then things would be cut short for the fight that was nearing its apex. She knew these kinds of fights needed time so a little detour now and again wouldn't be so bad.

"You know Makoto-chan, why don't we talk about the things we both take pleasure in doing. I for one love Science~! Because it comprises of almost everything we do. The animals, nature, people and the world, but the best thing about it is how I can study how those things tick, so that I can see if I can make them tick the way I want to." The mysterious woman giggled, "Like, if you were to have your heart stopped, you'd probably still live if your soul still powered your body more than your heart did. Nature is a powerful force that manipulates us to do whatever it wants, so what's to stop us from doing it right back for our needs? No matter how painful, upsetting, or downright inhumane it is, people have always done what they thought was right for the expense of broadening their knowledge, right Makoto-chan? Hm?"

She felt Makoto's hands suddenly grow cold and tremble, it would seem her words had an inflicting effect on him. His stature was shaken up as he only mumbled a scared yet silent, "U-Uh-huh…"

So many repressed thoughts and scars were just bobbing up in his head like dead fish, unwanted yet numerous. The excruciating pain and the fear of being jabbed at poked with by so many needles had plagued his psyche.

"Say what's wrong? You don't like science?" The woman teasingly hummed.

Trying to brush off his sudden shock of fear, Makoto shook his head, "N-No i-it's not like that I-I-!"

A terrifying smirk appeared itself under her hood as she giggles, "Then allow me to go on about my favorite thing to do. Next, we'll go into forcefully rewriting genetic makeup of live beings. It's been proving to be really fatal and really looked down upon, but you know what? For me if a subject were to die from an experiment, then it wouldn't be the experiment that failed, but the qualifications of the subject."

She giggled once she saw the distressed look on Makoto's face as he tried to suppress his growing panic.

"If they survive they're a success, but if they die then they're failures. Of course, if the experiment never goes the way I want it to, then they're failures were quite evident wouldn't say so, Makoto-chan?"

"…" Makoto was taking heavy breaths the whole time, he had lost the ability to speak, believing that if he were to utter a single word that he would vomit out of the sheer gravity that his fear was placing on him.

_'Oh, dear! The boy seems like he could break down at any second now. Perfect…'_

Seeing the mental defenses of the boy whittling down the mysterious woman could only applaud herself for finishing the final touches for this step of her agenda. She mysteriously knew the what nerves to touch with this boy, and oddly enough, she felt more familiar with Makoto by the way her tone was displaying a false kind tone that made her seem more manipulative of him.

* * *

"You're going to die at this rate. You know that, right? So why bother to try and keep coming at me?"

"U-Urck! *COUGH!*"

Looking as ominous than she was before, Natsuru was covered in a thick and vibrant purple aura. Adding more to her ominous look was Rias' blood staining the grass and her clawed nails, she stood across from the hunched over devil, who has been losing way too much blood. The lightheadedness and her woozy vision were signs of eventual blood loss.

The battle had taken a drastic turn. Before it could have just as easily been a chance for Rias to have defeated the nekomata/kitsune hybrid, but her cleverly devised attack strategy vanished. Not with a single trace left to be able to ascertain that they were there in the first place. The sudden emergence of Natsuru's newly unveiled power literally erased her whole strategy. No, it would be rather ironic to say that a blast with the Power of Destruction was erased.

More like negated.

At the instance where Natsuru took Rias' moment of disbelief, she managed to leave a staggering wound which inflicted tons of pain to Rias. Immediately, Rias tried to fire a sphere of demonic energy at her, but like before it vanished.

Soon enough the battle went back to becoming dreadfully one-sided with only Natsuru being the one to actually be able to hit Rias with her attacks. The cloak of purple aura that shrouded her was basically eating the blasts that are shot its way, negating them and leaving her perfectly unharmed. Her main points of attack were to draw out as much blood as she could from the High-Class Devil's body with just her claws.

Throwing whatever she could give at any chance, Rias couldn't be able to break through that purple aura's negation. Soon enough, she would get more sluggish and leave more openings for Natsuru to take. It would only be natural to assume that she would stop her attacks after realizing they would end in vain, but she just kept on going.

Spurred by the thought of allowing things to end in her defeat. Her failure to even place everything she had into a fight she no chance of winning. And most of all, allow the one person she loves to be taken from her. It would either be using everything she had for a massive blow to at least render Natsuru helpless with a high chance of failure, or trying to preserve enough time by dodging and healing her wounds something that Natsuru was too keen on allowing.

She had basically become a killing machine hell-bent on trying to take her life, as slow and as effective as it could be. It was a step up from just trying to whittle her down with powerful attacks and infuriating taunts. It was like tangling with a killer animal that was showing some sadistic pleasure in watching her prey slowly die.

Throughout the entire time, she was getting tossed around, Rias had been preparing a row of three amplification Gremory Magic amplification circles. These circles have been charged with her demonic power throughout the entire shift of the fight. As soon as she realized that Natsuru power was beginning to become difficult to handle, Rias believed that holding out and putting all of time and energy into this last stratagem.

"*HACK!* *COUGH!*" Rias coughs out a mouthful of blood but continues to stand, she was just demolished by Natsuru's sheer strength. She endured tons of blows that would have honestly killed her already had she just laid down and accepted it, but she continued to keep going.

"It's over for you." Natsuru walks up to Rias and kicks her into the ground.

"Uagh! Ngh!" Despite falling on her back, Rias shakily gets up again. On her feet, she attempts to throw a single block of demonic energy at Natsuru, but it vanishes as soon as it makes contact with Natsuru's purple aura.

"Nothing will work against this, I just foiled any chances of you winning." Natsuru said.

"W-What is that? I've never heard of any form of senjutsu capable of that before..." Rias sputtered.

"That's because it isn't Sage Arts at all, it's something completely different than that. This ability is known as  **Code: Unknown,** it allows me to negate any and all attacks being done on me. Frankly, I despise using this power, but somehow you managed to pushed me this far, so at least take solace that you'll die at the hands of the power, your kind forced upon of me."

"My kind? You mean you were-?"

"My friends and parents were expunged and killed, I had six siblings, about five had died and I was forced to breathe in the ashes of their decaying corpses as I dug out of the remains of my home. The entire village full of my nekomata brethren were eradicated by you, High-Class Devils. I could only carry my only sibling so far before getting captured by "him"." Natsuru wrapped her arms around herself and looked absolutely dejected,

"He said that we were the "cream of the crop", he knew that me and Makoto weren't full blooded nekomata and decided to take us as the only survivors, we were forced to go through so many brutal tests and experiments. Every nook and cranny of my body was toyed with and modified, and I ended up as an existence unlike normal Nekomata, Kyuubi, or anything else. I absolutely loathe you devils. The Hell that we went through... I can still remember the feeling of having liquids fill my lungs, needles piercing my flesh, every orifice of my being violated and contorted by your twisted magical science. Truthfully, some nights, I came to wish that we had just died back in our village. There was so much pain... So much suffering."

Natsuru shuddered,

"But the thought of death was far more painful than living through more of that torture. Heh, even when it came to trying to put an end to my own , it was not until one day that I decided to use this power to escape, that cursed "devil" wasn't there that day so security was a lot scarce. I destroyed everything, I left nothing there and killed all of the remaining guards and scientists. Freedom, it broke that horrible cycle of yearning for death and survival. The chains they used to bind me shattered, I had a joyful revelation. My desire rose from the ashes of my village's ruins, to restore my race, the Nekomata, to an even higher standing. Upon a pedestal beyond even that of you, Devils. No more death. No more despair. Never again will families have to watch their loved ones turn to dust in front of their eyes."

"So that's explains your fascination with Michael. You want to rebuild your race with a more potential with his dragon power." Rias panted, but didn't one bit look sympathetic, "You're trying to reclaim everything you've lost so that it will never happen again. Although I may understand your reasons for doing this. It won't earn my sympathies; you've done so much wrong that can't be forgiven."

"Trust me, the last thing I want is your pity." Natsuru was in agreement.

_'But the purging of a nekomata village? Onii-sama never discussed something like this before.' Rias thought it over, but things were picking up faster for the climax._

"Enough. I've revealed everything concerning about my motives, so prepare to die!" Natsuru charges in and stretches out her claws for Rias' neck. The extra layer of touki increasing her speed and the sharpness of her claws made it very possible for Rias to die should she get hit. Her body was already in a bad enough state as it is so dodging was not an option she can take anymore.

"No choice now…!"

 ***SHIIIIINE!***  
***SHIIIIIINE!***  
 ***SHIIIIIIIIINE!***

Her body was in too much pain, but she managed to position herself just right to align the 3 layered magic circles in front of her. They were each compacted into different sizes to maximize the power output of the attack.

Pulling back on a sphere of demonic power like an arrow in a bow's quiver, Rias compressed the air around it enough to pressurize the sphere. Standing tall and holding the attack in one direction, she was able to lock onto her target.

"It's futile, that attack will just be negated as well!" Natsuru roared, making no attempts at dodging. Her confidence was well placed in her self-hated ability to negate any attacks.

"Concentrate…imagine the…"barrel"…" Rias breathed as her body quivered a little, trying to hold still and make a perfect shot was hard. Trying to harden and shape the sphere of power into a concentrated and controlled orb of pure destruction.

Rias realized that as a Power-type her attacks can be quite predictable, she needed to grasp onto working on controlling her demonic power into a concentrated attack, not her usual multiple blasts that expend way too much energy to fire.

She needed an attack that deviates from her usual set of moves, she needed to work on a move that would not classify as just a Power-type but a Technical-type as well.

Drawing the sphere back like a bowstring just a little more, Rias exhales calmly despite the pain she was in and says, "It's ready. Whether it works or not, this will finish things. All I have to do is have faith."

***SWIIIIIIIISH!***

It took only a second and Natsuru was already close enough to lunge her claws into Rias' neck, but at the same time, she was really close enough to the layered magic circles that Rias was prepping herself to use.

It was close, both of them were just about in range to attack as they both said their final words before one of the attacks overcome either of them.

"You're dead!" Natsuru growled, but gasped when she saw the magic circles glow brightly.

***T'chi!***

Releasing the sphere of demonic power like and arrow, Rias fires her attack by leading it off with it's crafty name,  **"Arrow of Destruction!"**

***ZIIIIIIIIN!***

***ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!***

***ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!***

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

The sphere was shot and went through each magic circle, increasing its density, size, and controlled fire power as the large, pressurized sphere of dense demonic power fires itself and completely knocks itself into Natsuru's entire front half. Forcing her back as the force of the large sphere overwhelmed her ability to push it back.

_'It's not negating? How is that possible!?' Natsuru gasped as she tried to focus more on the purple aura surrounding her, she attempted to mask the entire sphere in it as well to negate it completely as a whole, but it failed. Code Unknown was at its designated limit when trying to negate an attack of this magnitude._

"…! Are you seri-!"

***KaBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

Was all Natsuru could say before a massive explosion filled the land around them as the ground and the trees were completely annihilated. The aftershock of the explosion was able to send Rias flying, in her current state, she was dangerously close to dying if she were to hit the ground, hard.

"Buchou!" Jumping in to save Rias before she could fall was Kiba as he lands on the ground and uses his body to shield his [King] from the explosion's unforgiving aftershocks. As soon the attack dies down, all that was left were a huge crater with the dust of the explosion filling and leaving the air.

"Y-Yuuto…" Rias weakly looked to the knight, as he already begun using his magic to heal her severe wounds.

"Forgive me, for being late. I couldn't restore my stamina in time when you really needed the backup." Yuuto looked disheartened at Rias' state.

Shaking her head, Rias says, "Don't worry about it, you must have had trouble on your end so don't blame yourself."

"B-But…" Kiba was a little hard on himself, but sighed, "I'm just glad that things didn't end too badly."

The noise of coughing and exaggerated breathing caught both their attentions as a pair of arms pull up a beaten and burned Natsuru out of the crater. Getting back onto level ground, she was able to at least stand up on her own two feet, but moving seemed to be a complete effort for her since her limbs were mostly the ones that received damage.

During the explosion, she stopped using Code: Unknown to place all of her touki into taking the brunt of the explosion. Leaving herself wide open to the attack at such a close range was really damaging, she could barely a make step without wincing in pain.

Taking note of Kiba's sudden appearance, she coughed, "These unexpected intrusions… Will they ever end?"

One hand on the hilt of his sword, Kiba waited for the moment Natsuru may try to attack while his other hand was using magic to heal Rias.

"I should have known that getting hasty like that would have left me open. Trying to kill you patiently, or killing you with overwhelming power. Neither worked and in the end I walked right into your hands, and now I suppose you think that I've thrown in the towel, right?" Natsuru may have looked beaten, but the defiance in her eyes spoke volumes about her intent to succeed, "Wrong. I don't care if your servants come right out of the woodwork. I won't allow any of you to walk away from here alive."

"You don't seem to have enough strength to even stand. Stand down, you're in no condition to continue fighting." Kiba tried to negotiate things peacefully.

"This body has been through more hellish ordeals before. So what's to stop me from continuing this fight?" Natsuru took slow but steady steps, her limbs were searing with pain from the burns. It would be impossible for her to even stand, blood was dripping out of the wounds on her legs and arms. Despite the pain, she was in she kept moving. Just what drives her to continue with any of this?

_"See she's right there. Now go to her…" A hand pushed the back of a young boy from out of the shadows of the woods_

"Natsu-nee!" A shrill voice cried from behind her along with a pair of arms embracing her from her back.

That was a voice she knew all too well, "Makoto-chan?"

As she turned around to glance back at her younger brother tearfully embracing him.

"Natsu-nee, you're really here! I-I was so worried! When you and Kiyome-neechan weren't home, I got scared and-and…!" Makoto sobbed.

"Makoto-chan, why are you here?" Natsuru gasped in worry, "And Kiyo-chan! She wasn't home either?"

"She was here with Michael-senpai. I asked Rias-senpai to bring me here since I would both of you here…" Makoto said.

"Kiyo-chan was already here, then she was the one who released Michael-kun and that other guy from their cells." Natsuru bit her lower lip, "She even summoned these devils onto this island too. Everything was ruined…"

"Eh?" Makoto took notice of the wounds on her sister and taking notice of more than one other person in bad shape as her, he noticed Rias lying on the ground bloodied and covered in scratches.

Trembling, Makoto looks up at Natsuru with a shaken look on his face, "Natsu-nee, what's happening here?"

"Everything is fine here. Just go and let me handle things." Natsuru tried to push Makoto away but the boy was insistent and looked concerned.

"Natsu-nee, you aren't fighting them are you?"

"Makoto-chan. Go. Now. I'll meet with you after I do what I need to do."

"B-But I want to know why you're fighting them. There shouldn't be a reason why you should be doing this to yourself."

"Makoto, listen to you big sister and leave now!" Natsuru snapped at Makoto but grimaced in pain.

"See? You're hurt so please stop and let's go home already. We can get you healed there and you can get better and we can play together with Kiyome-neechan like we used to before." Makoto was insistent and tried to pull Natsuru back. His desperate pleas were starting to get to her as Natsuru gritted her teeth and tried to force her brother off of her. Her expression was filled with regret as her hair shadowed over her eyes.

_'She's moving through sheer will. If she wanted to she could just as easily push Makoto away. But he seems to be -really- important to her.' Piecing together a hypothesis, Rias figured out something really important._

"Makoto-kun." She called out.

"H-Hai?" Makoto timidly answered.

"Have you ever made a promise to your big sister?" Rias glanced at Natsuru who was silent, but still.

"A promise?" Makoto blinked.

"Yes, siblings who really adore each other tend to make promises based on the best wishes of their brother or sister. You, yourself may not know it's a promise but it could be possible that she's been working hard for whatever you desire the most." Rias explained, seeing Makoto discern Rias' conception about a promise.

"N-Natsu-nee, are you doing this because of me?" Makoto asked, Natsuru could tell that he was sad. She instantly knew that he would start blaming himself if he knew that he was the main drive for her doing all of these bad things. So to relieve him of that worry, she came clean.

"When we were little, you were so sensitive about how others were treated that you never considered yourself. You hated when people fought each other and would cry over the littlest thing. Back then you wanted everyone to be aligned with each other, so that they could live together in equality and happiness with the nekomata. You may have forgotten about it since it was a long time ago, but I still remembered it word for word." Natsuru's said,

"But for me to even get our race recognized. I needed to attain power. And to do that I had to do anything to attain. At the expense of my morality and sanity. I lied, blackmailed, and manipulated anyone with enough power to get what I needed. I would sacrifice my own well-being all for your dream to be realized." Natsuru held up her wounded arms as an example of her loyalty towards Makoto.

His lip quivering and eyes growing teary, Makoto sniffled, "N-No, I don't want that…"

"Makoto-chan, please…" Natsuru was growing more reluctant.

"I-I don't want Natsu-nee to hurt herself because of me…it really is my fault then. You've been through so much, and-and, you were definitely suffering weren't you?" Makoto cried.

"…" Natsuru was losing her will to fight because the reason driving her was slowly being erased at sight of her brother crying for her to stop.

"And so many people that were involved were hurting because of this…It's not right. When I want everyone to be happy, I wanted you to be happy too. I want to be smiling with Kiyome-neechan, Natsu-nee and Michael-senpai. So no more please or else I'll really hate myself!" Makoto balled out.

"I-I-!" Natsuru clenched hands slowly opened her clenched fist and limped them down to both of her sides. Just letting everything go, the weight of hearing her brother say such self-loathing words really did it for her.

***DRIP!* *DRIP!***

"I'm sorry…" Tears streamed down Natsuru's face as she looked at the ground, "I-I'm sorry…I'll stop…just no more crying. I d-don't want you to suffer... I wanted to avoid it, but in the end, I just brought more of a burden onto you. Please forgive this failure of a sister…"

Natsuru's voice cracked up as the tears just kept coming out.

_'She's lost the will to fight, we won.' Rias exhaled in relief as most of her wounds were treated._

"Natsu-nee!"

Taking a creeping step towards Natsuru, Makoto opened his arms and wanted to embrace his sister, but the creeping sound a low whisper reached everyone's ears.

_"Take~!"_

***RIIIIIIP!* *SPLATTER!***

"!" Everyone and Natsuru was surprised as the sickening sound of flesh being pierced reached their ears as they watched blood spill out and splatter out of Natsuru. A hand was deeply embedded through the back of Natsuru's chest as the blood splattered all over Makoto. Natsuru, who grabbed the hand, with no breath at all, could only look beside her head to see the hidden face of the hooded woman leaning herself against her back.

"W-What…?" Natsuru gasped a long breath of air that wasn't going to fill her lungs as it is.

"Something the matter, Nat-Nat?" The mysterious woman giggled, "Don't be mad, but didn't I tell ya? I did promised to you that I would destroy  _anyone_  ,who would dare to stop your plans. Oopsie~! Did I forget to mention that  _you're_ apart of  _anyone~!_ "

"Gugh!" Natsuru's gulped and coughed on some blood filling her mouth as the mysterious would sickeningly pulled her arm out.

"Please, don't take this personally, Nat-Nat~!"

***SN-SN-SNAAAAAAAAAAAP!* *THUD!***

Releasing her body, the figure watched as Natsuru's body collapsed on the ground as the gaping hole in her chest amassed a large pool of blood underneath her. Soon enough the pool of blood reached the feet of Makoto, who was slowly processing this.

"E-Eh?" Makoto's eyes slowly grew lusterless as she continued to look at the fallen mutilated body of his beloved sister.

"And that pretty much settles my job for you, Nat-Nat! I hope you enjoyed my services!" The woman laughed at her twisted act of doing her job as everyone remained speechless except for a fish-eyed Makoto who repeated the same thing,

"Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh? Natsu-nee? S-She's…" Makoto's eyes start to well up in tears before rising up to see the laughing mysterious woman. Intense hatred filled the rim of his dead eyes as he lowly growled, "You…you did this…"

"Pretty obvious, but way to call it, Makoto-chan!" The mysterious woman gave him a thumbs up like it was a sick joke that she didn't just impale his sister.

The thoughts of Makoto were now filled with a single objective,  _'She did this…it's her FAULT! Herfaultherfaultherfaultherfaultherfaultherfaultherfault! Shehastopay! Shehastodiediediediediediediediediediediediediediedie-!'_

"DIIIIIIIIE!" Makoto pulled his hair in a dramatic fashion and screaming his heart out as his sanity was shattered right before everyone's eyes. Soon enough his screaming turned into a loud veracious-

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

* * *

**Next Chapter- Calm Down, Makoto! The Black Fox of Massacre unveils itself! Time for me to knock some sense back into both my rampaging Kouhai, and**   **my kind Senpai!**


	47. Calm Down, Makoto! The Black Fox of Massacre unveils itself! Time for me to knock some sense back into both my rampaging Kouhai, and my kind Senpai!

**Calm Down, Makoto! The Black Fox of Massacre unveils itself! Time for me to knock some sense back into both my rampaging Kouhai, and**   **my kind Senpai!**

* * *

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

A deafening roar echoed throughout the what was left of the entire forest on the island, the trees and the ground were covered in large jagged scars on closer inspection appeared to be claw marks. Through the darkness of the night were nine large tails that slammed into the torn and beaten ground as a chain of quakes threatened to split open the land apart.

The beast's sheer size was so giant that it could easily shake the whole of the island itself with just a single step. As nine midnight black tails swayed behind it as it vicious growle. Raising its head in front of the illuminating moon, the giant Midnight-Black nine-tailed Fox released another shrilling roar.

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

From far away deep within the remnants of the woods was the entire Occult Research Club looking yonder at the fox in disbelief. The situation had drastically changed that no one knew how to react to this new development in store for them. Whether to act and stop the beast or just retreat due to sheer size of it and the immense destructive power that it possesses.

"N-Ngh…! M-Makoto-chan…" Natsuru winced as she tried to get up, but stopped because of the sharp pain that her wounds were giving her. Gladly, she was getting healed by Asia per Michael's request even though it was much to the chagrin of everyone else who held no sympathies for the woman.

"Natsu-nee…" Kiyome worriedly watched Natsuru by her side and held her hand, then she looked out to see the large fox, "And Makoto-chan… Why? Why did it have to come to this?"

Standing ahead, Michael glared at the giant fox and cracked his knuckles, "I don't know how things escalated this quickly, but I'm not going to let you stew up in your own self-pity forever, Makoto."

* * *

_(Flashback)_

* * *

_Everything happened so fast. None of this was supposed to happen. Things were just finally starting to end, but it seems that this was just the beginning for something unbelievably devastating._

**_*ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!*_ **

_The shadow of a giant nine tailed fox towered over everyone. Just a second ago, it was the once shy Makoto Abe, and now he forcibly took on the form of a rampaging beast. The traumatic sight of his sister being hurt in front of him made him go ballistic, and warped his entire being into a feral monster filled with rage and the taste for mayhem._

_Rias and Kiba were stunned and couldn't react until the laughing of the hooded woman caught all of their attention, especially the furious nine-tailed fox's. She was in the midst of a scary monster and was laughing like she didn't have a care in the world. She was truly a madwoman._

_"_ _Teeheehee…Kahahahahaha! That's right, run rampant! Use whatever you can to fuel your craving for destruction! Hatred, Sorrow, Dread, and the pain of your loved ones getting hurt and killed! Use that to tear down anything in your path! Kahahahahaha!"_

_Her laughing was cut short when the shadow of a large clawed hand overshadowed her body._

_"_ _Eh?"_

**_*SLAAAAAAAM!*_ **

_"_ _Kyaaaaaaaa! W-What? Me?" The hooded woman shrieked once the large hand smashed her lower body and completely destroyed her legs. Her winces of pain were casted aside once she saw the fierce deep glare of the monstrous nine-tailed fox. Its golden eyes were piercing into her very being, she didn't try to resist or scream for help all she did was giggle that immature laugh of hers and embraced the eventual release of death._

 _"_ _Me? You really want to me to be the first one that you destroy? You really are a sweet child, Makoto-chan! Gurgh…!" She coughs out a lungful of bile and blood as she looks up at the nine-tailed fox, however, all she saw instead was a deep abyss of darkness, "Thank you for the honor of letting me be the catalyst for releasing all of that hate for you, and thank you for choosing me to be the first to die at your hands! Makoto-chan! Makoto-chan~! Unlike Nat-Nat, you truly were the better little kitt-!"_

**_*CHOMP!* *RIIIIIIP!* *GULP!*_ **

**_*ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!*_ **

_She was bitten and torn in half by Makoto's sharp teeth as he roared after dealing with the main leading cause of his anger, but that wasn't enough to appease him anymore, nothing would be enough to stop him now. Stomping around and creating tremors, he was slowly bringing the island to its ruin._

_"_ _Is this really Makoto-kun?" Rias grunted, the tremors and roars were enough to sweep her away._

 _"_ _Buchou!" Kiba cried and leapt out after her._

_The vibrations each of his roars made pushed those on the ground away. Being thrown up in the air, both Rias and Natsuru were completely helpless due to their injuries because of their battle. Luckily for Rias, Kiba was able to catch her, but Natsuru wasn't so fortunate to have someone to help her._

_"_ _GUUUUUUUUUTS!"_

**_[Jet!]_ **

_A loud shout coming from the woods along with a Scale Male covered Michael used the jet boosters on his back to make it past the trees and towardNatsuru's unresponsive falling body. Catching her in his arms and landing, he smiles, "Don't worry, senpai! I gotcha! Now where is Mako-! Oh my Maou! What the flip is that!?"_

_'_ _Michael-kun…' Natsuru thought through her aching stupor._

 _"_ _Michael-kun?" Kiba gasped._

 _"_ _Pretty Boy, and Buchou! How's Buchou doing is she okay?" Michael screamed._

 _"_ _Don't worry. I was able to heal some of her wounds." Kiba said._

 _"_ _Michael…" Rias smiled comfortably when she rolled her head to face Michael._

 _"_ _I'm glad that you're okay…" Michael smiled back, but paused when he heard Makoto's roaring one more time,_ _"_ _And what exactly is that thing!?"_

 _"_ _That was Makoto-kun! When he saw that Natsuru was hurt, he morphed into that beast form!" Kiba shouted._

 _"_ _Seriously? I was told that he was taken by this powerful cloaked lady who was off her rocker! By the way ,where is she?"_

 _"_ _Urh…Makoto-kun sort of…" Kiba subtly slid his finger across his throat._

 _"_ _Seriously? He did that? Damn…I mean was it quick or did he just?" Michael looked down to see the remains of what appeared to be the crushed lower half of some poor sucker._

 _"_ _Whoa…that's downright brutal…" Michael's inhaled sharply._

**_*ROOOOOOOOOOOOAR!*_ **

_The Nine tailed beast wasn't at all satisfied with the death of the person who forced out his rage. It raised its large clawed paw again to squash another would be victim._

_"_ _Take cover!"_

**_*DOOOOOOOOOOOON!*_ **

_The earth literally blew apart from the single swing of the large paw's sheer weight and strength._

_"_ _If he just literally tore a guy in two, then wouldn't it be hard to reason with him like this?" Michael questioned._

 _"_ _Not just that, we also have Buchou's wounds, they may be somewhat healed but they can open up if we tried to stand our ground here." Kiba said._

 _"_ _Then let's go back to the others!" Michael shouted._

**_*SHRIIIIIIIEK!*_ **

_"_ _What now?" Michael gasped when he heard the growing noise of energy charging form Makoto's beast form. Its head was tilted back with its mouth wide open as a huge mass of Ki was forming into a gigantic mass of pure energy in the shape of a spherical orb._

 _"_ _I believe we should leave immedia-! Buchou? Wha-! Michael-kun!"_

**_[JET!]_ **

**_*WHOOSH!*_ **

_When Kiba saw his arms empty he saw Michael carrying Rias on his back and Natsuru in his arms as he opened his dragon wings and took off into the sky._

_"_ _Way ahead of you, Pretty Boy!" Michael screamed as he took it upon himself to get farther away from the fox with both Rias and Natsuru in hand. Concerned with Rias' safety, he decided to take her with him and left Kiba to run without any extra weight hindering his speed._

_Kiba would have made a remark, but saw the power that Makoto was charging was becoming more and more pressurized and quite deadly looking. Soon enough his feet dug into the ground which rocketed him through the woods in top speed. By the time he was looking back, the large form of the Nine-tailed fox was beginning to shrink into the distance._

_In the air, Michael looked back to see the nine-tailed fox slowly angle its head downward towards the forest. The sphere of purely condensed power was shakily being adjusted right in front of the woods. He was planning to aim it at Kiba!_

_"_ _Pretty Boy! Watch out!"_

**_*BWOOOOOOOOOOSH!*_ **

_The sphere bursts open like a water balloon and released all of its stored energy to tear through anything that stood in its way as an obstacle. The blast's radius was ganging up to Kiba, who was farther ahead from the nine-tailed fox. The reach and sheer power of the attack was extraordinary._

_Kiba's eyes widened at the warning as his body reflexively moved out of the way just as the attack was close to touching him._

**_*KaBOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*_ **

_"_ _That surely would have killed me if I didn't take heed of Michael-kun's warning!" Kiba stood up and was still for a few moments before running off again._

 _"_ _I can't stand here to watch it happen again. I shouldn't push my luck and stay as a sitting target."_

 _"_ _Incredible…that was so awesome! Did you see that? He literally just blew up a part of the island! Oh my Maou! That is so hardcore!"_

_Michael watched in awe at the sheer power that Makoto had when he just literally destroyed a piece of land on the island. It was just gone, nothing remained after that wave of Ki hit it._

**_*Grrrrrrrrrrrr~!*_ **

_The fox turned its head to look at Michael after his screaming caught its attention._

_"_ _Dammit! I mean, hey, Makoto! How's it going, buddy? I see you've changed something about yourself? Ah, I see it's your hair! I get it, so why don't you turn back to normal and-!"_

**_*SHRIIIIIIIIIEK!*_ **

_Another sphere of Ki was charging up to be fired at him._

_"_ _Aw, shit…should have seen this one coming! Ddraig!" Michael cried as he gave the control over the Scale Male's wings to Ddraig._

**_[Got it, and It would be a lot faster if you knew how to fly aerodynamically yourself!]_ **

_"_ _I only know how to go up, down and forward! You know how much I suck at using these things, Ddraig, you were there! Ever since I got these wings I've been all over the place!"_

**_[You've always been all over the place with the rocket boosters on your back!]_ **

_"_ _I-I meant intentionally! I can barely use my devil wings, let alone, these dragon ones like everyone else!"_

_Michael flies off as fast he could as Makoto fires another large wave of Ki into the sky. By diving into the forest, he was able to narrowly avoid the deadly wave of energy as he flies within what was left of the woods for better cover, but that didn't stop the berserking fox as it just rapidly fired less powerful but still  destructive blast of Ki through the forest for the sheer thrill of destruction._

_Meeting up with Michael halfway to the clearing, Kiba said, "We managed to make it."_

_"_ _Of course, we did! With my great efforts that attack was a piece of cake to dod-!"_

_Michael would have gloated but Ddraig interrupted him._

**_[By the way, if you couldn't fly all that well with your wings, then why didn't you use the flying nimbus that your master gave to you? Think about that…process it…and…have fun relishing the thought…]_ **

_"…"_ _Michael was silent at first._

_Kiba began to say something about their situation, "Erh…Michael-ku-?"_

_"_ _Oh, you Red-Scaled, Smart-mouthed, cold-blooded, conniving, MOTHER FUUUU-!"_

* * *

**Present**

* * *

Arriving just when everyone was completely healed, both Michael and Kiba returned with Rias and much to everyone's dismay Natsuru except for Kiyome who ran to her side. With another person to heal, Asia rushed over to Rias as Michael asked Raynare for help to keep Natsuru from dying by using magic to heal the fatal the wound.

Raynare was reluctant at first and wanted to deny the request to heal the woman who kidnapped Michael, but a desperate request from him wasn't something she could so easily turn down. So she begrudgingly ended up with giving him a hand in keeping her alive just long enough for Rias' wounds to be completely healed so that Asia could tend to her.

Taking a break herself, Koneko was catching her breathe after supporting the healing process that everyone went through. She wasn't that proficient with using her senjutsu yet, so she was admittedly a little inexperienced with handling it for way too long. Rias was surprised to see the nekomata finally use her powers so she decided to remain quiet about bringing it up for now despite being so proud of her.

"Hey."

"…?"

Shirou stood next to Koneko and patted her head.

"Good job with helping everyone get better, and I'm glad that you were able to get past that fear of yours." Shirou looked away, but sounded very considerate.

The only thing that Koneko said was, "Thanks, Tsundere."

"Goddammit, I am not a Tsundere!" Shirou growled.

"Tsun-Tsun~!" Michael sang.

"Dammit, Michael!"

***ROOOOOOOOOAR!***

***CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!***

Firing another barrage of blasts, the nine-tailed fox obliterated more masses of land on the island. So far the group was able to stay safe because of Makoto's tantrum being too out of control and unpredictable with his attacks as they were reaching farther and farther away from them. His rage was blinding his insight to sense any life forms around him.

The Occult Research club was now given the time they needed to think about their next course of action.

"At this rate, the island won't hold up for much longer." Akeno says watching the mayhem the beast was instilling upon the small piece of land they were on.

Rias, who was back to about substantial strength, thanks to Asia's healing, agreed and crossed her arms while looking behind herself to see Kiba crouched over a magic circle, "Are we able to use magic circles as transportation with no more hindrances?"

"Yes, it appears that he destroyed whatever it was that interfered with them from before." Kiba said out loud.

"Good, guess, we'll be leaving once its ready." Rias evaluated the situation and found it is high time that they evacuate.

"W-Wait!" Natsuru stifled a cry of pain and sat up.

"N-No, you're still not fully healed yet…" Asia tried to heal her, but Natsuru forced herself up to look Rias in the eye.

Rias looked back and the imposing look she gave her created tension, "What do you want?"

Kiyome found that Natsuru was biting her lower lip in frustration and pride at first. She could tell that what she wanted to ask would go against everything she stood for before, the neko-kitsune literally just fought these devils and now she was about ask for them for help after her shameful defeat, but the request she made, caused her to understand why Natsuru would even cast her pride aside in the first place.

"P-Please…you can't leave yet. You have to…h-help me calm down, Makoto-chan." Natsuru bowed her head as her lower lip began to bleed, "Please, he's my cherished little brother and the only one I have left! I just need someone to help tire him out then I can just try to reason with him to come back! The last time this happened, I barely managed to turn him back myself! If he stays like this, then he'll! He'll-!"

This request sounded true and sincere, but the person who asked of it didn't bode well with a few of the club member.

"Do you really expect us to help you after everything you've done?"

"Y-You hurt Buchou and Michael-nii, that is reason enough to know not to trust anything you have to say."

"Michael-sama already showed you mercy by bringing you here to be healed. Don't push your luck."

"…We were put through a lot because of you…"

Xenovia, Gasper, Raynare and Koneko stated their disapproval.

Kiyome wanted to defend her sister, but knew they had legitimate reasons to be mad. She noticed that everyone else besides them were silent, they too weren't keen not to help Natsuru, but they left the decision for Rias to make.

Crossing her arms with a decision made, Rias said, "I understand how hard this much be for you. Bowing your head to your enemy in shame, knowing that you had to ask them for help, but this isn't about you anymore, it's about Makoto now isn't it? I respect how much your love for your brother has gotten you to cast aside all of your personal feelings to be loyal to him. But…" Rias narrowed her eyes and talked very calm yet spiteful,

"The damage you've done has not only affected me, but my servants as well. You threatened to steal not just Michael away from me, but also my security, my confidence and my trust in my friends. To possibly even think about lending you help is out of the question, and I hope you can understand that."

"Natsu-nee…" Kiyome watched as her sister slowly broke down.

"…" Natsuru lowered her head in disappointment. It was true though, all of those heinous acts were finally catching up with her, and the thought of failing to protect her brother made her once confident and cold demeanor break down into tears.

"Hey, what do you get when you mix the colors red and blue together?" Michael asked.

"Magenta." Shirou answered.

Raising her head, Natsuru and everyone else saw Michael and Shirou discussing something while standing in the direction of the rampaging Makoto.

"Magenta, huh? That's a lame color name and too long. Isn't there another color that we could use for an attack like that?"

"Fine, purple will do just fine then, but what about his tails? We need a way to keep them down or else they will be swatting us down like flies."

"Hmmmm…! I got it! Maybe we could use something sharp to pin them down!" Michael snapped his fingers.

"Something sharp? Sorry, but I only have the one spear."

"Shoot! Then-! Wait a minute, you have a flipping spear!?" Michael gasped.

"Yeah, it's a spear, but it also works like a halberd. It's called  ** _Uberlegen."_** Shirou explained.

"That doesn't sound Japanese, what does it mean?" Michael asked.

"Well, I looked it up and it's German for…"

"Excuse me, Michael and Shirou." Getting in between their conversation, Rias asked, "Just what is it you two are doing?"

"Oh, Buchou! Did you know Shirou has a spear with his sacred gear and-!"

"Not that. What are you about to do?" Rias reiterated.

Michael points at the rampaging Makoto and grinned, "I'm going to help Natsuru-senpai and turn Makoto back to normal."

"Eh!?" Everyone was shocked save for Shirou who stood there and nodded in agreement. Out of everyone, Natsuru probably had to be the most shocked with Rias right behind her.

Looking around at everyone's priceless expressions, Michael shrugged, "What?"

"Michael-sama, you don't have to help her. She pretty much had all of this coming."

"Exactly. She kidnapped you and Shirou while she deeply injured, Buchou."

"Baka-senpai, just leave her be, she doesn't deserve your kindness."

Both Xenovia and Raynare tried to get through to Michael as Koneko somewhat felt some spite towards Natsuru for both kidnapping him and being pushed into using sage arts because of the environment around them that was heavily influenced by her.

"Kidnapped?" Michael asked, but then he laughed it off,

"Don't worry, I'm not kidnapped anymore and Buchou is fine, see?"

"That still doesn't justify what she's done. Aren't you the least bit angry about what she did?" Akeno asked as Michael looked at Natsuru for a second before smiling, the only answer that he could give that didn't need words to convey to her.

"But why?" Natsuru was speechless.

"Before, you said you didn't feel anything at all for the wrong things you've done, but look! You're here worried for your brother while asking for help. Not to mention that Kiyome-senpai came all the way here because she was in denial that you wouldn't do all of this horrible stuff. You could have faked being a lovable sister to her, but you didn't. In the end, you can't feel nothing if you show love to those that are precious to you. Plus, you have to feel something because having nothing to feel is really like having no motivation to do or love anything at all."

"M-Michael-kun…" Natsuru gasped in surprise.

"That's what I believe anyways." Michael laughed, "So I'll help you as payment for being such a nice senior for me like Buchou, Akeno-senpai, and Kiyome-senpai."

"T-Thank you…" Natsuru had to lower her head to hide some tears of gratitude.

"No problem! Just make sure to apologize for what you've done later. You may be my upperclassman, but you're not getting off the hook that easily!" Michael then thought,  _'Wow, I never thought that I would be the one saying that.'_

**_[Don't worry, you'll probably hear that said to you soon enough.]_ **

_'_ _Grrr!' Michael growled at the dragon in his head._

"Michael."

"Hm?" Michael turns around to face Rias who tapped on his shoulder.

"Are you really okay with doing this?"

"Well…" Michael knew Rias stood by what she said before, and didn't want to get involved with any of Natsuru's personal affairs, but he knew from her tone of voice that she was completely neutral about him doing what he thought was right.

Straightening up, he nodded, "Yes. All of you don't have to necessarily fight if you don't want to. I can handle it with Shirou since he agreed to help."

"And why do you want to help so suddenly? Aren't you mad about being captured, too?" Rias turned to face Shirou.

"Oh, I am mad, but I would be even more mad at myself if I left to finish my job while leaving a tormented kid like that. Trust me, it ain't pretty going on a rampage with all of those bad emotions swirling around your head." Shirou scratched his cheek.

"…" This took Michael a moment to process, "Eh? Why should we trust you about this have you ev-?"

"Not important, Mike!"

"Okay…" Michael trailed off, "But I'll find out someday, and when I do…"

"What was that?" Shirou gave him the stink eye.

"Nothing…" Michael looked away, "For now…"

***WHAM!***

"Ow!"

"Just because you say it to yourself the first time doesn't mean I won't hear the second time, dumbass." Shirou groaned before turning back to Rias.

"And look, we just can't leave this kid here like this, and besides, I'm having second thoughts about putting him down when he finishes destroying this place. Since he could still be like this and move on to do the same to your territory, Rias-sama. Just thinking ahead is all I can do to avoid the extra trouble." Shirou scratched the back of his head.

"All right then. I won't stop you two. Just be careful." Rias nodded.

"Don't worry, you can count on us, Rias!" Michael gave a thumbs up, "And it might be too early to say this, but after this is done, let's try to restart our first date, okay?"

"I can't believe you would even say that now, idiot…" Rias may have looked a little flustered and tried to sound serious, but the blushing smile she wore spoke the truth about how she would love for that to happen.

"M-Michael-nii, are you really going to face Makoto?" Gasper came up to him a little worried.

***BONK!***

"Ouch…" Gasper received a light hit to the head.

"Have faith in me, Gasper, and remember to keep track of my guts out there! Men should always give it their all when faced with situations like this! Not to mention I have my goggl-! Grgh!"

Michael pulled his hair by accident, and instantly fell into depression.

***SLAM!***

Hitting a nearby tree trunk, he lowered his head and mumbled, "That's right I don't have it any more…Vali blew it up…"

"Vali? The hell is a Vali, and what are you even talking about?" Shirou was up to date with what was going on in Michael's head.

"Nothing, I'll tell you more about him later. Let's just do this!" Michael cheers himself up and stands by Shirou.

**[Dragon Booster!]**

***GIN!***

"About Goddamn time!  **Grand Chariot!"**

**[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]**

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

Two flashes of red and blue aura brightened the night, as they darkened the clearing, they were already done donning their respective dragon armors. Michael in red and Shirou in blue, both young men were ready to get back in the game.

"Michael-kun, be careful." Kiyome worriedly said.

"Thanks, but being careful will just hold back my greatness, so I'll be back before you know it!" Michael chuckled.

"Hey, you ready?" Shirou knocked on Michael's armored shoulder.

***FLAP!* *FLAP!***

Unfurling his wings, Michael heartily growled,

"Time to show my guts!"

The two took off to brave the destructive capabilities that Makoto was inflicting upon the island. Taking to the air, Michael soared through the sky with his dragon wings and his rocket boosters. On land, Shirou's top speed was able to give Michael a run for his money as he gallivanted through the forests which cut the distance between him and Makoto in half.

Watching the epic scene, Kiyome still wondered whether she should be okay with Michael's phrasing of his answer to her question.

"That doesn't reassure me, should that reassure me?" Kiyome whispered to Asia.

"It's just Michael-san's way of saying that he'll come back." Asia's smile was the one to reassure her, but she needed to ask another question.

"But will he come back in one piece?" Kiyome looked to Xenovia.

"Overthinking it won't help. Michael will be fine and he has Shirou to help him, so things will probably end well for them." Xenovia said.

"I hope so…"

* * *

In the air, as Michael soared through the cool night air, he took the high road to bombard and surprise Makoto with attack and blasts of power whenever he lets his guard down. With a magic circle appearing next to his ear, he received a call from Shirou, who was taking the low road and confronting Makoto on land.

His role was much easier as he would be receiving the most heat from the nine-tailed fox's destructive attacks with little range to dodge them. His small size and maneuverability will play an important part in his attempts to tire out the raging fox.

"So what's the plan?" Shirou said from his side of the communication line.

"Plan? Aren't we just going to knock him out?" Michael asked.

"Not the overall plan. The battle plan!"

"Right! Okay, here's the plan. Here we go…its coming and you should be ready for it, and…" Michael was stalling.

"You don't actually have a plan do you, asshole!?" Shirou saw that he was stalling.

"Sure I do. Its, uh… look here is how my plan will go. You distract by smacking him around with your lance, that way he'll be too overwhelmed by your speed that it will slow his reaction time to attack you. While you still distract him, I'll come in with a huge fire ball that will proceed to push him into the ground and destroy the ground below him. Now break!"

"Hold on, I'm actually quite surprised that you thought up a great plan, but how big of a fire ball are we talking about here? The size of a person, a truck?"

"About the size of a building."

"Ah, I see. Also, how do you think you can manage to avoid hitting me while I still hold him off, retard!?" Shirou growled.

"That's why I leave the rest in your hands, Shi-rou."

"No, no, no, no! I'm literally making the plan this time! With no help or any extra ideas that you want to include! First, you bombard the fox with demonic bullets of magic, he'll get too distracted by you in the sky. Then that's where I come in, he won't be mobile if his tails are pinned to the ground. When he becomes a sitting duck, then that will be the time to unload all of our attacks on him!" Shirou explained the plan, "You get it?"

"Yeah, but how come I have to be the distraction?"

"Because if he destroys anymore of the island, then we'll probably be forced to fight him in an area too close to the town. If he runs out of things to destroy then he'll search for more and a city filled with humans is plenty enough to destroy for this fox." Shirou said.

"Got it!" Michael was convinced as he remembered about his friends who lived in Kuoh town and finally realized the stakes ofthis battle.

"I'm going in." Michael finished his communication through the magic circle and began to form to orbs of demonic power in his hands as he loomed over the rampaging nine tailed beast.

"Hey, Makoto! Up here!"

***BWOOOOO-!***

"Nuh-uh! Not in my house!"

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

Michael shouted just loud enough for the nine tailed fox to react. The first thing it did when it caught sight of him was formed another deadly blast of ki at him. Good thing, Michael instantly fired an unrelenting barrage of magic bullets in time before the attack had finished charging. However, it wasn't enough to damage Makoto's full body as he just felt irritated by the rapid attacks.

"Now." Picking up the pace, Shirou finally managed to get in close enough to the beast without getting detected yet. He suppressed his presence so that he wouldn't be so easily caught. Catching sight of the nine tails being left motionless by the bombarded fox, Shirou rushed into action and jumped just high enough in the air from out of the fox's range of view.

"Materialize: Uberlegen!" Forming a dark blue spear-like halberd through his Grand Chariot, Shirou spun it around in his hand and stops as he prepares to throw the weapon into the middle tail amongst the other 8 fox tails.

"Haaaaaah!"

***Don!***

***ROOOOOOOOOARS!***

The spear was thrown, but the tails were gone by the time he threw it. Noticing that something was off, he found out that the fox had finally taken notice of him and spun around with its tails ready to slam into him.

Using magic to call back his halberd into his hand, Shirou uses the shaft of the weapon to guard the incoming swing of nine tails. Little did he know of the true power needed to swing all of them at once!

"Shit!"

***WHAAAAAM!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!* CRASH!* *CRASH!***

The tails made impact and sent him flying and crashing through the ground before he lands in a crater that he created with his own body. Getting up on a knee and balancing on the halberd, Shirou struggled to stand up after getting hit like that. The sudden blow rattled his head so much that his vision was getting all shaky.

 _'_ _Damn, this thing was able to sense me at the last minute. His sensitivity to detecting presences that are completely concealed is impressive, this transformation of his is bringing out so much his potential. I can only wonder what kind of mastery of sage arts he'll have when he's older…no, I can't be thinking about that now…' Shirou gritted his teeth and tried to stand, but his head was still rattled for him to move._

***ROOOOOOOOOOAR!***

"Just my luck…"

The nine-tailed fox opened its large mouth to form another giant spear of ki, but this time.

***FWOOOOOOSH!***

Blue fox flames began to form around the shell of the blast giving it a boost in power. It was just about ready to fire and Shirou wasn't prepared to dodge yet.

"Dammit."

***BWOOOO-!***

**"** **Double Dragon Shot!"** Two blasts of demonic blasts hit Makoto's fox face and interrupted the process of the attack. Zooming to fly in front of the infuriated fox's face, Michael whistled and waved, "Hey, Makoto, why don't you come after me now okay!?"

***ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

"I'll take that as a yeeees!" Michael used his jets and wings to back away from the swipes of a claw nearly cutting him open. Turning around, Michael shouted, "I'll continue to keep him distracted. Once you're able to get up, try to do it again! He'll be focused on me while you pin down his tails!"

**[JET!]**

The sharp claws of the beast nearly got him that time, thankfully his jets were there to fly him out of danger, but it was still too early to think it was over since the nine tailed fox now stood on its hind legs and began slashing its claws and blasting large chi spheres into the air.

Getting back up, Shirou grunted, "I gotta pin that thing down. I only have one halberd and it has to be put to good use. So I'll just aim for that darn things middle tail again."

Charging in at the distracted fox, Shirou does a quick turn to avoid getting caught from running straight at it and leaps in the air to get a perfect view of the giant fox's nine tails.

"This time things won't end up like before! Wait, what is it doing? Are those flames?" Shirou gasped as he noticed the blue flames that were being ignited on the tips of the nine fox tails. They were swinging like crazy as they were close to knocking him out of the air.

"Fox fire, it's not something I can shrug off. Even with more armor on, it'll definitely burn through it." Shirou landed on the ground, and gasped as the tails were now slamming into the ground. He managed to leap back just before he could get hit, "If they're moving around like this then I can't pin them down."

Still barely dodging Makoto's full on claws and Ki attacks, Michael growled, "That is it! I'm done with just taking it! Makoto, get ready because the fist of tough love is coming for you!"

**[JET!]**

***SHRIIEEEEEEEEEK!***

Propelling himself at Makoto, Michael cocked back his fist and imbued touki into it. Charging in like this made him susceptible for massive damage once Makoto's claws tore through his armor and injured his soft body.

"Guaagh! You can't stop all of this Hanamura!" Blood spurted out from his wounds, but he still kept charging in and smashed his fist into the fox's glabella. The punch was really significant since it actually hurt the beast enough to cover the spot.

"Get dunked on!"

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

Once again laying it on thick against Makoto, Michael fired another volley of demonic energy. While he was busy doing that he didn't notice that the fox wasn't completely defenseless since one of its nine tails were quickly swinging towards him.

Noticing the shadow, Michael turns his head to see that one of the tails were coming towards and at the range he was in with it couldn't allow him to evade it in time.

"Pay attention!" Shirou jumped in the air, in front of Michael and covered the halberd

***WHAM!***

Appearing in the nick of time, Shirou used the full weight of his body and the powerful swing of his halberd to bat the swinging fox tail away.

"Don't let the tails touch you! They have fox flames. If you touch them, then you'd experience the same burning sensation that holy weapons give to us, devils!" Shirou warned as he descended back to the ground.

Remembering his fights with Freed and Irina, Michael shuddered about the pain he once felt and nodded,

"Thanks for the heads up and the save!"

Running to find a perfect opportunity to attack, Shirou circled around the fox and shouted, "Don't thank me yet, you still have eight more of those things to watch out for!"

Nothing that more of those flame ignited tails were coming after them, Michael groaned, "Aw, crud!"

 _'_ _Ddraig…'_

**_[I'll handle it…again…]_ **

Leaving Ddraig to handle his evasive maneuvers, Michael focused on firing away at Makoto at any chance he could. Shirou, on the other hand was too busy finding a weak spot to exploit.

"The tails won't hold still anymore, so I'll just have to go with plan B!" Gripping the shaft of his halberd tightly Shirou jumps up and climbs aboard the curve of the fox's back all the way to the back of its neck,

"Plan B standing for: Bury him!" With a strong swing back, Shirou was about to use the flat side of his halberd to blow Makoto away, but the beast was still self-aware of its environment and easily sensed him, as it twisted its head back to fire a torrent of fox flames from its mouth.

"Chi! Dammit!"

***WHOOOOOOOSH!***

Spinning the halberd, Shirou deflected the flames while getting knocked back to the ground.

"This kid is really something!" Shirou growled as he struggled to deal with Makoto's onslaught of Ki attacks. Flexing one arm with touki, while Makoto fires a Ki ball surrounded by a thick layer of fox flames, Shirou knocks it back with a single punch.

***BOOOOOOM!***

It explodes in Makoto's face and sends the fox falling flat on its back, its tails were no longer shelled with fox flames. Looking over at Shirou from above, both him and Michael nodded in agreement.

"Its time for an all-out attack!"

"Uoooooooooh! You're finished!" Leaping above the fallen Makoto, Shirou surrounds his body with a large volume of dragon aura with a spiral drill of touki around it.

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

"I'm not about to get left behind this time!" Michael boosted his power just enough and covered his fist with a vast amount of touki.

 **"** **Crushing Dragon Fist!"**

 **"** **Grand Fall!"**

They both descended with their individual techniques, but it wasn't the end. As a last resort, Makoto's nine tails were raised to shield himself from the impending attacks.

"You think that will stop us!" Michael roared.

***Grrooowl!***

A shady purple aura was starting to surround all of the fox's nine tails, and as soon as Michael and Shirou's attacks made contact with the tails their Sacred Gears were instantly unequipped. Their eyes widened they could only respond with,

"What's the big idea here!?"

"The fuck just happened!?"

The fox used their confusion and slammed all nine of its tails into their vulnerable bodies, sending Shirou flying into the air, and Michael crashing into the ground. Hitting his head against the ground caused him some head damage as Shirou had to take a quick breather before catching him and landing on a tree branch.

"What happened to Grand Chariot? Did he break my armor all at once? No, if he did then it would have fixed itself by now. It felt like it vanished." Shirou panted.

**\That's because it did./**

"Really? So does that mean I can't access it?" Shirou asked.

**\No, you still can, but if it happens again. You'd be even more vulnerable./**

"I don't know what kind of trick he pulled, but this makes our job of putting him down harder. Touching him will leave us open, so what can we do to avoid that?" Shirou was deep in through before coughed and covered his mouth, he spewed out a handful of blood and bile.

"Even with the armor on that kid packs a punch if you don't notice it in time." Shirou's eyes widen when he realizes something, "Wait, Michael!"

"Urgh…" Groaning and trying to get up, Michael shakily sits up and touches his bloody forehead, "That sucked…what happened to my Balance Breaker?"

***THUD!* *THUD!***

Looking up, Michael came face to face with the large clawed hands of Makoto's fox form. Soon enough his eyes met with the beast's crazed/hatred filled eyes.

"Just what did you do to my Sacred Gear, Makoto?" Michael slurred as he held his aching head, eventually his vision became all wonky as he saw three giant foxes, "And how did you split into 3!?"

***ROOOOOAR!***

"Give me an answer, or else I'm going to kick you in the-!" Michael pointed at one of the delusional foxes that he was seeing.

 ***ROOOOOAR!*** With his back turned to the real one, the beast raised its large hand and slams it into the ground where Michael once stood. It was quick to notice the shadow that was momentarily fleeing from it as it grabbed Michael just before he could get hurt.

"What the heck are you doing talking to him? The obvious thing to do is to run away!" Shirou growled as he reequipped his Grand Chariot armor.

"I couldn't do that and besides I have an idea. First, we'll get into our armors. Second, we-!"

"That can't be done. Whatever that kid has negates our sacred gears." Shirou explained, "That purple aura has something to do with it. So we have to think of a way around it."

"A way around it, eh?" Michael rubbed his chin, and thought,  _'But I feel strange. I don't feel any different than when I was in my scale mail. I still feel some of its energy built up inside of me.'_

**_[That's true. That fox has a strange ability to negate your Balance Breaker, but it's powers are still finite. It looks like it cannot reach the power you kept on boosting.]_ **

_'_ _Hm…then I could keep my stored power without the Balance Breaker?" Michael opened and closed his hands, 'He can only negate the Boosted Gear's abilities just enough not completely…'_

Shirou ran as quickly as he could, but widened his eyes once he saw a flurry of tails trying to impale him from behind. Bounding off the ground multiple times, he managed to shake off the nine-tailed fox's pursuit. Only to be met with another danger involving more dangerous volleys of chi blasts being shot his way.

"Thought of something yet!?" Bouncing from place to place, Shirou had a difficult time dealing with the intense heat of the attacks that exploded near him. The only thing he had left to do was evade all off the attacks being thrown his way.

"Wait! I have an idea… I have idea! Shi-rou, I have an idea!"

"Stop saying my name like that and what is-whoa!"

**[Dragon Booster]**

**[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]**

Equipping his red dragon armor, Michael spread his wings and took Shirou into the sky, deftly dodging one of the biggest blasts that Makoto ever sent their way. Looking down at the beast, Michael said,

"When he negated our armor, he didn't really stop everything. I still have my boosted power." Michael's body glows red.

"So it does have a limit to how much negation it has." Shirou said.

"The plan that I have deals with why we haven't really been making that much progress. He's very durable and with that purple aura, he's crazy hard to hit. So if just hitting him isn't working, then we'll have to hit him very, very, very HARD!"

"Okay. You need to cool it with the shouting because your hurting my ears. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but…*GAG!* *COUGH!*"

"Say it…" Michael whispered.

"*GAGS!* *COUGH!* *COUGH!* That plan was well thought out. Good work, Michael."

"See was that too hard?"

"Actually, yes. It hurts being nice to you, you annoying, horrible creature."

"Meh, been called worse… But does it hurt even more than being nice to Pretty boy?"

"The hell is a Pretty Boy?"

"Kiba."

"Oh, nice demeaning nickname. You don't like him too?"

"Well, we have this on and off friendship. Mostly me being a jerk to him because he somehow makes my life harder and suckier. How about you why do you hate him?"

"Do I need a reason to?" Shirou asked quite honestly.

Awkwardly looking from side to side as he flew, Michael said, "Fair enough."

"And well…you're a close 3rd out of the people who annoy me. He's 2nd." Shirou said.

"Who's the first?" Michael asked.

"Someone that you must never know about…" Shirou couldn't get the words 'BOW-CHIKA-BOW-WOW' out of his head.

***BWOOOOOSH!***

Amidst their chattering, Makoto fired another beam that almost grazes Michael, but causes him a little turbulence. They were now getting pursued in the air, and couldn't find a way around this endless barrage of mayhem.

"So how are we going to overpower this kid?" Shirou asked.

"First, I'll boost up my power and transfer it to you, then I'll boost energy for myself. Then we'll combine both of our attacks to create the  **Dual Purple Dragon Supreme Flash."** Michael was proud of the absurdly long attack name.

"So a maxed out attack, it would honestly work against the kid, but no. We are not using that name."

"How about  **Spiraling Twin Purple Dragon Wave?"**

"No, you know what? Leave the name to me!" Shirou groaned.

"Sure! I'd like to see you do better th-!"

***DWOOON!***

Barely dodging a beam, one of Michael's wings were decimated and unable to support his and Shirou's weight.

"Whoops…"

"What's wrong? Why are you slowing down? Just stay up in the air and boost your power. Saves us a lot of time than doing on land."

"Yeah, about that…" Michael trailed off, and prolonged the bad news.

**[Damage has been done to the right wing!] Thankfully, Ddraig was the provider of bad news.**

Looking up at him with a fierce glare, Shirou growled, "You are a fucking idiot!"

"*SIGH!* I know…"

Was the last thing spoken before the pair were forced by the natural laws of gravity to fall upon the hard ground. Now they were flightless in front of the angered beast, and the drop down wasn't all that great for a running head start since Makoto was already preparing another blast at point black range. By the time they got up on their feet, it was already too late, the blast was completed and was about to be fired.

"Not good!"

"Crap!"

Both young men shielded themselves the best way they can to endure the fatal energy attack. At that moment a single lightning bolt was coming down over the beast.

"Resound! Thunder!"

***FLASH!***

***DOOOOOOOOOON!***

A single stroke lightning combined with a demonic powered wave pelted Makoto's face and canceled his attack.

"Michael, Shirou! Are you two okay?" Running out from behind the pair, Rias and everyone came to the rescue.

"Buchou! Natsuru-senpai and everyone!" Michael smiled, "I thought that all of you left!"

"We were just about to do that, but leaving you here to fight alone because of our personal grudges just didn't seem right." Rias shook her head, "And besides we placed a lot of effort in trying to find you, we're not going to waste it now."

"To calm down, Makoto-chan, you'll need all the help you need." Natsuru still looked to be in bad shape, the injury she sustained really impacted her, "The last time he was like this he needed me to be there to calm him down. Right now he's barely tired, you have to do something to knock him down for good."

"So what's the deal with this kid's aura?" Shirou asked.

"He's using an ability called  **[Code: Unknown].** It negates all attacks, but it does have a limit to how much power it can stop." Natsuru explained.

"You need enough built up power to overtake him. And from personal experience, you'll have to attack all at once to break through it." Rias crossed her arms.

"That's why I'll boost up all of my power and transfer it to Shirou while boosting my own aura just enough. It'll definitely be powerful if we can get him to stay in a single spot to take the full hit." Michael nodded.

"Leave that to them." Rias turned to both of her knights and Raynare, "Yuuto, use your Balance Breaker to keep Makoto-kun's feet planted. Xenovia, Durandal's power may be just enough to keep him pinned down, don't relent with your attacks. And finally Raynare, try to use your spears to pin down his nine tails."

"Hai, Buchou!" The trio nodded.

Turning her head over to look at the others, "Gasper, I want you to stop the time around those tails to give Raynare a better shot at them. Asia, please stay back with Abe-san and…"

"Anzu, nya~!"

"Yes…stay back with them and try to provide for us healing support whenever you can. Understood?" Rias said.

"Hai, Buchou!" The two Bishops nodded.

"As for the rest of us, we'll need to act as Makoto-kun's distractions. Michael and Shirou need their chance to gather enough power, so do your best until they're ready. We may need you to transfer the power you have now to us to even affect him, Michael."

"Right, well then gather around all of you!"

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

After boosting up, Michael stuck his hand out as Rias, Akeno, Natsuru, and Koneko gathered around and placed their hands on top of his.

**[Transfer!]**

As the enormous amount of energy flowed into them through Michael's boosted gear, their power signatures and auras increased to a higher margin, but strangely they moaned as the energy rushed inside them.

"Incredible…" Sensing her rise in Ki, Natsuru entered her kitsune transformation and flared out her power along with the others.

"Everyone, are you ready!?" Rias shouted.

"Hai, Buchou!"

"Then move out!" Rias commenced the operation as Kiba and Xenovia dashed to both sides of the rampaging Makoto, who was starting to sense more prey coming at him as Raynare took off into the sky. Asia and Gasper stayed hidden amongst the woods with Anzu and Kiyome should they be needed for any support.

"Let's do it!" Michael cracked his knuckles.

"Follow me! We need to get a good distance away from here!" Shirou ran ahead and Michael followed.

The beast sensed its multiple targets, while Rias and her group cautiously remained in place to observe its movements. A group piled together will surely take its attention off the others.

Looking at all of the help that she was getting, Natsuru said, "Gremory-san, I appreciate what you're doing to help Makoto-chan, so tha-"

"Quiet." Rias hushed rather rudely, "I'm not doing any of this for you. We're only doing this for Michael and Abe-san. Be lucky that both of them even brought up the notion of helping you."

Rias took Natsuru's solemn silence as her answer as she started flaring out her demonic aura to get Makoto's attention. This sudden rise in power from Rias took Natsuru by surprise as she thought,

 _'_ _I can't believe how potent Michael-kun's power is after all of the stuff he's been through. Right now even all of these guys would give me a hard time if I were to face them…'_

She could feel the power flowing through Rias. The devil was basically at a stalemate with her transformation's power without Michael's transfer in energy.

Regaining his bearings, the feral, Makoto spotted the group of his future prey and raised all nine of his large tails.

"Here he comes!"

They all scattered once the tails smashed the ground apart. Unfurling their devil wings Rias, Akeno and Koneko flew as Natsuru used a magic circle to levitate in the air.

"Take any openings he has and don't hold back!" Rias fired a blast of demonic power and manages to agitate the beast only a little as the purple aura was barely getting phased.

"Koneko-chan, together!"

"…Hai…"

***FLASH!***

***BAKABAKABAKABAKABAKABAKABAKA!***

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

Getting pelted by a tag team attack from Akeno and Koneko, Makoto was receiving a gigantic bolt of lightning and Ki blasts bombarding him. His purple aura was doing its best to negate the attacks, but it started showing signs of vanishing, it was a start, but not enough.

"Makoto-chan, please snap out of it!"

Charging and firing a blast of Ki mixed with fox fire, Natsuru was able to push the aura of Code: Unknown a little closer to reaching its limit. The force of her blast forced the giant beast's feet to dig into the ground.

Seeing that Makoto was trying to move out of their unrelenting fury, Rias cried out, "Yuuto! Xenovia!"

"STAY DOOOOWN!" Charging straight at the large tailed beast, Xenovia swung Durandal and created a massive arc which temporarily knocked the wind out of him.

"Kiba!"

"Right! Sword Birth!"

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

"His feet are secured! Raynare-san!"

With a sharp yelp and whine, Makoto's feet were stabbed and pinned down by bundles of large Holy-Demonic swords. The thrashing of Makoto's nine tails grew and were close to hitting most of everyone that was airborne.

"I can't get a good shot if he's moving them all at once!" Raynare screamed as she had to focus on living through the endless tirade of dangerously swaying, flaming tails.

"Gasper!" Immediately calling the boy, Rias sees him run out of the woods and focus his vision on the tails.

"H-Hai!"

*GLEAM!*

With his Forbidden Balor View, Gasper could stop his tails, but his focus wasn't enough to stop all of them at once. There were still about 6 that were moving around as 3 were kept frozen.

"S-Sorry…I can only do this much." Gasper sweated at the strain of concentrating.

"Don't worry about it, Gasper-chan!" Forming a large enough light spear while smoothly dodging one of the tails, Raynare hits it home and pinned one of the tails into the ground.

"It's a much easier job now than before! We'll just do it three at a time, okay?"

"Yes, Raynare-senpai!" Gasper nodded.

Raynare formed two more light spears and resumed to do it again. The tails were really close and scalding hot as their flames burned her and her uniform, but she pulled through and pinned the remaining two before continuing to do the same for the remaining six.

"Six more to go!" Raynare prepare to hold down the next set of 3 tails that Gasper was stopping.

Getting pushed into a corner and overwhelmed, Makoto's hatred and anger began to rise to new levels as his Ki began to flare up and intimidate everyone. They're full on assault against him was beginning to let up because of the beast's sheer strength to lift his head through it and release a blood curdling roar that shook everyone to their bones.

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

The deafening roar caused everyone to stagger back and stop. Using his new chance, Makoto slowly pulled one of his hands free from the bundle of swords.

Being the first to recover, Xenovia charges in and shouts, "He's breaking free!"

With another swing, she created another giant shockwave of holy aura. But much to her surprise, Makoto swatted the attack away with no damage. And to add more onto injury, he fired a sphere of Ki at her, something Xenovia had no time to block as she used Durandal to shield herself only long enough before it exploded and gravely injured her.

"Xenovia!" Immediately dashing after her, Kiba manages to get to her in time lift her up, but was met with the same blast that engulfed Xenovia. Fortunately, he reacted in time and evaded, but he couldn't be lucky twice in a row because of the sweeping strike from one of his Makoto's flaming tails, knocking him out and severely burning him.

"Gyaaaaaaah!"

***THUD!***

Paralyzed with pain, Kiba couldn't move and with the extra weight of Xenovia's unconscious body, he couldn't even attempt to get up anytime soon.

"Yuuto! Xenovia!" Rias cried out.

"Nya!" Running out from the forest in all of the commotion was Anzu who manages to get through a flurry of Makoto's burning tails to grab the pair, "Don't worry, I've got them. I'll be taking them back to that healing girl!"

Sighing in relief, Rias expressed her gratitude with a nod and returned back to fight and looked past the enraged fox to see Raynare still flying in place.

"Raynare, continue to pin down those tails!"

But Raynare wouldn't react, she just stayed floating in place.

"Raynare?" Rias called out again, but didn't receive an answer.

***Drip…***

"…! Buchou…" Noticing something, Koneko heard the sound of blood dripping and looked closely. Coming out of Raynare's ears was blood, "…Raynare-senpai, can't hear us anymore!"

"What?" Rias gasped.

"It must have been the roar, she must really be out of it due to being so close. At this rate, she won't survive getting attacked if she stays like that!" Akeno directly flew to Raynare to get her out of there.

Taking heed of the worried Akeno, Makoto's sight began to follow her towards the afloat Raynare.

"Akeno, wait!" Rias called out.

"…" Looking around with a vacant expression, Raynare muttered, "W-What happened?"

The sound of ringing filled her ears as she looked completely out of it. The only thing that stood out for her was the sound of something muffled getting closer to her.

 _'_ _What is that…wait, I think I can make it out…is that?' Raynare thought, and soon enough the muffling came out to clear and easy words to understand._

"Raynare-san, look out!" It was Akeno and she was quick to grasp Raynare's hand and pull her away from near the fox's tails, but…

***BWOOOOSH!***

"Kyaaaaaaaah!"

***THUD!* *THUD!***

A blast of Ki and fox fire inflicted upon them tons of damage as they too were the next to burned by it. Their screams filled the area before they collapsed to the ground.

***SHRIIIIIIIEK!***

Met with another ear piercing shriek, Rias with Koneko and Natsuru landed on the ground to quickly deliver the injured pair to Asia to heal as they deal with the shrieking beast that was once known as Natsuru and Kiyome's little brother.

***CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CRACKLE!***

"He's attempting to break free from Yuuto's restraints!" Rias watched as Makoto's other hand began to break the other bundle of Holy-Demonic swords.

"He needs to stay restrained or else we can't turn him to normal!" Natsuru pondered on a way to alternatively hold the nine-tailed fox down, "Wait a minute…"

She turned to Koneko and said, "I sense you somewhat know how to handle your chi, but do you think you can control the life force of the grass and roots below the ground?" Natsuru saw the scornful look in Koneko's eyes, but looked past it, "If you can do just that, then you can use them to pin his limbs down."

"…" Koneko was reluctant at first, but a pat on the shoulder and a nod from Rias changed her mind.

"…Hai." Kneeling down to focus her chi into the soil, Koneko managed to force a numerous amount of roots and enlarged blades of grass to wrap around and hold down Makoto's limbs and tails.

"He's trapped for good… Now we just have to wait for…

***BWOOOOOOOOSH!***

The beast sensed the properties of senjutsu and aimed directly at Koneko who was still stationary on the ground. He prepared to charge up a large enough sphere to potentially kill her.

"Dammit, he already knows that killing her will break the binds!" Natsuru screamed.

"I won't let you lay a hand on her!" Rias declared.

 _'_ _Buchou…' Koneko looked at the back of her master and stayed determined to hold Makoto down._

"We'll just have to hold him back!"

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

Releasing all of her demonic power into a single massive blast of energy, Rias' attack collided with Makoto's sphere of fire and ki.

"Kch…"

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

Clicking her tongue and deciding to stay right by Rias, Natsuru unleashed an even more gigantic blast of Ki and fox flames to support Rias. A former enemy and now an ally?

Natsuru bitterly laughed at how far she has fallen to reach this point.

 _'_ _How ironic and pitiful of me…but this is all for your sake!' Natsuru bit her lower lip._

"Makoto-chaaaaaaaaaaan!" She bellowed as their combined attacks were still no match for the built up energy that Makoto was charging up at point blank range.

* * *

Miles and miles away, were Michael and Shirou who skidded to a stop once they heard that scream and the sight of the apparent giant sphere in the horizon.

"I think here's good enough…" Shirou coughed.

"Ya think!?" Michael got into position and raised his fist, "Let's get a move on!"

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

***SMACK!***

**[Transfer!]**

"Huuuuuuuuuuuraah!"

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

By high-fiving Shirou, Michael transferred most of his energy to the young man as his blue dragon aura flared out and let out a crushing pressure that took Michael by surprise.

 _'_ _This guy's power alone was amazing, but after giving him my energy and releasing so much power I can clearly tell our vast differences in strength.' Michael clenched his fist in frustration, 'No, I'm not going to be upstaged! I'm giving it all I got!'_

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Now cloaked with his red dragon aura forced into its maxed output, Michael crouched down and prepared to make a mass of pure dragon energy in the shape of a sphere along with Shirou who created his own separate sphere of dragon energy. The built up enough pressure for the two attacks that it inadvertently caused the air around them to heat up and start to shake.

"C-Come on! Come on, stay together, don't let it burst open!"

"Almost…done! Grgh!"

Michael and Shirou gritted their teeth as they tried their best to compress all of his power into their spheres. Cramming so much energy into a small shape was dangerous, the chances of it exploding in their face and possibly killing them were dreadfully high.

***SHIIIIIIIINE~!***

But that didn't stop them once both of the sphere glow bright and completely perfect in shape and constant pressure of all the energy they poured into it was in perfect equilibrium.

"Their done!" Michael grunted as he looked over at Shirou who nodded back.

"You ready to tear this kid a new one!"

"OSU!"

***GIGIDOOOOOOOOOON!***

"Then let's cram them together and do it then!"

The pair crammed the two large spheres of power together despite the two masses of power repelling one another. The process was like trying to mold two creations into one with the risk of both masses of power exploding like popped water balloons. The pair had shaky hands when doing this process, if either of them slipped up then they would most likely die.

"Aaaaaaaaarh!"

"Yaaaaaaaaaah!"

***GIGIGIG-SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!***

The cracks of lightning followed by the easy process of merging, both Michael's red dragon sphere and Shirou's blue dragon sphere formed to create a large purple sphere of pure dragon energy. Its bright light filled the night sky as they supported the weighty attack on both sides.

Looking ahead, they could tell that their friends were making their struggle against the nine-tailed fox.

"Firing it at this distance won't work. We'll have to get close enough to it." Shirou analyzed.

***FLAP!* *FLAP!***

"Think you can keep up with my  wings and jets?" Michael smirked.

"Hmph! Can I!" Shirou smirked back.

Michael seriously looked forward, but then turned back to Shirou with a clueless expression, "Can you?"

"Of course I can, dumbass! Why did you have to ruin the moment!?" Shirou growled as he spread his legs out like a professional athlete.

***WHIIIIIIIRL…***

The boosters on Michael's jets were ready as it took only a second for him to notice the swift change in scenery when they kicked things off. The only thing that he caught before they took off was a loud-!

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

* * *

It was no good, their attacks were doing nothing to stop the massive sphere that Makoto had charged and it was so close to reaching them. Both Rias and Natsuru were reaching their peak, they already wasted the energy Michael transferred to them and were solely relying on their own reserves.

"It's too much… We can't hold him back like this forever…" Natsuru panted in exhaustion.

"Don't you dare think about giving up now!" Rias reprimanded.

"I wouldn't think about giving up on Makoto-chan! In fact, I think I can do about most of your share if you're just about to drop, Gremory-san." Natsuru smirked despite her heavy sweating.

"Hmph! I could have sworn you were bellyaching a while ago, if you still live up to your glorified words then I'd be more than happy to have most of your share of the work." Rias retorted with a challenging smirk on her face.

Neither one of them wanted to admit their fatigue to the other, but saw no other way to let out their frustration other than to poke at each other's nerves. They were losing, and they knew it.

Opening his mouth even wider, Makoto poured more energy into his sphere which was now pushing the two girls' attacks at a much moderate speed.

"W-We can't continue like this…"

"N-Ngh!"

Both Natsuru and Rias' bodies trembled in exhaustion.

***Snap!***

"…!" Looking back at the forest, Koneko sensed a massive load of power coming their way along with a bright light that was quickly approaching them. Turning back to look at Rias, she screamed, "They're here!"

"Heh…"

**[Jet!]**

In that moment, Rias smiled as a shining light emerged from the woods, a massive sphere of purple dragon energy and the two armor clad fighters who were maintaining its shape.

"Move out the way!" Shirou yelled,  **"Twin Purple Dragon Supreme Fang!"**

"Smile you, son of a bitch! SMILE! Why won't you smile damn you!"

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!* *DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

Michael growled as he and Shirou forced their attack to the entire brunt of Makoto's charged up Ki blast. The force of the two sides colliding blew Rias and Natsuru away as Koneko stayed planted on the ground, to keep Makoto bound by the roots and vines.

The two sides were at a stalemate, and Shirou shouted, "Michael, we need more momentum! Use your jets!"

"On it!" Michael shouted.

**[Jet!]**

***THOOOM!***

The propulsion of his jets allowed for them to finally push back Makoto's Ki ball just close enough to being repelled back at him, but it wasn't enough.

"Give it more power!"

"More!?"

**[Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

**[Transfer!]**

***THOOOOOOOOOM!***

It still wasn't enough, the added output that Makoto used stopped the attack's progression.

"It's not enough! You have to get mad!"

"Get mad? ...Dude, I can't do that now. I'm trying to focus on helping Makoto!" Michael screamed.

"Well, you're not helping him by acting like a complete fuck up! Get your stupid ass in gear and get pissed already!" Shirou unleashed a hurtful barrage of insults at the boy.

"*SNIFF!* *SNIFF!* I can tell you're doing it on purpose and it hurts…you're hurting my feelings…" Michael sniffled.

"Look, I'll apologize later, but we are going to get fucked over if you don't let your anger out!"

"I'm more worried about helping my Makoto, my friend. I can't just flip a switch and get that ma-!"

"I bet Vali could get madder than you if he were here." Koneko remarked.

Michael's face tensed up.

"What…did you say?" Michael's spoke in a slow yet terrifying fashion.

"Hold on, what's happening? Who the hell is Vali?" Shirou was confused.

"Vali could get angry at any time he wants to. He can even get angry more than you can get angry yourself. He's just simply better than you at everything. I bet he could've finished this battle ages ago when compared to you, Baka-senpai, or should I say…" Koneko had to apologize later for what she had to say next, " _Loser-senpai_ …"

***THROB!* THROB!***

A vein popped out on Michael's forehead as a seething rage built up inside him. There was literal steam and red aura coming off of his body as those forbidden words were spoken to him.

Looking confused, Shirou looked back at the nekomata, "What's going on…?"

Bowed her head as a silent apology, Koneko whispered, "…I-I…just pushed the Vali button."

"Seriously, who the fuck is-!"

"VAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALIIIIIIIIII!" Michael went ballistic as he screamed his head off, a traumatic scene playing over and over again in his head where Vali called him a  _'loser'._

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

**[Transfer!]**

**[JET!]**

***THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

The continued boosts and power placed in his jets instantly slammed both Makoto's own attack and their own into the beast's body. Makoto's cries of pain however were overshadowed by Michael's incessant screaming and continued pursuit about overwhelming the fox.

"Holy shit! Mike, are you okay?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! VALI! VALLIIIIIII!"

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

Michael screamed like a mad man and increased the output of his power, blowing Makoto away.

"Damn, remind me never to bring that guy up, but I guess to be fair, I should get pissed off, too. It could really help him, I mean it's not like I want to do it for the purpose of helping him as a friend, y'know. I just want to get this freaking job done wi-!"

"…You are the biggest tsundere dragon that has ever lived and existed in history…" Koneko was just pushing everyone's buttons today.

"SONUVABIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!"

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

Shirou's power was boosted by his rage and his power output doubled that of Michael's as they effectively engulfed the giant fox in their attack. It was beginning to look one sided after Makoto's Code: Unknown was shown to be unable to handle so much of their power at once.

"Incredible…" Everyone watched the pair blow away the giant beast like it was just an obstacle in the way of two rampaging dragons. The devastating team combo scarred the already ravaged island and dealt a serious blow to Makoto, who couldn't even lift a finger after taking all of that damage at once. Reaching its end, the attack was close to being done, but the beast still could not get a break because of the last ounces of power that the two raging dragons forced out.

***KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

Which resulted in a full blown explosion that engulfed the entire nine-tailed fox's body. The shockwave of the explosion released a powerful gust which reached everyone who were still getting treated in the woods.

Once the eruption of power began to settle down, the large burnt and bruised figure of Makoto's nine-tailed form laid flat on his back.

"He's finally been subjugated…" Rias let out a sigh of relief.

"Let's see…Va-Vali…do that…nyurgh!" Turning back into his normal state, Michael fell tiredly on all fours.

"...You did good." Koneko walked over and patted Michael's head.

"Phew…that was really exhausting." Landing and returning back to normal, Shirou wiped his forehead.

"How come you're not tired?" Michael panted.

"I am. I'm just not at the point of passing out like you." Shirou exhaled, sharply.

 _'_ _This guy really is in another league compared to me…' Michael sweatdropped._

"Did we win?" Gasper emerged from out of the woods.

"No…not yet…" Getting up and walking with a limp, Natsuru tried to walk over to the beaten beast.

She would have fallen, but Kiyome rushed over and helped her up, "Natsu-nee, lets go see him together."

Looking surprised, Natsuru nodded, "R-Right… Makoto-chan needs both of sisters this time."

"Hold up, you two. Sirius!" Catching his breath, Michael stood up and called for his red flying cloud to aid them, "I'll give you two a ride over there."

Bowing her head, Natsuru said, "Thank you, Michael-kun."

"Don't mention it. I may have lost most of my stamina to use Balance Break, but I can still help you by using my guts." Climbing onto the red cloud together, Michael zipped away with Kiyome and Natsuru as he waved to the others, "I'll be back soon you guys, don't worry!"

"Those two really are strong, nya~!" Anzu giggled from her place with the injured devils.

"Y-Yes, and thank you for helping us…" Asia nodded, but still was a little cautious, "Um…if you don't mind me asking why are you helping us? Weren't you just our enemy a while ago?"

"Oh, that? Don't worry about it, I just decided to change sides so that I wouldn't die. You see my master wouldn't tolerate failure and would kill me if she found out I lost to you guys." Anzu shook her head.

"Do you mean Natsuru-san? She doesn't seem like that now." Asia blinked.

"No, Natsuru-sama isn't the one that I'm talking about?" Anzu gulped at the thought of how terrifying her true master really was.

As they were on their way, Natsuru looked at Michael's back intently and said, "Michael-kun…"

"Hm?"

"It may not be enough for all the chaos that I've brought to you and your friends, but I'm so terribly sorry." Natsuru bowed her head, "I understand if you don't want to forgive me. Hell, I don't think I can even forgive myself after placing Kiyo-tan and Makoto-chan in danger."

"Natsu-nee…" Kiyome frowned.

"Natsuru-senpai, you don't have to apologize. If you feel bad about doing the things you did, then it's enough for me." Michael shrugged, "I wouldn't have forgiven you if you continued to talk about how all the nice things that you did was just act. You can't possibly do something without having a reason for it. You're really nice and Kiyome-senpai and Makoto think so too, you can't fake yourself out if people actually love you that much."

Turning around, Michael came face to face with Natsuru and grinned, "So like I said before, you are a really nice person, Senpai. I can tell good people are influenced by other good people because Kiyome-senpai and Makoto are the best people that I know, including you."

"I-I…well…thank you…" Looking away, Natsuru tried to hide her obvious blushing as Kiyome just looked at Michael dazedly with a blush of her own.

"T-Thank you…Michael…" Kiyome was obviously embarrassed and smiled.

"No, problemo, Kiyome-senpai." Michael chuckled.

**_[Wow, partner, I never knew you could do a Double K.O. like that.] Ddraig laughed as he could tell the effect Michael was having on these girls._ **

_'_ _Double knockout? I don't get it?' Michael thought._

**_[Just be patient. It will all start coming to you soon.]_ **

Finally making their stop near the head of the large beast, Michael dropped the two off and stayed nearby to watch.

***Grrrrr~!***

Makoto growled in vain, his body was still too banged up to move this admittedly gave Natsuru and Kiyome some comfort as they cautiously approached him.

"It's okay... I'm right here… See?" Natsuru raised her hand to touch, but stopped when he snarled at her, "You, poor child. You were so scared death weren't you, and it was all my fault."

No longer afraid, she petted Makoto's head and began to cry,

"I caused so much mayhem and sadness, I did anything to make your dream a reality and along the way, I inflicted pain and suffering upon myself. I was too blind to realize that all of it could indirectly get to you, and Kiyo-tan, too. I'm such a worthless older sister to you both."

As she wept, Kiyome placed her comforting hand on her shoulder and Makoto's head, "Makoto-chan, you should know how much we love you, but out of us both, Natsu-nee cherishes us the most. She does everything for us even if it means hurting herself for our well-being. That type of love is a heavy burden for her to bear because she's always too hard on herself, so let's try to carry that heavy burden with her, okay?"

Makoto's snarling was replaced with short frantic whimpers as his eyes started to moisten up and cry large tears. The fox was reverting back to his human form, "Natsu-nee…Kiyome-neechan…"

"It's okay for boys to act tough, but don't be ashamed to cry, Makoto-chan, my beloved little brother."

"We won't leave you to suffer. As your older sisters, we will cherish you always."

Makoto returned back to normal and fell into a hug between the sisters, "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…I watched everything and I couldn't stop myself…!"

"Its not your fault, I am to blame. Just let it all out…" Natsuru patted the boy's head and allowed him to continue sobbing into their chests.

 _'_ _Must be nice having a family to hug like that…' Michael watched enviously and failed to notice the tear coming out of his eye, 'Must be really nice…to have a family at all...'_

**_[Michael?] Ddraig felt something strange resonate from within Michael._ **

_'_ _Eh?' Michael noticed the tears and wiped them away, 'Where did that come from? Man, this moment of theirs must be getting to me.'_

**_[…Are you okay?]_ **

_'_ _Sure I am! After all my guts did save the day!' Michael laughed it off._

**_[…Are you sure that you're okay?]_ **

_'_ _Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. Why the questions, man?'_

**_[Just curious. Congrats on surviving to see another day.] Ddraig cut of the link and left Michael to think for himself._ **

_'_ _Weird…wonder what bothered him...' Michael thought as he slowly lowered Stratus to approach the siblings. Soon enough all of the_

The conflict which took place on the island was all said and done. All of the chimera, except for one, were exterminated. Michael and Shirou were freed and Makoto was back to normal. But good endings come at a price. Being the one who orchestrated this whole tirade of chaos, Natsuru had to fess up for her deeds.

"You know I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but I did come here to stop and bring in the person responsible for all of this." Shirou crossed his arms.

"I did all of this knowing full well about the consequences." Natsuru looked downcast.

"Then you must know how severe your punishment for this will be then?" Rias said, and Natsuru nodded.

"Punishment?" Makoto looked between her sister and Rias.

"Severe? I know that Natsuru-senpai has done a lot of damage, but is it going to be that bad?" Michael winced.

"Michael-kun, she stole from and disrupted the flow of trade between the Devils and Fallen Angels and attempted to kidnap the servants of Rias Gremory and Seekvaira Agares. Not to mention, the attempt at taking Buchou's life. It would be a miracle for her to be kept alive, but its most likely that she won't even be able to avoid being imprisoned." Akeno told the surprised boy.

"Seriously?" Michael looked around and saw the solemn faces of everyone around him, "Come on! That can't be right. Natsuru-senpai just turned over a new leaf! Now that she's rekindled her bond with her family, she'll be taken away? There has to be something we can do. Right, Buchou?"

Michael expectantly look to Rias, she wasn't amused at the notion of helping their enemy, but resigned herself with a sigh, "It isn't in our power to judge them. Only Shirou has the power to decide things, he's the one that Seekvaira sent so his say about the charges can possibly affect her punishment."

"SHIROU!"

"Urk!" Shirou flinched back once Michael popped up in front of his face, "Don't do that!"

"You must have something you can do to fix this." Michael shook the white haired boy.

"Don't touch me either!" Shirou slapped Michael's hands away from him, "Look, I was sent here by my master to do a job, I'm only ordered to capture her and bring her back, its not my say in how she gets grilled."

"You have to have some way of helping them, dude!"

"Nope. I'm just doing my job." Shirou crossed his arms but stirred a little when Makoto tugged at his sleeve, "What?"

"Please help my sister, Mister Shirou. I-I don't want her to go away…please…" Makoto started to tear up and that made Shirou feel quite guilty.

"L-Look…kid. My master and her family are basically the ones who do the sentencing. Unless your sister has something of equal value to give to them, then I can't really speak out for her." Shirou desperately clambered at the crying boy.

"Something of equal value?" Kiyome asked.

"Yes, if the culprit has something that interests the devils, then her sentencing may be lightened. No one of particular really died, so I can tell you that it won't be harsh." Shirou explained.

Frantically turning back with some hope in his eyes, Makoto smiled, "Natsu-nee, we could tell them about the village!"

"Village?" Rias questioned.

Looking somewhat serious for a moment, Kiyome asked, "Do you really want to reveal that to them it?"

"It was my plan to always keep it a secret for Makoto's sake, but if I can't be there for him because I stayed silent, then he would only be saddened by my imprisonment. If I can somehow avoid it then its fine, Kiyo-tan."

The two sisters nodded before Natsuru turned back to Shirou, "The village that Makoto-chan is referring to is the Hidden Nekomata Village that I've been developing. There lies about over a hundred of our kind, who were once refugees before I took them in."

"!?" Everyone couldn't believe what they heard.

"My family decided to help them out by bringing in their people, in order to make them feel more at home. The island, we bought for them was productive enough to keep them fed and give them proper shelter." Kiyome admitted.

"I wanted a strong figurehead for the village, so that it could have a promising future." Natsuru said.

"So that's why you wanted to make babies with this idiot." Shirou nodded.

"Oi! You don't have to say it like that?" Michael sweatdropped.

"So what about me? How come I was kidnapped too?" Shirou asked.

"You were just there at the wrong time. To be honest, I was going to give you over to Anzu when I was done." Natsuru pointed at the chimera.

"Meow~!" Anzu purred and winked at Shirou.

"Eurgh!" Shirou shuddered, "I'm so glad that we stopped all of this from happening."

"I still don't trust pure blooded devils with the safety of my race, but I can't stand the fact that I have to be torn away from my family because of my crimes. I will even hand over all of the data that I stole from between the Devils and the Fallen Angels. If this lessens my sentence, then so be it." Natsuru resigned herself to her fate.

"You know by the way your talking it sounds like you're selling out your people to a bunch of people you just don't like." Shirou raised an eyebrow.

"I said I don't trust pure blooded devils, but you and Michael-kun are the exception, you are Reincarnated devils. I believe in Michael-kun and if Michael-kun has enough trust to put his faith in somebody like me. Then compared to me, he must see you in a whole brighter light. So, I believe I can actually put my faith in you without fear of you letting me down." Natsuru's smile and charming words tugged at Shirou's heartstrings as he blushed a little.

"Ahem!" Shirou coughed into his hand and looked away.

"Well?" Michael leaned in close to Shirou who watched the half fox/cat youkai's behavior closely.

Sighing, Shirou shook his head and growled, "I can already hear Seekvaira giving me an earful for doing this."

"So does that mean you'll-!?"

"Yep, they're in the clear. I can vouch for them after gaining that tidbit about that village, and don't worry about your people being handed to the devils. I already have someone who isn't one who'd be willing to take them in and care for them. Hell, I bet your race would gain much more prosperity than it had before the purge." Shirou was cut short by Makoto and Kiyome's happy cheers.

"Yay! You don't have to be taken away, Natsu-nee!" Makoto cried.

"Isn't that wonderful, Natsu-nee!?" Kiyome embraced her siblings.

"Fantastic…" Natsuru wrapped her arms around them both.

"Don't get too happy, you still have to be taken in and judged. Your sentence is just probably lighter for you not to be eligible for complete imprisonment or execution." Shirou groaned and rubbed his neck.

"Thank you, Mister Shirou!" Makoto gratefully bowed his head and gave Shirou the puppy dog eyes.

"L-Like I said you guys aren't out of the woods yet, and you don't have to thank me for anything!" Shirou was flustered and looked away, but his eyes met Michael's, "What?"

"I get it now, Shirou. Children crying is your weakness!" Michael rubbed his chin.

"What? No, shut up it isn't!" Shirou shook his head.

"Yes it is, and guess what you deserve for being such a softie!" Michael opened his arms.

"No."

"Yes, my friend, you deserve an honorary bear hug!" Michael approached Shirou.

"Don't touch me!" Shirou shirked back.

"You can't escape."

"Yes, I can!"

"It's already in motion…" Michael's arms were close to touching Shirou.

"Then get it out of motion!"

"Can't do that!"

"Knock it off already! I will pay you money!"

"How much?"

Michael stopped and held out his hand.

"I hate you." Shirou pulled out his wallet and actually started paying him in money, "How much do you want?"

"You only have yen?" Michael asked.

"Why you don't take it?" Shirou asked.

"Actually…the only currency that I take is…" Michael trailed off then pulled Shirou into a big ol' bear hug, "Hugs and laughs! Hahahahaha!"

"Why you, son of a mother freaking whore!" Shirou freed his arm and socked Michael in the face, which resulted in a large drawn out brawl between them.

"Are you okay about this?" Akeno asked Rias, who watched Natsuru get along with her siblings.

"No, actually. Right now seeing her happy doesn't really change my past spite towards her. I can't let go of my grudge against her so easily. Helping her just this much is just about all that I can take. I'd rather just stay out of the rest of their business." Rias crossed her arms and shook her head, "I'll just trust Michael's judgement on this one."

"I see…" Akeno looked somewhat troubled as a thought crossed her mind.

"Is something bothering you?" Rias asked.

"No, it's nothing." Akeno smiled for one moment, but looked lost in thought the next.

The fighting was over and there was nothing left to do for them on the island anymore. Virtually everything was destroyed through Makoto's rampage except for a few remnants of the facility. Finally, free to use their magic circles again, the Gremory family teleported themselves off of the island as Shirou personally took Natsuru back to the underworld himself.

* * *

"Hm~! Hm~! Hm~! Hm~! Hm~!" Skipping along the rocky floors of the ruined facility was the mysterious cloaked woman.

"How convenient~! They actually thought that I died. Good thing I created a fake of myself to take the dive~!" Approaching what appeared to be her lab, she pushed down the hinge-less doors and approached the smashed up computer with its barely operating screen.

"I've collected more than enough data for him, and I was successfully able to copy the artificial sacred gear research." Tapping on two disc slots, she took out a red and black sided disc with a dragon on it and a purple rimmed disc.

"Well, my job here is done. It's been a real fulfilling partnership, Nat-Nat~!" The hooded woman winked, then felt something rushed right towards her and found that both of the presences were familiar. The air above rippled and out came two figures that were clashing blades.

"Teeheehee! Getting pushed back, Wrath?" She giggled at the sight of the cloaked young man and Azazel donned in his Downfall Another Dragon Armor.

***CLASH!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

An intense exchange of weapons clashing resounded throughout the desolate island, before the cloaked young man kicked Azazel back. In both of his hands were dark red swords of light.

"So that strange dimension fell apart, eh?" Azazel looked around at his surroundings, "But where is this place?"

"Azazel-sama!" Flying through a ripple herself, Mittelt appeared right by Azazel's side.

"By your visage and beautifully crafted artificial sacred gear. I can take a stab and say that you are the Governor-General, Azazel, right?" The woman bowed, "Such an honor to meet with you, sir~!"

"Hm. Strange, that's not the usual first impression that I'd get from someone I just met. Especially if that person was to know my name." Azazel noticed the same type of black cloaked hood the woman had next to the young man.

"What are you talking about? You're such a super star you know? Being the first person to bring up the idea of peace amongst the three factions. Heck, you even developed sacred gears that are man-made. Meeting you here has me so jittery~!" The woman giggled rather maniacally.

Gulping and hiding behind Azazel in fear, Mittelt cowered in fear of the woman.

"A fan? No, I'd say your lying on account of all that killing intent that your sending my way. The jitters must be from you holding yourself back." Azazel could tell as the cloaked woman held her twitching arm down.

"Wowie~! You're such a mind reader, you know that? But I truly am a fan of yours. See?" The woman raised up her acquired discs, "I even bought all of your exclusive DVDs!"

Narrowing his eyes, Azazel said, "The research data and…!"

"Oh, you caught my extra secret disc, didn't ya? Well, it's a secret, so I'll just leave out the spoilers and tell you the name of this murderous story's main antagonist. It starts with an "A"! Come on, you could probably guess who it is, but remember there is a false antagonist with the same first letter to their name to distract us from the true villain!"

***GIN!* *GIN!* *SHATTER!***

"…" The cloaked young man destroyed a rather destructive light spear that was thrown at the hooded woman by Azazel.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Getting so excited like that made you lose your composure, Governor-General! Now I'll just have to leave you to find out about who the antagonist of the story is."

"Tch!" Azazel clicked his tongue.

***STOMP!* *STOMP!***

"…!"

Taking two heavy steps forward, the young man held out his finger and began to generate three different sources of power to form a spiraling helix. There was a beam of light converging with a dark red dragon aura, and white aura? Touki? The three dangerous elements were spinning in a dangerous spiral.

 **"** **Triple Helix Wrym Sh-!"**

***SNAP!***

Creating a large magic circle behind them, the hooded woman's interruption made the young man stop.

"That's enough, Wrath. You've held them off long enough. Master will be pleased with our results, so let's leave for now."

"…" The young man lowered his arm took a single glance back at Azazel before entering the magic circle.

"Excuse him for his recklessness. Being the teenager that he is, he tends to get carried away sometimes. We will meet again, so be patient until we do, kay-kay~!?" The cloaked woman waved as the magic circle began to teleport them away.

"You-!" Mittelt felt frustrated and could only watch with Azazel, he could rush over there and try to stop them, but he would only fail once they heightened the speed of the magic circle.

"Now don't look so sad~! I just need to prepare myself for next time! We'll play together like you promised last time, right?" The hooded woman's face was revealed under the bright light of the magic circle. Azazel's eyes went wide after he noticed the face of the woman, but what stuck to him the most were the last words she said to him, "Make sure to keep your eyes on this  **kid**  thatyou were left with to watch, or else he'll make my job much easier…"

Disappearing without a trace, Azazel was left with Mittelt, who was confused about what she meant, but the still figure of Azazel standing in place told her that it must have been something for him and only him to know. The only words he had to say for this moment was,

"So you did survive… After all this time… Well, ain't this just a bitch…"

* * *

**Next Chapter- Natsuru turns over a new leaf! More Unexpected additions and Hot developments happen at the Hanamura Residence!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the chapter, and I hoped you all enjoyed the conclusion for this arc! 
> 
> Now we'll be moving onto the post-arc and, then FINALLY the Summer training arc where things will definitely get rolling! As you can tell by the next chapter... Something hot will probably occur, and that means I might indulge you guys in a new Lemon scene. I'm still new at them, so tell me your opinions about it and if it isn't that appealing, then I'll stop myself from continuing to do it.
> 
> Also about that last part involving Azazel in the chapter, I know what you all are thinking about the two cloaked people: the young man and the woman, and if you're thinking what I think you're thinking then just STOP! Its not what you're thinking…or is it..? Boom, mind blown...
> 
> Me being a dork aside, I hope you all have a wonderful day! 
> 
> I'm Out so Peace Out!


	48. Natsuru turns over a new leaf! More Unexpected additions and Hot developments happen at the Hanamura Residence!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [WARNING]: There have been sightings of a LEMON SCENE in this chapter! For the faint of heart, I heed you to turn back before its too late!

**Natsuru turns over a new leaf! More Unexpected additions and Hot developments happen at the Hanamura Residence!**

* * *

About a week had passed since the incident with the Magic Circle crisis. As soon as everyone returned home, they encountered Azazel along the way. Michael was kind of surprised by the way the Governor-General's sudden appearance and how he looked dead serious, but quickly regretted it once the older man poked fun at his declining IQ. Once Azazel got a look at Natsuru, the cause for all of this chaos, he instantly he went along with Shirou to get some questions out of her and her remaining chimera subordinate.

The Devils and the Fallen Angels were able to retrieve their stolen data on the artificial sacred gears and the devil's secret information. Luckily, nothing was taken from the Grigori's database that couldn't be recovered. Virtually, everything that was being taken was placed back without a single megabit of information lost which caught the organization's suspicion.

Taken in for her crimes, Natsuru and Anzu were taken in by Shirou to his master, Seekvaira Agares for questioning and judgement for her past offenses. Her situation would have been really dire had Shirou not spoken out for her with the influence of someone influential enough to sway the mind of the Agares family's Archduke. Though it may have been a steep price to pay, she willingly relied on Shirou to keep her race under good protection.

Not to mention that Azazel, who also had a say in her defense and wanted to be left in charge of her punishment since he is the only active leader residing in Kuoh Town. Including the fact that she would need to be kept under heavy watch after all of the things she had done and after hearing her response to his questions. Now her true punishment was up for him to deal out.

As for the Nekomata Village, each and every denizen was currently being transferred out of the island that Natsuru provided for them. There were still so many of them, and Shirou's benefactor had some issues with a few that tried to hide upon suspicion, yet things were running smoothly as they were safely being cared for.

At night in Kyoto, amongst the bright dazzling buildings was a tall building and within it was a well-organized and decorated office with tons of bookshelves and a very feudal Japanese décor. Standing near a desk was a tall, handsome young man with mid-length, pale-white-colored hair, pale skin, and two different-colored eyes: his left gold, the right blue. His attire was conservative as he wore a black suit, gray under-shirt, and maroon tie.

"So how close are we with transporting the rest of them here?" The handsome man talked through the phone,

"That long? Then things must be progressing faster than I thought." He paused after a moment to hear the other line's response, "Good, I don't want them to be afraid. I want them to know that we're there to help. A few might be shrewd and try to hide, so make sure to sense them first before calmly approaching them. In their eyes, we may still seem imposing to them."

Another pause came and he asked, "If you can, could you tell me how many you were able to find?" He smiled warmly once received his answer, "A majority of over 250? That's wonderful! Once I heard about the Great Nekomata Purge from Magari-san, I thought that running into a single nekomata would be a rare encounter. Now we can bring to them their much needed prosperity and the peace they, so desperately deserved. It's clear to see that listening to my nephew and sticking my nose into the Alliance's affairs was well wor-!"

"Ahem! I'll be taking that!"

"W-Wha!? Kai!" The white haired man gasped once his phone was snatched away by Kai, who unexpectedly appeared from out of nowhere, wearing a jade green, long sleeved tangzhuang shirt and black pants with sandals.

"Ssshhhhhh!"

Plopping down on a couch, Kai shushed the man and began to speak in the phone, "I would like to butt in on this conversation by saying that most of the credit should go to me and only me before anyone decided to put in their two cents."

"Kai, what are you doin-!"

"Shush! Shush! Can't you see that I'm talking on the phone…gosh! Now as I was saying." Kai resumed talking to the other line, "Yes, it was such an amazing plan to transfer the nekomata and restore their race, but the credit should fall upon me. You wanna know why? Well its because it was my student, who was the one who got kidnapped by the young lady responsible for gathering them up in the first place."

"That's irrelevant Shirou was also-!"

"Hm? Oh, no that wasn't Jirou. It was just this rude guy, who can't see that I'm on phone. Ignore him, so back to how it was mostly my contribution in all of this. You remember how I'm the adviser to Sirzechs Lucifer, and the husband to my beloved Sera-chan? You see because of my relations with them, I was able to create a bridge of peace between the youkai and devils acting as somewhat of a representative for it."

Kai gloated and saw the unimpressed look on Jirou's face.

"Kai…" Jirou began.

"And being the representative, who built the bridge it was only because of me that Jirou was able to get involved with that case involving the Kitsune and Nekomata hybrid girl. Making me the main benefactor for all of this." Kai finished with a smile.

"Are you done yet?" Jirou groaned.

"Wait…am I done yet?" Kai spoke through the phone and after a long pause he nodded and handed back the phone, "Yes, I'm done."

"Now before I was interrupted. You'll have to check in with me about the progress lat-" Jirou pinched his temples.

"The line's cut. I ended the call once I took the phone." Kai snickered and lazily laid back against the couch.

Inhaling sharply, Jirou dropped the phone on his desk and groaned, "What do you want, Kai? What reason do you have for breaking in all of a sudden."

"What? Do I need something every time I come to see my best friend, and I'm shocked that you would even think that I would break in! I would never do that!"

"You've already done this months ago, you barged through the entire place without warning anyone about your arrival! You destroyed almost half of the guards here!"

"Ah, wait right there. They were looking for a fight, and I warned them to stop." Kai said.

"No, they warned you to stop, but you responded to their warning by throwing the first punch!" Jirou shouted as Kai shrugged.

"Well, I apologized to them when they were taken to the hospital, so it's not really right to bring up stuff in the past. Besides this time, I decided that it was really rude to just barge in unannounced, so I just notified someone that worked here of my eventual visit." Kai shrugged.

"But I wasn't told of any visit." Jirou raised his eyebrow, "Who did you contact?"

"Oh, I made sure to keep it a secret between me and Walburga-san." Kai smiled.

Jirou grimaced as he glared at Kai.

"Something the matter?" Kai laughed.

"What did you do?"

"Oh, nothing, Foxy!" Kai shrugged then whispered loud enough for Jirou to hear,  _"Something."_

"Then tell me what you did right now because she's really loyal, and would tell me anything unless you told her something really degrading about me." Jirou narrowed his eyes.

"Come on, Snowflake!"

"Kai, how many times have I told you! Don't call me that!" Jirou's once calm demeanor was falling apart once Kai pushed his buttons.

"I didn't tell her anything degrading about you, remember, I'm best friend so have a little confidence in me, okay?" Kai sounded dignified then whispered,  _"Don't let her get too close to your fox ears."_

"I mean, I only told her about the types of wine and fine liquor that you love for dinner." Kai said then whispered,  _"Don't drink any liquor or liquids that she serves you."_

"She allowed me to enter because I asked her to." Kai said truthfully then whispered,  _"No, she didn't. She wanted some advice about lowering your guard  so she could have her way with you."_

"Dear god… Why must you make things so hard for me. Yasaka already has an issue with me accepting one mistress. Now she's on me for accepting another and having two at the same time. I'm still getting an earful from her for doing that." Jirou held his cheek in pain after a frightening memory of his past scolding flashed through his mind.

"Whipped…" Kai made a cracking noise.

"I don't know what you mean, and aren't you in the same boat?" Jirou said.

"Of course, but not as much as you." Kai teased,

"You know, Walburga-san really mellowed out after you put a stop to her and her magician faction, the Hexennacht. She's not as dangerous as she was led to be when she attempted to attack Kyoto head on, but you seemed to have handled her pretty well after that fiasco. The Purple-Flamed Witch of the Hexennacht has finally been vanquished."

Rubbing his forehead, Jirou sweatdropped, "She's not as vile as she was before, yes, but it still didn't improve anything dealing with her sadomasochism problem. I didn't expect for her to turn out like this, but things ended up this way once I decimated her forces and placed a heavy penance of serving me and Kyoto to own up for her crimes."

"Hey, you brought this on yourself. If you wanted to save yourself the trouble, you could have downright imprisoned her or do what most of your predecessors did. Kill the threat that could have destroyed Kyoto."

"I can't be like you and see things so simple. If I had killed Walburga, then it would have made her a martyr to her mage subordinates. Rallying them to attempt again and again to bring down Kyoto. Only more bloodshed and violence would ensue, it wouldn't matter if one side won, more lives would be lost. So taking this route seemed to be very beneficial, sentencing her to act as my servant and another protector of Kyoto brought out more good than bad. Her forces, well, at least the few who were truly loyal towards her, actually joined once she happily submitted herself to me."

Walking back to his desk and sitting in his seat, Jirou looked straight at Kai, "Most of those mages have made wonderful families within my kingdom, so dealing with Walburga's tendencies is a fine price to pay for all of this peace."

"The job of a Fox King is never one to be trifled with. Always thinking ahead for the future is something no ordinary person would be able to conceive. Chi! But you're the only one giving yourself a hard time, y'know."

"Coming from the lazy and mischievous Monkey King, I don't want to hear that from you of all people. My position as a Youkai King actually gives me something you can't fathom. Responsibility. I have to take on the burdens of not only my family, but also be the great support beam to the Youkai race." Jirou said as he crossed his arms and leaned back on his seat.

"Responsibility? You are right, it doesn't sound like me at all. Its stressful and it holds you back from moving as freely as you want. Being Fox King may have its perks, but the work and stress you go through really is a real pain." Kai laid back and started to scratch his nose, "Being Sera-chan's Queen has its perks. As a Maou adviser, I get to basically put in my own opinion and support the Devil King that I work with. Anything more than that is up to me, I get the most freedom I want."

"If you're not responsible then how come you have two kids that you barely see as much?" Jirou caught Kai's curious glance and sighed, "Katerea-san told me so that I can try to smack some sense into you should I run into you."

Sitting up, Kai smiled, "When I have either Shura or Agnes with me, I'm very responsible and cautious with them around. They're my offspring, so I try to be as gentle as I can with them." Kai explained, "I just can't watch over them as much as the others want me to. I'm too busy."

"Busy? This coming from the man who told me that he gets the most freedom than any other devil in the underworld." Jirou tapped his fingers on the desk.

"I may be doing what I want, but it's still me being busy. It may be selfish of me, but I am a devil. I want to fulfill all of my desires, no, right now it should be considered a dream. What I seek for isn't at arm's length, I still have a long way to go." Kai looked at the palm of his arm with a battle maniac crazed smile.

"The old devil excuse… Before it just used to be you using over the top excuses, but now you've actually found a permanent excuse while you're like this." Jirou shook his head in disappointment.

"I know right!"

"Ugh, and what do you mean long way to go? We've already reached this higher standing in power and yet, you want to go beyond that? Wasn't killing the Jade Emperor enough for you anymore?" Jirou sweatdropped.

"That was centuries ago. If I ever became satisfied with that, then I wouldn't know what to do with myself. After fighting a once in a lifetime fight against a high caliber God, I figured out that afterwards, any other beings wouldn't amount to that struggle I felt during that fight. The hardship. The stakes." Kai said with a reminiscent tone.

"Of course there were high stakes, the Jade Emperor led the Chinese Gods to influence the world after the Christian God had died, and tried take over it." Jirou brought up the wretched battle, right after the biblical God died many mythologies had tried to worm their way into being the top power, and the first ones to do that was the Chinese mythology led by the Jade Emperor and a legion of Eastern Gods.

"Exactly. Those kind of fights really exhilarated me, but now when another God brave enough to try that pops out, the feeling just isn't the same anymore, which is why I'm 'busy' hoping to attain what I seek most." Kai said and whirled his staff around, "Now you know exactly why I can't always watch my lovely kids. It's because of my responsibility it has two sides that I always like to use at times."

"Two sided responsibility, eh? Then explain to me why you've started to observe your little brother." Jirou brought along another topic to discuss.

"Half-brother." Kai corrected.

"You both share the same blood, so I see no difference. So how is he? He must have really grown over the years, you haven't really been filling me in since the first time you revealed him to me. Let's see… You told me that his name was Aeron; I presume?"

"His new name is Michael Hanamura and he's currently 17 years old. I've been teaching him as his Martial Arts Master." Kai stopped to wipe his staff clean, "I mostly leave him to figure things out for himself after I just showed him the basics. He'll learn faster that way."

"So how did Sirzechs-san and the others take the news when you finally had to reveal it to them?" Jirou asked.

"Well, besides you and the Old Crow knowing the truth before the others. Everyone was really surprised at first. They didn't know how to take the news, but they've come to accept it." Kai shrugged, "Shura and Agnes are the only ones, who don't really know the full truth yet, so keep it a secret as always."

"You have a plan for explaining their secret uncle to them in the future?"

"Of course, but it's too early for that. I'll wait until the time is right for that." Kai said.

"Care to explain why you're keeping your distance from him even though you're related by blood?"

Kai scratched his head and sighed, "Michael-san is old enough to figure things out for himself, he doesn't need me to hold his hand, my role is to simply observe him with a neutral standing. Rather than coddle him like a child, my role as his master takes full precedence, he has to see and learn about the world through his own views, not my own."

Jirou looked at Kai completely gobsmacked and gasped, "Responsibility? Who are you and what did you do to Kai? He's never this serious about anything!"

Sitting up and wearing an annoying smile, Kai laughed, "Very funny, Snowflake. Now let's stop with my own personal life and get back to the original topic at hand. Do you remember the younger sister from that pair of nekomata, who were turned into devils?"

"Yes, I believe you took in the young poor thing after the older sister killed their master." Jirou rubbed his chin, "A while after that, you requested to give her to Sirzechs' younger sister, Rias Gremory."

"Bingo! The very same one. A couple of days ago, I just received word that she finally used senjutsu."

"That's wonderful. Her scars are starting to finally heal, but…" Jirou paused.

"If something were to cut the already healing wound then it would leave a bigger scar too hard to heal, right? This wouldn't be an issue if the sister had stayed then go on the run, I could have handled the crime she committed, but running off just made things worse. Now she's an A-Class Criminal who can't be so easily forgiven." Kai shrugged nonchalantly like he didn't care anymore.

"That is troublesome, but she hasn't been caught yet. So we can only assume that she's either laying low in the real world, or it could be heavily implied that she's joined up with a group that accepts criminals into their rankings." Jirou deduced.

"Oh, please. Tell me a single person, who wouldn't a Sage Art wielding cat into their team. It's basically like saying every team never needs a White Mage to be their support." Kai tapped his staff against his shoulder, "Either way, we don't know and we shouldn't care until she's actually shown any activity. Besides, I'm more interested in that Kitsune and Nekomata girl it looks like you gave the Old Crow custody of her punishment, why?"

Leaning back in his chair, Jirou exhaled hoarsely and said, "She was in the Kuoh Town vicinity when all of this trouble started, so it seemed right for them to handle things the way they want. My nephew requested that she stay, and I would personally jump at the chance of having my own people in an area that I can safely guard them in, but her crimes are too steep to ignore. She does have to pay for them and I don't condone such heinous acts of felonies."

"I see…" Kai thought hard and long about it before and idea came to his head as he smirked, "So she'll be staying in Kuoh town then…fascinating."

"What are you hatching in that terrifying brain of yours?" Jirou glared at the Half-monkey youkai.

"Nothing~!" Kai excitedly stood up, "I did come here for a reason while I take a break from my mission."

"Oh, no…what is it you want?" Jirou groaned.

"Actually it's a request, but I want you to do a few things for me." Kai held up 3 fingers.

"Oh my god…" Jirou dreaded the outcomes, but the sound of knocking broke their conversation, "Yes, come in."

Pushing open the two large doors was a beautiful young lady who looked to be in her early 20's. Her skin was fair and had a light porcelain touch to it, short and luxuriously blonde hair adorned with black ribbons, her eyes were a deep shade of violet which failed to hide that 'dangerous' look they had. Her body was lithe and curvaceous in an appealing figure along with her moderate bust which was really extenuated in her gothic maid dress with a matching headpiece.

"Why hello there, Walburga-san." Kai waved to her.

"Good evening, Jirou-sama and Kai-sama." She carted in a variety of wines and foods near Jirou's desk.

"Walburga, what is this?" Jirou asked suspiciously, he already knew of the ploy Kai set up with her and approached her cautiously.

"It's quite close to dinner and I didn't want to keep you waiting so I had the chefs make you your dinner quite early, Jirou-sama." Walburga's beautiful smile hid an obvious scary intention behind it.

"A-Actually, Walburga, I-I-!" Jirou began.

"Are you displeased with this Jirou-sama? I can come back with something that will probably suit your tastes better." At that moment, Jirou noticed the terrifying glint in her eyes. She already knew of his awareness of her current ploy to lower his guard and wasn't going to give up until he tripped up.

Seeing no other way around it, Jirou said, "No, thank you. The palette that you brought me looks quite delicious. You may go now."

"As you wish, Jirou-sama." Walburga bowed her head and a small sadistic smile crept on her face before she turned to leave. But as she passed right by Kai she winked at him as he gave a her a subtle thumbs up in response.

When the door closes, Jirou began to take a plate of food.

"You're not really going to eat it are you?" Kai asked.

"Hell no." Jirou began throwing the food away, "It's such a waste, but I can't eat this stuff now that she's aware of all of my weak points. Probably have to deal with this until I actually put my foot down. By the way thanks for all of this." Jirou said, sarcastically.

"You're welcome." Kai cheerfully laughed as Jirou groaned.

"Slipping up will screw me over, so I'll have to be vigilant." Jirou said, "If I do get swept up in her pace, then it will be all over for me."

"So it will be terrible if she takes advantage of you?"

"No, it will actually feel good." Jirou said with a complex expression, "All I know is that Yasaka will kill me if I admitted that to her."

"Then you actually enjoy it?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, Walburga may have her quirks, but she still is a beautiful young lady that I would enjoy to be with, too." Jirou confessed.

"Ohohohoho!" Kai gave a hearty laugh.

"What?" Jirou questioned.

"Nothing, just surprised that you didn't see this coming…" Kai pulled out a tape recorder and watched in delight when Jirou's eyes bugged out.

"And they call you the "Smartest Man in the world." Kai pressed a few buttons and played the recorder.

[Its…such a waste, but…Walburga…is a beautiful young lady that I would enjoy to…screw…over.]

Jirou's face paled up as Kai joyfully shook the recorder, "It would be a shame if Yasaka heard this direct confession. Probably be cooked to a crisp by her fox fire. It was nice knowing you~!"

"No…! Erase that!" Jirou said with a strained toned and reached for the recorder, but Kai pulled it away from his reach.

"Now Jirou, we've been through this old song and dance many times in the past. So why don't you just agree to my requests before I state them to you." Kai smirked as he was flat out blackmailing his friend.

"You're insane!"

"Actually I'm a devil but same thing." Kai shrugged.

"Those terms are absolutely horri-!"

[Walburga…is...a…very…delicious…beautiful young lady…that…I would…eat.]

"Okay! Okay, I'll agree to the requests! Just be cool!" Jirou panicked.

"Good. My first request is that you have to train this kid that I personally recommended to you, he's very bright, but lacks the necessary skills to use his smarts effectively. My second request involves Shirou, he's your nephew and now he owes you for helping that Nekomata/Kitsune hybrid girl. Take him along with you to help train the kid, Shirou's experienced with his Dragon-type sacred gear will cause an exponential growth shown within the kid."

Looking surprised then pissed, Jirou growled, "Is that it? Are you fucking serious!?"

"Whoa! Language…" Kai wagged his finger at Jirou.

"Why even bother to black mail me! I would have agreed to those terms without it being held against my will! Right now you're basically playing with my life, you bastard!"

"Now I could take the easy route and say that it was more funnier that way, but…the actual reason I'm doing this is because." Flicking a card between two fingers, Kai shows a picture of his half angel and half youkai hybrid daughter, Agnes holding a beach ball while looking over her shoulder.

"I want you to say that my daughter is cuter than yours."

"*HACK!* *COUGH!*" Jirou spewed a mouthful of blood on the spot and starting biting his lip in frustration, "You bastard, you'd stoop so low?"

"I'm not hearing a yes~!" Kai shook the recorder.

"Never! I would never betray my trust in my favorite girl in the world!" Jirou proclaimed.

"So Yasaka isn't your favorite girl then?" Kai arched an eyebrow.

"Not the point! Kunou is my darling little fox princess! I can never allow myself to call your daughter cuter than her because Kunou trumps Agnes in terms of adorableness!"

"Adorableness!? Are you frigging kidding! Look at her and look at these!" Kai decided to put away the tape recorder and pull out his wallet where he kept a multitude of Agnes pictures for Jirou to see, "How can Kunou compete with this. My little angel can beat your daughter any day especially in a fight!"

"Pfft! Why would my precious little dumpling need to do that? Her sheer innocence would help her win any fight!" Slamming down on his desk, Jirou pulled out a large portrait of young girl with golden, blonde hair tied in a ponytail and matching eyes, she also has nine golden fox tails and matching ears. Her attire consisted of a cute pink yukata as she held within her arms a giant teddy bear.

"Do you not see my cute Agnes? She is the pinnacle of innocence, for Maou's sake, she is a literal angel!"

"Half of one, and the other half is sadly you, Kai."

"Oh, you do not want to go there with me, Snowflake! At least for Agnes, I can tell I actually put in half of the work with making her. Kunou may be your daughter, but the only person I see when I look at her is just Yasaka-san not you. Probably her genes being so powerful that they forcibly turn yours recessive!" Kai had a good laugh at Jirou.

"That's it, I'll kill you with cuteness by using all of Kunou's baby pictures to prove she's cuter!"

"Not if Agnes' adorable and innocent charm kills me from all of her excess cuteness first!"

Both men pulled out baby pictures from out the woodwork without any end in sight as they were covered in the flames only known to be emitted by High class Doing Fathers. Their battle would last about 9 hours before Kai tape recorded and rearranged Jirou's words to fit his need making it his total victory as the loser wept in the corner while bleeding from his ears after hearing those forbidden words.

* * *

"Will that be all?" Grabbing two menus, Kiba who wore a waiter's uniform stood between Michael and Rias' table.

"Yes, thank you."

"Yeah."

Both Michael and Rias nodded as Kiba bowed to them respectfully.

"Wait one moment. I shall return with your drinks." Kiba gracefully left inside the kitchen and

"Now this is a delightful change of pace, isn't it?" Rias comfortably smiled on her side of the table of two with Michael.

"Definitely, it's a whole lot better than getting attacked by cat monsters." Michael reclined back in his seat and crossed his arms, "And a whole lot homelier, too."

Doing their first date over after what transpired in the last weeks, they found that taking their date to a more comfortable environment in the Hanamura Residence would be a safer solution with less interruptions. The idea of going through a second 'first' date was the idea of their friends, who even volunteered to help, so that they could focus more on enjoying themselves.

"It was sure nice of everyone to help recreate this moment for us. It's refreshing." Ria propped her head up with her hand, "Plus, it washes out the bad taste the first try had."

"Well, the kidnappings and the monsters aside. I don't think it was a total bust, I still had fun with you there and you looked to have a great time, too. At least up until the Ferris wheel part." Michael's joking around earned a small laugh from Rias, "Besides, like you said, just being with you, my girlfriend, is just enough for me to really enjoy myself."

Remembering the saddening sight of Michael being taken from her, Rias solemnly said, "Michael, forgive me for being too weak."

Scratching his head and tiredly groaning, Michael looked a little bothered by the apology, "Rias, look, you don't have to keep apologize to me. You've been doing it these past few days, its fine. Everything is back to normal."

_'Or as normal as things will ever get for devils that is.' Michael sweatdropped._

"Everything may be fine now, but the frustration of losing you because of my weakness to do nothing to prevent it was just so heavy to bear. I was pathetic while trying to recover…I'm supposed to be a King but such a crippling loss broke my spirit." Rias' hand began to shake on the table until the warmth of Michael's hand gently touched it.

"Don't sell yourself short. You may have lost, but you stood back up and came to rescue us like I knew you would. I never doubted you. Even if you did lose, I knew you wouldn't allow just anyone to take your friends away and the way you came in all confident to help really lifted my spirits."

Michael wrapped his hand around her's and smiled, "And look on the bright side, you turned out the same, but only stronger than before. Still being the strong and confident, Rias that I love."

A slight blush grew on her cheeks, Rias was a little speechless when Michael said that from out of the blue. It gave her a quite delighted feeling but the shock was still pretty much apparent. Even he was a little embarrassed by how he acted, and tried coughing to fix his composure,

"So don't apologize anymore, you returning to your normal self is just enough for me." Michael continued coughing, but it didn't help his flustering in the slightest.

Rias smiled joyfully as she grasped onto Michael's hand even tighter, "Okay then, thank you, Michael. You've really fixed my mood."

Perking up, he looked her in the eyes and quietly chuckles, "Anytime."

The two just continued to enjoy their companionable silence as they kept their eyes on one another without looking away. Just a single glance was enough for them to communicate with each other.

"Excuse me~!" A sweet, but dangerous voice sang disturbing their passionate silence.

_'I sense a disturbance in the force…' Michael was startled by the towering appearance of Raynare, who wore the cutest of smiles which belied the devilish aura that flowed from out her body. Like the others, she was helping with their date so she wore a café maid dress to fit the setting for their date, but through subtle hints it was obvious that she wasn't too thrilled about it._

"I hope you two have been enjoying yourselves. Here!" Raynare placed to bowls of ice cream for each of them with different colors of syrup written in words for each of them, "Something sweet to whet your appetites."

"Why thank you." Rias looked at her ice cream and read what was written, "The Kanji is written in red and it says 'Great Fortune' that's really nice."

"That means your luck might start getting better. It may not be accurate but it may work on rare occasions." Raynare clapped her hands and explained to Rias.

"That's so sweet! I wonder what mine says!" Michael's smile slowly drops when he saw the black syrupy words on his ice cream. It was disturbing as it said 'Hex' and 'Grand Misfortune'.

Slowly looking at Raynare, Michael looked disturbed and rubbed his neck, "I suddenly don't feel hungry anymore."

"Now why so scared, Michael-sama, I really poured great effort into writing all of that for you. So why don't you eat it first before you judge it." Raynare approached him with her cute smile slowly becoming forced.

"I know, but I kind of want to save my hunger for the meal, y'know." Michael looked away in fright.

Taking the spoon and slowly mixing the syrup into the ice cream, Raynare's cold eyes looked deeply into Michael's, "But why don't you at least try one bite? It's all I'm asking for."

"Sure, but maybe I can try it out later?"

"No. Eat. It. NOW." Raynare forced the words out rather coldly as she gave the spoon to Michael.

"O-Okay…" Slowly breaking down, Michael took a spoonful of it into his mouth before swallowing it, the flavor was too good, but the bad omen it gave really plagued his mind as he continued to shamefully eat the cursed ice cream.

"So how is it, Michael-sama?" Raynare watched from his side with her growing smirk.

"I-It's delicious…" Michael mumbled through his tears.

"Michael, are you crying?" Rias asked with a concerned frown.

"Don't you worry about a thing, Rias-san. Michael-sama just can't get over how sweet the ice cream tastes. It's overwhelming him to tears isn't that right, Michael-sama?"

"Ye-hess…!" Michael cried as he felt the strong pressure Raynare's thumb had on his cheek.

"See? I'll be taking my leave now. Enjoy your desserts." Raynare bowed and walked back into the kitchen. In secret, she licked the tears that she wiped off Michael's cheek.

_'I can tell she's still a little hung up about this…' Michael slowly ate the ice cream out of fear, 'I should probably do something to cheer her up later.'_

"If you don't like the taste of that one, you can have mine."

Seeing the sullen boy eat the ice cream, Rias pushed her own dessert forward and offered it to Michael. His eyes widening, Michael saw he pattern that his sulking was initiating. Giving Rias the cursed ice cream was way worse than him eating it himself.

"Don't worry about it, Rias. I don't want to take your ice cream from you so enjoy." Michael declined the offer with a loud gulp.

"But I can't really enjoy myself if you look that unsatisfied. So, if you don't want to have it, maybe you'd like to share it with me. If that's what you want?"

Looking at the offer and his own bowl of cursed ice cream, Michael made the obvious choice, "Thank you…"

It wasn't that hard to put aside his own bowl to have some of Rias' with her. It really excited him since he would get to share a dessert with Rias again. Taking a spoonful of the ice cream in his mouth had him doubling over in satisfaction, the taste and even the flavor was light and unpredictably sweet with no hints of distasteful curses of ill intent.

"Uooooh! This tastes so GOOD!" The taste was so good that he just continued shoveling more of the frozen treat into his mouth. Catching sight of how much he was eating at once, Rias stopped eating her share and sweatdropped,

"I'm glad you like it, but if you eat so much at once won't you get a-?"

"Gagh!" After taking one more bite, Michael dropped his spoon and clutched his head in pain, "Brain freeze! Agh! Why can't I escape this torture!" Putting a finger to his temple the cold panging of the ice cream induced brain freeze. One way or another it wasn't Michael's day at all.

"Eating too much of a good thing can end up being bad for you." Rias bitterly smiled as she watched Michael squirm around in pain.

After his unsettling ice cream headache subsided, both were met with more help from their friends. Michael was at first a little unsettled, but relieved when the three that came out were less bitter than Raynare.

"Here are your drinks."

"Enjoy."

Xenovia and Asia placed their cups down on the table and bowed. They were dressed up in their own cute, café maid uniforms just like Raynare.

"How nice, thanks you two." Rias gave them her thanks as both girls bowed their heads.

"Your meals will be arriving shortly." Asia graciously bowed her head.

"I hope you enjoy yourselves tonight." Xenovia bowed her head too, but with a little difficult when trying to copy Asia's more graceful bow.

"I can't wait to eat, I'm starving!" Michael held his stomach in hunger before he noticed someone coming towards the table, "Huh?"

"Koneko?" Walking past both Xenovia and Asia, Koneko, who was in her own café maid uniform placed a plate of cake on Michael's side of the table. A little surprised by this, Michael smiled, "Cake, too? Thanks, Koneko-chan…wait, what are you…"

"Excuse me…"

Michael hesitated to grab the cake once Koneko climbed onto him and sat on his lap. She reached out to grab a fork and then began to eat her piece of cake while everyone had their eyes on her. Rias was a little shocked, but simply sighed as Xenovia simply observed and looked a little intrigued by Koneko's forwardness while Asia was watching with envy as Koneko comfortably sat on Michael's lap.

As for Michael, his reaction to this was, "You want to sit on my lap again and eat your cake, Koneko-chan?"

The quiet girl looked back and nodded.

"Okay, sure, unless, its okay with you, Rias." It was their date and having Koneko join would obviously change the original pace the date was going on.

Michael honestly didn't mind Koneko's presence at all. After the incident, Koneko had become much more affectionate towards him. Sure, she would do her usual jabs and insults, but they weren't as harsh anymore unless he really did something stupid. She began to show emotions and a new soft side of herself when around Michael such as claiming his lap as her new favorite seat and asking Michael to spoil her more by praising her and patting her head more.

Thanks to knowing the full truth about her originally being a Nekomata, Michael could actually see how she would almost resemble a cat with the way she's been showing so much affection towards him lately.

Rias was a little hesitant but after noticing the current change in Koneko's behavior as of lately she sighed and wore a bitter smile, "I don't really mind."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, the extra company could really lighten the mood." Rias smiled.

"Welp it looks like it's okay this time, Koneko-chan." Michael chuckled and felt that things would get easier from there, frankly it wasn't.

"Auuu…"

"Huh?"

_'Oh, shoot that's right…' Michael sweatdropped when he looked at Asia whose past resolve to be helping their date slowly crumbled away after seeing Koneko take her place upon his lap._

"I-I want to sit on Michael-san's lap, too." Asia cried.

"Don't be sad, Asia. H-Hey, how about I let you sit on my lap any time you want to?" Michael quickly tried to do some damage control before.

***PULL!***

"Ow! Ouch! Why!?" Michael cried at Koneko who pinched his thigh in annoyance.

"…This is MY favorite seat. Only I and sometimes Buchou may sit upon this place. It's the only seat where I can find true sanctuary." Like a cat protecting her territory, Koneko wore the most serious of expressions that really meant business.

_'Why are things getting intense, it's just my lap.... I know I'm great and all, but I don't see the point about why she's so serious about it.' Michael sweatdropped then turned to Asia who was now pouting, 'And now things are going to get violent…'_

"T-That's no fair, Koneko-san. I want to sit on Michael's lap, too. It's not fair to hog it all to yourself…" Asia's eyes began to get all teary as she cried, things would have escalated if it weren't for Xenovia finally speaking up.

"Asia, wait."

"Xenovia-san?" Asia was slowly led a couple of feet away by Xenovia who began to talk softly so that no one else would heal.

"We should just continue to wait and watch until a free opening shows itself, we can't be too careless to try anything with so few advantages." Xenovia crossed her arms under chest, the way she talked was that of a strategist watching the moves of her opponents quite closely.

"I really want to give Michael-san and Buchou a better date than before, b-but…" Asia takes a few regretful looks back at Michael with Koneko on his lap, "It's becoming too much to endure."

"I understand what you're getting at, but with this chance to just watch the others, we're learning more about possible chances. By staying to the side for a while, we learned that there are some ways to get closer to Michael when Buchou's with him. Making the time, we have to steadily raise our opportunities." Xenovia cleverly laid out her plan for Asia.

"Amazing, Xenovia-san, you were able to catch something incredible like that?" Asia's eyes shimmered out of amazement as Xenovia started o relay more of her plan to Asia.

"Yeah. It's tough, but staying low like this can give us the chance we need to know more about our adversaries and the ways they leave themselves open, so we can go in and deal a powerful blow that will put us at a higher playing field than them."

"I understand, then let's continue to wait them."

"Patience is a virtue. We'll bide our time when the time is right."

Huddled together both Xenovia and Asia nodded in agreement as they further discussed their plans through. Too bad they were whispering a little too loud to not keep it away from the ears of those around them.

"So you could think of an elaborate plan like that, but you can't use any attacks that aren't just power based?" Michael groaned.

"Oi! You two better be careful! Hey! Hey! Stop running!" A grumpy voice hollered behind the kitchen doors.

Pushing open the doors that lead to the kitchen were two carts holding various dishes. Pushing those carts were both Gasper and surprisingly Makoto who were dressed in their own waiter attire. The two were engaged in a race to make it towards the table first before the other. Everyone prepped themselves for the worst as both 1st year students skidded to a stop before they could hit the table and introduced tonight's meal.

Both were out of breath but still tried to present the meal as they tiredly posed, "Y-Your *WHEEZE!* dishes are ready...*COUGH!* *SIGH!*"

"Nice hustle you two, I never thought that either of you could run that fast." Michael complimented the boys and saw their face brighten up at the praise, "Now we can eat."

"W-Wait," Gasper cried out before Michael grab their meals.

"What's up?"

"W-Which one of u-us brought your meals to you first?" Makoto nervously exclaimed as he and Gasper glanced at one another with serious stare before focusing back on Michael.

"I don't know, you two were going pretty fast. I didn't know I had to supervise a race. So, can't you just let it go as a tie this time?" Michael shrugged.

"N-No!" Gasper's scream caught Michael off guard, "Michael-nii, I won't stand for a tie this time."

Michael wanted to give the same answer over again but Makoto interrupted him,

"Gasper-kun's right, Michael-senpai. I want to know who's the better one among us this time."

Getting forced to answer, Michael looked to the others for help, but they just gave him bitter smiles in return. They were getting used to Gasper and Makoto's competitive nature after things smoothed over. Unlike Natsuru, Makoto wasn't part of her scheme and remained innocent. After the final verdict for Natsuru was decided, he was joyous to see his sister finally back to stay with him. His mood was also cheery than before and he's been a frequent visitor to the Hanamura Residence, but that's where the competitive nature stems from. Because of Makoto hanging out more frequently with Michael, he's been hogging some of the time that Gasper usually does stuff with Michael like playing video games or watching internet videos.

So being more forceful in his approach, Gasper grabbed Michael's attention away from Makoto, who felt the same way like Gasper did before. Soon enough they were vying for the attention of their senior for every little thing through tests of contests while Michael was forced to decide a winner despite the boys basically being on par with one another.

_'They aren't budging, so who do I pick?' Michael thought with Koneko getting off his lap to get the plates, 'Lately it's been a hassle. I'm glad that Gasper and Makoto are getting along, but this is starting to look ridiculous. Screw it, I'll just make a guess.'_

"I guess the winner I saw was…"

"…I win." Koneko finished setting up the dishes and bowed to both Michael and Rias.

"Eh!?"

"W-Why you?"

"Thank Maou! I mean Koneko is the winner!" Michael cheered.

The looks on both boy's faces turned shocked.

"The winner would be the person who brought their meals to them. Just like you said, Gya-kun." Koneko sneakily claimed her victory.

"B-But you didn't race us, Koneko-san?" Makoto whimpered.

"I brought the food to the table, first. I win, deal with it." Koneko went back to sitting on Michael's lap like a boss.

"She is technically right." Rias said proudly after seeing her clever Rook bend the rules which gladly caused less strain on Michael.

"B-But…Michael-senpai…"

"Michael-nii…"

Both 1st years expectantly looked to Michael.

"Wow! Would you look at this spread, let's eat!" Michael began eating his plate of food while both boys dropped their heads in defeat while Koneko simply continued to eat her cake while giving them the peace sign to yet again glorify her victory over her agemates.

Everyone waited patiently while they watched Michael and Rias enjoy the meal and their time together. It was a little awkward because of Koneko sitting on Michael's lap the whole, but it still was a fun date. The food was beyond compare as they tried two dishes at once before finishing it.

"That was a wonderful meal." Rias said in delight.

"I know it was really good and filling too. I wonder if I can get seconds for myself later." Michael patted his stomach.

***SLAM!***

"No secon-bugh!"

***SLAM!***

Kicking open the kitchen door, Shirou was met with the door slamming back in his face before pushing it open the correct way to growl, "Forget you saw that!"

"…No." Koneko said.

"No one gets their seconds until we finally decide something!" Shirou angrily marches towards the table.

The first thing Michael noticed and talked about was the hat that Shirou was wearing, "Is that a chef's hat?"

"Yeah, I like to wear it while I cook? What about it?" Shirou asked.

"Can I wear it?"

"No, now you guys know that me and-!"

"Why can't I wear it?" Michael raised his hand.

"Because I said so."

"So…can I wear it now?"

"No…" Shirou groaned.

"Why?"

"Because I said SO."

"So I can wear it?" Michael looked hopeful.

"No!"

"But why?"

"Because! Ugh! You wanna know why, then I'll tell you why! Because this hat is for chefs and I am a master cooker therefore by that logic I'm a chef. Are you a chef?"

"…" Michael opened his mouth to answer.

"Don't answer that!" Michael slowly closed his mouth.

"As a chef, I'm the only one who can wear this hat! Me! Not you! Me! Do you get it now? You can NEVER wear this hat!" Shirou angrily flicked Michael's head.

Tilting his head to the side, Michael grinned, "Why?"

"Gaaaaargh!" Shirou was about to strangle Michael until Akeno stepped into the room.

"Ufufu, now lets not get ahead of ourselves. We still have this matter to decide after all, Shirou-kun." Akeno giggled, walking in and wearing an apron.

"Fine…" Shirou growled and looked away.

"Hah! You got scolded by Akeno-senp-!"

***SMACK!***

"Ouch! The heck was that for?"

"Because…I felt like it…" Shirou walked over to Akeno's side to face the table.

"Now what are your thoughts about the dishes that we made for you two?" Shirou sighed.

"They were delicious."

"To be honest, I'd go back in time and kill my past self, so that I can eat the meal for a second time. I mean unless we're allowed to get seconds. In which case, this was a very good meal." Michael sounded deadly serious before giving a thumbs up.

"Good to head. Good to hear." Shirou nodded while he and Akeno gave serious glances at one another.

"Did you two notice the numbers on the dishes we labeled?"

"Oh, yeah…a One and a two." Rias checked both the dishes.

"Exactly and each number signifies our individual dishes. I'm number one." Shirou said.

"And my number is number two which is just used to mark my dish not my ranking as a chef." Akeno made a snide remark which earned Shirou's ire,

"Don't go thinking you've won yet, Akeno. This is a new day and a new chance for your cooking to get tossed aside for mine."

"I'm quite confident that my cooking will get me far better results than last time."

"Only if your results were better than mine that is." Shirou growled.

Both [Queens] were interlocked in a fierce battle of wills as their furious auras clashed.

"Akeno-senpai looks deadly serious." Michael gulped.

"Well, of course, she is Shirou's rival Queen after all." Rias smiled.

"Rival?" Michael never imagined that Akeno was in a competitive streak with Shirou.

"That's right. Shirou's a top chef, one of the finest that the Seekvaira has in her peerage. Along with Akeno's top notch cooking they were destined to be rivals in the culinary arts." Michael was almost taken by how Rias dramatically announced that.

"A food wars rivalry…how epic…" Michael said to himself, "But at first, I found it strange that Shirou could cook because it was so…"

"Unexpected?" Rias giggled.

"That's the word." Michael chuckled.

Finally turning their attention towards their judges, Shirou eagerly asked, "To get to the point, we're just curious about settling this argument. Which cooking is better, her's or mine?"

"Can we have some time to decide this?" Rias asked.

"Sure, take as much time as you need." Shirou nodded.

"Thank you."

Scooting their seats closer, Michael and Rias began whispering each other for a couple seconds before turning back to face the pair of chefs,

"Okay, we've made a decision." Michael said.

"Good. Now be honest and tell us what your favorite dish was. Don't worry this is a criticism free zone." Shirou calmly admitted.

"I liked dish two better than dish one." Michael grinned.

"One point for me~!" Akeno giggled and held up one finger.

"Well, your opinion is shit! Michael's FORBIDDEN from casting a vote!" Shirou growled.

"What the hell? I thought you said this was a criticism free zone?" Michael gasped.

"Your opinion is biased! You're probably mad that I'm not letting you wear my chef's hat." Shirou pointed at the hat, "Now Rias-sama. Tell us which dish is the better o-!"

"Dish two." Rias nonchalantly answered.

"What the bleeding hell!? No! Not you, too, why?" Shirou screamed in rage as he covered his face with his hands.

"My point is the same one Michael made while we discussed it. Akeno's dish suited both of our personal standards. Your dish was finely made and delicious, but it still lacked our own preferences." Rias gestured to Michael.

"Wait, you were serious? Is that the reason?" Shirou turned to Michael, who looked miffed.

"Dude, I'm honored that you thought I was pulling a fast one on you, but: A) I'm shocked that you think I'd let you catch on to one of my schemes to mess you up, and B) That I'd lie about the types of food that I like!" Michael breathed heavily after letting all of that off his chest.

"How the hell was I supposed to know both of your preferences for a meal? It's not fair, Akeno lives with you, so of course, she'll know, but what about me?"" Shirou looked mortified as he looked at the couple give him blank stares.

"You could have asked us?"

**\They're right you know?/**

Shirou slowly looked away with a neutral expression that masked his self-loathing and the built-up anger that came from Akeno's sudden smile popping up in front of his face.

"I guess you made the wrong decision in how to handle the battlefield of your opponent to your advantage. But don't worry since I'm already at the top, I have nowhere else to go so keep trying to climb up to my level and I'd be glad to challenge you again, Second Place-kun."

Those words literally started the engine that was Shirou's rage.

"Hey, Mike. Do you still want this hat?" Shirou took of the hat and gave it to Michael, strangely in a calm fashion.

"Wow, I thought you were going to spiral out of control and destroy the place, but I guess you're being the big man. Thanks, Shi-rou." Michael made a quick jab at Shirou before putting the chef hat on, "Yes…another item almost crossed off my bucket list. Now all I need is a spatula and a grill."

"Yeah, oh my gosh. Michael, do you want to know what I want in return?" Shirou gasped.

"What?"

***SMACK!***

"*GASP!* Chef Hat! Miho!"

Shirou slapped the hat off Michael's head and shouted in his face, "Seeing how you feel when your expectations are crushed right in front of your eyes!"

"NOOOOO! Someone protect the hat!" Michael screamed in panic, but it was too late. Shirou was already stomping the hat, ruining its shape and dirtying it with his shoes.

"WHYYY!?" Michael literally cried once Shirou finished desecrating the hat.

"Ahem!" Shirou's coughing caught everyone's attention once he walked towards the table.

***SMACK!* *SMACK!* *BANG!* *THUD!***

Tapping his elbow, Shirou drove it into the table and split it in half before walking off angrily and saying, "I'm gonna go pack my things, enjoy the rest of your date. I'm serious, enjoy yourself, Rias-sama, you deserve it even…this punk." Shirou said sincerely as he walked towards the exit.

"Thank you, Shirou. Give Seekvaira my regards when you return." Rias ignored the broken table and waved goodbye.

"Whatever." Shirou grunted.

"Oh, are you leaving already, goodbye, Shirou-kun." Emerging from the kitchen, Kiba waved the teen goodbye.

"Fuck off." Was Shirou's only reply before he slammed the doors shut.

Carrying Koneko off his lap, he slowly crawled towards the chef hat and slowly began to cry as he embraced the ruined hat.

"Chef hat... *SNIFF!* I barely knew you…" Michael cried into the hat before spitting out the dirt he accidentally tasted.

"It's okay, Michael. We can always buy you another one." Rias patted Michael's shoulder.

"But it's not the same! Who'd buy a chef hat if they can't even cook with it on? This one was free! FREE! *SOB!* *SOB!* It's Michael Jr. all over again!" Michael wailed.

"Who?" Xenovia placed a hand on her hip.

"It was the Cerberus that you killed during that battle with Kokabiel, Xenovia-san." Asia reminded.

"Really?" Xenovia gasped.

"Michael-sama attempted to contract it as his familiar before you killed it and turned it to dust." Raynare explained.

"I see..." Xenovia sweatdropped when she saw the anguish that Michael was going through.

"Michael Jr., no!" Michael cried out at the top of his lungs as his voice echoed off of the house's to reach the ears of a few fellow residents who weren't downstairs during their remake of their date. Leaning against the wall while picking at his ear, Azazel tried to get the ringing in his ear to stop,

"Man does that brat know how to scream or what? Things seem pretty lively as usual."

Azazel leaned back against his side of the wall opposite to Natsuru, who kept her head down and wore a vacant expression.

"I take it that you've been adjusting well to this mad house?" Azazel prodded to get some reaction out of the girl.

"Yes. It was a little difficult moving in, per your instructions before you left. It's been challenge just to fit in with the ordinary lifestyle that goes on around here." Natsuru crossed her arms as she breathed freely while wearing a homely attire. Getting used to her new living space took a while considering that she would be living under the same roof with people that she once tried to kill. She resided in her own separate room right beside Kiyome's. During her time living in the Hanamura Residence, she still did receive some suspicious stares from the ORC club for a while as only a few (Akeno, Raynare, and Koneko) took what she did to Rias and Michael, really personal and didn't hesitate to show her any signs of contempt.

"But you don't seem too out of place. Meaning something or should I say someone smoothed things out for you, didn't they?" Azazel guessed right once he saw Natsuru slowly crack a smile.

Though she may have felt a little uncomfortable at first, she did receive the support of not only her siblings, but Michael as well, he did his best to make sure that she was comfortable as possible with her new living arrangements. Out of everyone in the residence, he was the only one who wasn't troubled with her and was the only house member to have helped her move in, no questions asked.

"Maybe." Natsuru allowed her happiness to linger only for a while as a thought came to mind, "But I know you aren't here just to hear about my well-being. You can already tell me the rest of my punishment already." Natsuru resigned herself to take on the punishment headfirst.

"So eager to get your punishment and be done with it, eh? I get it, but…" Azazel looked up at the ceiling with a serious look in his eyes, "Its not going to be that easy to shrug off, in fact, this punishment may have no end in sight for you. Anything less than this is truly heresy for the heinous deeds of your actions. Were it not for Michael's decision to help you in the first place, then Seekvaira's [Queen] wouldn't have decided to chip in and pull some strings for you. You can see where I'm going with this, right, you'd have probably been locked away for a long time. If not imprisonment, then it would have been something way worse."

"I understand." Natsuru looked solemn and nodded.

"Good. Just try not to do anymore reckless acts like you did before, or else I'll get chewed out since I also spoke out for you." Azazel explained, "Now let's move on to the part that you've been waiting to hear. You're punishment, well… I've been given responsibility over you, so I'm going to hand that baton over to someone else."

Guessing, who he meant, Natsuru gasped, "You mean?"

"Natsuru Abe, you are hereby bound to Michael Hanamura, he holds responsibility over you and you must do everything in your power to support him, no matter how ridiculous the task is. Sorry, you'll probably go through a lot of ridiculous things with that kid. Just make sure not to disappoint." Azazel yawned as he began to make his leave.

"Wait! Is that it?"

Azazel stopped to look back at the shocked girl and raised his hand, "What did you expect something more?"

"Y-Yes…I mean why would you assign a task like this for me?" Natsuru frowned, she wanted to at least take a punishment worth her wrong doings.

"Don't take it the wrong way, you are getting punished."

"I am?"

"Of course. Now that you're going to be around Michael most of the time, I and a few others in the alliance will keep a tight watch over you. You won't be doing anything in secret on your own anymore, but that's not all. The punishment is a one-time deal, no take backs. You are to do anything in your power for Michael's sake whenever there is a time he needs actual help. Use your regret for your wrong deeds to do empower you with the strength to make up for the crimes you've caused." Azazel scratched his head.

"Geez…how to go about this…ah! Take Raynare for example, she's basically by Michael's side after trying to take his life, she's doing everything in her power to make up for her ill intent now you'll just have to do the same."

_'Make up for my crimes. It's not something that can be forgiven so easily or ever, but if it means I can somehow help, Michael-kun after he's done so much for me then I'll gladly do this.' Natsuru resolved herself and nodded._

"If that is what I must do, then so be it. I'll accept this punishment and act as support for Michael-kun should he ever need it." Natsuru's posture was tall and resolute along with her words matching her determination.

Azazel shrugs her off with a small laugh and says, "If you have no complaints, then good luck. Being roped into Michael's strange life is a good enough penalty. Also, I almost forgot to ask this crucial thing that you may have answered during our past interrogation of you."

Azazel kept his back to Natsuru and said, "Your accomplice, the woman who provided you with the necessary items to carry out you plan. Are you sure you don't know much of her identity?" Azazel asked, his hand balled up into a fist in secret.

Her face scrounging up in disgust, Natsuru said, "I don't know much about her, and I planned not to know anything at all. Everything about her gave me all the signs I needed to avoid making any kind of relationship with that woman. She just wasn't well, the way she spoke, the way she acted. Any common signs of a rational living being couldn't be found in her, all I could feel from her presence was pure madness."

"Seems about right. Still such a…" Azazel muttered quietly.

"Yes?"

Natsuru managed to hear him, but Azazel played it cool and shrugged it off. He began walking downstairs while exclaiming, "No, it's nothing. Remember, be Michael's support, don't try this elaborate ruse again, yada yada yada… Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to kick the brat while he's already down."

"O-Okay?" Natsuru simply watched the man leave as his thought system confused her, "I can never tell what that guy is thinking either. The Governor-General sor is another case that I don't quite know about, but somewhat interests me."

Natsuru rubbed her chin, being curious about the man's relationship with Michael was something she'll have to consider afterwards. When she actually has spare time that isn't being surveilled by everyone that is.

"Please stay out of trouble for a while. You're not exactly off the hook, yet." Tiredly groaning and rounding about the corner of the hallway was Kiyome who had suspected Natsuru of trying to pull something over everyone's eyes.

"Oh, Kiyo-chan! Me engage in any funny business, why, oh why would you think that? Have some faith in your big sister, nya~!" Natsuru playfully purred.

"Acting cute won't work Natsu-nee." Kiyome looked unimpressed with her eyes turning beady.

"Awww~! You think I'm cute how flattering, Kiyo-chan, but aren't you engaged to someone else? It would be a shame if you started falling for me, but I'm not one to complain."

Natsuru's sly remark was able to get a cute little blush from Kiyome.

"T-That's not what I mean! Please! Would you take this seriously? I am… You can't be doing things in secret anymore, and if someone suspects you of anything, I won't be able to help you," Kiyome said doubtfully, the Abe family was no longer in custody of Natsuru once she was taken in by the Three Factions. It may have seemed unfair, but was justifiable since her family has been indirectly supporting Natsuru's plans without further exploring her intentions.

"So no more extra lives for me, eh? I guess I might have to scrounge up my remaining 9 lives to help me get by. Not to mention sacrifice each of my nine tails should the situation steepens, ey~! Fox joke~!" Natsuru prodded at Kiyome with her mischievous cat smile, but the worried look on Kiyome's face changed her demeanor,

"Kiyo-chan, you have nothing to worry about. Betraying the trust that you and Michael-kun have in me is something I would never think of. I'm grateful to just be here having fun with you and Makoto-chan, so I'll behave for everyone's sake." Natsuru said with a sincere smile.

"Thank you." Kiyome let out a sigh in relief.

"But…"

***MUNYUUU!***

"Eek! What?" Kiyome screamed.

Natsuru's eyes gleamed as she lunged her hands into fondling Kiyome's breasts, "A little of this is about enough to reward me if I behave myself long enough, right~!?"

"As if I'd let that be your reward! You know I can't handle things like this…" Kiyome smacked Natsuru away and turned away from her.

"Really now? Then whatever will you do when Michael-kun does this to you?" Natsuru said with an unamused tone, she was fine with her shrugging it off when she did it, but considering Kiyome's arrangement with Michael it's going to happen eventually and she needed to realize that.

"W-Well, I…" Kiyome poked her fingers together as her face grew redder than a tomato, "It doesn't matter right now, okay? I may be engaged to him by father's standards, but in the end, Rias-san is the one in the lead, so what chance do I possibly have?"

***SPANK!***

"Natsu-nee!"

"Enough quitter's talk! You're giving up already? No sister of mine is going to back down when faced with a battle for love. It doesn't matter about whose first or not. The only thing you have to do is act aggressive and take any openings given to you."

Rubbing her spanked bottom, Kiyome slowly changed her mind, "That's just it I'm still new here and I still can't seem to figure out when to spot one."

"Huhuhuhu…" Natsuru laughed in mischief as she leaned in, "That's why it's good to have allies assisting you, Kiyo-tan. I've already memorized the way things work around here, and today is a great day for you to take the initiative and get yourself alone with Michael-kun."

"Really!? *COUGH!* I mean, what do you have in mind?" Kiyome coughed to clear her quick outburst, it was obvious to Natsuru that the younger girl wasn't intending to give up, but to just lay low until it was time to make a move. Now that's she is handed a chance so early she's a little hesitant and excited.

"That's my little sister!"

***SPANK!***

"Natsu-nee!" Kiyome shirked away from Natsuru, blushing.

"What?" Natsuru blinked.

"Quit doing that!"

"Sorry, but to be fair, you do have a very spankable ass. You know what, as an apology you can do it to me, I don't mind if you want to take a shot at it." Natsuru turned around in order to give Kiyome a clear shot at her heart shaped ass.

"No thanks, I'll pass. Now about what you were proposing?" Kiyome's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"Phooey~! I wanted to see you get aggressive for once." Natsuru sighed and wore a wide smirk, "But at least I know who'll be the aggressive one between you two while your alone."

"Plan! Tell me. NOW!" Kiyome's face was red as she hissed at her through her clenched teeth.

"Fine, fine. So this is what you have to do." Natsuru and Kiyome walked down the hallway with Natsuru trying to sling her arm over her sister's shoulder.

"Hands where I can see them!" Kiyome groaned.

"You're really no fun, Kiyo-tan~!" Natsuru let out a cry of frustration.

* * *

After they wrapped their date both, Michael and Rias had to agree that it was a step up from the one they previously had up until the whole cooking and chef hat fiasco. Not to mention the final stab through the already open wound, while Azazel was about to leave he accidentally trampled over the hat that Michael so desperately tried to fix. It took a while to stop Michael's incessant wailing and soon after the date winded down, everyone became exhausted and returned to their rooms for bed while Makoto returned home with Kiyome guiding him back.

It was already midnight and everyone who was on the upper floors were resting and were sleeping in sheer bliss as the loud sounds of muted yelling and some explosions resonated from the lower levels of the Hanamura Residence where Michael trained within one of the first-floor basement's training hall.

The room was a mess with burns and craters with Michael covered in some scratches and soot. His training clothes consisted of a red short sleeved shirt and black sweatpants.

"Alright, I think I can do it this time…" Michael panted.

**[Make sure not to overdo it. You don't have that Bishop's twilight healing to help you this time.]**

"Have faith in me, Ddraig. After all, we are talking about me. I really appreciate Asia's help, but I could have been fine without getting healed." Michael tapped his chest and left a magic circle marker on himself.

**[Then why were you on the ground crying while trying to get up?]**

"Upupupupup! Not crying! No only girls cry! Men, we weep!" Michael balled his hand into a fist, "And besides it was all for show in the end just to show that I can withstand anything I can dish out to myself."

**[Right…]**

"Now let the training commence!"

Creating a basketball sized orbs of demonic energy in each hand Michael threw the two attacks forward while snapping his fingers to initiate Dragon Break. As soon as the marker on his chest began to glow, the two orbs of demonic power redirected back towards him by shaping into large blasts of demonic energy.

"Now let's see if I can improve my agility and reflexes!" Michael grinned as he coated his entire body in touki and took off running. The training was tough yet manageable, he had to keep his eye on both attacks as they try to hit the marker on his chest. From hopping side to side or jumping off the walls during a close call, he took every action he can to avoid getting hit. His past altercation against Makoto's beast form had him thinking about handling multiple projectiles at once while in a fight since Makoto's fox tails were unpredictable and hard to fully avoid.

This was something he needed to really touch up on since the blasts that he was dodging are scathing him with each close call. The past attempts ended in failure and was dangerously close to fatally injuring him had he not use touki to shield himself at the last minute. The first attempt was because of him starting the dragon break before throwing the blasts, as soon as he shot them he was blown away with no warning.

"How am I doing, Ddraig?" Michael panted as he ducks his head and jumps over an incoming beam of energy.

**[Compared to your last two tries. You've managed to last a minute longer than before, so your making some progress.] Ddraig kept Michael's time throughout his training,**

**[But you're still getting into contact with those blasts. You look to be hanging on by a threat at this point.]**

"It may not be perfect, but I'm trying to hold out for as long I can. This can also be used to train my stamina to stay in my Balance Breaker form for much longer." Michael saw the benefits for his exhausting training even if it was progressing rather slowly.

Jumping forward onto his two feet, after avoiding the two blasts almost drilling through his chest, he places his hand out to prepare a dragon shot to cancel them out. Bending once more the beams were heading to make a direct collision towards him.

"But I can train to better my stamina later. Let's try again to see if I can really avoid all of those simultaneous attacks." Michael was about to shoot his Dragon Shot until…

***GACHA!***

"So, it was you, Michael-kun." Entering the training room, a white night gowned Kiyome holding a towel allowed her presence be known to the panting devil.

"Kiyome-senpai? You're still up!?" Michael gasped.

**[Michael! Remember, you're still occupied with something!]**

The bright light of those incoming blasts nearing, Michael could only yell, "Oh, crud!"

***BOOOOOOOOM!***

The room quaked and smoke filled it after the heavy impact as Kiyome tried to stay standing up and see through the smoke. Looking through it the smoke cleared and she saw Michael's body laid out on his back on the floor.

"Michael-kun, are you alright!?" Kiyome ran to him and knelt by his side.

Getting up, Michael groaned and rubbed his head while a thick layer of touki shrouded his entire body, "I can't believe how close that was. Good thing I reacted just in time for that."

Slowly placing down his cloak of touki, Michael patted his chest and sighed, "I may have gotten the wind knocked out of me, but at least it's not so serious that I have to wake Asia up to heal me."

"I'm so, so sorry that I barged in unannounced. I didn't mean for you to almost get hurt while training like that." Kiyome bowed her head.

"Hah! I'm perfectly fine nothing can hurt m-!" Michael shuddered in pain while tried to pound his chest, "Okay, I'll admit that stings a little, but see? I'm still a-okay!"

"Thank goodness…" Kiyome sighed.

"So what's up, senpai? Are you in the middle of doing something at night because it's pretty late?" Michael asked.

"Well, I couldn't really sleep so I decided to get out of my room to stretch myself out. When I was moving around I heard some loud rumblings coming from the basement and came to check on who it was." Kiyome offered Michael a towel, "Here, you look like you need it more than me."

"Thanks." Wiping off  the sweat and soot off his body, Michael smiled, "If it was because of my training that disturbed you, then I'm sorry. I didn't think that I could be heard from down here. I've been doing it a lot, so I thought no one was noticing."

"Now if you don't mind me asking, why are you training here so late?" Kiyome knew of Michael's usual tendency to train at night from Natsuru, of course, but besides her lingering annoyance as to why her sister knew of this made her remind herself to berate her for doing things in secret again. But that can be done later, her first question still stood.

"I kind of like doing the extra practice when the day is over just to see if I can get things right. Like right now, I've been struggling with evasion and I want to do better after that whole fight with Makoto when he was a giant fox." Wiping off almost all of the muck off his face, Michael rubbed his eyes and yawned, "I decided to work more on it tonight since I really wanted to have another date with Rias and since everyone helped with it, I could exactly force Kiba or Xenovia to come with me because they were too tired. Doing this alone seems fair enough for now."

"You really thought all of this through?" Kiyome was aghast at Michael's mindset.

"Yeah, but thinking this much hurts, you know?" Michael scratched his head.

**[If only you could be this enthusiastic when you do your homework something to which you've been procrastinating to do for these past days.]**

"Hey, lay off! If you're going to say that, then say it in my head!" Michael screamed at his glowing hand.

**[It won't work because each time I say something my voice echoes through your empty skull.]**

"Hahaha! Very funny you, bodiless dragon bastard!" Michael grinded his teeth.

Kiyome could resist giggling at the boy's arguing antics with his dragon partner, but all laughter came to an end when she remembered the true reason she was there in the first place. Lightly tapping her fingers together, she softly says, "Michael, I know you may be sick of hearing me say this, but I just want to say thank you again for helping, Natsu-nee."

"Hmmmm… As much as I do love getting praise, I kind of have to say that it was only natural that I'd help her, so you don't have to keep thanking me, senpai." Michael set aside his towel to rub his neck.

"No, but I really am thankful for what you did. After what she was did, I would have totally been against the notion of helping if I were in your shoes. Yet, you decided to do all you can to help her and give her a second chance. Thanks just doesn't seem enough to express how I'm thankful I am." Kiyome's expression softened.

"Look," Michael got Kiyome's attention as he started talking, "I just basically helped Natsuru-senpai because she's a nice senior, who helped me out. Someone who's that kind towards their kouhai and their siblings isn't a bad person to deny helping. Not to mention that you, her sibling, are a kind senpai too. You helped me when I was in that bind with those handcuffs. Let's not forget how you still had faith in Natsuru-senpai to help make things better. So, I really should be the one thanking you, Kiyome-senpai for being such a very sweet person."

Michael's words were like a hammer slowly breaking through the walls of uncertainty and doubt surrounding Kiyome as her nervousness was steadily replaced with unbridled tenderness. Looking a little dazed, Kiyome placed her hand on Michael's without warning shocking him a bit.

"Kiyome-senpai?" Once Michael looked at Kiyome's face, he saw how pleasantly her eyes focused on his own.

"Michael-kun, I know you don't want to hear me say this again, but I  **really** want to thank you for everything that you've done to help me, Natsu-nee and Makoto-chan." Kiyome's grasp on Michael's hand tightened as her soft hand felt up Michael's calloused hand.

"Thank me, like how?" Michael gulped, the mood was changing so fast that he couldn't try to realize to what she was building this gratitude up to. As she slowly leaned in he slowly grew anxious and curious about what she was planning to do.

"By giving you something like…"

***Chu!***

"…!"

Bridging the gap between their faces, Kiyome's lips overlapped Michael's for that one moment. This inflicted so many mixed emotions within Michael that his eyes literally went wide. Grabbing both of Kiyome's shoulder by reflex, Michael was about to push her off him, but hesitated once Kiyome's kiss grew deeper for that one moment. He didn't know why he stopped himself, but that hesitation ended with a soft pull away from their sudden lip locking.

"T-This?" Kiyome finished her sentence while wearing a cute smile that was really emphasized by Kiyome's embarrassed yet somewhat confident attitude.

"Kiyome-senpai…" Michael was breathless as he tried to regain his bearings, but Kiyome continued speaking with an affectionate smile,

"Michael-kun, I want to thank you by giving myself to you. You've already taken my first kiss, so I want you to take my "first" time as well." Leaning herself into Michael's chest, Kiyome snuggled in closer in a playful manner.

"You're first kiss, I took it? Wait, you want me to be you're "first"?" So many things were happening that Michael couldn't even keep up, "Kiyome-senpai, are you serious about this though? I mean, I don't want you to do this just because you want to express your gratitude. You shouldn't give yourself to me because of that. Do it with someone you love instead."

"But that's exactly it. I'm giving myself to you because I do love you." Kiyome muffled through Michael's chest as she looked up with her eyes longingly looking up at him.

"Y-You love me?" Michael stammered as those words shot through him like bullet coming at him from out of nowhere. These mixed emotions were welling up within Michael as he tried to get his head together.

"Mmm…" Kiyome looked up at him to nod.

"Whoa…" Michael was lost for words, hearing those words really knocked him off balance as he never gets used to the feeling it gives him, but the lingering thought about his relationship with Rias came to mind, "Kiyome-senpai, hearing you say that really makes me happy, but I'm already dating Rias and…"

Pushing him down on his back, Kiyome straddles, Michael's hips without any warrant for his words as she shakes her head and cries, "I already know of Rias-san's position as your first, but I still want to at least try and catch up to the others. I've already accepted you as my fiancé, too, but that's just not enough to express how much I adore you. So, I want to fully show my resolve for you, so please let me do this for you, Michael."

Grasping his hand to put on her breast, Kiyome lightly moaned as Michael's body jump started from the soft feeling of her chest in his hand.

"Please…" The way she looked in his eyes was just too hard for him to look away.

Michael's once shabby resistance faltered once he saw the moisture collect near Kiyome's eyes, he was still a little conflicted about the whole thing, but knew that rejecting Kiyome's true feelings would devastate her and that was the last thing he wanted to do. Retracting his hand away from her breast, Michael slid both of his arms around Kiyome's sides and wrapped her in for a close embrace.

The feeling of her soft chest compressed against his own flat one felt incredible. As the tight compression of her breasts formed a great view of her cleavage from within her nightgown.

"All right, Kiyome-senpai, show me your resolve…" Michael muttered in a low voice as he gave her a reassuring smile.

Moisture now forming into tears, Kiyome looked Michael in the eye and whispered, "Thank you."

***Chu.***

* * *

 

**[Lemon Mode, activated]**

Getting resettled into a new position on a bed was left in the training hall for convenience should he ever feel too fatigued to move after working out too hard. Leaning over Michael as he laid on his back, Kiyome pressed her lips up against Michael's once more though with a little less pressure than before. It was a sweet kiss that was expressing her adoration for him as she slowly wrapped her slender arms around his neck, yearning to be closer to him.

Purposely closing his teeth over Kiyome's lip, but not too hard to pierce skin, but not too soft that she didn't feel him lightly nibbling to further tease her into kissing him a little bit harder. It was only for a few moments that he sucked on her soft skin before swooping in to envelop the kiss once more with a little surprise.

Kiyome practically yelped in delightful surprise as Michael's tongue coiled around her own and greedily suckles it between his lips before returning to engage in their kiss. Even while sitting up their drawn-out kiss resumed as Kiyome stayed sitting on Michael's.

Eventually they broke their lovely kiss for a much needed break to breath in the oxygen that they were lacking. A thin trail of saliva connected to both of their lips as they stared passionately into each other's eyes as they took in heavy breaths.

"M-Micha-kya!?" Kiyome was alarmed once more as Michael's hands slid from her hips and down to her panty-clad bottom. His sudden grabbing was abrupt and very gentle, indirectly telling Kiyome that it was something that happened because of the heated-up moment.

Looking up rather apologetic with a bitter smile, Michael said, "Sorry, Kiyome-senpai. That kiss really excited me, making it really hard for me to hold back. It's been a while since I've done it and you're really..."

Kiyome trembled at the touch of Michael's fingers on her shoulders.

Calloused and rough from the many battles that their owner had endured yet gentle and soft. Michael tenderly brushed her shoulders, sliding the straps down her arms and freeing her bountiful breasts hidden beneath. Michael looked in awe, hypnotized by the pink of her nipples. Dazed, he reached out, caressing them with his hands.

Kiyome closed her eyes, a bright pink shading her cheeks.

A shiver coursed through her body as Michael tightened his grasp, squeezing her mounds like apples, working into kneading motions, pushing her stiffening nipples around in the palms of his hands.

" _Ngh..._ " A soft moan escaped Kiyome's lips. Michael pushed a little harder on her right breast while squeezing the exposed nipple of her left between his fingers, pinching it slightly. " _Ahn_...!"

However, as he saw Kiyome's face contort into pleasure, the girl biting down on her lower lip to hold back her moans, a thought occurred to him.

He stopped, earning an almost-annoyed look from a red-faced Kiyome. "Senpai...?"

"Hm?"

"You didn't wear a bra, did you...?"

The way Kiyome's face flushed red gave him his answer.

A feeling of excitement rushed through Michael as he smirked, "Could it be that you're actually a little bit of an exhibitionist?"

Kiyome opened her mouth, sputtering out words that almost formed something coherent, but was silenced when Michael pressed his mouth against hers, tangling their tongues in a passionate kiss, his right hand tracing the inner part of her thigh towards her crotch. He could feel her body tense the closer his fingers came to her panties. He didn't even have to go that far to feel the moistness trailing down her legs. He pulled away, a trail of saliva between their mouths.

"You're already wet." His smile softened, "You really do like having your breasts teased. Did you get jealous thinking about what I do with Rias' breasts?"

"I-I-" Before she could respond, Michael reached out against, tightly cupping her left breast. He played with it as if it were a toy, softly pushing it inward and squeezing it.

"Did you stop wearing bras because you wanted to be teased like this?" Still squeezing her breast, Michael leaned forward to the point her nipple was a centimeter from her mouth. He could see the anticipation on Kiyome's face, the girl both hoping for and expecting. Fulfilling her wish, Michael buried his face in her mountain, sucking her nipple in his mouth, tracing around it with his tongue.

" _Aah!_ " The squeal escaped between her lips before she could stop it. She tried to cover her mouth, but Michael grabbed her arms before she could. "W-Wha-?"

Michael raised his head, smiling. "Your moans are too cute. I kind of want to hear more." Even though he was smiling, Kiyome could see the dark silhouette of a sadist hovering above him.

"Y-You're evil!" Kiyome complained. "Y-You _-Iyaa_!" Michael immediately buried his face in her breast again, licking the top and bottom before returning his attention to her sensitive, rock-hard teat.

_'Maybe a little more...'_  Michael thought to himself, brushing his middle finger against the front of her wet panties.

" _Mmh_!" Kiyome jumped so suddenly that Michael was almost thrown off. Even she was taken back by her sensitivity.

The sensitivity of a virgin.

That thought excited Michael. Being the one teasing a virgin was fulfilling.

He now sort of knew what Akeno and Rias saw in it.

He wanted more.

A two-front attack began on Kiyome's body, Michael squeezing her nip tightly between his lips as he began brushing his middle and index finger against the soaked front of her panties. Kiyome squirmed as he pushed his fingers harder, digging through her underwear and into her dripping flower behind. She tried to escape, but Michael's "power" was too strong. Whenever she tried pulling her breast away, he would weaken her by pushing his fingers into her pussy and, when she tried to block his fingers' entrance, he would nibble on her sensitive bosom. It only got worse when he moved the G-string blocking her "Heavenly Opening" and brushed his bare skin against the edge of her pink flower.

He gave no warning before sinking his fingers deep into her flesh.

" _Uwaaah!_ " That one made Kiyome shriek towards the Heavens, more of her juices squirting onto Michael's hand. She shook her head, taking a deep breath, "S-Stop...I can't...!" Her walls tightened, greedily trying to draw his fingers in deeper despite her protests.

There was no mercy.

Michael moved his fingers around inside her, brushing his fingers against every space inside of her he could get at. She couldn't even resist anymore, bucking her own hips against his fingers as her body pleaded for release.

"Mmh nng mmh!" Michael hummed out, his hot breath stimulating her already stressed nipple, "You're about to come, aren't you, Senpai?"

"M-Michael-kun... _Ah_ - _Ahhhn!_ " Kiyome wrapped her hand behind the back of Michael's head, keeping him from removing his mouth while quickening the movement of her hips, "Michael-kun...!  _Michael-kuuuun!_ "

Her walls tightened fiercely around Michael's fingers, a final piercing scream of pleasure from Kiyome's mouth as her pussy's juices sprayed free.

The bed was forever stained with a lewd reminder of her first climax.

Kiyome's body trembled from the reverberations of pleasure, the girl hugging herself as Michael pulled away, removing his fingers, now dripping with Kiyome's love juices from her twitching slit.

He stared at his hand to the pleasurably numb girl in front of him, "...Did I do that good?"

Kiyome was smiling (albeit lewdly), so he took that as an affirmative. Predatory instincts had taken over his body and, the next thing he knew, he had Kiyome screaming in pleasure.

And the predatory desire had yet to cease.

The throbbing organ between his own legs told him that.

He turned to Kiyome, standing up on his knees with his bulge pitching a tent beneath his pants. Impatiently presenting himself, he stood and gave the girl a nice view of his "surprise".

He smiled apologetically, stroking the bottom of it once as if to emphasize its length, "Senpai, even though you were the one who got off, I ended up getting this excited."

His teasing worked, Kiyome's lower lip twitching as she tried to vocalize some thought or exclamation, "See it for yourself."

Any attempt to deny her curiosity foiled, Kiyome knelt in front of him and reached her hands for Michael's pants, pulling the waistband up over the bulge it hit, letting his throbbing erection spill out into open air. The cold air only further stimulated his burning desire as did Kiyome's awe-filled gaze.

"See? You really turned me on with your cute moaning." He nudged his tip against her cheek, prodding her as though she were an animal. Michael proudly grinned as he shoved his unrestrained desire against her face, "Aren't you going to help me, Senpai? It'll start to hurt soon if it stays like this..."

All it took was for Kiyome to turn her head slightly. His cock slid into her mouth like a sword into its sheathe.

"S-Senpai...!"

"Hrgh!"

Kiyome's eyes went wide as Michael slid the full-length of his member down her convulsing throat, almost choking her with his sheer thickness.

She gagged twice before Michael gained enough self-awareness to pull out slightly, leaving only the tip inside of Kiyome's mouth.

"S-Sorry about that, hehehe..." Michael apologized

Taking a deep breath, Kiyome finally processed the taste of the man that was pervading her mouth even if just the tip. She put strength into her lolling tongue, bending it up towards the tip, tickling his urethra.

Michael let out a small gasp, too inaudible to be heard by human ears, yet Kiyome could sense his body react to the sensation.

She pushed her tongue harder against his gland, as if she were trying to open it, stopping only when she saw Michael's face twist in pleasure.

_"Aah, he looks like he feels good."_  She thought to herself, pleased, ' _I want him to make more faces like that...'_   She continued kissing the tip of his penis with her tongue, circling around its circumference and occasionally coming back to lightly suck on the head, "Aahmph."

"S-Senpai..." Michael whimpered weakly, reaching out his hand and placing it on her head, far more gently than he had treated her before. Her mouth was hooked on his penis, wet, slurping sounds filling the air as if she were trying to suck Michael dry.

It was great, but not enough to induce him to orgasm. Michael couldn't take it anymore.

Softly grasping the top of Kiyome's head, Michael nudged her face closer to his even more fiercely throbbing cock, guiding it deeper into her mouth until over half of his length had been engulfed by her luscious lips.

" _Aaah_... It's really good." Michael moaned out, thrusting his cock as far as he could down Kiyome's mouth until he was certain she couldn't fit anymore. He could feel her tongue circling the base, trying to induce as much pleasure as her throat did. His senior reached down towards her own slit, once again dripping with lewd fluids as she began pleasure herself as well.

Kiyome closed her eyes, slowly sliding back off of his penis, a soft sigh escaping Michael's lips quickly replaced by a groan of pleasure as she slowly slid it back in again. Every time she bobbed her head forward, she refused to stop until he had filled up her throat, her mind growing dim with lustful desire.

"Nnngh!...Senpai, p-please stroke my balls too...!" Kiyome obeyed the instruction like a willing slave, extending her hand to his royal jewels and fondling them tenderly, inducing more pleasure-filled groans from Michael.

He dared not say it aloud, but Kiyome's blowjob might have been better than Rias' during their first tryst.

Rias' blowjob had been dominating, a controlling force of pleasure that made Michael's body contort in ecstasy.

While Kiyome's blowjob was different, more gentle, as if she were gently coaxing his semen out.

He felt it the moment his penis tensed up, growing slightly inside of Kiyome's throat, her eyes going wide as he became even thicker. He shut his eyes tightly, picking up the pace and depth of his thrusts until he could hear his balls slapping into her chin. He heard her gagging, her eyes rolling back as her own body tensed, orgasming from masturbation.

" _Ooh,_  Kiyome! I'm... cumming!" With a final thrust, Michael spurted out a heavy stream of thick, white semen down her throat, its volume so great that she could not fully contain it. Some of his semen gushed out of what little space remained between the corners of her mouth and Michael's cock. Her body shivered in pleasure, her own legs beginning to give way between the mind-numbing sweet creme permeating her taste buds and the seemingly unending climax as her cunt continued to squirt out orgasmic fluids.

Michael ended up needing to pull out to avoid suffocating her, too early as the final seconds of his orgasm splashed a load of white semen onto Kiyome's pleasure-stricken face.

"Oh...s...sorry..." Michael sighed out, recovering from his recent climax. Kiyome didn't respond for a moment, reaching for her face with her hands and wiping the semen with her fingers, watching as its thickness seeped between her fingers.

"It's so amazing..." Kiyome smiled absently, bringing her semen-coated hand to her face, "Michael-kun's white stuff is so amazing...~" Then she started to suck the semen from her hand, lapping it up as if it were some form of treat.

Just watching her caused Michael's erection to return with a vengeance, throbbing more violently than before. It sought more than just Kiyome's mouth. It sought her vagina, her breasts, her asshole, he wanted to stain every part of her white in pleasure.

Perhaps it was his Dragon and male instincts taking over.

Perhaps he had always secretly been this much of a pervert.

All he knew was that he wanted her.

"Kiyome...!" He couldn't stop himself. He pushed her back down onto the bed, pinning her arms down as he breathed heavily. The only part of his brain still exercising self-control was worried whether or not he was hurting her, but it quickly ceased functioning when he saw Kiyome smiling up at him, her blushing face adding to her sexually appealing appearance.

"Michael-kun, I'm really wet, so...I-I mean..." She looked bashful, averting her eyes before regaining the courage to look at him, "...I want you to shove your thick, throbbing cock inside of me!"

Her use of vulgar language both surprised and excited him. It was all he needed to hear.

He lifted the front of her night gown's skirt, pulling his over her stomach. Her G-string remained out of the way, showing her twitching, unplucked flower. Ripe for the taking.

Michael spread her flower's "petals", stroking his penis to ensure he remained at maximum stiffness for this moment. He laid on top of her, carefully aligning the tip of his penis with her vagina.

It was a soft push at first, trying to spread it and make some room as he slowly slid his cock inside of her. He pushed softly and gently at first, letting Kiyome grow accustomed to the feeling of his cock inside of her. She shut her eyes tightly once or twice as her tight walls were forced apart by Michael's invasion, but she always opened them right after to look in awe. His penis only stopped once he had reached a "barrier" inside of her. Michael looked Kiyome for confirmation. One last chance to back out.

"What...What are you waiting for...!?" She demanded, breathing heavily, "D-Do it..."

Again obeying his senior's command, Michael thrust forward with all of his might, Kiyome letting out a scream that was a mix of pain and pleasure as her hymen was shredded by his piercing cock.

The tightness beyond her hymen far surpassed that of her throat.

Blood trickled from her entrance, Kiyome letting out pained and pleasurable whimpers as she clung to Michael. Michael's hands slid down Kiyome's body, stopping at her thighs which he proceeded to grasp firmly, holding her body against his to keep from slipping out.

He let out a grunt of exertion as he pushed his hips forward, feeling the walls of her vagina being slowly forced apart by his penis.

He tried moving slowly, playing with Kiyome's nipples so as to cancel her pain out with pleasure. He played with her left breast with his hand while sucking on her right breast, rolling her nipple around in his mouth with his tongue. He continued pleasing her until he felt his cock go as deep inside of her as it could, to the point he could feel his tip kissing the entrance to her womb.

The two breathed heavily as they looked at one another before pressing their lips together, fighting a new battle with their tongues as Michael slowly slid out. Then he leaned forward with his hips, sliding back into her womb with less resistance than before. He gyrated his hips, moving his cock around inside in order to further loosen up her walls.

Once he was satisfied, he pulled backward and slid back in, working up a slow, piston-like motion as he thoroughly invaded the most innocent part of her body.

The inside of her vagina constricted every time his cock stabbed the deepest part, making it feel as though it was literally pulsing with pleasure.

"So tight...!" Michael groaned, increasing the speed he fucked her formerly virgin womb with his tool of pleasure, "I'm going to cum deep inside...!"

Kiyome, panicked for a moment, shook her head, "N-No! I c-can't get pregnant! I can't get pregnant with a baby!"

Michael kissed her again, moaning in her mouth before pulling away, "Don't... _nnhng_! Don't worry...Kiyome... _Mmm_... _Ooh_! Devils have low...low fertility rates!" He winced, her vagina tightening so much that it practically crushed his penis inside of her, "I would need to give you a hundred cream pies before you got knocked up!" Michael kneaded her breast with one hand and pinching her other nipple, causing her to yelp and her inner walls to tighten in conjunction. The way his speed began to increase and the way his cock seemed to grow inside of her, Kiyome knew it only meant one thing.

She tightly clung to Michael, wrapping her legs around his waist as her pleasure-seeking body coaxed him deeper inside, "It-It's too much...I'm-I'm gonna cuuuum!"

"Me too...!" Michael moaned out, "I'm gonna cum inside, Senpai!"

"No-Not ready yet...!" Kiyome said, her body strongly contradicting her words, "Not ready for a creampiiiiiieeeee!"

A final groan escaped Michael's mouth as he shoved his cock as deep inside of her as possible.

They both cried out in unison as Michael's jizz flooded Kiyome's eager womb.

While Kiyome's body fell limp, almost paralyzed by the sensation of her third climax, Michael gripped her body more tightly, his cock refusing to let go of her womb as it spurted shot after shot inside.

" _Mmmnnn..._ " Kiyome breathed lightly, her waist entire waist trembling as Michael removed his slightly softening penis from her pussy, "It...It's so hot...So hot inside...!"

_'H-Hold on...when Buchou and Xenovia mentioned that stuff, then wouldn't that only apply to girl devils since "fertility" is usually associated with females rather than guys so... Unholy crap...' Michael's face paled before he shook the thought out of his head, 'No, can't get too wound up about that, I just need to relax since Kiyome-senpai is tired and she's...she's...'_

Michael knew that she was at her limit. After cumming three times, a normal human girl would have probably fallen asleep. He watched her chest rise and fall as she breathed, beads of sweat forming around her voluptuous mounds...

And then Michael's rod hardened again, his heart racing.

"H-Huh?!" Kiyome was too surprised when Michael suddenly grabbed one of her legs and spun her around, laying her on her front with her butt raised upward into the air. Her steaming face regained the slightest sense of awareness, "M-Michael-kun...?"

Michael was already on his knees, again lining his cock up with her cum-leaking pussy. "I can't stop, Kiyome-senpai...! It's like your pussy has made me its slave...!" He thrust in deeply the moment Kiyome opened her mouth, the only thing heard being a piercing wail as Michael began to fuck her from behind.

" _Uuuuuuuuunnnnghhh_!" She could do nothing as Michael's cock struck her womb with even greater force than before, requiring what little stamina she had just to keep from being knocked over, "No way...! It's even deeper than before...!  _Iyaaaagh!_ " She wanted to rest, practically going insane as ecstasy became the only sensation her nerves could feel, but with Michael holding her hips into the air, she was left to simply lay there and enjoy his efforts.

"Your womb is sucking me in...!" Michael breathed, letting out a whimper every time his balls slapped against her soaked waist. He pulled her body back, propping Kiyome up on her knees as he reached his hands higher up her chest, wrapping his hands around her breasts, fondling them with renewed passion. Kiyome turned her head to say something, but her lips were immediately occupied by Michael's, three parts of her body dominated by the joy only a female body could feel. He tweaked her nipples between his fingers, kneading her breasts at the same time.

Between being fucked in her womb, having her breasts fondled, her nipples played with, and Michael's tongue dominating the inside of her mouth, Kiyome had no way of suppressing the feeling, " _Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhnnnnnnn!_ " She screamed into Michael's mouth as she achieved climax first, riding it out as she was pleasured without stop. Climax combined with Michael's unrelenting assault made her cum immediately after, her pussy tightening with each orgasm.

Eventually, Michael hit his limit as well, his cock expanding once more in a desperate struggle against Kiyome's tightening snatch, "I'm gonna cum again!" His face twisted in ecstasy as he made sure to strike the deepest part of her womb with each stroke, "I feel like I'm going to seriously get Senpai pregnant with this one!"

"D-D-Do it...!" Kiyome pleaded, her eye rolling back as she panted with each thrust, "Fill me up...! Impregnate me with your child! I want to get pregnant with Michael-kuunnshhh sschild! Inshide! Do it inshiiiide!"

Michael grunted in agreement, pistoning as deep and as fast as his hips could possibly allow, "Here it comes...!" He let out a final bestial roar before shoving his cock as far as he could inside of her, "Cummiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!" He pinched and pulled on her nipples as hard as he could, Kiyome's hips bucking forward as she screamed from climax.

" _Ahn...Ahhh..._ " Kiyome panted, her tongue lolling out of the corner of her mouth, her twitching slit squiring out a mix of her and Michael's cum, "I'm...I'm gonna get pregnant with Michael-kunsshh babiesshhh..."

Even more semen filled Kiyome's already-half-full womb, Michael unable to stop humping Kiyome until her womb milked every last drop of his semen, what couldn't fit inside being shot out with the force of a cannon from her pussy. Both of their bodies tensed as they rode out their last climax.

After several moments of climactic spasms, Kiyome fell face-forward, landing sideways on the bed, breathing softly as she laid her head against the pillow, her wet pussy cold and trembling as the last orgasmic warmth faded from her womb.

It was only after his penis finally went limp that Michael's own exhaustion finally kicked in, his body laid down right behind Kiyome's, wrapping a blanket around both of them and draping his arm over her body to hold her close.

They fell into deep silence, and, for a moment, Michael was sure Kiyome had passed out...

"Michael-kun...?" Or not.

"Y-Yes, Senpai?" Now that the high that came with sex had worn off, Michael had started to feel self-conscious, his now-soft penis laying against her backside. He had literally only had sex once before. He had been so swallowed by his desire that he had no idea how his "performance" was taken by Kiyome, "Is...Is everything alright?"

"..." His heartbeat quickened at Kiyome's silence, "..C...Could you hold me...?"

Michael blinked, "...Hm?"

Kiyome squirmed in the bed next to Michael, hiding her flushed face.

"I...I want you to hold me like you do with Rias..."

Michael blinked again, but his brain was able to process her request that time, a soft smile appearing on his face as he tightened his arm around Kiyome's body, pulling her closer.

"No problem..."

They both passed into the blissful peace of slumber soon after.

**[Lemon End]**

* * *

Outside of the training hall, in front of the shut door was Kiyome's older sister, Natsuru, who stood guard. She placed a thick barrier to allow no one from the outside to ruin her sister's once in a lifetime chance.

"Huhuhu~!" Natsuru laughed in her hand, she heard the whole thing happening from inside with her powerful superhuman hearing, "Everything seems to have gone smoothly. I'm so proud of you Kiyo-tan."

There was a faint blush on her cheeks as she could hear the moaning from inside of the hall, "It was really a great show to peek in on. Also, it's great for me to have some vital knowledge about this for the not so distant future."

She licked her lips in excitement.

Natsuru disguised her pride for Kiyome's accomplishment with her own self-interest as she envisioned the possible lustful scenarios that she'll face while being under Michael's care. He may not know of it, but that's what made the thought of getting into such an encounter even more thrilling.

"You'd best check your privileges before making such a doubtful claim."

Natsuru narrowed her eyes as she glanced at Rias, who was up awake as she made her way towards Kiyome and the training hall. By the purple nightgown attire, she wore it could be said that she just woke up or has been awake for quite a while. Either way, she was in Natsuru's presence something that she hadn't necessarily done these past weeks, but the end result was turned out to be the predictable choice. Rias was miffed, but in a calmer fashion than what Natsuru would expect from the crimson haired devil.

Natsuru kept her silence as she kept her sights on Rias, who did the same. The two were locked in a tense exchange of stares, it wasn't too hostile that it would to a fight, but it was still a strained look that each girl was making.

Letting out a sigh, Rias said, "Don't worry, I didn't come here to interfere with Kiyome-san. I just wanted to check if things were fine down here."

Rias leaned on the wall across from Natsuru as the latter asked,

"So, you knew about our little plan from the start, did you?" Natsuru kept herself sounding indifferent to hide any form of emotion towards Rias.

"No, not really. You see, I have a habit of waking up whenever Michael sneaks out of bed to come down here to train. I just found it odd that for once he didn't try to come sneaking back into bed as usual, despite his many failed attempts at trying to be quiet." Rias smiled to herself, recalling the loud footsteps and his occasional yet ridiculous tripping.

"I came down to check how things were going and seeing you here explains everything and about who's currently with him right now." Rias crossed her arms and looked to the door, "Kiyome-san has more than deserved this chance after helping us, and I won't deny her or the others their feelings as well. It may get a little hectic, but I have to at least do this much if I want to cement myself as his official girlfriend."

Rias was already aware of the other girls getting bolder when it came to their feelings towards Michael, and since they were devils the thought of a harem being formed didn't exactly feel strange to Rias. She wants to lay the foundation of her standing amongst the others before she could really feel comfortable with fully accepting it, so this occurrence between Kiyome and Michael was definitely the first step that she needed to be more allowing and less worrisome about the girls and their advances.

"I guess my bothersome plan did bring out some more good than bad for Kiyo-tan and Makoto-chan in the end." Natsuru bitterly laughed.

"I wouldn't say that because you came out completely untouched as well." Rias said rather rudely, while it was apparent that she wasn't trying to, "Not only did you commit such chaos, but you had Michael and Shirou bail you out along with Azazel. Now you're a free woman again, or as free of a woman that you'll ever be compared to before."

Leaning back against the barrier covered door, Natsuru breathed out a heavy sigh, "It looks like I won't be getting into any of your good graces anytime soon. You asked the Governor-General about my punishment before he left, right?"

The suspecting look in Rias' eyes were the only answer that she needed.

"Hmph, thought so..." Natsuru bitterly chuckled.

"Look, you may have Michael's kindness to thank for your lightened sentence, but don't get anything twisted. We both know of the things you did, and I surely won't forget any of it. I don't share any of Michael's leniency towards you, so don't expect any sympathy from me." Rias' eyes were shadowed by her hair giving her a much darker visage as she glared at Natsuru, "So just to warn you now. If you even dare to do anything suspicious that would break Michael's trust, then I won't hesitate to annihilate you where you stand, do you understand me?"

"Hmph…I already knew not expect any sympathy coming from you, and do you think I'm actually that stupid? To waste my second and probably only chance by betraying, Michael-kun? He literally helped save Makoto-kun and gave me a chance to stay beside my siblings even longer, he's already done more than what I can even deserve, so I intend to repay him for that." Natsuru's eyes glared at Rias as they had sharp fox slits replaced for her more regular pupils,

"And what you think doesn't even matter to me, Gremory-san. My only worries lie with how  **he**  sees me and my performance not  **you**. You may have helped save Makoto-chan for me and I am grateful for it, but I still trust him more than I'll ever trust you."

The 3rd years were locked in an escalating staredown that was further emphasized by their clashing auras until a slight smirk crept itself on Rias' face as she let out a little chuckle,

"Good. I just wanted to establish where we both stood when it comes down to this matter." Rias prepares walking to the elevator,

"I trust that you'll be taking care of them while they rest there? I'll just tell the others, should they wake up before them, a little white lie about both of their whereabouts."

"Hn! I already know that much. I don't need you telling me something so obvious as that." Natsuru said distastefully, their new established common ground was already made so such an attitude would later be seen as typical for their future interactions.

"Well, that's a reliever. Hearing you confirm it is just as better than you simply staying quiet." Rias stops herself from walking to say something with a bit of edge in her tone, "And one more thing, Natsuru-san. I might be more lenient towards Kiyome-san, but don't think I'll make things easier for you, too since you're a new arrival just like her. Personally, I will be the one to make sure to harden any advances you make towards Michael. It's quite a handy perk for being his first, you know."

After stating her declaration of war, Rias left with Natsuru wearing a challenging smile as she glared at the dark hallway that she left through.

"Just as I expected. You and I will never get along after all." Natsuru shook her head, and smirked at the later challenges she'll receive. If that's how things would end up for her, then so be it. Earning something wouldn't be any fun if there weren't any extra stretches to this new strife for Michael's affection.

"But at the same time, it would be much sweeter to wait and take any small moment that I can take for my own personal benefit. This punishment may also have its perks after all~!" Natsuru's eyes glimmered mischievously through the dark hallways. Unbeknownst to her, Michael felt a chill go through his spine before going back to resting with Kiyome in his arms.

* * *

_(In Michael's mind)_

_Laying near the edge of a huge open canyon was Ddraig's giant body as the dragon lazily laid his head next to a male figure who was looking up at the sunny blue skies that never changed within this hot, rocky, wasteland._

**_[It seems that he's already tired himself out, so he's probably won't be active enough to wind up here.]_ **

_"Good. I wouldn't even bother to show myself to him even if he did come here." The male figure sighed in boredom, "It's the same pattern as before, a possessor attracting more people to themselves like usual."_

**_[I see that you're getting tired of the same grind as me, but I can tell that you could have stayed hibernating with the other possessors and their fragmented memories just to skip all of this. Yet, you've been watching him secretly this entire time.] Ddraig let his lips curl up into a small smile._ **

_"It's not unusual for him to go through these things, but I actually feel something different about this one. I want to skip these boring predictable parts to get to the new ones, but I can't tell where the new parts are if I just skip through the old ones. It's kind of like reading through a remake of a book." The man groaned._

**_[If you really wanted to something different to happen, then you should have introduced yourself already, but I know how you are. You're intentionally staying hidden from him until he enters the mindscape through his own free will, using the much harder method for him to meet you rather than you introducing yourself, first. You're always too shy whenever you want to meet someone new. You never change, Belzard] Ddraig shook his head with a nostalgic grin on his face._ **

_"Shut up, you Stupid Dragon…" The man stood up and looked down at the dark crater below, "Why I'm interested this time around is still a moot point. It may end the same way as every time before or it may actually do something absolutely different. It's still up in the air at this point."_

_As the man looked at the encroaching shadows of the crater slowly making its way towards the surface, he groaned,_

_"Whether that "different" factor will be a_ _**good** _ _thing or a_ _**bad** _ _thing has yet to be seen though…"_

* * *

**Next Chapter- (Filler) High School GT! (Grand Tour)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> So how did you enjoy the lemon scene?
> 
> How many of you like how Rias is taking the aggressive stand as the Head Girl for Michael's harem? Her encounter with Natsuru was the first step to creating a foundation for that sort of side to her since she and Michael are already an item.
> 
> And at the end there, what could Belzard mean while talking to Ddraig about that new thing he's interested in being a good or a bad thing for Michael? Something that will be kept and addressed for the next arc! Hopefully…
> 
> Now we're on to the next arc, but not before we enter some filler territory because I've been needing to get out some new hilarious ideas to insert into the story! Plus, if you can guess from the title, you may already know what the chapter will be focused about. Yes, its sort of related to an underrated anime, but what detail will be addressed about said anime? So can you guess what it will be?
> 
> Before I go, I just want to say that a new opening will be posted later when I have the chance to recover, so make sure to give it a quick glance at when you're done!
> 
> Well, I'm Out so Peace Out and have a lovely day!


	49. High School GT! (Filler)

**High School GT! (Grand Tour) (Filler)**

* * *

It was a glorious afternoon at the Hanamura Residence where a studious Kiba flipped through the pages of Michael's old photobook given to him by Rias, Asia and Raynare. The trio kept it away from Michael at all costs ever since he took the other ones a long time ago and would come together, like a Book Club picking out their favorite parts of a romance novel.

Earlier, Kiba had asked in secret if he could see some of the picture because he was so heavily addicted to the Holy sword picture before that he never had a true glance at it. The girls faithfully believed in Kiba's words and allowed him to take a peek while looking over his shoulders to indulge in the array of Child-Michael photos.

"Ooh! Ooh! This one, yeah… right there! That was the time that Michael-sama fell off the monkey bars and threw a fit!"

"Awwww~!" The Three girls cooed at the picture before Rias flipped the page and pointed at another photo, she was definitely aware of.

"Look! Its Little Michael trying to learn how to swim with Little Irina! Look at how he's trying so hard, so cute!"

"Awwww~!" Kiba could have sworn that they were going through a usual pattern based on how their cooing was in perfect sync, but he just sat back and watched the three girls hijack the book in his hands to themselves.

"Wait…excuse me, Kiba-san." Asia politely flipped the pages and pointed at one picture that made her eyes glow bright from satisfaction, "Ah, there it is! This one of little Michael-san praying with Irina-san is my favorite!"

"Awwww~!" The girls cooed in perfect harmony while Kiba simply observed their reactions with his usual handsome guy smile that was a little sketchy.

"You all must be really invested with these pictures. I've never really noticed how attached you've become with this single photo book." Kiba said and rubbed his chin, "But that's odd…"

"Huh? What's wrong, Yuuto?" Rias asked.

"I just thought that a picture of it would be in here…somewhere…" Kiba intently flipped through the pages.

"A picture of what?" Asia and Raynare leaned in closely.

"A picture of Michael-kun playing a sport…a very particular sport that requires the use of a blunt object and small ball…"

"You mean baseball?" Raynare said.

"Yup, he told me all about it. Even said that he was on a team as their…" Kiba started to ponder on purpose and the girls were starting to catch on.

"K-Kiba…don't tell me your…"

"You wouldn't would you, Kiba-san?"

"Quick, stop him before he-!"

"Catcher! Michael-kun!" Kiba stood through the prying hands and threw the book over his head as Michael rushes out from a hallway to grab the book before the girls could have time to recover it.

"Good job, Ki-Ouch! Overhand! Why would you throw it overhand!?" Michael cried in pain as the book fell on his head.

"I thought you could catch it! You said that you were a former baseball team catcher?" Kiba frowned.

"Yes, as a kid. Besides, I was too good to be a player on the field because of my finesse skills at catching the ball." Michael struck a pose thinking that he would look cool.

Everyone could tell that Michael misinterpreted the real reason he wasn't placed on the field during that time, but that thought was pushed aside when the girls saw Michael protectively hold the book away from their outstretched hands.

"Michael, return to us your photo album this instant! It's necessary for us to refresh ourselves with it after a hard day."

"Michael-sama! Give it back!"

"Please, Michael-san~!"

Distancing the girls away from him, Michael shook his head, "Never! I've been waiting for a chance to get this back and end this long suffering! Most of my most embarrassing pictures are in here! I knew you wouldn't just give it to me, so I asked Pretty Boy to help me get from you!"

"Yuuto?" Rias turned back to see the Knight give her an apologetic smile.

"Forgive me, Buchou."

"Look, I get you all really understand how amazing I was a kid, but…why settle for a picture when you can admire the great me that is Michael Hanamura, today?"

***SIGH!***

"…?"

Michael's confident smile fell when he saw the disappointed faces of all three girls as they sighed with no interest.

***CRUSH!***

Grabbing his chest as his heart shattered into a million pieces, Michael's face contorted in sheer rage, "That's it! You're never going to see these pictures again! I'm going to hide them in a place that you'll never think of!"

"Your sock drawer?" Raynare crossed her arms.

"…uh…NO! Another hiding place!" Michael's eyes widened before he became serious again.

"You're desk at school?" Asia guessed.

"W-What? Of course, not. That would be too easy!"

"Then you're thinking about that hidden box beneath one of the bathroom tiles, aren't you?" Rias groaned, she could read her Pawn like a book when it comes to things like this.

"Who cares about where I'll hide them! The only thing you should care about is never finding these pictures again!" Michael pulled out each photo and threw the book to the ground.

Looking a little suspicious, Raynare whispered into Asia's ear as she stepped forward to say something.

"M-Michael-san…we're sorry for keeping this behind your back, so may we please have your photos back. We truly do like seeing you at a young age." Asia tearfully pleaded.

"W-Well, since it's you Asia then of co-!"

***SMACK!***

"M-Michael-san?" Asia panicked when Michael slapped himself across the face.

"That was close. Asia's innocence almost made me give in! Stay strong Michael, you are a rock! No, a man! No…a Rock Man…yeah…" Michael whispered to himself.

"Chi! It didn't work." Raynare thought that by using Asia she would exploit Michael's weakness to never deny any request of hers.

"Sorry, ladies! But this guy ain't keeling over just yet! Because I'm a Rock Man! Rada! Rada!" Michael growled.

"What?" Kiba enjoyed this natural segment in the Hanamura Residence.

"What you know Rock Man sort of like Rock Monster…Schnitzel from Chowd-! You know what? I'll just show it to you later, man. It's a funny show." Michael coughed.

"Michael-sama, if you don't give it back willingly, then I'll just use force to-!"

Before Raynare could even form her light spear, Rias interrupted with an understanding smile,

"Do you really want to keep your pictures because of privacy, Michael?" Rias asked.

"Yes." Michael nodded.

"Then if you want to keep them to yourself, then we'll begrudgingly respect your decision." Rias was gracious while Michael and Kiba looked at each other in suspicion.

"Really?" Michael asked.

"Of course, you're in the photos, and it's your property. So it's only natural that we leave them with you." Rias wrapped her arms around the reluctant Raynare and Asia.

"Hold on a second, Rias-san."

"Buchou, I really want to see more of little Michael-san."

"Don't worry you two, we'll just have to do something else to kill time." Rias said and whispered something into their ears. It must have been something very uplifting since both girls were now smiling from excitement.

"How remarkable." Raynare giggled.

"That's a lovely idea, Buchou." Asia clasped her hands together and joyfully looked up to Rias.

"I'm glad that you two can come to understand Michael's feelings. Now if you'll excuse us, we will be looking for something else to do. We probably might try to admire the you that's right in front of us." The way that was said was dreadfully cryptic as the girls strode off, "Have a nice day, you two."

Left alone, Michael and Kiba couldn't believe their eyes. The girls actually gave up and allowed Michael to walk off unscathed, they would be surely happy were it not for the fact that this has never happened before.

"Am I gonna die?" Michael panicked.

"What? Michael-kun, no, they probably respected your opinion." Kiba reassured.

"Nuh-uh! Something wrong is going on here! I usually get the crap kicked out of me, or get tricked and humiliated!" Michael was frantic as he looked around the room in fear.

"I get that this is new for you, but just relax. By tomorrow things will be different, you watch none of them will remember about this whole photo fiasco and things will go back to normal."

Rubbing his chin, Michael sighed, "Well, if you say so…"

That very next day, Michael woke up after getting over his paranoia. Waking up, he felt a little rejuvenated than he did the past mornings before. His body was filled with more energy and excitement. However, he found it yet again hard to move with the resting girls on his chest and arms, but only this time they felt a lot heavier.

That's not the only thing he noticed because now everything seemed bigger now and his limbs felt short and his natural strength felt like it was reduced somehow. It hadn't hit Michael until his incessant squirming woke up the girls as they wore such passionate stares towards him as they moaned,

"Itty Witty Bitty Michael…"

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Michael screamed with his high-pitched voice, he had lost all traces of puberty since he was in the form of a seven-year-old child.

* * *

"And that's what happened." Michael tiredly laid his head on the table.

"So they finally turned you into a little kid, huh?" Saji sipped his morning tea as he sat across a miffed off Michael who was drinking a cup of cocoa since his taste buds weren't developed enough for the tea.

It was a long morning after that fiasco, Michael literally had to crawl out of the girls and their prolonged snuggling. From Asia to Raynare and Buchou, that was the order that they went with when trading Michael off for a hug like he was a teddy bear. Then more showed up like Akeno, Xenovia, and Koneko and they were another pedigree of trouble. Both Xenovia and Koneko didn't know how to hold back their strength when they gave him a hug and Akeno's hugs were a little lewd that resulted in a fight with Rias over who had permission to do that to him.

The only way he escaped was by pleading with Gasper to freeze them in time just long enough for Kiba to take him and escape. He's probably passed out after holding them for so long and has been taking prisoner so time was of the essence for changing him back to normal. So, he went to the only reliable person who can help him from out of any mess, Mil-tan.

But he was away on a Magical Girl Convention in another country so he went to Saji's place.

"I should have known that they would do this to me, dude. It was only a matter of time." Michael sipped the hot cocoa before turning to Saji's mom who was cooking in the kitchen, "Excuse me, miss? May I have some marshmallows?"

"How polite. Why sure thing. It was nice of Michael-kun to send over his..." Saji's mom paused as she went to grab the marshmallows.

"Little cousin...his long distant cousin." Saji nervously corrected.

"Yes, cousin. Now here are your marshmallows, sweetie." Saji's mom handed Michael the sweets and waved, "Now if you ever need anything make sure to call me, okay?"

"Thank you!" Michael nodded then turned back to Saji, "Man, how is your mom still single? She's literally the nicest woman that I've ever met since we ever met."

"Could we not talk about that? Let's discuss how you're going to get back to normal." Saji groaned.

"Well, I called Ero-Ossan on my way here and he told me that we're going to take a field trip to find the ingredients to change me back to my original age." Michael grinned.

"That's good at least everything will be settled normally." Saji laid back against his chair in relief.

"Well..." Michael rolled his eyes.

"Oh no, what?" Saji frowned.

"The girls won't turn me back, they actually want to keep me like this." Michael said then teared up and covered his mouth, "They're horrible! They wanted to dress me up in sailor costumes and call them Onee-chan! Do you know what else I can't do anymore, I can't even do my parkour anymore because they're afraid I might kill myself! Isn't that outrageous!"

"That last part is a good thing! You can easily die while in that child state, remember!?" Saji pinched his temples.

"Doesn't matter! The point is that we have to find those ingredients before the others capture me and subject me to-ugh! Wearing cute girl outfits like Gasper." Kid Michael slammed his hand on the table.

"You mean with just the two of us? No, we need more help. I want to help, but if it's just us then something will go wrong. That's why...we need to get the band back together..." Saji said with a grin.

"Wait...did you say...band?" Michael grinned while getting lost in his head.

(Electric guitar playing in the background)

"Not that kind of band. Don't think about ever doing that." Saji banged his fist on the table.

"Oh...I'm still thinking it...and its happening one way or another...I can see it now...The Dragonites..." Michael swooned at the thought of owning a band.

"Anyways, let's just gather the people that we need and just get this sucker over with." Saji cracked his knuckles.

"Yeah!" Michael pumped his fist in the air.

"You hurt yourself while trying to crack your knuckles, didn't you?" Michael asked.

"H-How do you do this every day? It hurts!" Saji moaned out in pain as he gripped his hand.

Walking into the kitchen, Saji's mother was holding something in her arms.

"Hm? Is it that time already?" Saji asked.

"That's right! We decided to have Book Club at our place again. So, don't tell Michael-kun about it, okay? We don't want a repeat after what happened last time." Saji's mom winked.

"Yeah, I promise not to...oh crap..." Saji whispered as he looked at Michael's seat that was now empty.

"Hey, miss..." Kid Michael tugged at Saji's mother's skirt, "Are those an assortment of cheeses?"

"Why yes, it's a deli plate that I prepared for my friends tonight." Saji's mom bought the innocent child ploy Michael was enacting.

"Do you mind if I have some?" Michael asked, innocently.

"Why sure, of course you can! Here, take some." Saji's mother placed down the platter for the young Michael to reach as his innocent smile slowly etched itself to turn into a dark grin of mischief.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Saji didn't have time to think, he didn't even question why he flipped the table over before getting up, but by the time he could even reach out to stop the wolf hidden in sheep's clothing it was already too late.

"Thank you..." Were the final words before the storm finally hit and ravaged the entire kitchen that day...

* * *

Arriving on campus grounds during the weekend felt like entering a ghost town. Almost no one enters the school when it closes for the weekend and that's a normal thing since a day without school is paradise for students and sometimes even for the teachers.

Michael, Kiba and Saji strolled through the campus alert and ready should Rias and the other popped out to ambush them. Detecting any sound would be a cinch since the school was desolate of any students. Making their way through the empty hallways of the new school building, they met up with Azazel in his lab that he installed inside of the basement of the academy.

There they were met with their last crucial member for this very important mission.

"Shi-rou!" Michael cheered.

"Dammit, knock it off! My name is Shirou, you bastard!" Shirou growled.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were leaving for the underworld?" Kiba asked.

"I was about to leave, but then I realized that after completing my first mission, I'll probably get overrun by a new litter of jobs…and bullets." Shirou hoarsely whispered that last part to himself.

"What was that last part?" Michael asked.

"Nothing, so I just decided to stay and enjoy my long-needed break before my master forces me to go back." Shirou yawned.

"Oh…I guess it's convenient that you're even helping us because of that break, huh?" Kiba said.

"Yup, got bored and I needed something to do. That was when that Azazel guy called me in to help you two?" Shirou noticed Saji and groaned, "Three? Okay, who the hell is he?"

"Oh, he's my Best Friend, Saji Genshirou. And Saji this is Shirou Fujimura. Hey, you both have Shirou's in your names. Hehehehe!" Michael laughed like a kid.

Walking up to each other they shook hands.

"So, you're Saji? I've heard of you from that dumbass before and I've gotta say my impression of you was right, you look just as disappointing than you sound." Shirou was quick with his first impression.

"Nice to meet you, too." Saji sweatdropped,  _'It's not even a minute and I can already tell how this relationship will turn out to be.'_

"Alright! It looks like all of the kiddies and the one baby is here." Azazel entered the room holding a box of gadgets and dismissively slams it on a table.

"Hey, who are you calling a baby!?" Michael snarled.

"You, of course, baby! Wow, I forgot how small you used to be. Now I know why you were trying to act all high and mighty at this age. Well…you still act like that, but I guess that means you're still a kid at heart." Azazel's patted Michael's head and messed up his hair.

"That's right, come a little closer." Michael muttered quietly to himself, "My height is perfect enough for nut shots, so try pushing me further, Ero-Ossan. See what happens."

Michael's ominous muttering made everyone remember that frightening possibility as they took their distance from one another.

"Anyways, let's get cracking with returning you to normal size, pipsqueak." Azazel coughed as he started pulling out gadget after gadget, "Well, usually, I wouldn't care if the others kept you like this because it seems innocent, but they forgot to take into factor one more thing."

Azazel turns around and points at the child.

"You. You're dangerous to yourself already as a normal teenager, but as a child, your body is less suited to handle the harsh dragon energy you use. Should you consider to use the power, you'd most likely die." Azazel shrugged.

"Wait, are you serious!?" Everyone and even Shirou was surprised by Azazel's analysis of the problem.

"Completely. That's why I decided to take a field trip with my precious students to find the ingredients."

"We don't even take your class." Both Saji and Kiba raised their hands.

"I'm still a teacher, so by extension means I still have authority over you two." Azazel quipped.

"I don't even go to school here." Shirou raised his hand.

"Don't worry, that will be taken care of later." Azazel smirked.

"Look, I don't mind killing some time doing this, but wouldn't it be easier for us to teach Mike how to turn back to normal with magic?" Shirou asked, "My master's mother uses magic to keep her youth all the time."

"That could work, but this was a forced transformation, so we have to use the methods that have been outdated for ages." Azazel coughed and pulls out a small ancient book scribbled with notes, "We first have to collect for ourselves a Liver, a Horn and a few scales."

"Wait, you made it sound too generic. What are we getting these things from?" Saji asked, "At least tell us."

"And ruin the fun of a good field trip? Nope, you all have to adapt to these trips each time we get an ingredient. Now for who gets what, we'll have Kiba handle the liver, Shirou gets the horn, and finally Saji gets the scales. Michael can't fight because he'll kill himself if he so much as tries to use his balance breaker. Are we good? Good."

Azazel walked towards the prepared magic circle after storing the gadgets and the books away.

"Sensei, aren't you going to do something?" Kiba asked.

"You mean besides being the handsome and badass sensei? Nah…You guys can handle the hard work." Azazel shook his head, "Besides, I have an excuse."

"And that is?" Shirou raised an eyebrow.

"I've had this killer headache ever since I woke up this morning, and also the fact that I'm still your teacher, so let's hop on to it, kiddies and baby." Azazel started directing everyone towards the magic circle.

"You don't have authority over me." Shirou crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Azazel.

"True, but do you know what I do have? Your master's contact information and I can just blame any damage Michael does in here on you." Azazel smirked.

"You wouldn't dare…" Shirou growled.

***BREAK!* *BREAK!***

"I didn't do it!" Michael pointed at Saji while holding a blazing shining aura sword, "And totally irrelevant, but can I have this?"

"Depends." Azazel looked back at Shirou with his knowing smile, "I bet he can do a lot worse without the sword."

"Fine, you know what, Governor-General, you're alright. I like you." Shirou nodded in respect.

"What abo-?" Saji said.

"I don't like you." Shirou didn't even hesitate to say it or wait for Saji to even speak up.

"Now let's get moving before we get,"

***BOOOM!***

A set of spiraling light spears came through the door and exploded upon contact setting some smoke inside the lab.

"Caught." Azazel sighed as he stood up to notice two silhouettes from within the smoke, "So they got you two to join their side. I'm not surprised, I foresaw this betrayal coming."

"Please don't take this personal, Azazel-sama, but we simply came for the boy."

"So, that squirt's the dog? This will be easy."

Walking from out of the smoke were Kalawarner and Mittelt who branded their light spears at the ready to take what they want.

"Kalawarner and half-pint?" Michael gasped.

"Who're you calling Half-pint after you've been reverted to that height, squirt!?" Mittelt snapped.

"Hehehe! So, you say, but from here I can tell that we're almost the same height. Normally, that makes you about the same height as a seven-years old, Half-pint! Ahahaha!" Michael childishly laughed at Mittelt.

"Can I kill him?" Mittelt's eyes were way too wide as she wore a miffed smile.

"Of course, you can't. Remember the deal that we made with Raynare. You get your reward, and I get mine…" Kalawarner licked her lips as her sights were directly on Michael, who hid behind Kiba out of fear.

"Now why don't you come over here, little Michael? Kalawarner-sensei wants to teach you a few private lessons, so you can regain all of the knowledge that you've lost from shrinking back to a child." Kalawarner wasn't trying to hide it, but her predatorial behavior along with her seductive tone of voice had no traces of any innocent intentions at all.

"It doesn't take a genius to know what you're talking about!" Michael cried.

"Enough! At this rate, I'll never be able to get my 5 free hug tickets from Raynare-neechan!" Mittelt stomped her foot in frustration.

"Now I get why she's here, but your reason is kind of sad, you know that?" Michael coughed.

"Quiet you, who asked for your opinion!" Mittelt screamed.

"He's not wrong." Azazel shrugged.

"Azazel-sama!" Mittelt gasped.

"So, do you guys know these people, too?" Shirou asked.

"Yeah, they're Sensei's bodyguards." Kiba introduced.

"And based on why they're attacking means they also." Shirou gestured to Michael.

"Yeah, one of them likes Michael and the other one is a bit iffy, she's mostly interested in Raynare." Saji explained.

"Who's Raynare again?" Shirou asked.

"That black-haired girl, she's a fallen angel who lives with Michael-kun." Kiba said.

"Oh, her…so does she also…?" Shirou asked.

"W-We'll just get you up to speed later. Don't worry about it." Kiba patted Shirou's back.

"You better hope that later is sooner because we already contacted Rias and the others about what you have planned." Kalawarner held up her cellphone, threateningly.

"So what will it be surrender easily or get hunted down like the mutts you are excluding Azazel-sama by the way." Mittelt said her ultimatum.

_'_ _Things are not looking good. Okay, Michael think of a way to escape! How can I get us out of this mess?' Michael grunted as he tried to think of a plan before something hit him, 'Wait, that Wacko priest, Freed used some balls of light to blind us last time and he had to of been supplied by the Fallen Angels!'_

"Aha! Think again, ladies!" Michael rushes the lab desk and opens a drawer searching around for something before he finally finds it, "Now watch as we escape with this!"

Michael pulls out the small ball for everyone to see.

"Wait, isn't that only used for-?" Mittelt stopped once Kalawarner held a finger up in silence.

"You'll never take us alive!"

"Michael, wait! That one only affects-!"

***BANG!* *Shiiiiiiiiiiine~!***

"Devils…" Azazel facepalmed as a blaring flash of holy light affected the devils that were in the room.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

"My eyes!"

"Michael! What the fuck, man!"

"Why would it do this!? I thought it only blinds the enemy!" Michael whimpered as he rolled around on the floor.

"Actually, it does, but for devils. I've been working on a portable flashbang to inhibit the sight of devil enemies in case the Old Satan Faction shows up again. Don't worry, it's only a prototype, so all of you will regain your sight back in 5 minutes." Azazel started to guide them towards the magic circle.

"What makes you guys think that we'll let you escape?" The two fallen angels prepared to pursue them, but Azazel simply raised his mechanical finger and shot a beam of light at the ceiling above them causing huge debris to crush them.

"That ought to keep them busy." Azazel dusted his hands off.

"What happened? Did I miss something awesome? I still can't see!" Michael gasped.

Grabbing the flailing boy by the back of his shirt, Azazel tosses him inside of the magic circle, "Just get moving, kid. First stop, retrieving that liver! We'll be relying on you Kiba to find the perfect Bull's liver."

"A Bull's liver? Are we just going after a herd of normal bulls?" Kiba asked curiously.

"Ohoho, you'll see…you'll see…" Azazel's laugh made the mystery of the task that more terrifying.

* * *

***GAAOOOOOO!***

**"** **Sword Birth!"**

The sounds of dangerous growling and shouting along with the sounds of multiple blades skewering something resounded from within a couple of mountains in some distant country. Standing over a dead beast that had the head of a bull and the body of a large 5-meter man, Kiba wielded one of his demonic swords to deal with the beast.

The ingredient that Azazel told them they needed was the liver of a bull, a monster bull that wielded a huge axe and can rip an ordinary man in half with just his bare arms, a minotaur.

This current dead one was just the one out of many that Kiba had killed during their time there. It was an easy task for him since the larger the opponent the easier it was to find any openings to exploit especially with his speed. But even though he had killed enough Minotaur, Azazel still kept him out to find the right liver that they can use for the reversal spell.

***GAAAAAAAOOO!***

Another Minotaur had spotted Kiba and began charging towards him with its ax hefted up.

"Tch!" Kiba dashed at the beast and stopped to stab his blade in the ground.

**"** **Sword Birth!"**

***GIN!* *STAB!* *GIN!* *STAB!* *GIN!* *STAB!* *GIN!***

A garden of swords sprouted out and impaled the minotaur before it could even swing its ax.

Breathing heavily, Kiba wiped his forehead of any sweat.

"C'mon, Kiba! You can keep going! That kill was just a bit slower than the last one! Try to keep your stamina up!" Azazel shouted.

"You're doing great, Kiba!" Saji cheered.

"Keep it up, Pretty Boy!" Michael grinned.

"Hey! Don't die!" Shirou shouted.

"What kind of advice is that?" Michael asked.

"A good one now shut up." Shirou groaned.

Everyone was voicing out their cheers of encouragement towards Kiba.

"Everyone…" Kiba's lip quivered from the encouragement before sweatdropping when he looked back.

"Please pass the salt." Michael said from across the table that everyone was sitting at. Azazel was working over a couple of stoves cooking the Minotaur meat that Kiba had already killed.

"Aren't you all enjoying yourselves a bit too much while I do all of the hard work?" Kiba panted.

"I haven't eaten Minotaur's meat before." Saji poked at the beef.

"The Minotaur from around here taste amazing. Once you eat it, you will get addicted to it. I even think it is the same as Matsusaka beef. But finding the type of liver that we need is quite a challenge, so you'd best keep hunting, Kiba." Azazel said.

"I know, but..." Kiba frowned.

"Don't be like that. It's your turn, so we get to enjoy ourselves until we get the ingredients." Saji shrugged and slapped away Michael's hand from stealing his Minotaur beef, "Keep your hands to yourself, Mike."

"Geez! Fine…" Michael tried to snatch Shirou's beef instead.

"Touch it and see what happens…" Shirou growled.

"Boop!" Michael poked at the beef.

"…" Shirou was silent as he glared at Michael.

"What you gonna hit me? I'm a kid, I can get away with anything!" Michael laughed.

***GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!***

The ground began to shake as a huge stampede of Minotaur were charging directly at them.

"Would you look at that? You better get on that Kiba." Azazel whistled.

"Azazel-sensei, wouldn't it be faster if you tried to help him a bit?" Saji asked.

"Do you know those Final Bosses in RPGs that are in the range of level one hundred? That's me and I'm on your side, and those things are like level 10 monsters. It would be completely boring if I stepped in to help." Azazel yawned.

"Hey, give it back!" Michael yelled, as Shirou took his beef from his plate.

"I might not be able to hit you, but I can get you by other means of revenge!" Shirou threw the slab of beef at the stampeding herd of minotaur, who trampled over it. Bursting in tears, Michael angrily screamed at the charging minotaur,

"My beef! I didn't get to finish you, and you, you ruined it, you sons of bitches! Nyaaaaargh!" Michael charged at the Minotaur headfirst without any thought to his own safety.

"Michael-kun!" Kiba screamed.

"Mike! What are you doing? You're still in that kid state, you can't fight all of those minotaur like th-!"

"Shush! That's right, Michael, go for it show them how amazing you are!" Shirou covered Saji's mouth and shouted with a growing grin.

"YES! Witness the power of my guts! I might not be able to be the same height as my original form, but watch and behold the power of Michael Hanamura's overwhelming stre-! Oh, they're pretty big isn't i-Gyaaaaaaaaaah!"

Getting knocked away by the stampeding Minotaur, Michael fell to the side as Shirou took a picture of the whole thing with his phone.

"Was it really worth it?" Saji sweatdropped.

"Yes, yes it was..." Shirou said with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Sensei!" Kiba kept pushing Azazel into taking some action at least.

"Geez…okay, I'll teach them a lesson." Azazel raised his finger and shouted, "Hey!"

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

A ray of light shot itself and blew away the herd of carnivorous minotaur with an over the top explosion that shook the entire mountain range. The only that was left were the smoldering bodies of the beasts who were caught up in that massive blast.

"Don't waste food." Azazel was seriously mad about the trampled over beef.

"Is that seriously the lesson that you wanted to put out there?" Kiba sweatdropped along with Saji while Shirou ate some more beef.

"What? It's a good life lesson. Never waste food right, Michael?" Azazel asked the charred boy who crawled all the way back to everyone else.

"Ugh…I can't feel my legs!" Michael passed out from the pain from getting hit by the brunt of the explosion.

"See? Now start carving them open for their livers, Kiba."

"Hai…" Kiba sighed as he dragged himself towards the charred Minotaur, Saji forced a smile at Kiba's position hoping that he wouldn't suffer as much when it's his turn to do a task.

"Now after this we'll go get that horn we need and Shirou, you'll be able to retrieve it with a bit of my help." Azazel placed the last of the Minotaur Beef on the table.

"Why would I need your help to get a horn?" Shirou asked.

"Because as you are now, you don't meet the criteria to get it and I have such the tool to help you meet it." Azazel explained, "In fact, I even prepared a cautionary device that can help you all should you get caught by the others."

"You do? What is it?" Saji asked.

"That's a secret, and I can't show it now because I've left it in the capable hands." Azazel said.

"Great. How assuring, you have a back-up plan that you can't even tell us. Boy, do I feel safe…" Shirou rolled his eyes and looked up, "Hey, do you guys see that dragon flying over us? Its rather small don't you think?"

"A small dragon?" Michael looked up to spot said dragon to see its blue scales and its innocent smile looking down at him in familial enjoyment. His face paling, he gasped, "No! That's Rael! They know we're! No worse, they're here! They're here!" Michael cried.

"What?"

***FLASH!* *FLASH!***

Saji stood up and looked closely, "Is it holding a camera?"

"That's not good! If they realize what we're doing, then they'll try to get one step ahead of us!" Kiba stopped carving out Minotaur livers to regroup with everyone.

***Snap!***

***Shiiiiiiiiiine~!***

"Then let's move on to next ingredient, boys." Azazel summoned another magic circle.

Fleeing through the magic circle, everyone save for Michael, who quickly ran back to grab another plate of Grilled Minotaur Beef left the area as Kiba and Azazel were the last ones to enter with Kiba looking a little worried.

"Azazel-sensei, I couldn't find the right liver you asked for."

"Don't worry about it. I just took the ones that I told you to leave alone. All of them are the same and don't matter." Azazel shrugged it off.

"T-Then why did you tell me there was a specific liver that we needed to get?"

"Because its good training since you could deal with earning more stamina, and I was starting to crave Matsusaka Beef and now I'm completely satisfied. Thank you, Butcher-san." Azazel pats Kiba's back much to the young man's annoyance as the two made their way into the magic circle and teleporting to their next destination.

* * *

Near a beautiful lake in another distant country, the group made their way to a certain set of springs surrounded by a thick green forest. Standing in front of the pond were Michael, Kiba and Saji as they waited for Azazel who took Shirou to a place far away to prepare him for something. They didn't know why they had to go, but thanks to a distant scream they probably didn't want to know.

Their guards were up when they heard the approaching sounds of feet making their way towards them. Exiting out from the trees were Azazel, who spun a ray gun in his hand as a beautiful white haired girl who wore a white thin cloth followed after him.

"Hello, boys. It seems that we're ready to start after a few minor inconveniences."

Bruises and bumps littered Azazel's face as the white-haired girl behind him gave him the dirtiest of glares. However, she wasn't the only person that was staring because all the boys were looking at her speechless by how beautiful she was.

Her flawless skin.

Her soft, silky white hair.

Those beautiful curves and milky white thighs.

Not to mention those mystifying blue eyes.

And not to mention her huge gazong-!

"Son of a bitch, she's even on par with Buchou and Akeno-san when it comes to beauty." Michael said it so dramatically as he clenched his fist, "N-No, it can't be! Ngh! Her beauty i-is…OVER NINE THOU-!"

* * *

**Retribrutus: What are you doing?**

**Michael: Yeah…I knew that wasn't going to fly…**

**Retribrutus: My friend, Evil Kenevil couldn't even make that leap.**

* * *

"Um…Ero-Sensei…who's that?" Michael sucked in his lips.

"Our bait to lure out the Unicorn." Azazel snickered.

"I think what Michael-kun meant to say was... Who is she, exactly?" Kiba corrected, but couldn't get his answer because Saji shoved Michael back before he could say anything.

"And where's Shirou? Wasn't he with you?" Saji asked.

"He's still here don't worry about it." Azazel pointed directly at the girl behind him.

Being smart enough to take the hint, Kiba and Saji shirked back in surprise.

"Oh my Maou!"

"You mean…?"

Looking confused, Michael pushed the girl aside and screamed, "Shirou! Where are you!? Shi-rou! Man, that usually gets a response out of him. Ero-Sensei, he isn't here. You lied."

"Nope, he's here and your next to him."

"I am?" Michael looked at the girl closely then closely matched her peeved expression with Shirou's and instantly got the message through to his head.

"What you got something to say or what, dumbass?" Even her mannerism was the same as his.

Doing a long spit take and holding his sides, Michael busted a gust with laughter, "Pfft…Hahahahahaahaha! The way you look is far from what I would imagined you'd be as a girl! Hahahaha, it's so unfitting, tch…hahahaha!"

"I-Idiot! Stop talking shit!" The now revealed female Shirou hissed, but the action only made her cute as she unintentionally pouted.

"N-No! Stop talking, I can't handle anymore! I think I'll pee myself!" Michael rolled around laughing.

"Like I give a crap about your bladder! Go on do it! Embarrass yourself!" Shirou screamed.

"I guess, I better stop calling you Shi-rou now! How about Shiroko? That's a much better name for a GIRL! Hahahaha!"

"I swear to every devil in existence, once we both return to normal, I will grab you by the neck and bludgeon your head against a brick wall until every piece of your grey matter is dead!"

Remembering back to the stupid stunts and pranks Michael pulled, Saji sweatdropped and turned to Azazel, "He might have beaten you to it, and care to explain?"

Pulling out a raygun and spinning it in his hand, Azazel introduced his invention, "Say hello to the Gender-Swap Ray. With one blast, you can turn the unruliest of men to the most beautiful of women. But I still can't seem to soften their personality when they get their gender swapped."

Azazel rubbed the bruises that Shirou gave to him.

"Oh yeah, good luck trying to not get your ass kicked after tricking someone into changing gender without warning." Shirou hissed, "Fucking asshole…"

"Don't be like that, and you weren't complaining while we were walking."

"That was because you literally had me walk in front of you for more than 2 miles! You shot me in the back while I wasn't looking!"

"I don't see how that's my problem. Look, you shouldn't be so difficult because you actually turned out to be a pretty cute girl right, boys?"

Azazel turned to Kiba and Saji.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I kind of have to agree." Kiba nodded.

"Eh?" Shirou's face turned red.

"I feel uncomfortable saying this…what the hell, you're hot." Saji groaned.

"Does that make you feel better now?" Azazel smirked as he saw Shirou babbling to himself in embarrassment.

"B-Bakas! Why would you think that I'd be happy about you finding me beautiful! Stupid dumbasses! Go die!"

Shirou turned around to see little Michael wearing the dirtiest of smiles.

"What?"

These words forever scared Shirou, "Shiroko, the most powerful tsundere has been born."

***CRACK!***

Shiroko cracked her knuckles as she threateningly stood over Michael, who was starting to cower in fear.

"I-I'm sorry! Please don't kill me! Think of all the great things that I'll never get accomplished if you strike me down!" Michael whimpered in fear.

***CRACK!***

"I don't take kindly to jokes especially bad ones." Shiroko's retort crushed Michael's self-esteem as he curled himself into a ball and cried his sorrows away.

"Just kill me…"

"Oi! At least try to say a comeback before giving up like that!" Saji scolded.

***RUSTLE!* *RUSTLE!***

Hearing the bushes, Azazel hushes the usual comedy skit of Michael breaking down, "Shush! Everyone get into position!"

"Hai!" Everyone quietly agreed while Shirou groaned in frustration.

Taking their hiding place behind a boulder, Kiba and Azazel had taken their spots while Saji had to drag Michael over to take his hiding spot beside them. Muttering to himself a couple of curses towards Azazel, Shirou decided to get things over with and laid her new feminine form in front of the dazzling lake.

"Are you sure a Unicorn will appear to Shirou, Azazel-sensei? He's a devil." Saji whispered.

"Don't worry that cloth has been created for the sole purpose of masking demonic energy, so he'll be fine. Plus, its sure to work since Unicorns only reveal themselves to pure virgins." Azazel held back some laughter after saying that last part.

_'_ _I'm seriously going to kill that Fallen Angel someday…' Shirou's stomach was boiling with rage as she overheard their conversation._

***RUSTLE!* *RUSTLE!* *CLOP!* *CLOP!***

"It's here…"

"Whoa…"

Peeking over the boulder, Michael saw a white skinned horse approach the lake with a gorgeous horn growing out from its head. Its majestic visage was closely approaching Shirou, taking the former man's new form for an innocent virgin girl's.

"It's beautiful…" Saji admired the beast's majestic glow, "I never that thought I'd actually get to see a unicorn before."

"That's it… Take the bait…" Azazel held a tube of medicine for the Unicorn's horn so it would heal after they take it from it.

"Ha!"

***WHIIIIE!***

Once the Unicorn was near Shirou, she placed a hand on the beast's face with a glamorous smile before looking angrily unpleasant as she mercilessly karate chopped the Unicorns neck. The guys were shocked, they didn't expect such a perfect moment to end with something violent like that.

"Sshhh! It's almost over just relax you, glorious creature…sshhh! Sshhh!" Shirou comforted the horse as she layed its head on her lap. She looked rather gentle when caressing the mythical animal's mane, but that changed when everyone was looking directly at her.

"W-What?" Shirou realized what she did and waited for their response.

Giving her a thumbs up with such optimistic smiles, Michael along with Kiba and Saji said, "Nice!"

"You guys wanna fight, or what!?" Shiroko blustered with a huge blush on her face as Azazel rushed over and retrieved the Unicorn horn and hastily applied the medicine.

"That's two down and one more to go. Now you're up, Saji don't let us down." Shirou's incessant and forced coughing also grabbed Azazel's attention as he said, "And I'll turn you back to normal. There are you happy?"

"Not until the day I get my revenge on you, you son of a-!" Shirou growled.

"Any who, Saji prepare to collect some scales for us." Azazel interrupted.

"Sure. Are we going lizard hunting? I love hunting for some rare lizard species. I don't mean to brag, but have I ever told you as a kid I had a pretty impressive butterfly collection!" Saji crossed his arms.

"Nerd!" Michael teased.

"Shut it, Mike."

"Oh, we're going lizard hunting, but the lizard we're nabbing is pretty BIG." Azazel foreshadowed the true task with an evil laugh.

"That's unsettling." Saji gulped.

"Come on, compared to the last two ingredients how hard can getting a few scales be?" Michael sang jauntily since they were close to returning him back to normal.

"I don't think you should jinx it, Michael-kun." Kiba warned.

"It's not jinxing when it's obvious that the task will be easy peasy lemon squeezy!" Michael chuckled.

* * *

***GOBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!***

Right in front of Saji was a monster which was more than 15 meters tall resounded an ear screeching roar. This red scaled monster which had both of its wings spread was a dragon!

"This is a Flame-Dragon. A dragon which represents fire. The scales growing from its back is the last ingredient we are looking for."

Sensei explains, calmly.

"Well, damn…I did jinx it, didn't I?" Michael scratched his head and nervously laughed, "Hehehe…I kind of get it now. Ero-Sensei said it was going to be a big lizard, see?"

"No shit, Sherlock!" Saji shouted, "How do you expect me to fight this thing with just this iron sword?"

Saji showed off the iron sword that Azazel came equipped with, but compared to those dragon's scales it would break like a toothpick should he swing it.

"You have to figure that out, Saji. You're smart, you'll think of something." Azazel pushed the young man towards the fire breathing monster of death.

"Just don't die too quickly! Make it entertaining, then die!" Shirou shouted.

"You really don't like him, huh?" Kiba asked.

"Meh, I'm still pissed about before, so I'm taking my pent-up aggression on him."

"That's unhealthy."

"Shut up, I'm pissed off and transforming into a girl doesn't really brighten my mood."

***GOOOOOOOOOOOOOBAN!***

**Another earth shaking roar almost made Saji fall off his own two feet as he screamed,**

"O-Okay, I can't do this, sensei!"

"The dragon which resides within you is far stronger than this one. Now go! Prove to me that you can unleash the powers of Prison Dragon, Vritra, Saji Genshirou!"

"What are you talking about I only have ¼ of Vritra's power! I can barely fight with my sacred gear alone! This sword can't even help either it'll just break apart like a toothpick. Hell, even this dragon will break me like a toothpick! Can't I have a little more support than that?"

Azazel's mood shifted from disappointment to an encouraging smile, "Try very hard not die okay, kid?"

Saji froze when he heard those words, but moved his feet when he started to feel heat surround him.

***GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!***

An enormous fireball came out from the dragon's mouth and went after Saji, who ran screaming like a frightened child. The Dragon never even lets up as it kept firing plumes of flame, one after the other to toast Saji into a crisp.

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Somebody help me!" Saji cried.

"Shouldn't we be helping him?" Kiba asked as he watched the teen run for his life.

"Don't worry, Saji's the smartest guy I know. He's got this." Michael crossed his arms.

"I don't got this! I don't got this!" Saji cried.

"He's got this…" Michael nodded, blocking out Saji's desperate cries for help.

***SWOOOOOOOOSH!* *CRASH!***

"Sheesh!" Saji ducks a swing of the dragon's tail which toppled a large rock formation with one powerful hit.

"That could have taken my head off its shoulders…Sensei! I'm going to die if this keeps up! I'm running low on stamina! Please!" Saji pleaded for help so desperately that Azazel clicked his tongue and groaned,

"Fine then. If it can't be helped then-! Come ouuuuuuuut!"

***Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine~!***

"What's going on? What's happening!? I'm so full of excitement!"

"Calm down! You're breathing way too heavily."

Michael was leaning on Shirou and wheezing big puffs of air in excitement.

With a single click of his fingers, a gigantic magic-circle appears on the ground. Something very big appears from it while emitting black pulses!

"Is that a Robot!?" Saji screamed.

Overshadowing everyone was a humanoid-type super robot that was about the same size as the dragon.

"Impressive." Fascinated with the robot's design as a closet fan of mecha anime, Kiba admired the large creation's visage.

"I don't know. I think he's trying too hard to make it look cool. I mean it basically looks like a knock-off of the Voltron mecha." Shirou's opinion was brutal and to the point.

It took Kiba a moment to remember how well versed Shirou's master was when it came to mecha robot animes and models, and could see how her tendencies rubbed off on her Queen.

"I wonder where this thing came from! Outer Space! Do aliens exist? Oh! I just have to know!" So many unanswered questions were popping up in Saji's head.

"Nah, it's just a robot that I made in a secret basement located under Kuoh Academy's pool!"

"What!?" Saji screamed.

"It was either that or beneath the Old School Building, but I already have plans for installing this very new cloning machine." Azazel rubbed his chin.

"You're doing what?" Now Kiba was worried.

"Don't go to the basement." Azazel coughed.

"Did you even run this by the Kaichou or even Rias-sama!?" Saji screamed.

"Why should I? I'm a teacher, and I can do whatever I want." Azazel immaturely stuck out his tongue to Saji, "And besides it was Sirzechs' idea to figure out a way to harness the hatred in the human world into a power source and this robot is just the thing we need to stabilize the world's ecology, Maouga!"

"That's a terrible name. What did you just come up with the word Maou and decided to add the -ga to make it more robotic?" Shirou facepalmed.

"N-No, of course not." Azazel looked away whistling.

"I can tell you're speaking bullshit, Governor." Shirou groaned.

"Look the small details don't matter. What matters is the flow and how you just go along with. Let's go, Maouga! Absorb the hatred of mankind! You are the master piece created by this world of darkness!"

Maouga raised its arm but much to Azazel's surprise the robot raised its arm and heroically posed.

"What the hell? I didn't program it to do that?"

"That's because we're one now!" Proclaimed a young Michael who stood on the head of the Maouga while wearing a red cape and red sunglasses.

"Is that Mike?" Saji gasped.

"H-How did he get up there so fast?" Kiba saw an outlining of where Michael once stood and traced his sights back up to the robot's head.

"This could go horribly wrong or completely hilarious." Shirou kicked back and enjoyed the show.

"Michael, what are you doing? Get off of the, Maouga!" Azazel yelled.

"No."

"What?"

"Ero-Sensei, this robot is now an extension of me and both of us are united as one!" Michael jabbed his thumb to his chest, "That's right! Me and the Maouga have begun to understand each other to bring out our full potential! Through the pain of experiencing our most precious loved one, Michael Jr. I was able to see deep within myself to realize my true power!"

Pointing his finger in the air, Michael shouted, "For the one, who unfairly lost his life! For the future of returning me back to normal! I am Michael Hanamura, and with this fist of ours, I swear that it will pierce the HEEEEEEEEEEAVENS!"

When Michael shouted the robot cocked its arm back.

"Finishing Move! Super Devil Ultimate Technique"

***BABUMP!***

A dark pulse of magic covered the mecha's arm as it grew with the sheer intensity.

**"** **Giga Fist Breaker!"**

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

The Robot's arm fired out and released a devastating punch that split open the clouds in the sky as it headed toward the dragon.

"Take this my hope, my love and all of my sorrow!"

***GOOOOOOOOOO…***

The Rocket punch was easily dodged by the dragon since it was just going in that one direction.

…

…

…

"Eh?" Michael's jaw dropped.

The rocket didn't stop it just kept on going without every stopping as it disappeared into the horizon.

"Is that it? What a letdown." Shirou sighed.

"Even though it was a knock off, you still were looking forward to it working, weren't you?" Kiba poked fun at him.

"Shut up! The buildup just earned my attention was all."

"Also, I think I noticed two references from that over the top speech, Mike." Saji groaned.

"So is it coming back?" Saji turned to Azazel.

"Don't know. I never made a returning function for it. I'm sure it will appear somewhere in this country." Azazel dusted his hands off.

"Oi, oi! You can't just do that what if humans were to see it?" Shirou asked.

"Not my problem?" Azazel raised his hands like he was over with the topic.

"But it could seriously destroy a country if its left alone." Kiba said.

"Not my problem~!" Azazel sang.

…

***GAAAAAAAAAAAAO!***

Now setting its sights on the ones on the ground, the dragon tried to burn them all into a crisp.

"Quiet you!"

***PEW!* *BOOOOOOOOOOM!***

With a single finger beam, the monstrous dragon fell without even having a chance to fight the Fallen Angel Boss.

"Hmph. Like a mere wild dragon could touch me. Ridiculous." Azazel laughed to himself.

"Looks like I'm not going to be needing this anymore." Saji tossed the sword to the side.

Looking out into the horizon, Michael whispered, "Oh, Robot fist, I pray that wherever you may go that you will still smite the most horrendous evil that is known to man…ouch…!" Michael winced in pain from the praying.

* * *

_(Meanwhile, somewhere in Europe)_

"Sister Faith are you sure you don't want to come with us?" A few nuns spoke to a beautiful young woman with flowing blonde hair. Her beautiful body was hidden from beneath her nun's garb and habit.

"Thank you, but I still wish to collect some more water for the children. Please go on ahead."

"Okay, but make sure to be safe. May god watch over you." The older nuns prayed.

"Amen."

Left alone, the sister knelt down and sipped some water from the nearby river, unbeknownst to her there was a gentle looking handsome man licking his lips in a devilish fashion as he looked at the sister with unbridled lust.

"Precious…precious…"

***Whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistle~!***

"Eh?"

***THUUUUD!***

A humongous shadow casted over the handsome man as the Robot fist descended and squashed him like a bug.

"Oh my goodness! Kyaaaaaaaaaa~!" The nun screamed in fright and ran away.

"S-So close…" The handsome man whimpered in pain.

* * *

Now with all of their ingredients collected, the guys now had the task of completing the ritual of returning Michael back to normal. They had to use Azazel's old suite to complete the task of returning him back to normal.

"So it's all over." Shirou muttered.

"Yeah, it just felt like yesterday that we had all gotten together like the closet of friends." Kiba nodded sadly.

"I'm going to miss you guys when it's over." Saji nodded.

"You know what Saji, for once I'm going to have to agree with you." Shirou nodded, "So let's not shed any tears."

"Right." Kiba agreed.

"R-Right…" Saji shedded tears.

"Aw, now you've gone and ruined it, Saji. I take back everything that I said about you." Shirou shook his head.

"B-But you guys…I don't want to die…!" Saji blustered through his teeth as he and the other two devils were tied up and had the tips of light spears pointing at their necks.

"M-Me, neither!" Gasper wailed next to the others with the same restraints.

"Shut up!" Mittelt slapped Saji across the face.

"Darn it! That's smarts!" Saji exhaled in pain.

It all happened so fast, the girls, they knew they would go to Azazel's place the first chance they hot and ambushed them. Things were tough enough with Rias, Akeno, Raynare and Xenovia cornering them, but adding Koneko in the mix? That was just downright unfair. So now they were tied up and left to side as the girls cornered a frightened Michael.

"It's okay, Michael, why don't you come and give your Onee-chan a hug?" Rias' eyes glistened with a hint of lust and adoration, she must be really into this sort of thing and she wasn't the only one.

"Ara ara, he's so cute when he's scared. Michael-chan, Akeno-neechan will be sure to spoil you if you come down to her now. Fufufu, but I can't excuse you so try to endure me bullying you for a while, okay?"

Even the usually reserved Asia was breaking her usual character when confronted with his new form.

"I wish to hug, Michael-san, too. It will be refreshing to do it since he used to be taller than me. Now it will be like holding a small teddy bear instead."

"This could be quite a wonderful experience for me. I've heard from Kiryuu that men tend to enjoy getting their faces hugged by a woman's chest. This will surely deepen our progress for creating our child." Xenovia intently waited for her chance to whisk Michael into her arms.

"Aww~! Tiny Michael-sama why don't you come over here to me?" Raynare pushed her way in to give Michael a hug. The excited look on her face frightened Michael and it didn't help that she was drooling profusely, either.

"Since Michael-senpai's this small, then I can pet him on the head like an older sister now." Koneko dangerously approached the boy while acting a little more restless.

"Hold up! Hold up! Stop!" Michael screamed.

The women were like a prideful den of lionesses about to pounce on a cornered baby deer.

"Ero-Sensei, do something! You're the Final Boss leveled Fallen Angel Leader, aren't you?"

"Hmhmhm! Yes, that may be true, but I'm a little occupied at the moment."

"With what?"

"Trying not to get beaten up, they overpowered me…" Azazel stood with his ankles and wrists bound by tight leather ropes.

"H-How? Didn't you fight back at all?" Michael screamed.

"No. I might be many things a pervert, an unhealthy collector, a teacher, But I am no child beater."

Michael deadpanned along with all of the other males in the room, who shouted in unison,

"THAT'S BULLSHIT!"

"I can sense hostility come from all of you, but to be fair. If I were to ever lay a hand on any of the girls, then I would be in trouble. Unlike you guys, you can actually take the unnecessary abuse I throw at you, like men. Sort of like the ingredients that I made you all get. I already had my own supply of them back at my Research facility in the underworld." Azazel whistled.

All of the boys glared at Azazel with their eyes wide open with Saji being the one to voice out their combined question,

"WHY!?"

"Because I wanted to teach you that not all things will be so easy to get. You have to work for what you want, and that's the most important lesson any teacher could give you."

The guys would have fallen for the teacher's schlock if Shirou hadn't chime in,

"Don't pull that shit on us you, old fart! You were probably just lazy to even make the call for someone to get those items for you!"

"And there's also that possibility, yes!" He admitted with no guilt.

"So you mean to tell me that I got turned into a god damn woman because you were bored?"

"I killed so many minotaur for nothing…I'm pretty sure we almost wiped out their entire ecosystem around that mountain." Kiba muttered to himself.

"I almost got burned to cinders because of you!" Saji growled.

"And you could have turned me back into my original, yet more awesome state!" Michael whined while shooing the girls away from him.

"Boys…boys…haven't you realized it, yet? It's not about the destination, but the journey."

"FUCK YOU!"

The boys didn't even spare a moment's notice to insult the older man.

"Now that's just hurtful." Azazel coughed.

"Look, he's getting flustered!"

"Awwwwww~!"

The girls cooed as they were slowly grabbing parts of his clothes, thankfully his struggling helped him escape with only parts of his clothes tearing into their clawing hands.

"Kyaaaaaaah! No, get away! Back women! Back I say!" Michael climbed up on a bookcase and started throwing down books before stopping to look at one he pulled out, "Hehehehe! Hey, Saji guess what I found!"

"Oh my Maou! Is that  _Twilight_! Hah, gay!" Saji laughed his ass off.

Michael showed off the book, "Hahahahahaha! I freaking told you that Ero-Sensei would even stoop this low to collect books like this!"

"I was only holding it for a friend." Azazel groaned.

"Yeah, rig-whoa!" Michael tossed the book and held onto the bookcase that was being shaken by the girls.

"Kya~!" Thanks to the misfire, Gasper was knocked out by the  _Twilight_ book hitting his head.

"Wow, how ironic." Kiba chuckled a little.

"Who cares about irony! We're trapped! Our only adult is a complete and utter tool!"

"Why thank you."

"Shut it, and Michael is about to be torn to shred by those girls! We have no way of resolving this issue with any happy ending for us!" Shirou shouted.

"Actually, there is." Azazel nodded.

"Really?" Saji blinked.

"Yup, I have someone willing to help on standby ever since we've started our field trip."

"T-Then how come you haven't told them to do anything yet?" Gasper asked.

"Mainly because Shirou's ranting hurt my feelings, and I really wanted to see how things played out and see how you guys can get out of this mess, but there hasn't been any progress, so…I'll step in with this."

Taking a deep breath, Azazel blew out a loud whistle.

***GACHA!* *GACHA!* *SLAAAAAM!***

And with that signal made the two doors leading into the room open along with a large object that seemed to be bouncing along the floor towards Michael, who still clinging on to the bookshelf for dear life.

"Aaaaaagh! I can't hold on! I'm going to die by being smothered to death! Aaaaa-wait, what's going on? Why is it getting dark all of a sudden? Oh my maou! Is that the-!?"

But before Michael could react, he was engulfed in the large object.

***PWOOOOOOM!***

Soon the large object hopped off Michael and leaves the boy in a pink smoke as it uselessly rolls over to Azazel's feet.

"And that my boys is our way out of this mess."

Seeing through the thick smoke, everyone could see a silhouette of hopping off of the bookcase to stand on his own two feet as he walks through the smoke to be revealed to be a 17 year old Michael back to his usual state.

"Michael-nii's back to normal!" Gasper gasped.

"You mean that could have just returned him back to normal in the first place, too?" Shirou was already sick of Azazel's games.

"Yes, and no. This here is the 10 year time bazooka, it allows whoever its used on to trade places with their future self for about 5 minutes." Azazel explained.

"So you mean Michael-kun will just go back after his time is up?" Kiba asked, "It seems like nothing about our situation has changed, he's still going to be captured, isn't he?"

"Wait a minute…" Saji watched Michael closely as the teen calmly opened and closed his hands, "Something about him doesn't seem right…I think something changed besides Mike's appearance."

"Huh?"

All they could do was watch with Azazel who wore an entertained grin at the spectacle that was about to begin. The girls of course overheard their conversation and approached Michael with the intent to detain him until he returns to normal.

"We have five minutes to wait for the small Michael to return? Then let's tie him up so that he won't run off when he reverts back to a kid."

Rias led the girls closer to Michael, but stopped in her tracks when she saw the oddest of things, Michael was giving her a half-lidded glare while tapping his feet with impatience it wasn't unusual but he just gave off a more mature atmosphere about it. It was odd since Michael has never shown such an attitude towards her before.

"M-Michael?"

And his tone of voice was more irritated than usual, "What are you doing?"

"Binding you, of course. I think it's in everyone's favor that you won't escape while you're in that form. So make it easy for us by giving up."

"No."

"Excuse me?" Not only Rias, but everyone was surprised by Michael's straightforward answer, usually he would use a trick to get out of this mess, but he was being honest and standing up to Rias.

"Why should I give myself up just because you want me to?" Michael asked.

"Because as your master, I have full authority over you, and so you must listen to my orders right now." Rias used her position to get the upperhand.

"Oh, I see…alright then, I'll give myself up to you, Gremory-sama…" The way Michael said that made Rias stop in her tracks. She was used to him calling her by name so much that hearing him use her last name made her chest hurt a little. Using her club president title was okay for her, too, but it just didn't hold that much depth than being called by her family name.

"What? You wanted to capture me, so do it, Gremory-sama." Michael's words were devoid of his usual casual tone, he was serious with a look of disdain.

"Y-You don't have to call me that, Michael. You can always call me 'Buchou' or even my name, yes, you can call me Rias if you want. I don't mind if everyone is around." Rias was desperate to gain the usual affectionate treatment her boyfriend gives her, but Michael did none of that.

"That would be disrespectful and besides you even said that you're my master, so why would I even think to call you by name." Michael tilted his head in question.

"T-That's true, but I didn't mind that. S-So go on, you can call me 'Rias' please…" Rias was already whimpering from Michael's neglection to give her what she desired most, being spoiled by her boyfriend.

Rubbing his chin, he said, "So it's okay to bend the rules to your advantage, but when I ask for something it's absolutely denied? Just like turning me into a little kid without my consent? That's just cheap and dangerous and you know it, Gremory-sama."

"B-But Michael…" Rias was tearing up in an attempt to persuade Michael to cheer her up, but he didn't lift a finger.

"You may think that its cruel, but it's the truth and you have to deal with it." Michael shrugged, "If I were to fall into your little ploy, then I might just lose some respect for you, Rias."

"I-I…" Rias was at a loss for words, he used her name, but that just made her feel even worse for the things that she allowed herself and the others to do.

"Don't let him get to you, Rias-san, we can still do this! You have to have a will of steel." Raynare stopped herself when Michael walked up to her wearing a forced smile.

"W-What is it, Michael-sama?"

"Hi, my name is Michael Hanamura. It's nice to meet you."

"M-Michael-sama?" Raynare could already sense where this was going.

"I don't really know that much about you, so I'll try to be respectful and not give you any close nicknames such as 'Ray-chan' okay, Raynare?"

"N-No, but why are you?" Raynare was trembling.

"Please try to reset our relationship. If you don't, then I'll lose all respect for you, too, and drop your nickname without hesitation."

That was all Raynare could withstand.

"Nooo~! Please don't do that! Forgive me!" Falling to her knees and gripping onto the legs of Michael's pants.

"You're just as bad as Rias, you helped orchestrated this and didn't even consider my feelings about being turned into a kid." Michael could hear Rias wince after he said that, but he wasn't done with just telling those two off,

"Next, would be the rest of you like Akeno-senpai, Xenovia and Kalawarner. You're even more guilty than the others because you barely even showed any concern for me when I was constantly screaming to be turned back. Yeah, I know I like to exaggerate, but come on! In that form? Instead thinking about what you guys wanted you should have at least thought about how fragile I was as a child." The three of them felt like they were being bombarded by a long lecture of their inaction and they were honestly starting to feel just as bad as Rias and Raynare,

"I could have died by accident for trying to find the ingredients that I wouldn't have to even look for if it weren't for that spell. Yet, all of you still went after me to suit your own personal desires without thinking of the consequences…"

Michael was on a roll and all of the guys had their jaws dropped at the spectacle. He was using his words to defeat the enemy and they were causing critical amounts of damage.

"And YOU!" Michael pointed at Mittelt, "I know you really love Raynare and all, but actually, tell me why you're even here."

"Hmph! I don't have to explain myself to you!" Mittelt was getting flustered and looked to the side.

"So you say, but didn't you say that you hate me, but yet, you always end up around me. Why is that because if you wanted, you could have impressed Raynare with something far more different than this!"

"W-Well, you see! I-I-I-! Ooooooh! What would you know, baka! I've had it! I'm out of here." Mittelt stormed out of the room once Michael backed her into a corner, she spared a few glances his way, but that was it before she took off without a single trace.

"It looks like that case won't be solved in a while." Michael groaned, but felt two hands tug at him.

"You two?" Michael was looking at the puppy dog eyes that Asia and Koneko were giving him.

"M-Michael-san?" Asia's eyes were apologetic as she clasped her hands together in an attempt for an apology.

"M-Michael-senpai, pat my head, please just like always?" Koneko sought to be left out from Michael's harsh scolding by getting praised instead, but the only thing Michael could give them was a heavy sigh.

"I have nothing to say to you both. I'm just disappointed."

***DUUUUUN!***

"Guh!"

"…!"

Those words were like a dagger through the heart for those two, having nothing said to them was even worse than being scolded. They simply retreated while looking more down than everyone else.

Standing in front of the will-broken girls, Michael crossed his arms and said, "Now if you would all please just let me return to my normal self in peace, I'd very much appreciate it. Plus, make sure to learn from this and promise me that you'll never do this again without my consent. When a promise is made you have to do everything in your power to not make the same mistake again, am I clear?"

_'_ _Interesting.' Azazel could tell the difference between an average adult lecturing others to a teacher lecturing their students._

"R-Right, excuse us for being selfish, Michael. We'll leave you to your business, and will do our best to make it up to you." Rias escorted the others out of the room with Raynare being the last one to approach Michael.

"Before I go can I at least have one more hug with little Michael-sama, first?"

"Raynare, I think we should sleep in separate beds for a while." Michael said.

"N-No~! Forgive me! I didn't mean to go that far~!" Raynare ran out the room crying leaving Michael and the guys to their business.

"And that's how it's done." Michael coughed before turning to untie the other guys, who were watching him skeptically. He looked to be Michael, he sounded like Michael, but the way he acted didn't seem to be like the ordinary Michael. Just what was going on?

"And there we go…" Michael finished untying Azazel.

"Took you long enough." Azazel wringed out his wrists.

"Took you long enough to come up with that bazooka contingency plan." Michael retorted.

"Aha, touché."

"Oh, and before I forget…here." Michael handed Azazel the 'Twilight' book.

"What? No degrading mockery?"

"Pfft! Please making fun of  _Twilight_ was so 2016. Now we make fun of  _Vampires & Werewolves." _Michael laughed into his hand.

"Wait, it's still 2016. What are you talking about?" Shirou asked.

"Could you please explain what happened?" Kiba asked.

"Why don't you ask Saji? He's already figured it out." Azazel watched as Saji walked up to Michael, who gave him a bright and calming smile.

"You're not the Mike from our time are you?" Saji asked.

"Bingo, you were always bright, Saji." Future Michael patted Saji's head.

"It's weird having you do that when we're technically the same height." Saji chuckled and took Michael's hand off.

"Sorry, force of habit." Future Michael crossed his arms.

"E-Eh?" Gasper screamed, "But how is that possible? He looks like our time's Michael-nii."

"Well, you see Gasper I was…" Future Mike raised a finger, but Saji cut him off.

"That's true, but remember. The Mike we know had the body of a 7 year old with his 17 year old mind. By using the 10 year time bazooka, he was able to change not only bodies, but also minds with his future self. So this Mike right here is from 10 years in the future." Saji turned back around at Michael, "That's true, right?"

Looking away with a pouty face, Future Michael said, "Yeah, you hit nail on that one, Saj…*SIGH!* I wanted to reveal it though. My explanation would have sounded way cooler, and it would have shaken you all with its whole grandeur, and the finishing line that I wanted to say would have touched your hearts 'I AM FROM THE LAND OF TOMORROW!' yeah, but you already ruined it so, meh, lets continue…" Michael sounded interested but instantly lost focus.

"Wow, he actually gave that up rather quickly." Shirou said it in surprise.

"I know. The present Michael-kun would be too hung up about it to even let the conversation continue." Kiba rubbed his chin in surprise.

"Anyways, where the hell did all of that spunk come from?" Shirou asked Michael.

"Well, kiddies…" Michael copied Azazel's manner of speaking, "Since I'm from the future, I have loads of experience dealing with everyone, but usually they kind of mellowed out with time…well, it's been a while since I checked in, but I think everyone is fine."

"What do you mean by th-?"

"Let's not be asking for any spoilers, okay? We can't learn anything from the future, or it will create a paradox." Azazel covered Gasper's mouth.

"Yeah, tell me about it...time travel is strange. One minute everything is okay, and then another, you find out that you have another version of you trying to destroy the timeline multiverse." Future Michael groaned and picked up the 10 year time bazooka and frowned, "I know this was important to use now, but please be careful using this in the future, it can really screw this timeline up more than it needs to."

"Look, who's actually shed from their reckless teenager phase." Azazel whistled and took the bazooka.

"Meh, growing up makes you feel the weight of responsibility sometimes, and it eventually got to me, too." Future Michael shrugged.

***GAAASP!***

Everyone gasped.

"You monster!"

"Who are you!?"

"Are you seriously that dumbass, Mike?"

"Michael-nii, would never say that!"

All of the guys shouted in denial after hearing the word 'responsibility' come out of Future Michael's mouth.

"See? This is what I missed from my younger days! Now, I can tell my time is almost up so before I go," Michael approached the teens and patted Kiba on the shoulder,

"Kiba."

"Y-Yes?"

"Thanks for being there for me. I don't usually have the time to say this, but I really appreciate you as one my closest best friends."

"T-Thank you, I really feel honored hearing that from you and I'll do my best to meet your expectations." Kiba was taken back but tried to act proud until Michael tapped his fist into his chest lightly.

"Shut up, I don't want you to meet any expectation just continue to be the present me's friend that's all he wants."

"A-Alright.' Kiba said lowly taking those words to heart.

"Now to you, little man." Future Michael ruffled up Gasper's hair.

"H-Hai!"

"You're going to be a strong man. Stronger than me, so keep doing your best, okay? It's okay to fall, but-?"

"Keep getting up no matter what, right?" Gasper remembered Michael's uplifting words from the Khaos Brigade attack on Kuoh Academy.

"Ah, you're learning, and at this rate you'll become a reliable guy, so make me proud, Gasper."

"I-I will!" Gasper nodded with resolute eyes.

"Now to you…" Future Michael groaned.

"I can practically feel the enthusiasm coming from you." Shirou sarcastically remarked.

"No, I'm just as happy to talk to you more than ever, Shirou. I just also want to thank you for always setting me straight, and if you wouldn't mind…"

"I know lay off of the present Mike, right?"

"No, I was going to ask if you can beat the shit out of me whenever he does something excessively stupid."

"Hold on, excuse me?" Shirou's eyes brightened.

"To be honest, growing up, I did a lot of things that held a lot repercussions for me in the future, so just smack him over the head if he does something too stupid." Future Michael gave him the thumbs up.

"…" Shirou hugged Michael and said, "That's the best thing that I've ever heard…can we keep this Mike instead?"

"No!" Azazel denied.

"Dammit." Shirou spat.

"And now for you, Saji." Future Michael approached Saji.

"Yeah?"

"I can't really say that much for you, it won't really change anything, and I want the present me to experience his fun times with you because that's how close I hold my time spent with you. So just remember things will get hard and downright terrible, but if you can find that little part of you that wants to keep going then use it and you'll find a way to be better than you are right now." Michael raised his fist, "You understand?"

"Heh, I'm not an idiot like you! How could I not?"

"Heh! That's true."

***Tap!***

The two fist pounded.

"Well, I think my time is up now. I'll see you guys, later…probably…I really need to get in touch with everyone again…" Michael groaned.

"See ya!"

"Have a safe trip back!"

"Bye, older Michael-nii!"

Saji, Kiba and Gasper voiced their goodbyes while Shirou cried in the back.

"N-No! I don't want the old Michael back! I want this one!" Shirou cried.

"So, I guess we'll meet when the future dictates it." Azazel smirked.

"Yep, it was nice to see you all again." Michael nodded before his face looked scared upon realizing something, "Crap! Screw spoilers, I forgot to say this! Tell my younger self to always wear a con-!"

***PWOOOOOOM!***

The older Michael vanished in pink smoke to be replaced by the present Michael, who was still in his childish form, but only this time he was covered in scratches and some burns.

"I'm alive!? I'm alive!" Michael screamed.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Shirou cried in anguish.

"Boy, what's got him all down in the dumps?" Michael asked.

"Nothing…nothing at all." Azazel hid away the 10 year time bazooka in a magical circle.

"Dear god, Mike, what happened to you?" Saji asked.

"I don't know, I was sitting in some wasteland before some rabid girl attacked me out of nowhere! She started breathing fire at me, then used a really familiar sword that almost killed me." Michael panted in fear, "So did I miss anything?"

"No, you're future self pretty much saved us." Kiba explained.

"Really? My future self was here? What did he look like? Was he even greater than I am? Did he have a mechanical arm? Did he say that line I always wanted to say, "IT IS I FROM THE WORLD OF TOMMORROW"? Please tell me he did."

"We can't disclose that much since it would make a time paradox, but he did say that line though." Azazel nodded.

"Sweet! I can check that off my bucket list." Michael chuckled.

"Wouldn't it be normal for your future self to do that?" Gasper asked.

"Drat…" Michael facepalmed.

"Okay, can we just end this already? I'm depressed enough, so let's move this along." Shirou groaned.

"What's up Shi-rou, you menstruating even after returning back to your guy form?" Michael asked.

Shirou was about to say something, but inhaled sharply, "Don't Shirou… Remember, he'll mellow into a likeable guy with time."

"We still have the ingredients and the magic circle is still intact, so let's finish this."

Grinding up all of the ingredients together, Azazel poured the liquid into a chalice and gave it to Michael to drink. And despite its bitter taste it actually worked as the magic circle beneath him started to shine as Kiba, Saji and Shirou poured their demonic energy into the spell to activate the spell's reversal, and with a single flash Michael was able to return to his original 17 year old body.

"Booyah! I'm back!" Michael patted his chest before pull the elasticity of his pants to see between his legs, "Hah! My family jewels are back in place."

"Please don't look at yourself while you're in my presence." Azazel pinched his temples.

"Sorry, and just thanks guys! Now that I'm back to normal, I can finally do something that was always impossible." Michael puffed out his chest heroically, "Ero-Sensei, the Gender-swap ray, please."

"Sure." Azazel didn't even hesitate to give it to Michael.

"Wait, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Shirou raised his arms defensively.

"Don't worry, it's not for you! It's for a client that has been wanting to break the barrier of man for a long time to become a true magical girl. Now Mil-tan, I'm going to make your dream come true. Wish me luck! Michael away~!" Michael ran out the door, "Accomplished contract, here I come!"

"Should we stop him?" Kiba asked.

"Nah, he's actually doing his devil job right for a change. Everything will be fine." Saji shrugged.

"Well, it's been real all of you, but I have to get packing or I might really get in trouble with my master." Shirou waved and left, "At least things get better with that asshole in 10 years. Hopefully, that humble attitude will come around 4 years early, hopefully."

"I guess that we should all be returning home now, huh?" Kiba asked.

"Yup." Saji nodded.

"I hope everyone isn't too sad." Gasper voiced out his worry.

"You're all still here?" Drinking some liquor in his bathrobe, Azazel was sitting on his couch, comfortably.

"You got comfortable quick." Kiba blinked in surprise.

"Have to before something else happens that will take more of my time. Might even happen tomorrow even." Azazel gestured to the already gone Michael.

"Oh, please. How can Mike get himself into even more trouble than today?" Saji laughed.

* * *

"I need to learn to shut my mouth…"

Saji facepalmed because on the front step of his house was a female girl with dark skin, black spikey yet long hair that was shaped like a trident, brown eyes and a curvaceous figure with a large bust. She was wearing a blue Magical girl outfit from  _Magical Girl Milky Spiral Seven._

And that girl was of course, Michael, who was holding the remains of a broken Gender-swap raygun.

"I know what you're going to say, but hear me out. I fulfilled my contract and turned Mil-tan into a girl, she's actually quite a beautiful lady, but she's still tall and a little muscular. Anyways, she's happy and since I was in the mood, I thought that I could join her and fulfill her second request to cosplay as another Magical girl, but we played a little too much and now the raygun is smashed." Michael panicked.

"Dude, why are you still wearing the costume?" Saji was irked to see his best friend dressed like that.

"My old clothes wouldn't fit! They kept falling off my waist, and I needed to ask you for your help!" Michael cried, "Ero-Sensei said that he needs some items to fix this, so let's go!"

Michael ran off while not considering the fact that her skirt was bouncing around and revealing more to the public eye around her.

"*GROANS!* Can't a day go by without something strange happening?" Saji slammed the door and chased after his idiot best friend for another weird adventure.

* * *

**Next Chapter- Summer Break in the Underworld! My one month of training on Dragon Mountain begins now!**


	50. Summer Break in the Underworld! My one month of training on Dragon Mountain begins now!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Opening #3
> 
> Song: Gundam Build Fighters Try Opening 2 - Just Fly Away
> 
> [Instrumental] Walking through a rocky wasteland from within his mindscape, Michael pushes through the sandy winds to see a silhouette hidden behind the sandstorm with an imposing red aura. Grinning, Michael summons his boosted gear and surrounds himself with a fiery red aura.
> 
> Bursting out from within the aura camera zooms out to show: HighSchool DxD: The Tale of the Gutsy Sekiryuutei!
> 
> [Kaze wo matsu tsubasa ga] The scene changes as Michael's arms swing past the point of view, Michael throwing his arms over Kiba and Gasper's shoulders as they ride in the glamorous boxcar of the Underworld Train.
> 
> [Machikirezu kakedasu] The point of view pans across the area from left to right, Rias sipping some tea, Akeno reading a book, Asia talking with Koneko who is munching on some sweets.
> 
> [Bokutachi wo terashita] Xenovia moves towards the window, pausing before waving the others over, causing their attention to shift towards outside the train.
> 
> [Itetsuita taiyou wo] Michael and the newer Devil servants crowd around the windows, all of them awed as they look upon the vastness and beauty of the Gremory territory.
> 
> [WOO Oh Oh] A flash of white slashes across the screen, widening.
> 
> [Genkai nante] The Four Maous stand amidst a void, all standing in a spotlight colored to correspond with that of their clan's emblem.
> 
> [WOO Oh Oh] Another flash of white widens diagonally across the screen.
> 
> [Sutete yukunda] The Rookies Four stand above their clan's emblem, all equally fierce.
> 
> [WOO Oh Oh] Another flash.
> 
> [Kodoku ni nate kowasenai] Michael appears in a void, eyes wide before he turns around, noticing Vali, Saji, and Shirou, call cloaked in aura corresponding with that of their respective Dragons. He grins, raising his fist into the air.
> 
> [Owaresenai yume no saki] Michael faces Saji in a narrow hall, jetting forward only for Saji to vault over him, slapping him on the back and planting his Absorption Line.
> 
> [Owarenai mirai darou] Michael turns, rushing forward as the two exchange a series of blows, Saji guarding with his arms and being blown back by Michael's punch.
> 
> [Shinjite miyou] Saji vanishes for a moment before appearing as three after images, striking Michael's head with well-placed kicks.
> 
> [Jibun dake ni] Michael's helmet shatters as Saji appears behind him.
> 
> [dekiru koto wo] Michael grins, spinning around and unleashes his Dragon Shot.
> 
> [Kizutsu dake tsukamu nara] The camera pans upwards on a tower of malicious silhouettes, revealing the two Old Maou descendants at the top, Shalba smirking in contempt.
> 
> [Mayowazu ni erabu darou] The Occult Research Club is shown, all standing resolute before leaping into action. Michael, in Scale Mail, leads the charge, letting out a battle roar.
> 
> [Itsumo dake wo tsukamitorunda honno] Michael uses his jets, speeding towards the enemy before his attack is suddenly blocked by Diodora's magic circle. Michael becomes cloaked in a pitch-black aura, his eyes shown to be changing from brown to red inside his helmet.
> 
> [Hatenaki sora tobitate ima Fly away!] They are suddenly surrounded by a sphere of darkness, a massive beast's form suddenly exploding outwards, only its glowing red eyes shown.
> 
> [Instrumental] Once the scene changes, the camera pans out to show the entire Occult Research Club beaten and staring up at the massive beast's form as a shadow casually walks past them and a fatigued Vali, who looked surprised and cautious as the shadowed figure approaches the beast while revealing their cold, solemn red eyes.
> 
> The scene then cuts to a picture of a worn-out Michael peacefully resting his head on Asia's lap as she endearingly rubs his cheek while sitting within a meadow of colorful flowers.

**Summer Break in the Underworld! My one month of training on Dragon Mountain begins now!**

* * *

_(In Michael's mindscape)_

_"Geez, how is it that every time that I fall asleep this always happens. I would usually be dreaming, but how come I'm back here again." Michael groaned as he waywardly crossed the hot wasteland landscape that is known as his mindscape. Usually he would catch Ddraig laying down somewhere lazily by now because its honestly not hard to see a dragon that's 10 times the size of a building. It would all make sense if Ddraig was the one to call him here, but since he wasn't here then who?_

_"I probably could have gotten here on my own, but I don't remember ever finding a way to do that?" Michael folded his arms behind his head and continued his long stroll through his mind, "I've been walking forever with no end in sight, and nothing to DO!"_

_Michael screamed as his lack of patience was starting to show. He wanted to scream some more, but then a thought crawled into his head that made him really irritated,_

_"Oi, Ddraig! You better not have brought me in only to not show up! If this is a prank, then you better come out right now because it ain't funny!"_

_There was no response._

_"So you're still going to mess with me, huh? Then I'll just go running around looking for your big ass! It won't be hard to miss a heavy sack of scales like you anyways!" Running through the wasteland, Michael blindly searched the empty lot with a dumb smile on his face. He actually fooled himself into believing that Ddraig was hiding somewhere._

_He checked high and low and there was still no sight of the dragon, but that didn't dash his hopes as he still kept blazing through this hot, dry wasteland._

_"Come on, Ddraig! Knock it off, you know that I haven't found a way to get into this place myself yet so why do you-!"_

_As Michael continued running, he felt something off as he took one step. It was like static and his head was getting all fuzzy for a second._

_"Whoa! What was that?" Michael shook his head and looked around but nothing changed. He was getting light headed for some reason and closed his eyes to pinch at his temples. This only served to worsen thing as that static feeling came back and started to warp everything around him into a new setting._

_"Strange? How can I get a headache in my own mind?" Michael shook his head and once he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in the middle of Kuoh Academy's courtyard which was heavily damaged with large craters._

_"No way…the source of all my bad nightmares…excluding all the nightmares ones where I get stalked by this creepy looking dude, who looks like me and sounds like me, but keeps calling himself Johnny Yong Bosch."_

_Michael lowly murmured, "School…this prank has gone too far! Ddraig, get out here!" Michael hissed and felt rage for literally having school on his mind. While screaming at no one, a familiar voice other than his echoes out throughout his mind._

_["For the strongest Red Dragon Emperor in history to have a descendant, who was my sacred gear's counterpart, I actually felt some joy to confront the power that once killed 2 of my predecessors, face me once more. But, sadly that couldn't happen, probably if you weren't casted off for being the child of an outsider, then you probably would have been experienced with your power like, no you would have mastered it and taken it to new the next level."]_

_"Wait, was that voice Vali's?" Michael looked around frantically, "Come out, douche! This is my mind, so even if you're a figment of my imagination, I'll still kick your ass!"_

_["Hmph! Are you sure you want to fight me, or are you just frustrated that you were never wanted by your own parents? Masking your own insecurities through rage is rather shameful, Hanamura."]_

_"Shut it! You're not going to play mind games with me in my own head, so give it up!" Michael gritted his teeth as he held back the rushing emotions that Vali was swelling him up with. He had been suppressing these feelings so that they wouldn't bother him, so unexpectedly hearing them took him by full surprise._

_["Come on, haven't you ever thought about why you were abandoned? Probably just because of your family's village standards. Or maybe it pertains to your unidentifiable father? Or could it be something that you've been trying to avoid all of this time?"]_

_"…"_

_["I can tell by how you look that it is. You actually wanted to cover up the thought that maybe your parents actually never wanted you in the first place, and that by the time you were conceived they decided to get rid of your deadweight when there was a chance, and surprise, surprise, they took it."]_

_"…!" Michael held himself back from snapping at the voice so instead, he could make and stayed silent. This was worrisome because he wasn't actually denying it, but he also wasn't accepting it either._

_He wanted to shout his disapproval, but instead he heard another all too familiar voice._

**_"Shut your mouth!"_ **

_"You've got to be kidding me?"_

_Turning around, Michael immediately caught wind of who was speaking and saw a version of his Balance Breaker's Scale Mail stand directly in front of him. It looked to be just the same as the one he usually wears, but a few minor changes were made._

**_*GLEAM!*_ **

_Those eyes…they weren't the ordinary eyes of any rational being. They were supposed to be green, but instead they were a deep shade of red that bore holes through his soul by simply staring. Not to mention the armor's right gauntlet turning pitch black along with an encroaching black, malignant aura that sent chills down his spine._

_"Ddraig! If this REALLY is a prank then you can stop because it's getting way out of hand." And that's coming from someone as excessive as Michael._

_But there was no response from the dragon. Only the Scale Mail angrily shouted to the sky using a voice similar to Michael's,_

**_"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! What do you know about me!?"_ **

**_[Jet!]_ **

**_*BAM!*_ **

_"Gyaaaaargh!"_

_Without warning the living Scale Mail knocked Michael down with a strong punch that literally flattened him on the ground. The blow disoriented him enough that he couldn't even stand anymore and the only way he was able to get up was through his assailant who grabbed him by the neck and raised him in the air._

**_"NOTHING! You don't know anything about me! No one knows anything about me! I don't even know anything about myself or my parents at all."_ **

_"Ngugh! Ah! W-Wai-ack!" Gasping for air, Michael scratched at the Scale Mail's wrists to no avail._

**_"Why should I care about a family I never knew about!? About a family that never wanted me!"_ **

**_*GRIP!*_ **

_"…! St-Ac-gough! Gack!" All air was getting blocked off by the tightening grip. Leaving only the neck itself to be fully broken for the process of strangulation to be complete. But the living armor didn't seem to be quite intent with making things go that smoothly as it cocked back it's black gauntlet and prepared to stab Michael through the chest with its sharpened fingers._

**_"You think that you'll get away after spewing all of that pointless bullshit? I'll make sure that you never cross me again, VAAAAAAAAAAAALI!"_ **

_"…" Michael's eyes were already rolling back as the hand was already lunging its way for his ches-!_

**_*STAB!*_ **

**_*SPLATTER!* *SPLATTER!*_ **

_A huge wave of blood sprayed out of Michael's body and splattered the surrounding courtyard. Even a few splattering's reached a ruined set of goggles that were half buried within a crater._

* * *

 

_(In reality)_

"Whoa!" Suddenly waking up from his nightmare, Michael covered his mouth to hide any signs of fear as he chose to just take deep breaths to calm himself down. Looking around his room just to gain some comfort in his current location, he found himself in bed sleeping beside a clingy Rias. She found herself in a rather comfortable position by wrapping herself around his arm while purposely placing his arm betwixt her beautiful breasts.

It was a soft feeling that Michael had grown accustomed to, so he wasn't too fazed by it, he enjoyed the close embrace with his girlfriend, especially after waking up from that nightmare.

_'I'm finally up. Thank maou, I seriously thought I died, and what was that thing? It came out of nowhere sounding like me and attacking me for no reason. Not to mention hearing Vali say all of that crap again…' Michael bunched up his bedsheets out of frustration before sighing, 'I'll just ask Ddraig about that dream later. If he was the one, who brought me to my mindscape, then he should know something was up, right?'_

"Hm? That's strange…"

However, he did find it strange when he looked to his right to see that both Asia and Raynare huddled together asleep. The sight reminded Michael how close the two have become as friends. Strangely, that still however didn't explain why they were sleeping a bit far from him, the other night they were doing the usual routine of rock-paper-scissors about who would take Michael's left and right arm for bed while the true victor would get to sleep on his chest, and that victor was finally Raynare.

Knowing her, she wouldn't give up an opportunity like that no matter what.

Shrugging it off, Michael yawned, "Maybe she rolled away during her sleep and ended up that way. It happens, but the last time she won at janken, she wouldn't let go of me even when it was time to get up. So, I wonder what made her move?"

"Ufufu, I wonder, too." Slipping her head through the bedsheets, a nude Akeno climbs up to rest her head-on Michael's chest.

"Akeno-senpai?" Michael hushed his surprise to avoid waking the others up.

Sitting up, Akeno crawled closer until her face was just inches away from his. Seeing the beautiful girl up close had Michael a little speechless as he got to see more of Akeno than he had before. Her hair was usually in a ponytail, so the sight of seeing her let it down was refreshingly attractive for him. Not to mention the fact that she wasn't wearing any clothing besides the blanket covering her naked form.

"I've finally arrived. Good morning, Michael-kun."

***Chu!***

"Mmmgh!" Michael held back a squeak after receiving a swift kiss to his neck.

_'How cute…' Akeno's heart started beating faster as she found great pleasure in teasing her kouhai._

Deciding to take things to the next level, she silently crawled back and lifted Michael's shirt up to slip herself inside, so that both her revealed breasts and his naked upper chest could be tightly compressed together.

Peeking her head through the neck of Michael's shirt to look him directly in the eyes, Akeno heavily gazed at him as she slowly rubs herself against him. The feeling was heavenly, and Michael himself couldn't deny it. Usually whenever the other girls slept on his chest, he could feel their warm bodies, but would usually wear his shirt that would block out the complete sensation.

Now he can actually feel the soft, elasticity and warm body temperature that Akeno was emitting and not to mention the way she was intertwining her legs with his own as he feels her smooth and squishy thighs press up against his own.

"Nnh...Michael-kun's body is quite sturdy and harder. It must be thanks to you being trained by Kai-sama. Ufufu…ah…a man's skin feels better than what I imagined. So, tough and thick." Moaning, Akeno continued to rub her breasts against Michael's body raising both his and her arousal in the process.

_'If she keeps doing that, then…' Michael grunted and tried to keep a level head. He was sleeping with the others around and waking them up to a scene like this was the last thing he'd want to do to start his day._

"No, I must really feel this way because it's Michael-kun's body? Hey, Michael-kun do you find yourself enjoying the feel of my body as well?" Akeno moaned, pressing the nipples of her breasts against Michael's.

Trying not to exhaust any saliva that was in his dry mouth, Michael gulped and nodded, "Y-Yeah…"

Seeing Michael's face grow a little red, Akeno leaned in to add a few finishing touches by blowing into his ear which made him yelp from suddenly getting sensitive. As she leans in to whisper,

"I'm so glad. You can enjoy this body even more if you want, you know? It's a fair trade since I want to enjoy your body even more Michael-kun. It may be dangerous to say that since your scary girlfriend is sleeping right next to us, but I don't mind." Akeno tightly clung to his chest, "There's a chance that we may get caught in the act if we push our luck, but that's the thrill of having a mistress, isn't it?"

"M-Mistress?" Michael mumbled as his brain turned to mush. He didn't understand, and wasn't going to with all the teasing he was failing to endure.

"Nom~!"

"Eek!" Michael let out a squeak as Akeno teasingly bit his ear. Things were getting bad. He could tell by her tone of voice and the look in her eyes that she was flipping her S-switch on since appearing before him in the morning to tease him would automatically do this.

Scooting back to hover over Michael's dazed face, Akeno began to close in to and lay her lips upon his.

"So, shall we begin, Michael…?"

The very moment that Michael was about to fall prey for Akeno's wiles, he heard a very familiar voice before his lips touched her.

"Care to explain what you're doing, Akeno? When did you enter this room?"

_'Oh no…it's too late…' Michael resigned himself to his fate as he turned his head to face a fully awakened Rias, who was glaring daggers at Akeno with an extremely displeased look in her eyes._

Crawling out from within the confines of Michael's shirt, Akeno dragged a single finger down Michael's chest.

"Why it was all lonesome in my bed, so I decided to pay my adorable Michael-kun a nice good morning with some skinship to better our bond."

Rias' eyebrow twitched, hearing something that ticked her off, "Wait, was that the use of [My] I heard? I'm pretty certain that you aren't Michael's master, Akeno."

Rias' impatience and rage was slowly building up.

"True, but what's the difference? I'm his senior and he's my underclassmen. It's my duty to always be affectionate and spoil him whenever necessary."

"His senior? So that's your angle here…"

Both girls stood up on the bed and confronted each other.

"Though your excuse may be sound, it doesn't excuse your behavior. This room is a sanctuary for me it absolutely cannot be ruined. This is the only room where I can absolutely unwind and heal any fatigue I face during the day. Asia and Raynare aside, I can't abide with you barging into Michael and I's room so rudely like this."

Rias spoke with a voice filled with anger.

_'Since when did we share a room? Doesn't Rias have her own?' Michael wondered to himself._

Smiling from Rias' words, Akeno muttered,

"Ara, ara. How cheap of you, Rias. I finally thought that you were quite content with sharing him after you gave Abe-san permission not too long ago." What Akeno brought made Michael suddenly cough to hide some of his embarrassment while Rias silently cursed at herself for not seeing this turn of events happen.

After his passionate night with Kiyome, things around the residence changed and it wasn't just the amassed spite towards Kiyome, who had gotten quite closer to Michael. It was the fact that Rias was finally loosening her reigns with sharing Michael. Sure, she was still clingy since they are dating, but giving her blessings to one of the other girls was a sign for the other female residents of the Hanamura Residence to prepare for immediate action. It didn't help that Rias allowed Kiyome to get intimate with Michael as the first condolence.

_'Everybody's been getting serious lately because of how things sort of escalated Kiyome-senpai had to take a temporary leave at the right moment. She and Makoto had to go with their dad to Europe to visit their mother. Well, summer break does start tomorrow.' Michael crossed his arm and yawned,_

_'And since there's no school. That means I can do what I do best and prepare a great plan for when I return by choosing my victims. First off, Kiryuu Aika, she's evaded every prank I've mustered and when I return, she's going down. Down. Down! DOWN!'_

Breaking himself out of thought, Michael noticed that Rias and Akeno were still arguing,  _'Oh crap are they still at it?'_

"Just because I allowed it once doesn't mean I'm willing to keep letting it happen so constantly. Especially if your tactics involve doing stuff like this behind my back!" Rias crossed her arms and flared her crimson aura out.

"I'm afraid that would kill the fun of playing the role as a mistress. Besides, what's the use of being aggressive? Ara, don't tell me that you're afraid that I might steal him away from under your nose, are you?" Akeno enveloped herself in a pale-gold aura as her response.

"It looks like Natsuru isn't the only one I should be less lenient on after all."

"You should be warier about your decisions, Rias. Your number one spot may be taken away from you if you keep giving me these openings."

Rias and Akeno glared at each other while both of their auras clashed creating sparks all over the place. A battle between these two women was imminent and Michael was stuck in the middle as usual. The noise the two were making caused both Raynare and Asia to stir from their sleep.

"Uh… I-Is it time to wake up? Huaaaaa…few more minutes please…" Raynare groaned while unintentionally yawning in a cute fashion.

"Unyuu, is it time to get up yet? Fuaaaa…" Asia rose up while rubber her sleepy eyes.

_'Them waking up will just cause more of a hassle…' Reaching out, Michael stroked both of their heads, gently to coax them back to sleep._

"We still have some time to rest you two. Just go back to sleep, okay?" Michael sighed and gave a gentle smile while he was at it.

"Mmm…Michael-sama…"

"Michael-shan…"

Crawling along Michael's hands, both girls laid on both sides of him and hugged his arms while returning into the sweet embrace of sleep. Although, Michael wasn't out of the woods yet, since both of his upperclassmen were having a pillow fight to settle their dispute.

***Bofu!***

Rias nails Akeno with a pillow to the face.

"I will not stand for anymore of this behavior. I can't stand how you try to touch my important servant!"

Pulling off the pillow, Akeno still kept her smile, "Ara, it should be fine if it's just for a bit! You really are stingy, Rias!"

Akeno retaliates and nails Rias back with the pillow.

"The renovations for this house wasn't too long ago, so I won't allow you to do what you want, Akeno!"

Rias threw the pillow again with the voice and face of a girl her age! Akeno however dodged the pillow and then threw one of the leftover pillows at Rias again.

"Sirzechs-sama said that we should live together and get along with each other!"

"This is my and Michael's house! Both you and Onii-sama are in the way of Michael and I's relationship! I can't stand it anymore!"

"So you'd go against Sirzechs-sama's wishes!? So then when it all comes down to it, you'd rather value Michael-kun over the Maou-sama then!?"

"T-That's an unfair accusation! But of course, not…"

"Then lend me Michael-kun for a bit as well!"

"Absolutely not!"

Watching the two ladies fight on his bed refreshed Michael a little further since they were actually acting like actual high school girls without having that mature lady air about them. Seeing that enough was enough, he decided to try and stop their catfight.

"C'mon, Rias and Akeno can't we just-?"

***GASP!***

Both girls gasped, but for different reasons, Rias was disappointingly shocked while Akeno was positively thrilled.

"What?" Michael has yet to understand his blunder.

"M-Michael, how could you?" Rias whimpered.

"See, Rias? My bond with Michael-kun is so close that he can call me by name without any honorifics like you!" Akeno, whose cheeks were flushed rubbed it in Rias' face.

_'Crap! I got too comfortable and spoke without thinking again!' Michael cursed at himself._

"Hmph! A coincidence at best! He must have said it at the slip of the tongue. It means nothing if it wasn't intentional!" Rias crossed her arms and looked away.

"Ufufufu… 'a slip of the tongue'? Why that's a phrase that I find absolutely lovely. That would mean that Michael-kun's been keeping it a secret from you this whole time… Mmmm…how debauched…" The little hints that Akeno were dropping really got to Rias, but at this point Akeno was much more thrilled with her advancements showing some real progress.

"Why you…!" She was getting pushed past her limit, Rias was about to go ballistic with the way her aura grew intense.

"What's wrong? The truth too hard for you to handle?" Akeno giggled, but she too allowed her aura to grow as well.

_'Things just got worse! At times like this there's only one course of action to take!'_

"Nin-nin…" Michael made quiet ninja sounds as he crawled away from the bed and to the door. He deceptively used two pillows for Raynare and Asia to hug, so they wouldn't wake up by his absence. If he were to stay then there was no guarantee that he would survive the older girls' feud.

So he reached up to grab his doorknob and slowly turned it to avoid making any sound as the girls were too caught up in their fight to notice.

_'I'm home free!' Michael tearfully smiled as he pushed the door open._

***CREEEEAK!***

A slow and eerie creak soon followed. Michael knew that was his undoing, so he froze in place when he noticed the distinct lack of arguing until he felt the encroaching cold shadows of Rias and Akeno cover him.

"And just where do you think you're going, Michael? You should stay and explain to this vulgar and underhanded Akeno about where your true feelings lie."

"Ufufufu, I'm afraid you don't have any privilege to leave without having to resort this issue about our 'Senpai to Kouhai bond' to this stingy and cheap Rias."

_'So close…' Michael deliberately gave himself up when he felt two hands grab at his ankles, dragging him back into his room._

Throwing all caution out of the wind, he screamed, "I was so close!"

"E-Eh?"

"What happened?"

Both Asia and Raynare emerged from their sleep to spot Michael being dragged by Rias and Akeno only to voice their complaints about the matter and join in on the argument.

***Gacha!***

"My what a mess that Michael-kun has gotten himself into. Nyaaaauh~!" A poorly dressed Natsuru yawned into her hand with a cat-like smile.

Before the loud noise of this rabble could fill the entire residence, a passing Natsuru closes the door while on her way to get freshened up for school. At first, she heard some noise and got interested, but the grasp of slumber still had some hold over her, so she decided to prepare for school before everyone else got ready.

It wasn't her forte to wake up early, in fact, she hated doing it and always relied on Kiyome or Makoto to do it. But now that Kiyome was away for the summer, she had no one to provide for her the privilege any more. Plus, it wasn't a choice for her to sleep in as much as she wanted to, she had to wake up early and move ahead of everyone to survey the paths that Michael takes to school since its now her job to watch over his well-being and steer any troubles that hinder him.

However, she's taken her job a little more seriously than Raynare because unlike Raynare, she hasn't established enough trust amongst the others to be openly affection towards Michael. It was just a trial in of its own to even speak with the guy without somebody being next to him at some moments. So, playing the support role was okay for her. For now that is.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Hehe, have a nice day, Michael-kun." Natsuru kept to herself as she left, hearing Michael's pained screams as traversed down the hallway.

Just another day in the lively Hanamura Residence.

* * *

After this morning's commotion and a well enjoyed breakfast with everyone in the house, Michael and his friends did their usual routine of walking to school and going to class. Of course, just going to school was a pain for Michael since it would usually drain the life out of him by the time it's over, but after getting put in the middle of Rias and Akeno's fight, he couldn't find the energy to do anything productive at all.

Through all his classes, he was conked out without moving a single muscle.

"Uah…" His head face down on his desk, Michael had finally managed to survive his arduous class to lunch break. That still didn't lift his spirits because of the hell he went through in the morning.

_'Even when I gave up, they still wouldn't let me off. Why did I have to be punished for choosing a side that I was forced into choosing. In the end, I decided to try for both sides and that just made things worse.' Michael cried a puddle in his desk._

Watching the sad sack cry, Matsuda and Motohama were discussing ways of cheering their friend up.

"Is he still depressed?" Motohama asked.

"Yup. Been like that this whole morning. Don't know why though." Matsuda shrugged.

"My soul has been thoroughly abused. I'm losing the will to go on…" Michael dramatically cried.

"Man, this is getting me down. What do you think will cheer him up?" Matsuda rubbed his head.

"Hmmmm…" Motohama snapped his fingers, "I got it!"

"Nothing will ever heal the fragile soul that is Michael Hanamura's heart. Forever I shall be an empty husk that's be-!"

Walking over to Michael's side, Motohama leaned in to whisper,

"Summer Break starts tomorrow."

***THUD!***

"YOSH! My life has meaning again! Michael Hanamura's back at 100%, you turkeys!" In an exaggerated fashion, Michael stood up, flipped his desk over and thrusts his arms up in excitement.

"There we go!" Motohama thrusted his fist up as well.

"That's the Mike, we wanted to see!" Matsuda grinned and excitedly joined with his friends.

"That's right my brothers! Now huddle up!"

The trio did just that and began talking about their future summer break plans.

"Summer break is about begin!"

"Aaaaay! And you know what that means!"

"Yes! Watermelons!" Michael's mouth drooled.

"Yea-! What? No!" Motohama shook his head, "Its-!"

"More free time to waste time playing video games!" Matsuda snickered.

"No! We may be able to do that, but the most important thing that we have planned is our Gentlemen's Summer! At the beach! At the pool, we don't discriminate if there are beautiful girls there then we're there in a flash!" Motohama announced.

"YES!" Matsuda excitedly cheered.

"Woohoo." Michael wasn't interested in the idea, but found it exciting to enjoy some of summer break with his friends from class and the Occult Research Club. He couldn't necessarily hang out with Saji due to him being away at the Grigori facility in the Underworld. He was already getting down to business with Vritra's other sacred gears being implanted into him, so it would be a while before he can enjoy his summer break too.

_'Heh, he's going to be missing out! This summer is going to be the best! I have loads of stuff to do this year compared to the others…' Michael was genuinely happy with his busy schedule, he didn't have as much friends to hang out with in the past and this change made him feel content,_

_'At home I can play co-op games with Gasper, pig out on all of my snacks with Koneko-chan, eat Asia, Raynare, Akeno, and Rias' home-made cooking, take Kiba out to my favorite Manga shop because he's gotten interested in 'One Piece' lately, go out to an amusement park with Xenovia because she's always high strung. And finally, after all of these years, I can go fishing with Ero-sensei like we used to before!'_

Michael's plans were already set and he was prepared to knock out each and every one before the summer was over.

"Don't worry, you two! None of those fine ladies will escape my DBZ-style scouter!" Motohama adjusted his glasses in a confident fashion.

"You're bringing back the scouter!?" Michael excitedly huffed and puffed, anything relating to dragon ball z was exciting for him. Even if it was used for a lewd purpose.

"Indeed, I am, my friend." Motohama fixed his glasses.

"So does the pathetic Perverted Trio have plans for the summer, too?" Kiryuu Aika approached the three stooges while openly demeaning them.

"Kiryuu Aika…" The three hissed at the girl, their old nemesis. Well, she was their friend, too, so she was their frenemies. Their frenemy.

"Why the hostility, boys? I was just curious is all." Kiryuu asked.

"Step off, Kiryuu!" Michael growled.

"Don't try to pull any bullshit on us, Aika! We already have Motohama as our four-eyed character in our group, so lay off of us for once!" Matsuda shouted.

"Hmph! That sleezeball? He alone disgraces the charm of glasses. I for one stand on a plateau that not even he can hope to reach." Kiryuu insulted Motohama's honor.

"How dare you!" Motohama grinded his teeth.

"Don't you dare underestimate Motohama. For as long as I've known the guy he's been breaking barriers that no man has before! His scouter may be pervy for identifying the female body's B-H-W, but it's the most efficient one I've ever known in my life!" Michael pushed Motohama forward to prove his point.

"Hm, yes, yes…I see it now…" Motohama adjusted his glasses and shone them in the sun, "Impressive, I'd say your packing a respectable 36C. For a personal score, I give 8.5 out of the generosity of my heart."

"See? See? Motohama is the best!"

"Learn your place and bow to his divinity, bitch!"

Both Matsuda and Michael defended their friend's honor.

"Hehehehe!" But she was laughing, "I must admit, your technique is impressive, but do you honestly believe a worm such as him is the only one who can use a scouter?"

The atmosphere was getting tense like an action movie.

"What are you on about?" Motohama narrowed his eyes.

"…!" Freezing in place, Michael took a frightened step back once Kiryuu focused her sights on him.

"Michael? What's up? Why are you backing away?" Matsuda caught this.

"Ugh! Ngh! No-! How could I-!?" Michael was sweating up a storm as Kiryuu's lips slowly quirked up into a lewd grin.

"What's wrong, Michael-kun? I don't expect these two other clowns to get it, but we legitimately shared some history together didn't we?" Kiryuu approached the trio, who were backing down from the growing pressure surrounding Kiryuu.

"Michael? What does she mean?"

"Yeah, what are you keeping from us!?"

Motohama and Matsuda turned to their friend, who remained silent.

"I-I-!" Michael mumbled.

"Didn't he tell you guys? Before hanging with you losers, he came to me first, as a friend."

"WHAT!?" Both boys turned back to their friend and pleaded for answers.

"It just happened, okay? I was desperate to hang out with someone when Saji joined the Student Council! I needed someone to talk to and she offered to be that 'someone', so-! So-!"

"So we decided to go out where we had a wonderful time as close friends." Kiryuu pridefully puffed out her chest.

"Shut your whore mouth! There was nothing friendly about that day. You tricked me when we went out to eat in that damn café." Michael gulped.

"Tricked you?" Motohama asked.

"Yeah, right in the middle of the café…she! She openly analyzed the length, the size, of my-! *GULP!* Man bits…" Michael covered his mouth and cried, "She openly stated everything about it in the café and everyone was looking at me like I was forcing her to say it, too! It was so humiliating!"

"You bitch!"

"Have you no shame!? You should have killed him instead of breaking his pride like that!"

Matsuda and Motohama confronted Kiryuu for their fallen friend.

"What? I was just curious. What girl wouldn't be?" Kiryuu rolled her wrist in nonchalant fashion.

"Don't worry, Michael. We'll avenge you!"

"Yeah, we'd usually try to ruin your reputation, but now things have gotten too personal!"

Both Matsuda and Motohama placed their hands on Michael's shoulders and gave him reassuring thumbs ups.

"You guys…" Michael sniffled.

"I'd like to see you morons try." Kiryuu placed her hands on her hips in a sassy manner.

"Uoooooh! Just you watch! Don't underestimate my scouter! Now watch as I examine and reveal the size of your areola to whole class!" Motohama adjusted his glasses and examined Kiryuu's chest.

"Go right ahead, but don't cry to me when I tell you how wrong your calculations end up!"

"You can do it, Motohama! Show her your skills." Matsuda nodded.

"Oh, and Michael. Just a piece of info that I forgot to tell you. Someone has asked about your "data" before and I gladly gave it to them for a fair trade!" Kiryuu wore her lewd grin again and looked down upon the shocked Michael.

"Wait, you gave information about my soldier to someone else?"

"Mmm-hmmm!" Kiryuu hummed.

"Hey, Michael-sama, I brought you some lun-!"

"What kind of horrible, sick monster would ask you about my man bits!"

At the very same moment that Michael said that, Raynare was about to enter the class with a bento box for him, but quietly back away before anyone could notice her presence.

"That's confidential, and to make sure the wound doesn't heal too soon… Asia~! Xenovia~!" Kiryuu turns around to call out to Asia and Xenovia who were chatting to a group of girls curious about their summer plans.

"You're very lucky, you two! Your boyfriend is packing some serious heat, if you know what I'm saying!" Kiryuu winked.

"Really?" Asia was oblivious and had no idea what Kiryuu was referring to.

_'Thank god-ouch! Asia's still pure enough not to know what she means!" Michael exhaled in relief._

"Packing heat? Michael, I didn't know you were carrying weapons on you." Xenovia curiously stated without any knowledge of the situation, too.

_'Even Xenovia's bluntness has become my saving grace!' Michael joyously cried._

"Don't mind her, you two! She's just messing with me! Like ALWAYS!" Michael screamed.

"What do you mean? I'm just saying the truth, you know?" Kiryuu and Michael engaged in a fierce stare down.

"Your poisonous words will never reach their innocent minds, she-devil!" Although he was the real devil here along with the others.

"So, I'm a she-devil now, huh?" Kiryuu tilted her head in amusement.

"Just wait and see! This summer I'm going to get a beautiful girlfriend!" Matsuda screamed.

"Yeah, we will serve you the ultimate defeat as you lay your eyes upon them!" Motohama backed them up with his own declaration.

"Yeah, yeah, like that will ever happen. Enjoy your summer break, boys. Especially you too, Little Michael." Kiryuu winked.

"Leave us!" Michael hissed and shooed her away.

And with that the menace was gone as she traversed back to her group of friends that also included Asia and Xenovia even Raynare who somehow popped back into class. Now with everything on the line, the trio of friends made a vow to prove Kiryuu wrong once and for all.

* * *

"You're going back to the Underworld!?"

Classes have ended, and the whole club had just finished cleaning the club room before they returned home to enjoy their summer break. With everyone together, Rias made a shocking announcement that almost made Michael fall out of his seat, thankfully he didn't or else he would have shaken Koneko off of his lap.

"Yes, I'm returning home now that the summer holidays have started. I do this every year." Rias elegantly took a sip of her tea.

"Wait, does that mean we won't be seeing you over the summer?" Michael sighed in disappointment, there goes a few of his plans with Rias over the break.

"Don't get so glum, Michael." Rias rubbed his cheeks and reassured the young man, "You and I will be together for hundreds, no, for thousands of years from now on, so put your mind at ease. Besides, what master would leave behind her adorable servants."

"Does that mean-?"

Nodding, Rias before announcing to everyone, "Let's all prepare for our trip to the underworld. Make sure to carry along what you think you may need. It's a long trip to get there."

"We're all really going?" Asia gasped.

"Of course, a master wouldn't be a master without her servants. You're coming to my home together with me. Now that I think of it, this is also the first time you'll be going there, right, Asia and Xenovia?"

Asia nodded at Buchou's question.

"Y-Yes! I'm nervous about going to hell while alive! I-I thought I'd like to go there with the intention of dying!"

_'You don't have to worry too much about it, Asia.' Michael thought, 'It is strange that even the living could live in hell, but I wonder… If people die in hell, then do they go through the same process like heaven or… You know what, I'll just keep that question to myself it sounds complicated.'_

"Yes, I've been interested in the underworld—in hell for a long time. However, for the sake of going to heaven, I had to serve the Lord… But now that I'm a Devil, there shouldn't be any possibility of me going to heaven… I feel some irony in setting foot in the same world as those who have been sent to hell as divine punishment. Hell, huh? It suits a former believer who became a Devil." Xenovia sounded a bit depressed over the matter.

"Come now, worrying about the little things won't make things easier. Make sure to enjoy the trip, you two." Kiba gave them both his genuine 'handsome guy' smile.

"O-Okay."

"Right."

Both girls immediately calmed their nerves.

Turning over to Raynare, Rias said, "And don't you worry about your travelling expenses, Raynare. I know about your standings with the Grigori as a former member, so I made sure to call in advance about you joining us on the trip."

"Wow, thank you, Rias-san. I really do appreciate it." Raynare bowed her head out of respect.

"For the majority of our summer, we will spend the whole month in the Underworld and return on August 20th. The plan is to train and attend various kinds of events during our stay there."

Rias then went on to tell everyone about the schedule, but Michael gave a determined look while looking a little disappointed.

_'There goes all of my plans for the summer. I guess I won't be able to hang out with Matsuda and Motohama, but I can't slack off with my training either. Lately, I've gotten stumped and haven't figured out a way to correctly train myself. This trip could be just what I need to strengthen my hold over the Balance Breaker's power and the unlocking of Welsh Drive.'_

_Michael clenched his fist at the thought of facing Vali again, especially after having that crazy nightmare,_

_'I can't fall behind, or else I'll get left in the dust.'_

Realizing something from the corner of his eye, Michael looked over to spot something moving along with Kiba while the other spoke about the upcoming trip. Taking a glance at each other, Kiba noticed Michael slowly reach to grab something out of his bookbag and just shook his head and sighed.

"So now that we've cleared things up. Prepare yourselves, everyone as we begin our departure for the Underworld right away." Rias took a sip of her tea.

"Interesting. I'm also preparing a trip there as-."

"Stop trying to be slick, you're not going to pull a quick one over our eyes!"

Michael threw a book at Azazel, who randomly appeared sitting on Rias' usual seat and desk.

Azazel caught the book with ease and wore a confident grin while reveling in the confused and amazed stares of everyone besides Michael and Kiba.

"Azazel-sensei?" Gasper gasped.

"When did you-?" Startled by the older man's appearance, Rias stood up and demanded an answer.

"Hn! I snuck in while you all were distracted with your conversation. I just had to hide my presence a little to get by the rest of you. Well, except for Michael and Kiba, but that speaks volumes about their daily training."

Turning to her pawn and her knight, Rias asked, "Is this true?"

"Yes, he even shushed at us not to say a word once he was creeping in." Kiba explained.

"He wanted to look badass, so I ruined his moment by throwing a book at him." Michael proudly pointed at himself.

"Heh! Shows what you know I caught it." Azazel snickered.

"Hah! Oh, really? Check what kind of book it is. Yeah, you're not so cool. I even found your  _Twilight_ book in your lab, you disgrace of a man." Michael mocked.

"I already told you, I'm holding on to this for a friend."

"Oh, and is that friend named 'Azazel' because I found that name on the back of the cover." Michael asked.

"Anyways moving on…"

"Haha! Two points for me!" Michael laughed.

"I'll be joining you all on this trip to the Underworld using the devils' route, too. I'm rather curious how devils use transportation to get there. I only ever use the Grigori's main transportation hub to go there." Azazel rubbed his chin, intrigued with the notion. He only ever gets excited over things like this doesn't he?

"Besides it shouldn't be a surprise since this summer break will involve me whipping you kids into shape. I've already created the perfect training regimen to suit each of your abilities and dullen all of your weaknesses." Azazel explained, "Don't get me wrong, you all can relax through some parts of your vacation, but to improve the battle power of this peerage you have to sacrifice some of that enjoyment for some actual improvement."

"But what about me and Pretty Boy? We've been training constantly after school." Michael smiled in great confidence, "Not to mention, we sensed you coming in."

"First off that "training" you do isn't actual training if you're constantly fighting each other. Yes, it hones your skills against the type of fighter your training with, but it doesn't help you quite enough. Be honest and tell me, through this "training" have you accidentally injured yourself by using a burst of the dragon's power without thinking about how much your body can handle?"

"Of course not. I'm completely fine, no injuries or nothing." Michael shrugged with a smile.

"Okay then, I'll ask Asia then since she always stays in the training room with you to heal any of your injuries." Azazel saw Michael begin to sweat as he asked the sweet Bishop, "Asia has Michael ever sustained any damage to himself by overdoing it with his Balance Breaker?"

"Yes, it's not as damaging as breaking his arms, but there have been times where he broke a couple of his fingers or damaged both of his wrists." Asia stated and ignored the distressed looks Michael was giving her.

"See?" Azazel raised an eyebrow at the boy, seeing through his lies.

"Asia, why?" Michael mumbled.

"Forgive me, Michael-san, but I don't take the injuries you take lightly. I and everyone worry about you desperately because we're worried you may cause some permanent damage to yourself." Asia's eyes looked a little teary, but the serious look on her face made Michael retreat from making a rebuttal.

"Oh…" He knew that things were bad if even Asia was scolding him.

"And you, Kiba? Has your training given you any new results?"

Azazel turned to Kiba who looked down in thought.

"Not as of lately. Just training with Michael-kun is able to help me hone my sense of battle, but there hasn't been anything new that I can work on."

"What about that blade you were given from Zethyr?" Azazel remembered Kiba being called in by someone familiar right after the Peace Treaty fiasco was cleaned. Knowing the person who called the young devil in, Azazel already expected for some task to be given to Kiba.

"Oh, this…" Kiba stuck out his hand and materialized his black katana, "Yes, I was able to make some progress with this during that last battle of ours. I was given the task of compressing my demonic energy into this weapon that would continually absorb my energy to wield it. I managed to do just that, but I haven't really seen any results after doing that."

"So in all, you two have stunted without finding any results about your practices, right?" Azazel looked at both young men and noticed their discontent faces, "So I guess this training camp will hold some merit for both of your roadblocks. And hopefully it will develop all of you into growing stronger. So let's all prepare for your summer trip to the Underworld!"

"We already know. I already said that." Rias sighed and gave the Fallen Angel a deadpanned stare.

"I know, but when I do it. I put a grandiose spin on the phrasing." Azazel smirked, and earned a dirty look from Rias.

Laughing to herself, Raynare figured something out while the others were talking and thought,  _'Training camp, huh? That's perfect. Everyone might be busy to hang out altogether, and with Rias-san and the others out of the picture, I can take full advantage of spending alone time with Michael-sama. I can finally take the lead and care for Michael-sama all by myself without any of the others interrupting.'_

"Ufufufu…" Raynare creepily laughed to herself and that caught everyone's attention.

"Raynare, are you okay? You seem to be giggling to yourself." Xenovia asked, concerned.

"Oh! It's nothing. Nothing at all. Ohohohohoho!" Raynare laughed uproariously which made mostly everyone suspicious.

"As I was saying," Standing up from his seat, Azazel prepared to leave, "You all should prepare yourselves for the trip. It's bound to be long and you may experience some jet lag if you're prepared."

"Again. I already said that." Rias groaned.

"Geez, Rias, haven't your parents taught you that its unsightly for a girl to get worked up over small matters?"

Rias inhaled sharply after that remark and exhaled, "I walked into that one, but do not involve my parents into this please."

Rias was reminded of her worries of returning home over the summer with her servants, and tried to push it down. It wasn't just her, getting reminded of something else entirely different, Michael shouted,

"Wait, Ero-Sensei!" Michael wanted to get up, but noticed Koneko still sitting on his lap.

"Excuse me, Koneko-chan? Could you get up for now, I sort of have to ask Ero-Sensei something." Michael asked.

Taking a sip of her tea, Koneko said, "No, I'm drinking tea and I like sitting here doing it. It's calms me down, senpai."

"I know, but I just have to-"

"No means no." Koneko shook her head.

"But I-!"

"No means NO."

Michael could hear the tea cup that Koneko held slowly crack from beneath her fingers, and decided to stop himself before he did something he would later soon regret.

_'I'm glad that she's much cooler around me lately, but I can't tell if this ended up as a good thing for me in the end.' Michael sweatdropped._

"Just tell me what you have to jabber about from over there, brat." Azazel said, "Better not be a wise crack about my friend's twilight book again."

"Fine…" Michael took a deep breath and asked seriously, "Ero-Ossan, when you have the time. Can I ask you about something, alone?"

Because of how composed he was, Azazel comprehended the severity of the request and with a raise of the hand replied with, "Sure, but only when I have enough free time. Being a teacher for you kids and governing an entire race really takes a toll on a guy."

Everyone knew that when it comes to work, it was an iffy subject with Azazel because he can either being using that as a valid point, or just lording around his studious statuses all for the point of avoiding any possible work.

But taking his word to heart, Michael gratefully said, "Thank you, I appreciate it."

Once Azazel left the room, Michael allowed his some of his thoughts to linger and effect his emotions. They were starting to surface only a little as one of his hands clenched around the fabric of his pants.

Rias noticed this and asked, "Is everything okay, Michael?"

"Nah, I'm fine. It's just something that's been bothering me for a while. Thanks though." Michael pulled himself out of thinking about those lingering feelings and did his best to force a smile.

Noticing some concern rise up from Rias, Michael decided to change the conversation before it got even deeper into his business, so he excitedly remembered something and asked, "Wait a minute! Did he say train station? We're going to the Underworld by train!?"

"Of course, silly. That's one of the main routes needed to reach there." Akeno giggled at Michael's sudden curiosity.

"Really? You mean by actual trains! No magic circles or any other teleportation means?" Michael's eyes were brightened in excitement.

"Magic circles can be used for transportation, but if household devils don't use the official train route at least once then they are more likely to be arrested for illegally entering the Underworld. Well, at least through devil territories anywhere else probably has different set of rules." Kiba explained, but Michael only keyed in on the train part and blocked out the rest.

"Cool! We actually get to ride on a train to a far away place!" Michael cheered in excitement.

"Easy boy…" Koneko calmingly patted Michael's thigh.

Finding something weird, Xenovia asked, "Wait, Michael, you mean you've never been on a train before?"

"Yup! I've been on cars and a boat once, but never a train."

"Odd. Asia and I are quite used to transportation on trains." Xenovia mentioned.

"Really?" Michael gasped.

"The churches that I used to visit to heal any injured or sick were scattered all over Europe, so trains were an important means of transportation." Asia smiled.

"Me and Irina used trains to travel across long distances in Europe as well. Sometimes we would travel on horseback if the distance isn't too far from our current location whenever we had to hunt some monsters or exterminate devils." Xenovia breathed out a fresh puff of air remembering the good ol' days.

Both girls happily recanted their past experiences.

"Wow, you two are so lucky!" Michael grinned in excitement.

"B-But can't you fly, Michael-nii? Isn't that better than a train?"

"Of course not!"

"Eep!"

Michael denied Gasper's question, so loudly that Koneko pinched him since she was sitting directly in front of him. Michael said his apology before returning to matter,

"Flying. Yes, there was a time where I wished to fly as a human. But just like every other thing that a person does on a daily basis it's become stale. No, it's become a nightmare! Most of the time, I can't even fly straight with my devil wings, and my dragon wings need Ddraig to help steer them since they're so big. That's why this train thing will be another adventure for me to explore and gain the answers I seek!" Michael passionately said with conviction in his words.

"Answers for questions like what?" Raynare asked.

"Hmhmhm!" Michael laughed whimsically to himself, "Like does a train really go 'choo-choo' when you blow its whistle! Or does it trudge on through the tracks like 'chugga-chugga-chugga'! Or since it's a magic train; will it require us to chant 'I think I can' again and again if there's any trouble with it crossing a huge hill!? The questions never end!" Michael kept laughing thinking that his questions were complex while everyone else simply sweatdropped at his honest, misguided curiosity.

Noticing the sudden change of attitude Michael made, Rias wanted to bring up what plagued his mind, but decided to let it go for now due to his mood getting better than before.

_'I shouldn't worry over it too much.' Rias thought as she enjoyed watching Michael excitedly talk about their upcoming summer experience._

"This is going to be awesome! I may have to cancel my plans for Matsuda and Motohama after they stuck up for my honor and some other biz." Michael brought out his phone and decided to text his friends before pausing to wear a huge grin,

"Oh, yes…this trip will be the absolute best."

Knowing that look, Raynare walked behind the Michael was sitting on and pulled his cheek,

"What are you thinking?"

Wincing in pain a little, Michael muttered, "Nothing…I just figured out a way to make this train experience all the more thrilling! Mwahahahahaha!" Michael maniacally laughed while everyone hoped for the worst to happen.

"*COUGH!* *COUGH!* *HACK!* Almost choked on my own saliva…peh…" Michael gasped.

_'I'm going to start this summer off with a BANG!'_

* * *

"This is madness! The start of this summer is officially ruined!"

Sitting down in his seat completely heated, Michael unrulily ruffled up his hair while the nonchalant Koneko on his lap enjoyed her strawberry parfait.

It was the start of summer once everyone woke up in the morning, the temperatures were rising, so moving their packed bags were a little more than a hassle as they took a bus to Kuoh Town's train station.

Everyone decided to where their own casual set of summer street clothes since it was more appropriate than just wearing their academy uniforms. Both Asia and Xenovia found it odd that they were going to the train station since there were no trains stopping in on the schedule.

But answering their questions both Rias and Akeno confidently showed them to an elevator installed within the station. This elevator only allowed a few on board so it had to take two trips to transport the entire group. It was a strange process because instead of going up as its only normal function, the elevator instead traversed downwards with a swipe of Rias' card.

Beneath the whole station was a secret level used exclusively by devils and as explained by Akeno it was only one of many exclusive areas for the devils to travel through. Upon everyone entering the secret station, they were met with an artificial space that spanned out to what looked like an ongoing cave.

Following the platform to their intended platform, everyone had their eyes set on a huge train that had both the Gremory family's seal along with Sirzechs' seal which confirmed it being particularly owned by the Gremory family as a whole.

Now everybody was sitting in their seats in the train's lounge car which held comfortable couches, stools, tables snacks, drinks and other benefits you'd find in any ordinary lounge. Everybody was doing something to pass the time along with a few of them reading a book, playing video games or playing cards.

The students were in one car while Azazel was in the other actually getting some rest due to Michael's loud bellyaching.

"This is complete and utter blasphemousy! This violates the trust between both the driver and the passenger! They had no right to do any of that! I mean, I wasn't doing anything wrong."

"First off, Michael-kun, you shouldn't try to use words you can't understand or say correctly, and second because apparently entering a train while carrying a boombox set to its highest volume while playing 'I'm on a highway to hell' is frowned upon." Kiba indulged Michael's misplaced anger.

"Hey, get off my back! They just don't appreciate the classics. Plus, it fits well with the trip."

"I don't think anyone would appreciate a song being screamed out to imitate a death metal singer in front of their face."

"I only did that to bring out the complexity of the song! Everything needed to be perfect, so we can style all over the other passengers' balls."

Groaning from her seat besides the boy, Rias soothed her aching head, "This is a train specifically owned by my family. We are the only passengers. You shouldn't go off the handle like that again."

"I wasn't that bad…" Michael trailed off and looked down.

"You punched one of the conductors in the eye." Rias saw Michael shrug while showing no concern for his actions.

"He tried to throw off my groove, and since he tried to stop me and didn't want to join, then he rightfully got decked." Michael suddenly began to playfully sing, "Because if my friends don't dance with me or don't dance. Well then they ain't no friends of mine~!"

***PUUUUUUUULL!***

***PUUUUUUUUULL!***

***PUUUUUUUUUULL!***

"Fi'm sovvy! I'll neva dwo ict awain!" Michael cried out as he received pinches from Asia, Raynare and Rias all at once. The chaos that he caused wasn't let go so easily as Rias scolded him, but despite the trouble made, he was strangely able to make a good impression on the main conductor of the Gremory train, Reynaldo.

He commented about how it's been rare to come across such "lively" guests that use the Gremory train system. He looked somewhat reminiscent when he took a look at Michael even though the two have never even met a day in their lives.

"So how long before we finally reach the Underworld? It's already been 3 hours." Xenovia asked while shuffling a deck of cards she was using to play with Raynare and Asia.

"The average time of arrival takes about 7 hours in total, so we'll just have to wait it out a little longer." Akeno calmly flipped through and read a page of her book.

"Urgh…! This is taking forever…I thought trains would go fast if you constantly chanted 'I think I can' over and over again. This sucks…" Michael laid back against his seat and moaned out of boredom,

"I bet Saji didn't have to suffer like this to his trip to that Grigori research place."

"That's right, he left the week before summer started to leave for the Grigori research facility. So, how is he?" Kiba curiously asked.

"Meh, he's fine. I received a call yesterday about how he's already done with getting more of the other Vritra sacred gears implanted into him. Actually, it was the first call that didn't have him screaming in pain."

The thought of the harsh experiments Saji must have gone through made Michael shiver.

"He even told me that everyone in Sona-senpai's peerage is prepping for some training, too. Is that right, Buchou?" Michael asked.

"Yes, just like us Sona has decided to train her servants to a higher level. She is usually one to believe that summer vacation is usually the time of the year where most people get lazy, so believes hard work makes for a productive vacation."

Michael's face paled at the thought of being driven to the ground by a hardass like Sona, "I'm starting to feel so bad for Saji right now…fight on, man…fight on…"

"I believe Kaichou has planned out a very rigorous training schedule that doubles the workload of last year's training. I think she even commented about adding on more work that tops the training we did in preparation for the Phoenix Rating game."

Akeno spark a fire in Rias once she heard that.

"Oh really." She was starting to look competitive and that really had her servants worried,

"If Sona wishes to outdo us then we just have to work even harder, so that she and her servants won't compete with us. Meaning our workload has been tripled. I won't allow her to outdo me."

_'Uh…Buchou, don't you me 'us'?' Michael was getting a glimpse at the sheer intensity both seniors had toward one another._

Sending a dominating glare towards everyone, Rias exclaimed, "Do I make myself clear? We are not to lose to Sona at any cost. Does anyone object."

"N-No, Buchou…" Everyone sweatdropped at their King's sudden burst of anger.

_'This summer isn't going to be relaxing as I thought. I wonder what kind of summer break Natsuru-senpai will have since she stayed here in Japan. I hope she doesn't get too lonely while we're gone. I would have invited her, but I haven't really seen much of her lately at school or at home. I wonder if she's just been busy with something else.' Michael thought._

**_[Shouldn't you be more focused on your own troubles besides someone else's?]_ **

_'Well, it lightens the load of my eventual training, so it does help and-!' Michael took that moment to notice that Ddraig was finally speaking to him,_

_'Ddraig?'_

**_[Yo.]_ **

"Ddraig!" Michael's sudden screaming startled everyone.

"Michael-san?" Asia looked perplexed at the sudden outburst, "Are you okay?"

She worriedly placed a hand on his shoulder.

Giving Asia a surprised look, Michael's only response was,

"I need to use the bathroom."

Gently lifting Koneko off of his lap, Michael made a beeline to the restroom before anyone could say anything. Now left to themselves the group had nothing to say for what just happened and went on with their business while one person broke the silence,

"That was weird." Koneko went on to finishing her snack.

Slamming the door to the small bathroom stall, Michael immediately sat on the toilet and shouted at his glowing hand, "Just where the hell have you been!?"

**[I never actually left. I'm still bound to you inside the Boosted Gear. Plus, I never even received a proper 'hi' from you.]**

"But Ddraig I haven't heard from you after we took care of the Natsuru situation."

**[…]**

"Don't you pull that bullcrap me! That's MY thing not yours." Michael shouted.

**[…]**

"Fine. What's up, Ddraig?" Michael groaned.

**[It's nice seeing you again too, partner. I haven't been up to much lately, I've been conversing with a few old friends from within the depths of the Boosted Gear and your inner psyche. It appears some things have opened up because of your progress.]**

"What"

Ddraig groaned at his partner's lack of tact.

**[I was busy with one of your seniors, my past possessor before you, talking about your current progression with the Boosted Gear.]**

"Hold up. Are you serious, then that must mean I finally got an old possessor's approval to lean the Welsh Drive? That's great! Now I can really start this summer off with a bang."

**[Don't get ahead of yourself. Usually it's natural for at least 2 to 3 past possessors to approve of you, so one isn't something to be proud of. Let's not forget that he had barely accepted you with some finality because there were some moments where he might not have been sure to deem you worthy.]**

"Boy way to bring the whole house down…" Michael scratched his cheek.

**[It's the truth and you have to hear it. Thankfully, he is actually willing to help you, but there's a condition to be met before you unlock Welsh Drive. You must fully control about 50% of the dragon energy the Scale Mail will provide for you in order to unlock the power fully. Meaning no more self-inflicted injuries, you have to learn to maintain the power in your base state and get yourself acquainted to the heightened power.]**

"Like you said before…no sweat this training will absolutely help me get that power." Michael said confidently.

**[Depending if the training is enough to get you far enough to reach that level.]**

"Quit being a Debby downer. This training has to work since Ero-Ossan wants us to develop our sacred gears after all." Michael reassured Ddraig.

**[If you say so.]**

Bringing up Azazel led Michael to remind himself about his past thoughts and the nightmare he had the past morning. Dredging up the difficult topic, he asked, "Say Ddraig, you wouldn't happen to have seen a couple of my dreams while talking to my senior, have you?"

**[Dreams? I couldn't really avoid getting distracted by anything else or I would have lost contact with your senior.]**

"Then it wasn't you that was messing with my dreams. Then why did I dream about the Boosted Gear's Scale Mail killing me? Just what exactly was I supposed to get from that n-nightmare?"

Michael clicked his tongue.

**[You've been plagued by nightmares of the Scale Mail killing you? Explain what happened to me. Don't hold anything back.]**

And just like a broken dam, Michael gushed out all he could about his dream. Vali's taunting and personal speech about his true yet uncomforting origin. The destroyed courtyard of Kuoh Academy, and finally the horrifying part at dying at the hands of his own Balance Breaker. Processing all of this new information, Ddraig remained silent; thinking of a way to get some answer from that nightmare.

**[Are you sure that's all? Nothing else?]**

"I can remember the Scale Mail saying something, but I was already getting choked out and stabbed to death to really notice." Getting past the trauma of the dream proved too difficult so Ddraig didn't push him any further to answer.

"Wait, I do remember something about the armor being strange. It had red eyes with black aura seeping out of it. The whole thing felt like pure negativity that even I felt sick to my stomach just being in its presence." Michael noticed his shivering hand, and did his best to suppress it.

**[A malignant aura and red eyes?]**

**Ddraig didn't know much about the red eyes, but if the aura had such a deep overflow of negativity then it could be connected to that large crater that mysteriously appeared in Michael's mindscape. His talk with Belzard had to be interrupted to investigate the unnatural occurrence. As of now it didn't seem to effect anything, but since it now gave Michael a strange nightmare it seems that this black aura will be impeding with Michael's mental health.**

**[I have no clue what to make of this yet, but I'll do my best to look into this matter.]**

"Thanks." Michael tiredly rubbed his head.

Ddraig wanted to avoid frightening his owner any further, and steered clear of revealing the new change in his psyche. He didn't have the answers yet and making a theoretical guess would only make things worse.

"If that's taken care of then let's focus on the bigger picture besides my nightmares." Michael brightened his attitude.

**[Bigger picture?]**

"Exactly. We're heading to the Underworld, and since I'm bound to become Maou one day I need to at least enter it with a big debut! To show every devil out there what I'm made of, and the potential I have." Michael confidently laughed.

**[You're forgetting the most important part. People have to actually know who you are before they can actually care about what potential you have.]**

"Hey! People will be in awe by my greatness! Once I enter the Underworld everything will go my way!"

_"Oh, really?" A hushed voice projected itself inside of the bathroom._

"Whose there!" Michael immediately stood and looked around for the voice's source.

***Shiiiiiiiiiiiine!***

"A Magic Circle? In the bathroom? Why?" Michael gasped.

**[I know the situation is dire, but why are you talking like that?]**

"Don't know. Hard to explain. Being surprised. Forces me to… Speak in short sentences."

The magic circle shone brighter as it engulfed the entire bathroom with Michael giving the manliest of screams you could ever hear, "Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~!"

Hearing his scream, Rias looked over to Koneko to scope out the issue. Making her way to the bathroom, Koneko opened the door and peered inside and casually looked back into the lounge car.

"Buchou did Michael-senpai really use the bathroom?"

"Yes, is he in there?"

"Nope, but second question, wasn't there supposed to be a bathroom here in the first place?" Koneko opened the door one more time to see nothing, but the empty space that the train traveled through.

"Oh dear." Rias held her head as another headache rose up.

_'We just barely made it on the train and there's already trouble. Just what caused this nuisance in the first place?' Rias' thoughts trailed off before remembering about the snoring Governor-General in the next train car._

_'No no no no no no…' Rias made her way to the next car's door and opened the door to spot no one in the seat that Azazel was left sleeping in. Confirming his involvement with her missing Pawn._

"No…" Rias pinched her temples in frustration.

"That bad, huh?" Akeno approached her best friend with a frown.

"You would not believe…"

* * *

"Jeez! What the fruity flip just happened?" Michael groaned as he felt a little motion sick from the abrupt teleportation.

**[Perhaps looking outside would be the best course of action. There seems to be a lack of motion from the train beneath us.]**

"You're right. Do you think that someone is messing with train?" Michael asked.

**[Don't make me repeat myself and actually look you idiot.]**

"I was going to do that anyways, no need to boss me around, geez." Michael growled, "I have feelings too, Ddraig. You should be more sensitive towards my feelings and apologize right n-!"

**[OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!]**

***GACHA!***

"Whoa, Ddraig? It's looks like we're not in Kansas anymore." Michael stepped out the bathroom stall to find himself in a huge rocky mountain range with multiple cliffs and large mountains surrounding him. It was strange how got transferred to some faraway place like this where even the sky looked completely strange.

"This place…I can't put my finger on it, but it has this strange air about it that's making me feel strangely anxious. For some reason, I can't calm down…" Taking a few steps forward, Michael took a glance around and saw nothing but rocky terrain around him.

**[Yes, I can feel it too. This area is steep with a high traces of dragon aura.]**

"Dragon aura? So, do dragons live here?" Michael asked.

**[Yeah, and based on how heavy the pressure is here, you can bet that there is probably a whole pack of different dragons inhabiting the area. Dragons tend to be territorial when it comes to land and will attack any intruders who traverse upon it. I suggest you exercise extreme caution.] Ddraig sound grave with his warning.**

"Why so scared, I can take some of them out with my Balance Breaker." Michael proudly grinned.

**[A balance breaker that could potentially cripple your body because you haven't fully controlled using it yet.]**

"Pfft! Semantics. Besides, I'm not looking for trouble unless I have to. The person who brought us here surely has to be around, so I have to find them and force them to tell us where we are and take us back to the others. Simple." Michael coughed a few times to start his search.

**[Michael, I'm serious you shouldn't attract any attention to yourself. It would be natural for dragons to live in different areas for independency, but if there's a cluster of them living together like this, then it's possible you may fight a whole tribe of-!]**

"HEY! WHOEVER JUST TELEPORTED US HERE BETTER COME OUT RIGHT NOW! IF YOU'RE HERE SAY OR DO SOMETHING!" Michael shouted before laughing,

"There that must have gotten their attention."

**[Your lack of tact really surprise m-! What in the world…] Sensing something approach them Ddraig paused before shouting, [Dammit, Michael, you basically gave yourself away to a nearby dragon!]**

***STOMP!* *STOMP!* *STOMP!* *STOMP!***

"Don't worry, Ddraig. We can handle anything that comes our way just like with Tiamat, oh. We just have to-DAMN! That's one big sucker! He's even bigger than that Tia-bitch!"

***STOOOOOMP!***

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

Rearing its head past a very, very large mountain, a fifteen meters tall, gigantic purple western Dragon. With the exception of its lower body, specifically its belly, the inner portions of his long tail and legs, that are beige in color, the majority of its body is covered in dark purple, draconic scales. On its head, it has a triangular head with yellow horns, a pair of large, keen red eyes with lavender sclera, and serrated yet sharp canine teeth. It also has claws with long sharp, yellow nails, on his hands, and large bat-like wings with rigid tips. Additionally, it wore black armored pauldrons that extend down to its arms and a loincloth decorated with metallic accessories. The dragon's form made it able to walk on two legs like a human.

**[So, do you regret giving yourself away right now or should I just wait for things to get worse again.]**

"Okay, he's a little bigger than expected, but it's still nothing I can't handle!" Michael cracked his knuckles and assumed his battle stance, "Hey, Lizard-face! You want a piece of me then bring it! I'm not afraid of a challenge against a dragon like you!"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

Upon Michael materializing the Boosted Gear, the dragon roared once more in response to the boy's hasty threat and breathed in to make its stomach expand in the efforts of unleashing a fierce torrent of flames.

"Yeeeeeha-!"

***GURGLE!* *GURGLE!* *GURGLE!***

Stopping in his tracks, Michael held his queasy stomach and muttered, "Wait! Time out! Time out! Oogh!"

**[What is it? Why are you stopping?]**

"Oh my maou… I-I shouldn't have drank two liters of Iced Tea before we boarded the train." Michael gripped his stomach once more as it rumbled loud enough for even the dragon to hear.

"I can't fight like this, I have to go…" Michael looked over to the bathroom.

**[No, you'll just have to hold it in. You're facing a wild dragon that's not going to just let you use the bathroom!]**

"Tell that to him." Michael looked over his shoulder to spot the Wild Dragon waiting patiently. It appeared to stop its attack at the mention of Michael's inability to fight properly. Ddraig was speechless and didn't have any words to convey of his surprise only,

**[Really, Tannin…?]**

"Who?"

**[Nothing…just take your bathroom break already.]**

"Thank you! I promise that I'll be out to kick your ass as soon as possible!"

***SLAM!***

Michael waved at the giant dragon before rushing in to the bathroom stall. Standing through 10 minutes of waiting the dragon patiently waited for the boy to finish his 'business' but the loud sounds resonating from inside of it made it feel somewhat uncomfortable.

***POOOOOOOOOOOOOT!***

***POOOO!***

***PLOP!***

***PBBBBBBBBHT!***

The inappropriate noises didn't stop, but the dragon immediately felt something resonate from within the stall despite the ongoing sounds and breathed out a huge lick of flames that engulfed the entire bathroom stall.

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

"Haha! Too late!"

**[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]**

From within the flames a voice laughed and a loud call was made before a pair of dragon wings swept aside the flames to reveal Michael's dragon armored form.

"I sure fooled you! I used the old bathroom trick to get enough time to transform into my Balance Breaker! Also, how do you like my sound effects? *PBBBBBBBBBHT!* *PLOP!* *PLOP!*" Michael openly mocked the dragon.

***ROOOOOOOOOAR!***

The dragon immediately charged at the boy without a second thought and began to bare its claws to rip the smaller sized teen into shreds.

"No response? That usually makes them pissed off, ri-?" Michael froze in place when he prepared himself, the dragon was already on top of him. He was almost frozen in place once his eyes met with the frenzied dragon's. The sheer intimidation shook him to his core.

**[Michael, move!]**

"…!"

It took Ddraig's calls to catch him up to speed, so that he could dodge the massive claws that were coming at him.

***FLAP!* *FLAP!***

***SMAAAAAAAAASH!***

Taking flight, Michael puts some distance between himself and the dragon and noticed how the dragon expunged the ground with a single hit.

"He's fast!" Michael breathed heavily.

**[You ready to take this seriously now?]**

"Up against this guy? Yeah. Let's do it." Michael banged his fists together before sticking his right arm out, "Ascalon!"

**[Blade!]**

Michael decided that using the dragon slayer weapon would prove enough to weaken the dragon. Using the jets on his back, he propelled himself at the crazed giant with his blade in hand to pierce through the monster's thick scales.

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

***GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

The dragon took in a deep breath of air to unleash a massive fireball, and this was before Michael could get even close to it.

"Dammit!" Forcing himself to stop mid-way, Michael fired a dragon shot to cancel out the ball of flames. However, the blast of draconic energy wasn't enough and only delayed the attack before it got overpowered.

Maneuvering around the fireball, Michael was in awe at the fire power. Whatever dragon this was it sure can breathe a powerful blast of flames. Getting back into the heat of combat, he once again used his jets to get into close range of the dragon to use his sword. The target had a larger body than him, so it would be an easy target to hit.

"Got you!"

***SWISH!***

"What?"

As Michael tried to thrust his weapon into the dragon's midriff it weirdly dodged his attack with blinding speed.

"How did he-?" Michael growled and tried once more.

***SWISH!***

And again.

***SWISH!***

And again.

***SWING!***

But the dragon would dodge the blade's thrusts and slashes with ease despite its big body. This confused Michael to no end, he was using his Scale mail's jets and even his touki to boost his speed, but nothing allowed him to keep up with the dragon.

"I don't get it. How can something that big be this fast?" Michael grunted as he decided to go with a different plan.

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

**[What are you doing? This is too much for you to handle!]**

"I'm about to keep up with him by powering the jets of the Scale Mail."

**[That's still too much speed for you to handle. If you go straight at it, he'll dodge and you'll probably crash!]**

"That's why it's up to you to steer for me. So get ready!"

**[Michael, wai-!]**

**[TRANSFER!]**

**[JET!]**

***THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

"Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Moving ten times as fast as he did before, Michael propelled himself at the dragon with reckless abandon and tried plunging Ascalon through the dragon's scaly chest.

***SWISH!***

"That was better than before, I almost have him!" Missing by only a hair's breadth, Michael noticed how close he was to catching the dragon. However, he wasn't noticing the cliffside that he was about to crash into.

"D-Ddraig!"

**[I know!]**

***FLAP!* *FLAP!* *DOOOON!***

With enough force Michael's dragon wings flapped so hard that the intense air pressure destroyed most of the rocky cliffside. Back in action, Michael was already heading towards the dragon that was extending its stomach to release another raging torrent of flames.

***SWISH!* *SWISH!***

Two swings and he still missed the oddly quick dragon, and going through the same rough process of redirecting himself, he decided to come up with a plan while charging at the beast. The dragon was still in the process of extending its stomach making the fire ball it would release, a big one.

_'I almost have him, but it's still not enough. Ddraig, make sure to send me up in the sky before he breathes fires. I have an idea.' Michael thought._

**_[Got it!]_ **

"Let's see if you're quick enough to dodge this!"

***THOOOOOOOOM!***

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

_Michael prepared another thrust of his sword as he came within close range of the dragon's head before a gigantic torrent of flames engulfed his entire form and almost literally the entire half of the rocky mountain terrain. But in the seconds before the dragon fired its breath, Michael with the help of Ddraig's steering used his jets and wings to propel himself upwards and started his descent down towards the dragon's head._

"Come get some!" Michael roared as he brings his sword down.

***GROWL!***

***GIIIN!***

Stuck in mid attack with its fire breath, the dragon twisted its head to block the incoming sword with nothing but its sturdy horns that extended to catch the blade.

"Wait, can dragons use their horns as swords? Dude, that is so cool!" Sidetracked, Michael wasn't paying attention to the massive dragon tail that was swung his way.

***BAAAAAAAAM!***

"Gooough!" The force of the tail damaged his armor and forced him to spew a mouthful of blood. Crashing into the bedrock ground didn't help with the pain either as he tumbled over it before forcibly being stopped by the wall of another cliffside.

***ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

Coughing up a fit, Michael forced himself up and shook his head, "Gah, that hurts like a bitch!"

**[It's about to hurt a lot more.] Ddraig indicated to the dragon preparing another larger burst of flames.]**

"Is this guy even a normal dragon? How is it even this powerful?" Michael twitched in pain as he woozily stood on two feet.

**[A dragon is still a dragon. We are masses of power that can even crumble the most powerful of beings. This dragon is no exception to that rule.]**

"So what you're saying is…" Michael prepares a massive sphere of dragon energy on one hand and slowly began to take a fortified stance,

"If a dragon is a mass of power, then the only way to completely defeat it is by fighting Power with Power!" Michael slowly poured in his touki into the sphere, then began infusing all of his energy into the needed attack.

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

**[No that wasn't what I meant. What are you going to do?]**

"I can't touch him with speed, and since he can't do much while only focusing on breathing fire than I better overpower him with something stronger."

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

Focusing, the sphere slowly levitates over Michael's fingers as he crams more energy into it.

**[That's overdoing it! Your body isn't ready for this much power! This is the same song and story that we've been doing since the beginning! Injuring yourself will only create more problems if this attack doesn't work!]**

"Then I'll make it work!"

**[That's nonsense! Just think about what you're about to do!]**

"I am!" Feeling the weight of energy, he placed into the sphere, Michael began doubting the base strength of the attack and started comparing it to the dragon's last fireball.

_'No, it's not enough! I need to put more into it!' Michael thought._

**[Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost! Boost!]**

**[You're obviously not thinking about the whole picture!] Ddraig continued to berate the boy further despite the wild dragon nearing its final stages before releasing its fire breath.**

"I AM! If I can't beat some random dragon then I'll never be able to catch up with Buchou and the others! I can't lose! I won't lose!"

**[That's still not seeing the whole picture! If this attack won't work then you'll try again and again and then your whole body will break! Michael? Michael!]**

Ignoring the dragon's words, Michael focused on placing more power into the growing mass of energy levitating over his fingers.

Everything was nearing the final stretch as both the dragon and Michael were reaching the peak of their stalled attacks. Both enemies were staring each other down, neither of them back down as the dragon's intimidating visage was matched with Michael's determined glare.

The fight was officially going to end.

**"Dragon-!"**

"Okay, that's enough."

A familiar voice echoed through the mountain range.

_'Ero-Oss-?' Michael lost his focus upon recognizing the voice and was unable to control his compressed sphere of energy._

It was about to fire until a shadow emerged and quickly knocked the sphere of energy into the sky where it exploded in a brilliant red light.

Dropping out of his Scale Mail form, Michael fell flat on his bottom exhausted and looked at the dragon in surprise as it released a gigantic fire ball into the air above. The full blast of the fire ball filled the skies as the surrounding mountains were brightened by the sheer output of flames.

"Incredible."

"Yup, that's the power of a true Dragon King there. But you're no pushover yourself, Michael-kun~."

"Another familiar voice? Natsuru-senpai!?" Michael turned around and spotted that it was Natsuru who redirected his attack.

"Hello~!" Natsuru winked at her kouhai and helped him up onto his feet.

"Talk about cutting it close there, big guy." Flying off a cliff and into the mountain range, Azazel appeared and spoke with the 15 meter dragon.

"I only did as I was instructed. I held back my full power and showed no mercy. If you didn't want things to become this extreme, then you could have called off the exercise moments ago." The dragon responded with a rough yet honorable warrior tone; something that Michael didn't expect a wild dragon to have.

"True, but things were running smoothly until SOMEONE decided that crippling himself would lead to his highly improbable victory." Azazel held his head down before exhaling sharply, "Boy this is going to be a long summer break…"

"Oi! Someone explain to me what is going on, and where we are because I am freaking out and have so many questions! Where are we? How is Natsuru-senpai here? How are you here, Ero-Ossan? And what in the heck is that dragon guy?" Michael breathed heavily after his outburst.

"Well, to answer your questions, Michael, I decided to test you and see what power you can dish out while under pressure against an opponent who is leagues powerful than you, and much to my dismay it seems that we forcibly brought out your greatest weakness just now."

"My greatest weakness?" Michael arched an eyebrow.

"But first let's answer the other questions," Pointing behind himself, Azazel introduce the giant purple dragon, "This here is Tannin, a former vassal to the Red Dragon Emperor and a former Dragon King. He's known as the "Blaze Meteor Dragon" aka, the Devil-Dragon. He was reincarnated into the highest class of devil an Ultimate-Class Devil for reasons that I don't necessarily care about explaining."

"Wait, so this dragon is actually a devil? And Ultimate-class at that too?" Michael was at a loss of words and gazed at the dragon in admiration and whispered, "So awesome…"

"It's been quite a while, Ddraig."

**[It's good to see that you're still kicking, Tannin. I'm starting to feel a little nostalgic here…]**

"You're right, but…" Tannin took a glance at Ddraig's possessor and crack what looked to be a smile, "Only this time it would seem that your user is as reckless than the ones before."

**[You would not believe.]**

"Hmmm…" Tannin took a closer look at Michael once more before looking a little reminiscent, "How odd the resemblance is really uncanny."

_'That again? Why do people keep saying that?' Michael scratched his head while the two dragons continued to talk._

Hearing the two dragons share a moment, Michael looked at his boosted gear and growled, "Let me get this straight you knew who this guy was from the beginning?"

**[Of course, it's almost hard for anyone to mistake the presence of their old vassal for anyone else.]**

"So why wasn't there a little warning about this guy's status as a Dragon King?" Michael asked.

**[Former Dragon King. I told you about the "Five Great Dragon Kings" before, right? Tannin here was a Dragon King back when they were the "Six Great Dragon Kings". The dragon called Tannin that was even recorded in the Bible is the very same person your meeting.]**

"He's even mentioned in the Bible? Damn, that sounds so legendary." Michael gasped in exasperation.

"Legendary should fit a dragon of his caliber." Natsuru walked up and gazed upon Tannin's 15 metered visage, "[Blaze Meteor Dragon] Tannin. It's said that his breath of fire is equal to the impact of a meteorite. He's one of the few legendary dragons that are still active right now."

Looking at Natsuru in surprise, Michael was a little shocked at her knowledge of dragons.

But she interrupted his eventual response with a, "Yello~!"

"So why is Natsuru-senpai here?" Michael asked Azazel.

"She's here because I requested her to handle a job for me and this was just a simple task before she could take it. She's going to be staying in the Underworld for Summer Break, too." Azazel nodded.

"She's really coming with us that's great, but hold on what was the task that she needed to do."

***Boink!***

"Boop." Natsuru poked Michael's noise before holding her finger up to her lips and winking, "Poof!"

Dotting the lines together, Michael screamed, "Wait, you were the one who teleported me here?"

"It was quite easy. All I needed to do was get you alone and then poof! One captured Michael-kun has been bagged." Natsuru giggled.

"So even you were in on this, Natsuru-senpai?" Michael tiredly rubbed his head.

"It was all crucial for this first step of your training to properly use the dragon's power from scratch instead improvising like you usually do. And speaking of improvising, lets discuss your training over the break." Azazel crossed his arms and leaned against a boulder.

"This entire month, we plan to mold you into a proper user of the Boosted Gear and finally unlock the Welsh Drive. So that is the reason why we decided to get you the best teacher for the job to roughen you up."

"So is Shishou going to teach me?" Michael asked curiously, he was wondering whether or not Kai would train him since he could probably help him cross a certain roadblock to his training.

"Kai? No, he's a great teacher altogether, but he only taught you the basics of fighting. We're here to teach you how to actually fight like a dragon from a real live devil-dragon himself. Tannin please make sure that this brat learns how to use his dragon power from scratch, he may be the new Red Dragon Emperor, but he still has a ways to go."

Azazel shrugged.

"I'll be sure to whip him into shape. Don't forget Fallen Angel, I do this also because of Son Kai-san's request to personally train myself. Don't forget about whose territory we're in." Tannin earned a passive shrug from Azazel before turning to Michael, "So I get to train another youngling who harbors Ddraig in him. What a fortune turn of events."

Tannin said that happily while narrowing his eyes at Michael. The excitement in Tannin's eyes made Michael wonder about his safety throughout this entire training session.

**[Go nuts with this kid. You can see that he can put up a fight, but he can be a bit of a wild card if not disciplined enough. He's a moron, so smack some sense into him if he gets a bit reckless.]**

"Oi! At least say something positive about me at least!" Michael hissed.

"So, he's a wild one too, eh? Don't worry I have some experience dealing with younglings like you, and maybe by helping you train, then maybe you can help me with something in the process too." Tannin rubbed his chin and wore a more noticeable smile, "Yes, this ought to work out nicely. So, what do you say to actually training like a true dragon, youngling?"

"I say quit it with that youngling crap! I'm Michael Hanamura and I'm the greatest, not some kid!" Michael was already annoyed by that nickname.

"In my eyes, a little devil like you has a lot of bark, but less of a bite. So, in the end, I envision you like a young dragon spawn trying to act tough." Tannin lowly chuckled.

"Oh, yeah! You just watch, I'm gonna complete my training and become an Ultimate class devil just like you one day. Then I'll become a Maou that will surpass you, Gramps!" Michael's declaration almost stunned Tannin and surprised Natsuru a little, but the former simply just laughed at the boy making him feel a little threatened.

"What's so funny!?"

"This one seeks to become a Maou with the power of the Red Dragon Emperor, too? Boy this user of yours is such an interesting youngling, Ddraig, and did I just hear you call me gramps?" Tannin referred to Michael's rude choice of a nickname.

"Yup because you're an old dragon recorded in the Bible and that book is super old. So yeah, Gramps. Also, I'm calling you this as fair trade for calling "youngling" is that good with you?"

"Kuukukuku! This boy has so much spunk! I can tell that this month will be an eventful one." Tannin guffawed so loudly that you can hear his laughs echo off the mountain walls.

"Seems like you two will be getting along for a while, so lets go to Rias' home. It should only be an 8 hour walk back. 3 hours if we quickened the pace by running." Azazel pointed to the east of the mountains.

"Wait, Buchou's home, so does that mean we're in the Underworld? That would explain why the sky looks all funny, but I thought that teleporting in the Underworld without proper transportation is illegal?" Michael looked around in wonder at the strange land.

"It is, and we did force you to come here, so you technically did as well." Azazel laughed.

"Really? Well, since we all came here together doesn't it mean we all illegally entered?"

"Nope. Just you." Natsuru giggled.

"Hubbawhat?" Michael did a double take.

"Hmhm~! I used the Fallen Angel's route to get here." Natsuru did the peace sign.

"I had a portable transportation device that allowed me to use the route while in the devil's route." Azazel pulled down his sleeve to reveal his futuristic looking pocket watch.

"That's so unfair! How come I have to be the only one who can't get off Scott free?" Michael complained.

"Don't be like that you're only on your first strike."

"And my last!"

"That too, but you have other matters to attend to like meeting up with your friends at the Gremory Mansion which is an 8 hour long trip back by foot." Azazel pointed to the east once more, "By foot. No flying or teleportation. By foot."

"Why are you emphasizing about feet? Are you going to be into feet now, Ero-Ossan? Because that's gross." Michael inched himself away from Azazel.

"Nope just trying to be subtle with something. Oh, by the way your training has just officially started and now you're going to climb down this mountain, run through the wild forests of the underworld and make it to Rias' home to catch up with the other in about 3 hours. So go!" Azazel shooed the boy.

"You mean right now? But I literally fought a former Dragon King can I just have a second to catch my breath?" Michael shouted.

"One. There you used up your second now go." Azazel shooed the boy once more.

"That's not what I mean Ero-Os-!" Michael shouted.

"Tannin." Azazel looked over his shoulder with a wide smile.

"On it."

***FWOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

"Gyaaaaaaa! Okay, I'm moving! I'm moving! Sheesh!" Michael cried as he narrowly avoided getting scorched by Tannin's dragon breath. Already scaling the mountainside, he began his journey down the huge mountain.

"So that's my cue to leave, too. I'm going to be leaving for the human world once he returns to the others. I still have to look over Kiyo-tan's monster's back at home." Natsuru created a portal and proceeded to walk through it, "I'll return to help out with my guest once things really start."

And like that Azazel and Tannin were left to themselves as they look over the cliffside at the vast wild land that the Underworld had to offer.

"You forgot to mention to the youngling his greatest weakness." Tannin brought up.

"Nah, I just decided not to tell him. Makes things run smoother." Azazel said.

"How so? Wouldn't it be better to tell him about burdening his comrades should he injure himself like that?" Tannin looked over to the Fallen Angel with a hint of curiosity.

Giving a deep sigh, Azazel replied, "Just telling him isn't enough he has to learn by himself. It wouldn't change anything, he's willing to damage his own body all for the sake of protecting his friends. That's admirable the first few times, but after a while if he keeps doing the same thing multiple times then that admirable sacrifice will be looked upon as sheer madness."

It isn't normal for a person to just injure themselves for the sake of other all the time. Its noble to put others before yourself, but if its done constantly then its obvious that it's the first sign of madness. A sign that the person actually cares little about their own well being and find others suitable to take the hit for them.

"If he's willing to go to that extreme while fighting you all because he wanted to catch up with his friends then we have a serious problem to fix. Hurting himself won't save his friends, it will also hurt them in the process as well."

"Tell me do you feel the same way while you watch him hurt himself?" Tannin asked and watches Azazel say neutral once the question was asked.

"Who knows." Azazel created a magic circle beneath his feet, "Besides, if he injures himself in a one on one fight, then he'll probably continue with causing self harm to his body until he can't defend himself. You can return to your mountains and prepare for his training regimen. I still have to return to my student and figure out a way to explain why I kidnapped her boyfriend and stole her train's bathroom stall."

***Shiiiiine~!***

Azazel transported to the train station in the Underworld to meet up with the rest of the Gremory peerage.

"You may not show it, but I can tell you do care. If you didn't then you wouldn't have spotted this harmful problem that the youngling puts himself through. Not to mention the concern in your eyes. Governor-General, you surely are starting to lose your rumored edge when around that child." Tannin compared Azazel's concern to his whenever he worried about his children.

Taking off, Tannin flew towards the main training ground Michael will basically be staying at for the rest of his summer. Catching the giant dragon soar through the sky, Michael looks on in amazement and excitedly chuckled,

"I can't believe I fought another Dragon King and an actual Ultimate class Devil! Man, this summer break is starting to look pretty alright!" Michael continued climbing down the mountain.

**[Coming from the guy who would have destroyed his arm in a practice exercise.]**

"True, but you never warned me about it just being an exercise." Michael coughed.

**[If you knew it was an exercise from the beginning, then you would have fooled around as usual.]**

"I-I would not!" Michael stuttered.

**[You're terrible at lying… besides if you were getting knocked around while fighting serious then you probably wouldn't have survived fooling around. Tannin was barely using a tenth of his real power. Besides, it still doesn't excuse you ignoring my orders yet again.] Ddraig scolded the boy.**

"You still mad about that?"

**[…What do you think?]**

"Look everything turned out for the best, so let's not worry about it."

**[You can't think like that Michael. What if that was a serious fight and you decide that if one body crippling wasn't enough then how about more; how exactly would you hope to last in a fight if you destroy yourself right before the opponent?]**

"That's because things won't end up like that because I'm the greatest." Michael managed to reach the bottom of the mountain and made long strides through the wilderness.

**[Take this seriously! How do you expect to get anything done if you recklessly rush every fight with a all or nothing attack?]**

"I get it! It may seem terrible at first, but it still might work! Just trust me, we've been through rougher situations and we manage to make it out just fine."

**[That may be true, but how long do you suppose this streak of ours will last?] Ddraig questioned.**

"Always with the foreboding questions with you, geez… Anyways, summer is just now starting and we have everyone preparing for some serious training, so stop worrying." Michael looked ahead with a bright smile, "And besides, what could go wrong?"

* * *

"—It's been quite a few months since Vali returned acting strange, right?"

"True, Sir Vali hasn't been the same since his fight with this Generation's Red Dragon Emperor. The fight could have impacted him more than we thought. He did force Vali into that damaged state."

"Doesn't it make you curious though?"

"What are you dribbling on about?"

"How this new Red Dragon Emperor could actually keep up with Vali. See how he acts and how changed Vali. Let's pay the Underworld a visit~!"

"As always you seek to bring more misfortune upon others, and let's say I wish to learn more about this new phenomenon with Sir Vali. How would you go about locating him without getting caught and causing a commotion?"

"Simple. Word gets around and these cute little ears of mine have picked up juicy information about a special party for the higher echelons of the devil society and…Bikou did mention that the Red Dragon Emperor is a servant to one of those famous devil households. Plus, to sweeten the deal, we also have an anonymous donor willing to provide a couple of boring old chimera to me with a steep promise to cause chaos in the Underworld."

"…"

"So, do I have your attention now?"

"We shall explore this option when the time of this party is nigh. Do not make any rash moves on your own, you stray black cat."

"Right back at ya, Miss Stuffy Britches. Fufufu! This will surely be thrilling, and, oh, how silly of me I almost forgot."

"What is it now?"

"Nothing, nothing~! It's just something that I had to remind myself if I ever returned to the Underworld."

"And that is?"

"Getting back what I accidentally left behind, my sister, nya~!"

* * *

**Next Chapter- Meeting Rias' parents! Getting assimilated to the rough Devil Society and the 1-month training begins!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading everyone and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter!
> 
> So, yay! We're in the Underworld arc now and there will be a lot of new changes just you wait and see! Almost everyone will have significant training that won't be vague or going over the basics just like the original LN. This story will have more plotlines, and new teachers for the characters.
> 
> Now onto Michael's little problem, it's obvious by now that Michael has an issue, and if you look at it closely you can see that it's not healthy for him to just keep breaking his body without hesitation. It not only affects him, but his loved ones as well, and that will later be a critical issue that he needs to care of or things won't bode WELL for anyone.
> 
> Well, thanks for reading this chapter guys and I hope you'll stick around for the rest, too! I'm out so peace out and have a wonderful day! Bye!


	51. Meeting Rias' parents! Getting assimilated to the rough Devil Society and the 1-month training begins!

**Meeting Rias' parents! Getting assimilated to the rough Devil Society and the 1-month training begins!**

* * *

The train ride was long and grueling, but Rias and her peerage had safely arrived at the Gremory's main residence. From above, they could see the entirety of the Gremory territory that was said to be the same size of Honshu in Japan. Everyone enjoyed the view, but not as much as they wanted to because of their missing comrade Michael.

There was also the case that Azazel was gone as well, making everyone feel worried over the pawn's sudden disappearance. Believing things to be fine, Rias only hoped that Michael would return with Azazel before they would make their appearance at her home.

[Welcome home, Rias-ojou-sama!]

Her expectations were quashed when they arrived with neither of them appearing. Fireworks were being set off, soldiers shooting their guns at the sky, and an orchestra band began to play an uproarious song simultaneously! Topping it off, a soldier who rode on top of a mysterious creature flew in the sky above, and waved a flag with Gremory clan's mark.

"A-Amazing, is this really all for Buchou?"

"Talk about a huge welcoming."

"Is this considered a normal welcoming down here for devils?"

Asia, Raynare and Xenovia were in awe of the large ceremony taking place in front of them. It wasn't every day that you'd receive a whole flipping parade as your welcoming party. Kiba and the others seemed to be very used to this setting and just watched with thankful smiles.

Making their way forward, the group came across two long lines of butlers and maids. Both sections of servants bowed their heads when Rias approached.

[Welcome back, Rias-ojousama.]

"Thank you, everyone. I'm home. I've finally returned." Rias smiled.

Approaching them next was a familiar silver-haired maid.

"It's nice to see you again, Grayfia."

"And you as well, Oujo-sama. I'm glad you had a safe trip while coming here."

Looking around once more, Rias asked, "Tell me have there been any signs of either Azazel and Michael coming here yet?"

Rias would have further explained both of their disappearances, but an exhausted look from Grayfia answered her question, but brought up even more.

"It's best that you come and see for yourself." Grayfia sighed and led everyone to gorgeous-looking carriages. It was like something you'd see in a fairy tale, except the horses weren't your average ones as their bodies were huge as their eyes held a mysterious glint.

"Now then, all family members, please board the carriage. We'll be going to the main residence with this." Grayfia waved her hand to the opened carriage door.

"But what about our luggage?" Raynare asked.

Poking at her side, Koneko pointed to the maids and butlers transferring their bags from the train to the carriage.

"Oh, nevermind…" Raynare wasn't quite used to this leisurely help.

"…You'll get used it." Koneko said.

"Since I want to make sure they'll be alright. I will stay with Asia and Xenovia since they seem anxious about coming here for the first time."

"Understood. Then please board whichever vehicle pleases you."

Consenting to Rias' request, Grayfia help everyone enter their corresponding carriage and traversed with them down the paved roads. The scenery was to die for as everything seemed to be perfect as flowers were blooming, water flowing out from beautifully crafted fountains and various birds tweeting and flying about.

But what came next was even a huge shock for the newcomers.

"I-I-Is that a castle?" Asia covered her mouth after looking at the grand castle that awaited them.

"Yes. This is the main residences of one of my homes." Rias' pleasant smile couldn't mask the fact that she blatantly admitted to having more homes just like this.

"One of your homes?" Raynare couldn't stay in her seat as she looked at the large castle in awe.

"Looks like we're a part of an amazing family of devils after all." Xenovia forced those words out while admiring the land around them.

Taking another quick glance outside, Rias murmured, "We seem to have arrived."

The carriage stopped moving and opened its doors for everyone to get out. The maids and butlers still handled the luggage, but a whole new line of maids and butlers bowed once everyone disembarked. A red carpet stretched out towards the huge castle while the castle gates creaked wide open for the guests to enter.

"Ojou-sama, and all the members of her group. Please, advance forward." Grayfia made a slight bow and urged them onward.

"Come on, let's go." Rias led everyone inside while catching a faint sigh come from Grayfia,

_"I apologize for what happens next, Ojou-sama. I wish you good luck."_

* * *

Walking through Rias' home was glorious for the newcomers. Everything was so fancy and neat. Nothing was out of place and tons of priceless antiques and paintings filled the hallways leading to the castle's main interior.

It was when Rias entered the interior that a small silhouette broke out from the ongoing line of maids towards Rias.

"Rias-neesama! Welcome back!"

A cute-looking young boy with red hair and blue-green eyes embraced Buchou.

"Millicas! I'm back. You've gotten big, haven't you?'

Rias also lovingly hugged the boy back.

"U-Umm, excuse me Rias. Who is this child?" Raynare asked.

Turning the boy around, Rias introduced him.

"This little one is Millicas Gremory. The son of my brother, Sirzechs Lucifer-sama."

"So that would make him your nephew." Asia said, surprised.

"Now be a good boy and say hello."

"Okay. My name is Millicas Gremory, nice to meet you." The boy greeted them with a polite smile.

"Hehe, so cute!" Asia giggled.

"Devilish looks and good manners. He truly is like a prince, now isn't he?" Xenovia smiled.

"Even though he's my brother's son, he still holds the Gremory name. Because only the person who succeeds the title of a Maou can retain that Maou's title." Rias corrected.

"But wait…if he's the Lucifer's son then wouldn't that mean that his mother is…" Raynare remembered something not too long ago, but doused her thoughts when Rias insisted that they should head for the next room.

"Are you all going to see, Grandmother?" Millicas asked, "She's waiting for you all right through there! Also, there was this funny guest, who came in shouting, with her too. He kept on saying your name Rias-neesama."

"A guest, who are talki-?" Rias' face paled, "Wait, Millicas, did this person pridefully state his own name while he was yelling?"

"Yuh-huh! Grandmother said to be quiet about it until you go see for yourself. Well, I'm off to go play with Shura and Kalia now! Shura promised to bring his little sister, Agnes, and I can't wait to meet her! Bye!" Before she could further question him, Millicas took off.

"A shouting guest? Doesn't that sound like…?"

***GACHA!* *GACHA!***

Akeno spoke, but stopped herself once Rias barged up to a pair of doors and immediately swung them open to see the darnedest sight. Her face was pale and she began to sweat a little as she looked directly at a beautiful woman sitting on a couch.

"Ara, Rias? So, you've returned. I didn't expect for you to come so late, but I'm thankful that your trip was able to guide you safely back to us." A beautiful young woman with brown hair, and violet eyes while wearing an elegant dress warmly welcomed Rias in.

"M-Mother?" Slowly raising her finger Rias pointed at her mother's lap.

"Hm? Is that any way to greet you mother, who hasn't seen you for these past couple of months?" The woman lightly teased her daughter, but playfully caught on to what Rias was pointing at, "Oh, you mean this? Well, let's just say that our little guest here came a little earlier than you did."

Slowly moving her hand up, the beautiful woman light stroked Michael's tired head that was on her lap.

"M-Michael!?" Rias couldn't hide the surprise in her voice and her stunned expression once her eyes locked on to her boyfriend sleeping and using her mother's head as a pillow.

* * *

_It was another beautiful day in the Gremory household, everyone was anticipating for the arrival of Rias and her servants. The preparations made for her welcoming were almost completed, and as per usual the servants were intending to make sure that the returning heir would experience pure grandeur as she returns._

_Biding her own time until her daughter arrived, Venelana, Rias' mom took the time to read a book in the household's beautiful garden. Taking a sip of tea, she took a relaxed sigh and enjoyed her peaceful and quiet day._

_Until a bruised and mud/blood covered Michael fell through the hedges next to her table._

_"Oh my, and who might you b-?"_

_"Huh? Did I make it? Am I finally in civilization? YES! I did it! I, Michael Hanamura survived through that weird forest!" Michael cackled maniacally, completely unaware of Venelana's curious stares._

_"Michael Hanamura…Hanamura…that name sounds familiar. Oh, wait…now I remember. You're that young man who recently joined Rias' peerage." Venelana said before looking a little reminiscent,_

_"Ah, the resemblance really is uncanny."_

_Hearing Venelana say that Michael whipped his head around to come face to face with the woman. He looked alert at first, but calmed down afterwards._

_"Oh, it's just you, Rias. When did you beat me here? Where's everyone else?" Michael looked around and approached Venelana._

_"Actually, I'm Ri-"_

_"Nah, probably not important. Hey, mind if I sit here with you?"_

_"No, not at a-"_

_"Great. GREAT! Man, I'm just so jittery! Oh my gosh is that tea? Can I have some?"_

_"Why, yes. You may have some if you wish. Here."_

_"Thank you, Rias!"_

_Venelana sweatdropped as she kept getting interrupted by the hyperactive boy. She found it difficult to explain her identity to him, but she found some weird enjoyment with how open the boy was with her. Not to mention with the way he spoke of Rias without and honorifics. Giving her a glimpse into the relationship that he shares with her daughter._

_After pouring himself a cup of tea, Michael downs the whole thing in a single gulp while breathing heavily._

_"That's the stuff. I haven't had anything to drink or eat for the past 5 hours while trying to get here."_

_"Oh dear, you haven't? Don't tell me you weren't able to get access to the train ride's beverages on your way here." Venelana asked, concerned._

_"No, I came all the way from those mountains over these to here!" Michael pointed to the mountains that were barely seen in the distance, further emphasizing the long trek he made to get here._

_Eyes wide, Venelana politely covered her mouth as she asked, "You came from there to here? You mean, you didn't come here by train? What happened to you?" That would explain why Rias and her other servants weren't here yet._

_"Rias…you are not going to believe the day I've had. First, the Ero-Ossan and Natsuru-senpai sent me here while I was in the bathroom to test how I would do in a fight. So they had me fight this huge ass dragon, who was actually a devil named Tannin and he whooped my ass! I mean, I could have taken him, but at the same time, I just could not believe I was face to face with a Ultimate classed devil."_

_Michael then took a deep gasp of air._

_"Next, Ero-Ossan told me this long and drawn out explanation about everyone's training for the summer along with my trainer being the same dragon-devil that kicked my ass. After that I was told to scale down the mountain they forced me on, and find my way to here with only a single direction. Soooooooo…"_

**_*GAAAAASP!*_ **

_Michael held up a finger and continued to speak, "When I started running through the huge forest, I came across this huge three headed bear and wrestled it into the ground and placed it into a headlock to show it whose boss. Next, I came across this weird mess of quicksand which is weird since you normally find quicksand in a jungle, right, Ddraig?"_

**_[Right.]_ **

_"Trying to avoid it, I took a step around it only to find more quicksand that had some grass over it. I almost thought that I was dead until Ddraig reminded me that I could fly out of it, so I did. However, my wings couldn't fly as well because there was some quicksand on them, so I crashed near a den of these huge red fanged wolves."_

_"So, what happened next?" Venelana asked._

_"Oh, I kicked the shit out of the chief of the pack…while it's pups watched…" Michael whispered that last part which freaked Venelana out a little, but she still was intrigued with the boy's story to give up now._

_"And so dubbing me their new chief, I was leading my new pack through the woods~!" Michael laughed uproariously._

_"Really?"_

**_[No, they were actually chasing after him after he started kicking the chief wolf without any warning.]_ **

_"Did that happen? Meh…anyways onto my long adventure to get here. So after leading my pack through the dangers of the woods. I took one wrong step and found myself in a huge ravenous river that took me to this beautiful lake. After that, some huge water serpent attacked me, and chased me around and around and around. I did eventually lose him after, you know, getting away from the water. Finally, I began to get a little hungry, so I decided to use my Instincts to find some good enough food, so I decided to eat these glowing crystalline mushrooms that I found growing next to some glowing moss."_

_Recognizing some of the fauna that surrounded her home, Venelana worriedly placed a hand to her forehead._

_"Oh my… Dear, those weren't just any ordinary mushrooms…" Venelana could now tell why he was so hyperactive, "Those mushrooms are used in spells and alchemy to heighten their casting speed. They hold a very powerful drug that humans use for self-enjoyment to increase their physical activity and impulse control."_

_Venelana did her best to explain, but the situation just went over Michael's head._

**_[So basically, you just ate the equivalent of crystal meth on TOP of crystal meth, you moron!]_ **

_"…" Michael still looked confused as he just stared blankly at Venelana._

_"Excuse me, Hanamura Michael-kun are you okay?" Venelana looked concern for the quiet boy._

_"…Say Rias…when did you dye your hair brown?"_

**_*THUD!*_ **

_Coming down from the drugged mushrooms, Michael fell back in his chair and passed out._

* * *

"And after he fainted, I requested for Grayfia and a few maids to clean him up and dress him up in a more appropriate attire." Venelana brushed some hair off of Michael's sleeping face.

"Merr…can't stop…clowns will eat me….can't stop…clowns will eat me…" Michael mumbled in his sleep.

"Also do you know what he means by that? He's been saying that in his sleep the whole time." Venelana looked to her daughter to still see her pale and startled expression. She couldn't help but smile at her face and the thoughts that were probably racing through her head, "Well, I guess that question will have to wait. So, lets wake up your Pawn, now shall we?"

***Tug…***

"Ouch…" Michael tiredly rubbed his eyes as he picked himself up, "Bleh…what's that taste? Gah, my head, too…it hurts so bad, and *YAWN!* why do I feel so tired?"

Shaking the sleep out of his eyes, Michael looked around and yawned, "Hey, it looks like I made it…I think…I honestly have no idea where I am."

Ignoring his throbbing headache, Michael looked ahead to find that everyone was there.

"Whoa! Everyone is here! So, I managed to get here after all. Hahaha, ouch…still hurts to laugh." Michael winced in pain, "Hey, guys, what's up? When did you all get here because I have had the craziest day ever."

Before Rias could reply, Venelana decided to now speak with the now rational pawn, "They've arrived not too long ago, dear. This whole time, you've been resting since your arrival here over these past couple hours."

"Wow, so I really did come here before the rest of you, huh? Thanks for catching me up on things, Buchou." Michael smiled to Venelana before sweatdropping, "Wait…Buchou? When did you have brown hair?"

"Ahem!"

Looking at his master standing directly in front of him, Michael's face began to pale in confusion and fear, "Buchou is that you? Then who's sitting next to me?"

Michael gasped as he looked between Rias and her mother. The two were almost virtually identical despite one having a mature air about them. He however didn't know who the look-alike was in actuality and was stuck while deciding his words. It took everything in Michael's being not to ruin things, he could already feel the awkward atmosphere in the room, so to break up the tension he made a quick guess and said,

"A-Are you Buchou's older sister?" Michael had to force those words out of his mouth.

"Ufufu, oh my. That's such a nice thing to say, but actually I'm Rias' mother." Venelana's beautiful smile might have been comforting it still didn't help the awkwardness filling the conversation.

***SLAM!***

Prostrating himself on his knees and bowing his head to the ground, Michael screamed, "I'm sorry!"

He was meeting someone in Rias' family, and he already screwed up, and what makes it worse? It was her mom that he mistook for her older sister. Rias walked over and knelt beside the knelt down boy to pat him on the back,

"Michael, raise your head, it's okay for you to make that assumption. Devils can always change their appearance by using magic, and apparently my mother prefers to always have the same aged appearance around my current age."

"I-I know, but I get the feeling that… I apologized for more than that…" Michael's memory was hazy since he last ate those mushrooms on the way here.

"More than what?" Even Rias was off put after hearing that.

"…I don't remember…" Michael looked away deadpanned.

_'I must have spilled some stuff while I lost consciousness of what I was doing…' Michael tried to avoid eye contact with Rias who was expecting an answer by the way she subtly narrowed her eyes at him._

Thankfully, Venelana came in to interrupt their little talk, "Please excuse me for not introducing myself to you properly, Hanamura, Michael-kun. My name is Venelana Gremory, Rias' mother. It's quite nice to meet you in person."

"Urp…yeah, you too, ma'am." Michael couldn't help, but received some nervous vibes from meeting the mother of his girlfriend, so he tried his best not to blurt something weird…again.

But something popped up in his head, "Wait, you already know about me?"

"Of course, disregarding our first meeting in the garden, I watched the Rating Game between my daughter and Riser Phenex alongside my husband. You weren't hard to miss during the majority of that match, and it's thanks to you that she broke her engagement off. Plus, it's the duty of a mother to keep track of her daughter's potential suitors, you know."

_'Wait, if she watched the Rating Game, then that would mean she also saw me kiss Rias!' Michael panicked, and noticed Rias blushing as well, but for a different reason that he totally missed._

"Damn…I mean, sorry if I did something to piss you off. I don't give that many good impressions at first, or in general to most of the people that I meet." Michael coughed in his hand, hiding his embarrassment.

"You're perfectly fine, dear. Besides, my husband didn't do too well to plan for that engagement. He should have picked the boy that Rias liked for her fiancé to begin with anyways." Venelana slyly looked to Rias in amusement.

"Mother, please…!" Was all Rias could say after her mother's not so subtle teases.

"I believe it's time we all settle down for dinner. Rias dear, would you show everyone the way?" And just like that Venelana left the room with a satisfied smile, Michael didn't get what was happening but once the mention of dinner was made he was all ears. But first…

"So, does anyone want to hear about my action filled day?" Michael spoke up, "It will leave you all at the edge of your seats and wanting more!"

"No, thanks."

"S-Sorry, but maybe next time."

"Maybe later, Michael-nii."

"Please behave yourself while we're here, Michael-sama."

"Ara ara, I'd love to hear your story next time, Michael-kun."

"…Don't fuck this up for yourself, senpai."

Everyone just followed the direction that Rias pointed to as she was left in the room with Michael.

"I can't believe that things would take a sharp turn like this…" Rias pinched temples.

"Er…sorry, Rias. I got caught up with the Ero-Ossan and his new training schedule." Michael rubbed his neck.

"I had a hunch that it led back to Azazel. Don't worry, I'll be giving him an earful about it later, nut for now, I just want you to behave yourself, please…"

Michael didn't know why, but he noticed how cute Rias was when pleading to him not to do something rash in front of her parents. The message wasn't as light-hearted, but the way she said it was.

"You got it, I'll do my best." Michael grinned.

Getting the message straight was all Rias needed to feel assured, but that wasn't enough to quell her worries for the actual dinner ahead especially since it was *her* that they're dealing with. Hoping to change the subject, she took a glance at Michael's attire and smiled,

"You look quite dashing with those clothes on."

"Huh? Oh my maou! What happened to me?" Michael noticed that he was wearing a long-sleeved dress shirt with a red tie tucked underneath a black vest, black pants and black shoes.

"Why does my hair feel cold, and…" Michael touched his spiky hair which was slicked back, "What is this strange stuff on my hand."

"That's hair gel." Rias said.

"Hair…gel?" Michael wasn't familiar with that word.

"Do you really have no clue what hair gel is?" Rias was a little surprised.

"What is this hair of the gel that you speak of?" Michael asked.

"It's used for your hair to style it any way you want. I was sure that you used it for your hair since its always..." Rias trailed off and gestured to his usual look.

"Always what? I never used this stuff a day in my life!" Michael shook the gel off of his hand.

"Really?" Rias couldn't tell if this was the truth or if he was playing dumb, "Because your hair is always strangely spiky every day."

"Yeah, why?"

"Is this seriously the first time you've had this conversa-? You know? What we can discuss this later. Let's just get through dinner first and discuss this later. Remember to behave, please."

"Don't worry, Rias. I got this." Michael gave her a thumbs up as the pair left the room together.

* * *

"Please enjoy yourselves without holding back."

That is how dinner began with a welcoming sentence from Rias' father.

A huge oblong table, an extravagant chandelier on the ceiling, even the chairs everyone sat on were covered in expensive-looking ornaments. The cuisine looked incredible and very delicious, and made Michael water at the mouth.

He would have dug in to eat, but he promised not to mess things up by eating like he always did so he decided to try and act as civil as he could. He just needed to know how to eat like everyone else was. Well, everyone excluding Azazel, who was stuck in his meeting, he was supposed to join them, but duty called, after he subjected Michael to that torturous training orientation. Millicas also missed dinner, he said that he was going to stay with his friend Shura at the Sitri residence for the night.

Looking around the table, he noticed how everyone was eating their foods with good table manners.

_'How can everyone eat with this many utensils? It's hard to choose which one is used for what.' Michael looked around the table to copy how the others ate, but found it difficult to even do that since the utensils looked the same to him._

"Hey, Kiba. Which fork do I use to eat the steak with?" Michael whispered.

"The steak fork." Kiba answered.

"Oh…" Michael looked at his set of forks and asked again, "Which one is it?"

"The big fork."

"…Okay, there are at like 3 forks that are big, you're going to have to be more specific."

"The second biggest fork." Kiba groaned.

"Got it. Thanks." Picking up a fork and a random knife, Michael began eating his steak, but Kiba stopped him.

"Michael-kun, you were supposed to use your steak knife. That's your butter knife." Kiba whispered.

"Wha-? But it looks the same as the steak kni-! You know what, I don't even care anymore. I'm just going to eat with what I want."

Finishing their hushed conversation, Michael went about eating his food while Kiba sweatdropped about the futility of their little talk.

"*Ahem!* Members of Rias' group, please think of this place as your own home. Having just come to the Underworld, you're in an environment that you don't understand. If there's something you want, please say so to the housemaids without reserve. They'll prepare it right away." Rias' dad cheerfully said.

_'Wow, talk about first-class service.' Michael thought, he still wasn't used to this type of setting. Usually when he visits someone's place, he'd usually do some of the things himself, but here it looks as if the housemaids would basically tend to the slightest of inconveniences for him._

"I've been meaning to ask you, Hanamura Michael-kun."

"Yeah, what is it?"

***Thud!***

_'Ouch…'_

Michael casually replied to Rias' father before getting a quick jab to the gut from Rias,

"I mean yes, sir?"

"Tell me, how are you liking your new accommodations?" Rias' father asked.

"Are you kidding me? The new house you made is awesome. The pool is great, and the secret rooms are fun to look for along with those nifty training rooms. That house is way better than my old apartmen-!" Michael received another jab to the gut and squeaked, "Its lovely, thank you…"

"I'm glad that your enjoying it." Rias' father smiled at the boy's honest nature, and as a bonus it was a good way to indirectly tease Rias, "However, the castle that I proposed originally would have been much nicer."

"Wait, a castle?" Michael gasped with his eyes glowing, "Exactly like this one?"

"Father, I explained this already. We cannot force our culture onto others." Rias interjected.

"Also, dear, Japan is quite a small country for a commoner to own a castle." Venelana also interjected.

"What? Well, you're right... Japan is a small country for that. Hmm, if a castle is no good, I wonder what else would be a good present to accommodate for it…"

"Nah, its fine, you don't have to worry, sir. The new house is already too much for me to handle, a castle would blow my mind. I wouldn't even know what to do with myself, but thanks though."

Michael's simple denial of the offer caused Rias' father to lightly laugh.

"I see, if you insist." Rias' father nodded deeply before calling him again, "Oh, and Hanamura Michael-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"Your part of this family, so you may call me "father" from now on." Rias' dad's offer caused Michael to pause his eating.

"Huh, father?" Michael blinked in confusion.

"…!" Rias' face was growing red as she did her best not to make an outburst.

"Dear, you're being too fast. There's an order to things like this." Venelana scolded her husband.

"Y-Yeah, but I heard from Sirzechs that he called him his "brother" and I feel that its only appropriate that I allow him to call me "father" just to be fair…" Rias' father looked almost envious of Sirzechs, "There's also the fact that his red compliments our daughter's crimson just as well. Doesn't it make you happy?"

"Dear, I said that it's still too early to celebrate." Venelana pulled Rias' father's cheek.

"T-That's true. It seems that I was a bit too hasty."

Rias' father let out a deep breath. It seemed that he was completely dominated by his wife.

Noticing something, Michael said, "Y'know, you two don't have to call me by my full name. Calling me Michael is just fine with me."

Smiling, Venelana said, "Then perhaps do you mind if I called you by Michael-san then?"

"Sure." Michael grinned, and turned to Rias' father, "Excuse me, Buchou's dad. I haven't really asked you this, but what's your name again?"

"Oh, how rude. I appear to have forgotten to give you my name. I am Zeoticus Gremory." Zeoticus introduced himself.

"Thanks…" Michael rubbed his chin before laughing to himself, "I think I've got it."

"Got what, dear?" Both Venelana and Zeoticus looked to each other out of confusion.

"Your nicknames just like with Aniki."

Pointing to Venelana, he said, "Vene-sama."

Pointing to Zeoticus, he said, "Zeo-sama."

Crossing his arms and nodding proudly, Michael smiled, "This way it will be fun for me to remember your names and call you something just like Aniki."

"Oh my. Nicknames, how fun." Venelana delightedly clapped her hands.

"Zeo-sama? Quite an interesting nickname, but Michael-kun if you ever feel like it, you may still refer to me as "fath-"!"

"Dear." Masking the terrifying aura surrounding her, Venelana gave her husband quite a pleasant yet scary smile and forced her husband to back down.

"S-Sorry, I'll restrain myself."

Michael chuckled to himself at the familial display while everyone at the table was shocked to see Michael getting along with Rias' parents. This development came out of nowhere, and by the second they could tell that he was already comfortable with being around them. Rias noticed this above all, too, but still kept to herself before another conversation arose between the main focus of the dinner and her mother.

"Will you be staying here for a while, Michael-san?"

"Well, I hope so. I mean I'm excited for training, but maybe I can stay here for a while." Michael shrugged.

"I see. That's perfect. Since I must have you acquire gentlemanly behavior as well. You'll study manners a little while here."

Michael didn't see that coming, and his face sort of went pale at the mentioning of studying manners, something he had none of.

"Come again?"

***BANG!***

Rias instantly stood out of her seat and banged her hands on the table.

"Father! Mother! I've been listening quietly until now, but what kind of plans are you making while leaving me out of it!?"

Rias' mother narrowed her eyes at those words.

"Be silent, Rias. You already canceled your engagement with Riser, remember? The fact that we just permitted it should be thought of as special treatment. How much effort do you think your father and Sirzechs had to put in, in order to take care of things with the other high-class devils? Do you know that your father even had to say, "my selfish daughter canceled her engagement using the legendary dragon" to a noble? You may be the younger sister of the Maou, but there is still a limit."

The once smiling mother was gone, she was now scolding Rias with reason for their actions and the consequences of hers.

"Onii-sama has nothing to—"

"Do with this? You mean Sirzechs is unrelated to what you do? Officially, that is true. However, everyone still sees you as the Maou's younger sister. Right now, when the three great powers have formed an alliance, your position is known even by the lower classes of the other powers. You can't behave selfishly as you have in the past, and, above all else, everyone will pay attention to you from now on. Rias, you have now been placed into that kind of position. There no longer be any tolerance for that kind of selfish behavior anymore. Do not carry any more spoiled thoughts for it will not only reflect badly on you anymore. Do I make myself clear, young lady?"

"…Y-Yes…"

"I didn't hear you. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear. Young lady?"

"Yes, mother…" Crumpling back into her seat, mortified, Rias reluctantly went along with the words of her mother. This scared Michael to avoid being the center of attention, and that was extremely rare considering his disposition.

After letting out a single breath, Rias' mother turned to us with a smile.

"It would appear that I've shown something unsightly to Rias' group members, haven't I? Getting back to the topic, you will go through special training during your stay here, Michael-san. Since, you have to experience upper society and nobility life even if it's only a little experience."

_'This is bullshit! Even during summer vacation, I have to still study!? But I can't really say that or else I'll get mouthed just like Rias, so…'_

"One question though. Why only me?' Michael asked.

"You—are the last bit of selfishness of my daughter, the next family head. As parents, we bear the responsibility right until the end."

When Michael turned to look at Rias, her gaze met with his and then she turned her face away, which had become red. Not too tactful, she quickly grabbed for his hand and tightly held it. Almost catching onto what her parents meant, Michael gulped and muttered,

"Oh, crap. I found myself in that kind of situation, didn't I?"

* * *

"In other words, for high-class devils, high society is—"

_'Kill me…'_

It was already the next day since Michael had arrived in the Underworld and he was bored as a sack of bricks. While everyone got to enjoy a tour around the Gremory's land, he was stuck in a classroom with Millicas listening on about the upper echelons of society and nobility among devils from a tutor.

The tutor was chosen exclusively by Rias' parents to teach him about the aristocratic world.

**_[You should at least pay attention to him. You did say that you want to be a Maou, and this part is essential for you to become one.]_ **

_'I get it…' Michael tiredly yawned as he remembered that he wasn't caught up with what the tutor was lecturing._

"Say Millicas, do you think I can copy your notes real quick? I lost track after…a whole minute."

Millicas was diligent with his studying and to Michael, he seemed to be just as smart guy just like Saji, so he asked without any hesitation.

"Sure, Michael-niisama. Here you go." Millicas happily gave Michael a sheet of his paper to copy from.

"Thanks." Michael didn't feel that strange about being called "older brother" since he compared the meaning of the word to how Gasper used it. He saw it as fair since he was much blunter by calling Millicas by name without honorifics which strangely made the boy happy. The two seemed to get along quite well despite meeting only yesterday, and Maou forbid what happened between them when he wasn't in full control of himself.

"Young Master!" The tutor slammed his long ruler on the desk.

"Eek!"

"Have you been paying attention to the lesson?"

"Yes, sir!" Michael nodded.

"Then please if you have any questions be sure to ask me. I'll answer anything you don't understand." The tutor said.

"Thank you, sir, but uh…why do you keep calling me Young Master?" It wasn't just the tutor almost every maid, butler and passing by servant called him that and really made him question what was going on.

"It's nothing that you should worry about. Now the reason we're here is to teach you everything about the Gremory family, young master. So please prepare yourself for more fun learning!"

"Yay!" Millicas cheered.

"Yipee…" Michael faked his cheer,  _'He completely dodged the question.'_

"So now young master, how are you with your devil alphabets? Have you gotten any better with them yet?"

"Well, the things is…" Michael tried holding back some laughter as he looked to Millicas who was doing the exact same thing.

"Could you perhaps read this sentence for me? I seem to be having some trouble translating it."

"Why certainly." The tutor took Michael's paper and read, "Why hello there I am the Big fat meanie called Hugh Jass. Say do you know if there's anyone else in your life that's a Hugh Jass?"

"I don't know, why don't you try looking down, bucko!"

"Pfft! Hahahahaha!"

The tutor caught on to the joke and found both Michael and Millicas near the door about ready to leave.

"Hey, where are you-!?" The tutor exclaimed.

"Hah! He fell for it! Go! Go! Go!"

"Michael-niisama that was hilarious!"

"I know! And someday Millicas, you may learn to harness the pure power of pranking yourself one day."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Whoa…" Millicas' eyes were filled with wonder as the two boys ran down the halls of the Gremory residence passing Venelana smiled at the boys having fun despite cutting their class short.

"No running in the halls, you two." Venelana called out, she was about ready to pick them up to meet with everyone who returned.

"Venelana-sama…wait…those two…" The tutor panted as he caught up with Venelana at least.

"So, tell me how was Michael-san's progress today?"

"The young master is…a hard one…to teach. He daydreams through most of the lectures and distracts Millicas-sama when he's studying."

"Oh, my that's a problem. So, is this what started this fiasco?" Venelana grabbed the sheet of paper the tutor held, and noticed the handwriting.

"Yes, young master wrote this embarrassing note in front of the whole class. The shame!" The tutor wailed.

Laughing a little herself, Venelana tried not to laugh from the note's content, "It is quite clever though."

"Venelana-sama…" the tutor sadly moaned out.

_'Interesting, he's shown not to focus in his lessons, but he actually took the time to learn something that cleverly fits well with his character. How unique. Sirzechs and Grayfia were right about you being a hard worker.' Venelana thought about how strange and amusing Michael was as she consoled the devil tutor._

* * *

Immediately after Buchou and the others returned from their sightseeing tour of the Gremory castles, everyone went by train to the territory where Maou-sama was. Raynare decided to stay in the Gremory residence since she wasn't too interested in the affairs of the young devils, and told them that she had a few "plans" of her own to accomplish before everyone came back.

Today, they were preparing for their special part of their Underworld schedule, the assembling of the Young Devils. It was necessary that Rias went along with her servants and thinking about it Sona would be attending as well giving Michael a chance to catch up with Saji who's been absent throughout the end of the school year.

It took about three hours before they had arrived in an urban area that was known as the Maou's territory, Luciferd. It is one of the oldest capitals of the Underworld where the Original Lucifer lived. As they left the station, the whole peerage was met with the shrill cheers of devils looking at Rias with longing gazes.

Her popularity stems from her beauty being yearned for after the low- and middle-class devils. Not to mention her being the younger sister of the Maou, Lucifer. To avoid any trouble, everyone made sure to use the subway from there or else the uproar will grow and delay their trip. It was another trip that took five minutes to reach the biggest building of the city.

Making their stop, they used the elevator to head from the basement to the upper floors of the building. As they traversed to the upper floors, Rias turned to her servants and said,

"Everyone, I'll say it one more time. No matter what happens, try to stay calm. No matter what is said, don't start a fight." Rias looked at Michael before turned back to the others, "The people above are our future rivals. We mustn't show any unsightly behavior, understood?" Rias looks at Michael one last time before turning back to everyone else.

_'Geez…I can take a hint…fine. I promise not to misbehave here, too. The underworld sucks…' Michael sighed, but relaxed when Asia held his hand as a method to calm herself down, gripping it securely, Michael smiled, 'Don't worry, Asia, I'll be sure to watch out for you here.'_

The two traded warm smiles before looking ahead as the elevator doors finally opened.

When they took a step outside, everyone found themselves in a wide hall. When they got out from the elevator, a person who seemed to be an employee was there and bowed slightly to welcome them.

"Welcome, Gremory-sama. Please come this way."

Following the employee, Rias and crew went down a long passage, the figures of several people were in a corner having a pleasant conversation with one another.

"Sairaorg?" Rias stepped up to one of them, who approached her. It was a young man, who was around their age group. He was a rough yet good-looking guy with short black hair. He had an energetic appearance, and had a very good physique with plenty of muscles. Just by looking at him, Michael could feel a powerful presence exude from his body.

"Well, look who it this. It's Rias, it's been quite some time since we last saw each other."

"It has."

Sairaorg shook hands with Rias while smiling.

_'Incredible, this guy is…' Michael took more time to concentrate on him and sensed an intense wellspring of energy resonate from him. Comparing himself to the guy, Michael just noticed another wide power gap between himself and someone who wasn't Shirou._

_'If he's a Young Devil like Rias, then he's definitely not your run of the mil High-Class Devil like the Fried Yakitori.' Michael thought._

"That's Buchou's cousin, Sairaorg Bael." Kiba who also noticed Sairaorg's power tried to calm himself from the pressure he felt.

"Buchou's cousin? Wait, so this guy is related to Buchou and is one of those devils from the Great King line just after the Maou?" Michael thanked his devil tutor for that quick lesson on Devil hierarchy.

"Yeah, he's next in line to be the head of the Bael family." Kiba said.

"Incredible, but wait, wouldn't that mean that Buchou's related to the Bael family, then?" Michael asked.

"She is, but from Venelana-sama's side of the family though." Akeno explained.

"Whoa…" Michael watched Rias and Sairaorg have their own conversation before looking past them to see his servants now making eye contact with him and the other Gremory servants. There wasn't any ill intent in their gaze, but the clash of stares really increased the tension on both sides.

"Hiiii…this is too much…" Gasper tried to hide behind Michael.

"…" Feeling anxious herself Koneko tightened her fists as she joined the staredown.

As Michael protectively stood in front of Asia, who was getting timid from the intense stares.

_'It's not just Rias' cousin. Those guys seem strong, too.' Michael clenched his free hand as he started to feel a little anxious and strangely excited._

"I'm so glad that you've been doing well. There's also some people who haven't met you yet." Rias introduced her cousin to everyone.

"Wow, you certainly did gain yourself some more servants since the last I saw of you. Hm?" Sairaorg rubbed his chin before looking at Michael excitedly for a moment,

"Wait, Shish-!"

"Huh?" Michael gasped.

Taking a double take, Sairaorg rubbed his eyes before saying, "Oh…please excuse me. For a moment there, you looked similar to my old teacher…"

_'Okay?' Was all Michael could think at the moment._

Sairaorg took a moment to scratch his head before smiling, "Wait a minute, are you, Michael Hanamura?"

"I usually used to go by the Great Hanamura, but now I like to go by the Gutsy Michael Hanamura." Michael tried to act cool.

"So, you are Hanamura, Michael! That explains why you look familiar, you even act the same way as he described."

_'Ouch…you didn't have to gloss over my moment, y'know.' Michael sweatdropped._

"Wait, you already know who I am?" Michael eyes bulged out.

"Haha! Of course, I do. After all, I've wanted to meet my long-awaited apprentice brother for a while now." Sairaorg patted Michael's shoulder rather roughly as it made the boy wince in pain.

"Ow…apprentice brothers?"

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

Michael slowly pieced together what that meant, but was distracted by the building violently shaking.

Now looking annoyed, Sairaorg groaned, "And just when I thought this idiotic rabble indirectly brought something good for me today. We'll talk later okay, Michael-kun? I want to get to know you better over some tea. Is that okay with you?"

"I guess." Michael was still out of the loop, but didn't mind hanging out with Sairaorg, he seemed to be a pretty cool guy.

Sairaorg cheerfully patted Michael's shoulder once more before heading off towards the big door that contained the loud rumbling.

"Wow, Michael-nii, I didn't know you knew so many great people…" Gasper's eyes glittered with amazement.

"Yeah, me neither…" Michael rubbed his neck.

Rias was speechless after that display of Sairaorg already knowing who Michael was, but forced herself to quickly follow her cousin through the big doors to see a huge banquet hall in shambles. The tables, chairs, decorations. Everything was smashed and destroyed.

"What is going on in here?"

"Probably that."

"Geez…"

Xenovia pointed at both sides of the room to see two kinds of devils giving each other the death stare. One side was made of evil-looking goblin-like devils. The other side seemed to be made of relatively ordinary devils.

In the middle of all the chaos were three figures and two of them were of a young man and woman facing a huge man.

"You want to say that again to her face, shit for brains!" Someone violently shouted.

"Wait, that voice…!"

Michael gasped with a smile on his face as he quickly identified the young man facing the huge one to be none other than Shirou Fujimura, and he looked to be the very definition of the words "pissed off". There were veins popping off of the sides of his heads as he confronted the huge man.

"You heard me you, low-class devil trash. Perhaps your master should think about getting rid of her virginity. The reek of it makes me sick to my stomach, and I know it must be for you, too. So why not have her stay in a private room with me to teach her how to get rid of it." The huge man that patronized Shirou as he had black magic-like tattoos on his face and on his upper body. What stuck out the most about him was his green hair that stood on its end along with his eyes matching in color. The sounds of bells emanated from his pants as he looked to be your typical delinquent.

"The only thing that's making me sick is my ears hearing all of that stupid shit you're spewing! If you keep prattling on about my master that way in front of my face, then I'll give you a nice burial here. Which is too good a burial for a moron like you!" Shirou cracked his knuckles in a threatening fashion, it was almost like watching two delinquents fighting over the other's turf.

"Shirou, I believe I told you that is enough. Do not indulge this Uncivilized monkey, you'll only bring yourself down to his level if you do." A beautiful young woman around her late teens walked out in front of Shirou as a means to restrain her Queen, she had long light-blonde hair and pink eyes. She wore a fitting garb for a female noble. Her blue robe exposed very little skin that had flashy designs and accessories with her devil family's seal on them. She also wore a mini skirt and high boots that matched her posh clothing.

"You should probably listen to your Virgin master, Snow-White because dogs like you should know their place before they overstep their boundaries! So, you'd do best to respect me!" The huge man laughed, and caught notice of the blonde devil sending him another death glare, he was purposely trying to bring a fight out of Shirou.

"What did you call me, punk!?" And it was obviously working, "Just a few seconds. A few seconds and I'll have you disassembled and buried all over this place! You hear me!?"

"Hah, such a chump! You honestly believe you can do that? And it's not just your beloved master, Seekvaira either, you little shitstain! Almost all of the women who are related to the Maous reek of virgins, and it's not hard to notice why both them and their servants are so unbearable. Being a shitty woman who can get herself a man can never fully grasp how to take the initiative over their servants!"

"Zephyrdol…" Seekvaira growled.

"This place was meant to be a waiting hall for us to remain in until the time for us to start the real meeting begins. To explain it better, when you gather so many hot-blooded young people in the same room this outcome is predictable." Sairaorg sighed and cracked his neck, "Don't worry, I'll take care of th-"

"Michael!"

"Michael-san!"

Rias and Asia screamed for Michael to stop what he was about to do.

Sairaorg's eyes snapped wide open when he saw Michael approach Zephyrdol with a serious look on his face. He hadn't notice that the boy left from his spot amidst all of the chaos. Normally, he would interject, but he felt more content in watching how his younger apprentice brother would handle the situation.

"Hm?"

From the corner of his eyes, he also saw the figure of somebody else steadily approach Zephyrdol and he could tell their intentions were the same as Michael's.

***PAT!* *SQUUEEZEE!***

***PAT!* *SQUUEEZEE!***

Unaware of his imminent threat, Zephyrdol noticed a pair of hands grabbing both of his shoulders roughly, "Oi! Who the hell do you think you a-!"

Zephyrdol froze in a moment of fear as he saw the silhouettes of not one, but two dragons imperially glaring at him. One was of an eastern, black dragon while the other was a red, western dragon as both looked about ready to sink their fangs and claws into the man.

Frozen in fear, he almost crumpled under the combined pressure before looking down to notice the dark, angered faces of two young men picking a bone with him.

"Everything you said right now… Take it back!"

Both Michael and Saji shouted in union before noticing each other.

"Saj?"

"Mike?"

The two looked at each other before dropping their angered moods to greet each other, letting go of the startled Zephyrdol in the process.

"Oh, my maou! It really is you, Saji! You're still alive!" Michael laughed.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mike. But yeah, I live on!" Saji exaggerated that line before laughing himself.

"I knew you'd be here! So, are the Kaichou and the others here as well?" Michael looked around for them.

"Yeah, we just arrived 15 minutes ago before you guys. Things got crazy during our stay here." Saji pointed towards his fellow servants and masters.

"I can tell. So…tell me how was the implantation of all of those Sacred Gears?" Michael asked.

"Okay, to explain the process of how excruciatingly pain it was. Imagine you getting each of your nails ripped off and multiply it by pouring lemon juice and salt to the wounds."

"That bad?" Michael inhaled sharply.

"No, everything was fine. They used anesthesia, so I would feel any pain, and by the time I woke up, I found myself with almost everything in place." Saji crossed his arms.

"Almost everything?"

Wearing an unamused expression, Saji turned around and pulled back his collar to reveal the letter [G] on the back of his neck.

"Oh…did the Ero-Ossan did that?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, he said that it's proof of my successful modification surgery." Saji gestured quotes with his fingers.

Slowly snapping himself back to normal, Zephyrdol noticed the two devils, who humiliated him, having a simple chat, and decided to instill fear into them the only way he knew how. Intimidation.

"Oi, you bitches!" That certainly got both of the Pawns' attention.

"Just who do you to think you are?" Zephyrdol shouted.

"Two friends, who haven't seen each other for over a long time having a conversation." Michael rolled his eyes.

"Rude…" Saji shook his head.

"I know man, people can be such assholes! But you know we can be the exception by trying to be good natured people." Michael exhaled calmly.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, low-class scum!"

"Hey, could you perhaps, I don't know... Shut the fuck up, please? I'm talking with my best friend. Thank you." Michael turned back to Saji, "See, there's an asshole, and he's forcing me to become an asshole, and I don't really want to do that, you know?"

"I can tell. It's really hurting you, I mean I can be a good influence, so you don't have to be an asshole like this guy." Saji said.

"See, man, you get me. You know who else gets me? Shi-rou! Get your badass over here and join in on our conversation! I haven't seen you in a while dude." Michael laughed and beckoned Shirou over.

"Do you know them?" Seekvaira asked cautiously, she wasn't the only one who found this scene strange because the whole room was silent as they watched these high schoolers talk so calmly in front of a raging Zephyrdol.

"No…I don't…" Shirou tried to ignore the calls.

"Hey, Shi-rou! Remember the time where we fought all of those chimeras messing with the alliance? Remember that? Hey, Shi-rou! Hey Shi-rou! Hey, hey! Shi-rou, I'm calling you dude! Hey, Shi-Shirou!"

"Did he just mention the task that I assigned to you last time?" Seekvaira was piecing whose servant was calling her own over.

"No, that was probably Lance." Shirou coughed and turned away trying to ignore Michael's calls.

"Shi-rou! Shi-rou! Hey, yo, Shirou! Remember that little adventure of ours! The one where I was turned to a kid!? I know you're ignoring me on purpose! So that why I'll show everyone that time where we turned you into a woman to get that unicorn's hor-!"

***SMACK!***

"Oh, hi Shirou!" Michael waved.

"The fuck is wrong with you? Why must you mock me in front of my own master! Do you want me to bury you!?" Shirou smacked the phone out of Michael's hand and berated him.

"Hmph!" Michael turned away and crossed his arms.

"What is it no-!"

**\Remember? He's not going to respond unless you say hi back./ Typhon reminded.**

"Fine…hi, you bastard."

"That's better…" Michael winked.

"You're a moron."

"No, I am THE moron. Wait, no that came out wrong…" Michel gasped.

"Hi, Shirou. How are things going for you?" Saji asked, awkwardly.

"Not good that's for sure because of a certain ASS!" Shirou shouted that at Zephyrdol's infuriated face, but you know I've been good up to this point, so meh… How was your stay in the underworld, Saji?"

"Besides getting cut open and experimented on from the implantation of my sacred gear. I'd have to say that my stay here in the Underworld was kind of fun. I got to meet Kaichou's parents, and they're actually pretty great. Her father was strict and her mother was like…"

"Serafall-sama?" Shirou suggested.

"Satan Girl?" Michael spoke of his made-up name for Serafall.

"Yes, all of the above." Saji nodded, "Also, I got to meet the next heir after Kaichou, who sort of reminds me of you when were kids, Mike."

"Pfft! Surely you jest. No one in the world can be just like me! HA!" Michael laughed.

"No, I'm serious he really do-!"

"STOP IGNORING ME YOU TRASH! DO YOU KNOW WHO I-!"

***DOOOOGA!* *ClackClackClack!***

In sync, three of the servants threw a punch that sent Zephyrdol crashing into a wall. The force knocked him unconscious as he fell face down on the floor. The whole room went silent at the display, and of course Michael, Saji, and Shirou were still talking nonchalantly.

Noticing a black flame on Saji's fist, Michael said, "Wait a sec, what's that?"

"This? Well, this is thanks to that upgrade I took from Azazel. Now I can use Vritra's cursed flames as much as I want." Saji proudly shows a ball of black flames on his hand before extinguishing it.

"That's so cool! What other abilities do you have!" Michael excitedly got up in Saji's face.

Shirking back, Saji shook his head, "Oi, calm down, and I can't just give all of my tricks away already. I'm saving it up for a surprise."

"A surprise?"

"Meaning he's going to showcase them whenever he wants to show off." Shirou rolled his eyes, "And don't worry, I won't be impressed when I see them later."

"Later? What are you talking about?" Saji asked.

"What do you mean, don't you-?" Shirou looked at Saji's clueless face and busted out laughing, "Oh my maou! You mean that you seriously have no idea about what's going to happen? Great, means I'll have something to look forward to this summer vacation because you weren't mentally prepared."

"Mentally prepared? W-What do you mean?" Saji sweatdropped.

"Ohohoho…nothing. Just enjoy the meeting, Saji. Enjoy it while it lasts…" Shirou evilly laughs as he walks off.

"W-Wait, Shirou! What the hell are you laughing about!? Hey! Come back!" Saji chased after Shirou.

"Hm…I feel like I was totally left out of the loop." Michael with his arms crossed behind his head decided to follow his friends and hang out with them until the meeting actually started.

"You bastards!"

"Damn you! You think we'd let you walk off just like that!"

Zephyrdol's servants were about to rush the three weapons in hand before Sairaorg stood in front of them to block their path.

"You would do best not to patronize those three. Go take care of your master because I can assure you that avenging the pride of you master isn't worth facing those three." Sairaorg wasn't threatening the servants, but saved them the trouble of ending up in the same state as their master.

Convinced and not willing to go through Sairaorg Bael of all people, the servants ran over to their master's side.

Taking a glance at Michael spending time with his friends, Sairaorg sighed in disappointment before smiling, "Oh, well. Perhaps that talk over tea will just have to wait."

Next, Sairaorg turned to Seekvaira and smiled, "It's been quite a while Seekvaira, I apologize for any inconveniences the Glaysa-Labolas' trouble child made for you."

"You don't have to apologize for that monkey, Sairaorg. I'm just glad the situation diffused the way it did, although it was a rather odd way to handle it. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go prepare myself for the meeting before it starts." Taking a glance at Rias, she approached her old friend and said,

"And it's been quite a while since I've seen you, Rias. How have you been?"

"I've been rather fine. Thank you. I see that things were difficult in here." Rias tried not to show her surprise over the commotion and how her pawn settled it.

"Yes, but I have to say that it ended nicely than what I expected. *Sigh!* Shirou is an exceptional Queen, he just needs to learn that I can handle such babble coming from such brutes like that. But…if I were to tell him to stop defending me, then he'll just get even more mad and decide himself to defend my honor even more…He's such a troublesome child…"

Though it sounded like she was complaining about her servant, she looked quite thoughtful of Shirou being defensive for her sake despite his brash attitude which could garner some problems when someone keeps prodding him to anger easily.

"I'm sorry if he caused any trouble during his mission in your territory." Seekvaira bows her head and apologizes.

"No, it fine. In fact, he was a great help for that issue, but I understand that feeling with your servants getting a little out of hand." Rias reminded herself to scold Michael later for his outburst, but told herself to take it easy on him since he was defending her honor in the process.

Seekvaira made an inferred guess as to who she mentioned by looking at one of the servants conversing with Shirou and smiled, "I guess we both have some issues with problem children, too. Well, I'd best prepare myself before another one of my other servants cause any trouble."

"Hey, beautiful? Did you sit on a pile of sugar because you have a pretty sweet ass. Bow-chika-bow-wo-OW!"

A flirtatious male voice screamed in pain as the sound of slapping echoed through the room.

"Trouble like that. I'll see you in the meeting, Rias. Her peerage. Have a nice day." Seekvaira sighed and left to take care of that issue that sprung up.

"It appears that Seekvaira-sama is just as busy as ever." Akeno commented.

"She's not the only one…" Rias sighed before catching notice of Sona and her peerage approaching them. Soon seconds turned into minutes and those minutes turned into hours before everything calmed down enough for the young devils to speak to one another. The whole hall was restored thanks to the staff members using magic to clean things up.

Each of the young devils sat around a table while their servants remained on standby behind them. The meeting commenced once the young devils gave their greetings to each other.

"I am Seekvaira Agares. The next head of the Agares family, rank Archduke."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Rias Gremory, the next head of the Gremory family."

"Salutations, I am Sona Sitri, the next head of the Sitri family."

"Greetings! I am Sairaorg Bael, I'm the next in line to become the head of the Bael family, rank Great King."

_'Wow, all of these people gathering seem really classy. I should have guessed that though. After all it is Rias and Sona-senpai we're talking about. Not to mention, Shirou's master as well. First time seeing her actually, she seems really strict like Sona-senpai.' Michael sweatdropped at the image of a blonde strict Seekvaira as the Student Council President, 'I get the feeling if she were in charge of the school, I would get a run for my money if I wanted to prank the school.'_

Suddenly breaking Michael's focus, he heard a quiet voice come from a gentle looking boy sipping tea, he looked to be a young handsome man with blond hair wearing expensive clothing,

"Diodora Astaroth, the next head of the Astaroth family. It's quite an honor to be here, so please do take care of me, everyone."

_'Huh…seems like an alright guy…' Michael couldn't get a first impression off of him despite his gentle appearance and felt kind of neutral about him when compared to others like Sairaorg and Seekvaira. He caught wind of his last name and remembered from his tutor that someone from that family is the current Beelzebub now._

"Please excuse the Glaysa-Labolas family today. A family emergency occurred the other day when the next head of the family met an unforeseen death. So Zephyrdol was made as their new candidate." Sairaorg explained, as he gestured to the empty seat. The delinquent was still unconscious after getting blown away from Michael and his friends.

_'I sort of feel bad for that family if they had this guy to fill in because of their next head dying. But wait isn't the Glaysa-Labolas also a devil family who had a member become a Maou?' Michael wondered before looking around to notice that every servant in the room looked strong, 'Whoa, everyone looks so serious. Well, I'm not going to be left out. Time to put on my serious FACE!'_

Michael placed on a very detailed, hard expression as he listened to the meeting.

Catching wind of this, Saji who stood beside him sighed, "Mike, can you even pay attention while making that face?"

"No…but everyone else is doing it." Michael strained his voice.

"You don't have to put too much effort into your face though, Michael-kun." Kiba sweatdropped.

"Exactly just behave more diligently as a servant should in this place. Doing that makes you look like a joke in front of your future opponents. We represent our masters; our upbringing depends on them and them alone as their subordinates. Try to think this through, you are the Red Dragon Emperor of the Gremory group, right?"

"Zzz…zzzz…" Michael took a nap through Saji's lecture before waking up, "Hubba-what? Sorry, I sort of lost track after the second sentence what did you say?"

"You…" Saji lowly growled, "Just try to behave like your master's beloved servant. Man, I would literally kill to be the Kaichou's…" Saji sighed.

"Don't worry, man. You're working up to it. It takes time after all." Michael shrugged.

"Yeah, you are right…" Saji gave a bitter smile.

***GACHA!***

"Sorry for making you all wait for so long. Everyone is waiting." An employee came in and led the way to the main room.

_'Finally, we can get to the main stuff…' Michael sighed._

They made their way to a room with a weird atmosphere where there were seats placed up in high places here, and there as distinguished-looking people sat upon them along with those distinguished devils on the level above them as well.

They appear to be higher-ups and their condescending eyes really pissed Michael off to no end. They reminded him of Riser during their first meeting, but he decided to put up with them for now.

Looking a little higher, Michael's eyes widened, "Whoa…the four Maou…and Shishou?"

Above the other levels were the Maous, and Michael could tell because he remembered the faces of Sirzechs and Serafall looking down upon them along with two other devils that he could feel incredible magic power from, so he could only assume that they were both Beelzebub and Asmodeus.

_'Oh my god…ow! I'm really meeting all of the Maous in the same place. How exciting!' Michael excitedly screamed in his head, 'Maybe I can ask them for tips in how to become a Maou in the future!'_

**_[You should do that after this meeting is done with. They're not the only ones watching you.]_ **

Ddraig pointed out the three people standing beside Sirzechs, Serafall and green haired devil who he assumed to be Beelzebub. He saw the visage of Kai, the lady he saw at the meeting, Katerea and…!

_'Wait, is that guy ,Vali!? No…it can't be, but why does he look so familiar to him?' Michael almost panicked when he saw Zethyr among the three standing beside their respective Maou._

"…!" Kiba clenched his fist tightly as he too set his eyes on Zethyr.

"The three advisers of the Maou…beings, who are close to, if not, on par with their strength." Saji breathlessly commented, "They were formed right after the end of the Old and New Satan faction war, and helped assist the Maous carry out their duties."

"Is that really what they are?" Michael never heard about that before and looked upon the very elite with ambitious eyes. The top looked really far away and the amount of energy they possessed seem almost endless to him, no matter how far he concentrated. He wondered if he would become just as strong as they were if he were to become a Maou.

Stepping forward, the six young devils, including the delinquent, Zephyrdol, who recovered from the hit that he received and wore bandages to cover the deep wound.

"Good, you have gathered. In order to check the faces of you all, who will carry the burden of the next generation, you have been gathered here. This is also a meeting that is performed over a regular cycle, so that we can ascertain the young devils."

An elderly male devil spoke with a solemn voice while clasping his hands together.

Standing from his own seat, Sirzechs raised his arms almost welcoming and said, "You six are all devils of the next generation that have pedigree and true ability that no objection can be raised against. That's why, I want you to compete together before your debuts and increase your power in this way."

_'So, a Rating Game, then?' Michael looked determined to participate in one again._

"Will we not also be sent out into battle against the Khaos Brigade?" Sairaorg asked straight out.

"I do not know. The situation hasn't called for young devils to participate in such a dangerous matter, and yet, I wish to keep it that way if possible." Sirzechs answered.

"Excuse me, Lucifer-sama? I must ask, why? Even if we're young, we carry part of the responsibility as devils. If we just receive kindness from our predecessors even at this age and nothing further is done, then-!"

"Sairaorg, I acknowledge your bravery. However, you're reckless. Above all, I'd like to avoid sending you all, who are still in the midst of growing, to the battlefield. Besides, it would be too great a loss if we lost the devils of the next generation." Sirzechs frowned, "We have already seen so much death and loss from sending young souls like you to battle during war. I don't want any more bright children such as yourselves be put through the same condition that we did when facing the terrors of wars."

_'Is he talking about the Satan Faction war?' Michael wondered and found himself feeling a little sad when he saw just how personal Sirzechs felt about this matter. The war really must have done something to him._

"That's why, I want you to understand. Please. You are all more of a treasure to us than you think. That's why I want you to experience the important things step by step and grow."

"I see…I understand…" Sairaorg seemed displeased at this response and bowed his head.

But not before someone else had a say,

"Why not let them handle some of the battles then, Sirzechs?" Kai openly stated his opinion for everyone to hear. Shocking the distinguished looking devils and some of the young devils save for Sairaorg, who soon wore a smile again.

"Kai…!" Katerea shushed.

"What? I can't have a word in? I'm just being thoughtful, too, Kate-chan~!" Kai leaned against Sirzechs' chair and crossed his arms, "Also Sirzechs. I understand why you want to preserve the new generation of your people, but you can't just have them cooped up forever. They need to taste some battle experience, know the weight of battle and actually be on a REAL battlefield instead of the ones that we use in the Rating Games."

Kai walked a little forward before facing the rest of Maou and Katerea and Zethyr, "Plus, it'd be better to just lessen the leash on them before they run off and try to attempt it behind our backs."

Looking back at the young devils below, Kai gave a warm yet battle maniac smile to not just Michael, but Sairaorg as well.

"And that's all I have to say. The decision is still yours to make, I just wanted to voice my thoughts is all!" Kai laughed before returning to Sirzechs' side.

"Hmhmhm…You always knew how to brighten my mood, Kai." Sirzechs laughed even though Kai sort of undermined his intentions, but saw some truth in his words, "But I see that you are right. These young ones may just break the rules to help out their kind in the future. So, we'll discuss of a way to at least allow them to participate in some of the countermeasures against the Khaos Brigade."

"Thank you, Lucifer-sama!" Sairaorg bowed his head, gratefully.

"Don't thank me, Sairaorg. Instead, you should thank your teacher for swaying my mind the way he did. Its not like Kai to just speak out for those who he doesn't deem to be fit for battle much less his attention. Which makes me sometimes wonder if you'd specifically do this for anyone other than your students, Kai." Sirzechs knowingly glanced back at Kai.

"Who knows…" Kai smirked and shrugged his shoulders while Katerea facepalmed and Zethyr just 'hmph's' at the man's outburst. The distinguished devils were sending Kai such fierce glares that could already describe their feeling towards the reincarnated devil, who's the right hand of the devil, Sirzechs Lucifer.

"Thank you, Shishou!" Sairaorg did the martial arts bow to Kai before returning in line with the other devils.

"!" Michael's jaw dropped.

_'Wait, so Sairaorg, the next head for the Great Devil King family is Shishou's other student!? What the HELL!' Michael was going crazy, he now got what Sairaorg meant a while ago, 'So I guess that **would** make him my Apprentice Brother. Guess, I better address him like that next time.'_

Soon a long difficult talk resumed between the higher-ups and the upcoming Rating games from the Maous. It was so much information to take that Michael had to shut his mind off for a while before Sirzechs went back to topic regarding the young devils and their virtues,

"Now then, please forgive the long wait, we've given you over this long chat. We all wish to see our dreams and hopes in you, young ones. I want you to understand at least that. So please state to me your own dreams that will give our society something to look forward to."

"My dream and goal is to become a Maou."

Sairaorg boldly stated his dream.

_'Incredible. So, he really wants to become a Maou, too?' Michael couldn't help, but smile at his senior apprentice's dream. It actually gave him someone to respect as a role model._

[Hoh…!]

The higher-ups also let out breaths of wonder at Sairaorg's goal.

"It's unprecedented for a devil from the Great King family to leave it."

A male devil higher-up said this.

"When the people of the underworld feel that there's no choice but for me to become Maou, I will become one."

He declared even further without any hesitation. His mind was set and he wasn't going to change it.

Speaking up next, Rias stepped up.

"My goal for the near future is to succeed myself as the head of the Gremory family, and to win in each Rating Game battle that I am presented with." Rias spoke her dream resolutely and with so much passion that it really swayed the hearts of her servants, who hoped to help her achieve that dream.

Speaking up right after Rias, Seekvaira said,

"My dreams for the future is to further my studies and gain a career in law in the Human world before taking up the mantle as the head of the Agares family. I seek to learn of a better way to improve the conditions of reincarnated and servant devils in the Underworld. To increase the rights afforded to our servants and those we deem as candidates, many of whom are obtained by coercive methods." Although she didn't say it, Michael had a distinct idea: Murder. Blackmail. Etc. All the nasty things in the outside world that he likes to STAY outside, "By these means, we could lessen the number of servant Devils dissatisfied with the current system which would result in fewer of them going astray."

_'She really thought her dream through…' Michael thought to himself, mildly impressed._

For a moment, the old Devils were silent, beginning to murmur amongst themselves. Some of them scowled or frowned with a few showing concerned looks before returning their attention to Seekvaira.

"And where would that leave the nobles?" One of them spoke up.

Seekvaira, to her credit, kept a straight face, "I'm sorry?"

"From the way that you described this dream of yours," He continued, "you propose that we inhibit the ability of our kind to convert powerful beings into servants, one of the few means by which our species has staved off our extinction."

"That is not what I propose at all," Seekvaira calmly defended, "I merely believe that the recent increase in Stray Devils could, at least partially, be attributed to the increasingly poor treatment of our servants. Even with all of our members across the human world and the Underworld, we have only resolved a fraction of the cases involving Strays. I believe-"

"Then would it not be more prudent, Lady Agares," Another noble said sharply, "to increase disciplinary measures against servants who break our laws in order to discourage further disobedience? If they defy our laws in any context, they must be punished. Snuff out the sparks of dissent before they become a wildfire. What you dream of is merely child-like nonsense of treating traitors with hugs and handshakes."

Seekvaira, however, kept her cool although a soft indent in the side made it clear to those around her that she was biting her cheek to keep from saying something unpleasant.

"Apologies, milord, but, if you had paid attention to what I had said," Seekvaira snapped back softly, "you would have noticed that I never once proposed we ignore crimes committed by our servants, only that we not be so quick to dismiss the role the master's actions had in their desertion and we make an effort to decrease the motivation for the servants to commit these crimes. As proven by multiple studies, increasing the severity of punishment has done nothing to curb these numbers."

Again, the noble Devils met in a huddled in a mass of various facial expressions and hurried whispers.

"And to address something you said earlier," Seekvaira added, adjusting her glasses, "Do keep in mind how hard it is to prevent a wildfire when we continuously try smothering the spark of dissent with gasoline."

For a brief moment, just for that brief moment, a few of the older Devils were taken aback. A few others stared at Seekvaira with grudging respect.

Seekvaira held her hand behind her back as the older Devils started to speak among themselves again and, although Michael quickly shifted his attention back to the older Devils before them, he could not help but notice a slight of Shirou's hand as he stood almost right next to his master, his arm obscured by Seekvaira's body in front of him to the point that others, the older Devils at least, would not be able to see.

Another older Devil, one with a much gentler disposition, spoke next.

"This is a slippery slope that you tread along, Lady Agares," He said, "but one that may be worth exploring-Assuming you approach it with caution, of course."

"Of course," Seekvaira agreed, concluding what was clearly a tense debate on humanitarianism towards Low-Class Devils during a mere explanation of the young Devils' dreams.

They moved on to the next young Devil: Sona.

"I wish to build a school for the Rating Games in the Underworld."

Suffice to say, her dream left the older Devils scratching their heads for much longer than they had with Seekvaira.

As if checking, a higher-up asked this to Sona.

"What you are describing are the schools where only high-class devils attend. The school that I wish to create won't just have that class attend, but also the low-class and the reincarnated devils, who dream of one day entering the Rating Games, themselves."

Michael was actually smiling after hearing that dream. A school without discrimination, and he glanced at Saji who was listening proudly to his master's dream.

But sadly, they were the only ones who thought highly of the dream.

[Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!]

Laughter filled the entire assembly hall as the higher-ups laughed at Sona's dream.

"What?" Saji silently hissed.

"That's impossible!"

"What a clever joke, Miss Sonia…!"

"Surely you must know that a dream like that is just a dream. It will never become a reality!"

The high-class devils laughed.

"It's good to be young! However, for the next head of the Sitri family to state such a dream, I have to say thank goodness that it was here at this place of introduction before your debut." One of the devils continued to laugh and poke fun at Sona's dream.

"Those stuck up pricks!" Michael clenched his fist, "What right do they have to look down at Sona-senpai?"

"The Underworld may have changed in the past, but the discrimination between high-class devils, low-class devils and reincarnated devils still exist to this day. We're not like most servants, we serve the Gremorys a family with profound affection. So, we don't ordinarily see such discrimination. Remember the House of Phoenix?"

Kiba tried to calm down the seething teen.

"That's exactly why they shouldn't do this to the Kaichou! They believe that things should go their way because it benefits them. They shouldn't put Sona-senpai down before she could even start accomplishing her dream!"

Michael wasn't about to get swayed into being complacent. What they were doing was unforgivable.

In the midst of all of this laughter, Sona spoke firmly, "I'm serious."

"Excuse me?"

"Are you?"

"She couldn't be…"

The higher-ups spoke with disbelief.

"To you all, it may seem like a waste of time to build something for the lower-class, but I want for my dream to bolster up others who cannot achieve their own dreams themselves. I want for the children in the Underworld to freely have a choice to dream disregarding their class altogether. The actions of one influence the many is what I always thought. That is all I have to say." Sona bowed her head and spoke with cool-headed words.

But the higher-ups wouldn't just let this go.

"Sona Sitri-dono. Low-class devils and reincarnated devils merely work for their high-class devil masters and are only selected for their talent. Wouldn't building such a training institution make the old families, who value tradition and pride, lose face? No matter how much people say that the world of devils has entered a period of change, change can be both good and bad. Something like teaching mere low-class devils really is nothing of your concern…"

"It would be best to just forget of such a dream."

"Quite." The high-class devils kept speaking their disapproval about Sona's dream and of course that got an outburst from a very pissed off pawn.

"Who the hell do you think you people are!?" Saji broke the silence as he stepped forward, "This is Sona-sama's dream, and your stepping on it without giving her a chance! What gives you all the right to say that it won't come true! Don't you realize how serious she is!?"

In the background, Michael was wearing a huge grin while clapping.

_'Ah…he's finally speaking up against douchebags like I've always dreamed he would…he grew up so fast…' Michael thought._

"Be careful how you talk, young reincarnated devil. Sona-dono, your servant hasn't been properly trained."

One of the higher-up devils said this.

"…I apologize. I'll speak with him about it later." Sona kept her normal expression, but Saji didn't quite understand this though.

"But Kaichou, why!? These bastards…they're mocking your dream! Why, do you remain silent!?"

"Saji, be silent. This isn't a place where you can display such an attitude. I simply told them my future goal. That's all." Sona scolded Saji with a silent voice.

"B-But…!"

Wrapping his arm around the shocked Saji, Michael laughed, "Now come on Sona-senpai! This is the best place for us to show such rowdy attitudes! Isn't that right, buddy!?"

"Mike?"

"Michael Hanamura-kun?"

Both Saji and Sona gasped at Michael bringing attention to himself.

"I mean, even I have to agree with Saji by asking. Why are all of you old farts are being such pricks when you OBVIOUSLY asked to hear their dreams!"

[!]

The whole crowd in the hall gasped while Kai was seen trying to not to laugh too hard for everyone to hear. Katerea could only sigh while Zethyr intently watched the young boy speak out to the older devils.

"Michael!" Rias tried to scold her servant, but Michael shook his head.

"Sorry, Buchou, but these guys had no right to say that about Sona-senpai's dream! They keep repeating the same bullcrap about why she can't build a school for low-class devils like us because they're too prideful to let go of their old ways on how to do things!" Michael shouted before gesturing to the Maous,

"Wasn't the point of these awesome people winning that Devil war because they wanted to break free from old tradition, so why in the ever-living fuck are they spouting off about losing face to the old devil families!? If you don't want to lose anything when something different came along, then you should have actually thought about changing yourselves, too!"

[…!]

"Why you…!"

"The nerve…!"

"Is this really how the Gremory family handles their servants?"

Michael breathed heavily as he tried to catch his breath,

"You can never know something is possible until you do it yourselves, you old bastards!"

"Such disrespect will not be tolera-!"

Michael interrupted the higher-ups once more as he shouted something he needed to say,

"That's why-! That's why I'll become a Maou too one day, and I swear to never be like any of you!"

[!]

The whole room went dead silent at that moment as Michael glared at all of the higher-ups. Their looks of anger suddenly changed to the looks of condescending laughter.

[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]

"A Low-class devil like you a Maou!?"

"How deluded can this boy be!?"

"It's good to dream big now isn't it!?"

"Reincarnated devils like you should know their place!"

Amidst all their laughter, only a few focused their attention on Michael as they either looked at him with pity or understanding.

"Mike, it's okay, you don't have to get riled up by them. They're not worth it." Saji would have expected a shove or an angry remark, but no, all he received was a calm sigh.

"Hey, Saji. I'm really gonna do it now."

"Mike?" Saji saw Michael wear a determined smile as his face was filled with conviction, he wasn't the only one though because Sairaorg, who was watching his younger apprentice brother act out was caught off guard by the boy's sudden calm disposition.

Looking up at the Maou, Michael still kept his smile as he looked upon each of them with eyes of admiration, "I don't want to ignore their laughs. Let them laugh at me because I'm going to be a Maou and prove them wrong. All of them."

"…hoh…" Sairaorg's lips curled up into a smile of its own as he began to take pride in the teen as his fellow disciple in training.

***CLAP!***

"Huh?" Everyone looked up at the section above holding the Maous and saw Son Kai standing beside Katerea and Zethyr.

"That was a wonderful display there." Kai clapped his hands.

"It was crude for my taste, but it was the first actual bearable thing I could listen through today." Katerea sighed.

"…" Zethyr simply closed his eyes, uninterested in the matter.

"What are you speaking of Son Kai! This is a travesty to all of us! The disrespect! The slander! The-!"

One of the higher-ups spat out those furiously.

"Oh, I'm sorry but are you seriously gripping about how a low-class devil hurt your feelings?" Kai mocked.

"Tch…!" The distinguished devils felt humiliated by that comment alone.

"Now Sona-chan, you should really take some pointers from these two young men. That goes for you too, Rias-chan, and you other young devils. When each of you were saying to us your dreams, you nearly bored me to sleep with how restrained you all sounded. Sure, it's good to be that way when you're representing your devil families, but you're all still children. Well, at least in my eyes." Kai lazily rubbed his eyes.

"N-Nii-sama?" Sona was surprised at Kai's statement.

"It may be just me, but I didn't sense as much compassion in your stated dreams than Michael-san's. I'm not saying to shout it like he did, but you all should do more than just say dream and be done. All of these old men are only here to see your possible futures, they can't change it. If you really care about your dream, then you should fight tooth and nail to defend it. It's your dream. Laying down and just taking it the moment someone spits in your face just because they're older or because they're of a higher class is the same as saying it means nothing to you. You say that you want to improve the status of the lower-classes and Devil servants, but how can you expect to reach your goal if you let people like this keep talking down to you?"

Kai shook his head before scratching it,

"You're our future…mostly theirs, but it's all the same. Assure us that you actually have a drive for it through not just your words, but your fists…"

Kai raised his fist, but Katerea simply tugged at his cheeks and sighed, "He means actions…"

"Ouch…!"

"Mowtato…Mawtato.." Kai mumbled before getting his cheek back, "And for those of you who laughed. Not at Michael-san's dream, but Sona-chan's dream, and you all know who you are don't try to hide it now... You should probably be happy that Sona-chan's pawn stepped in when he did because I don't think that even Kate-chan or I could have held back my beloved Sera-chan from going ballistic."

Kai gestured to Serafall, who was in her seat sitting rather stiffly, she might have worn cute smile on her face but that too was rigid while a cold, icy blue aura formed around her in pent up anger against the distinguished devils.

"No, it's okay, Kai-tan! They know better than to not torment my Sona-chan in front of me! Or else they might have lusted for some torment themselves…"

The distinguished devils only prayed that they wouldn't overstep their boundaries like this again as they blinked in a troubling manner at the livid Leviathan Satan, Serafall. Sona tried to hide her face in embarrassment as the situation was getting too much for her to bear.

Clapping his hands to finally settle the dispute, Zethyr finally says something for first time the entire meeting, "Now if this pointless drawn out dribble is over with. Let's move on to the other reason why we called you all here. Today, we shall announce the first of the Rating Games amongst your peers starting with the match between the Gremory household and the Sitri household."

"…"

"…"

Rias and Sona stared at each other in surprise at the sudden announcement.

Speaking from his separate throne, Sirzechs said, "Originally, it was planned for Rias to begin her game in only a few days, but recently Azazel has gathered Rating Game fans from each of the powers, and the other mythologies who wish to see the games of the young devils before their debuts. That's why it's fine like this."

Sirzechs knew of the training schedule, and wanted to show a spectacular battle between his sister and her best friend, they were both rookies, but a match between them would be quite splendid for many to watch.

Rias let out a breath, and then showed a defiant smile to Sona.

Sona also started to show a scornful smile as she pushed her glasses in a rather intimidating fashion.

"It may not be an official one, but it feels like fate to me that you would be my first Rating Game opponent, Rias."

"Now that we're competing with each other, I won't lose, Sona."

The sparks were flying once these two made eye contact.

"So, I guess that means we're going to be facing each other in that game, too." Michael grinned, "It sort of reminds me of that Dodgeball game we had before. I guess we'll get to settle the score again, huh?"

"No, this is different, Mike." Saji said seriously, "I appreciate that you defended the Kaichou with me, but at this moment we're enemies. So, when we fight each other again, I will go for a complete flawless victory."

Michael simply shrugged the threatening vibe of Saji's declaration and grinned, "Heh…Challenge accepted."

Him not taking Saji completely serious would later become an issue that will cost him.

"A match between Rias-chan and Sona-chan! Yes! Things are really firing up! I can' wait to watch it with Shura-chan and Agnes-chan~!" Serafall cheered, gleefully.

"What about Gabriel-chan?" Kai asked.

"…Who?" Serafall purposely said that with a distasteful pout.

"…Here…" Kai simply sighed and patted her head to soothe her mood.

"The date of the competition will take place in a month from today in human world time. You may each divide up your time as you like until then. The details will be sent again later."

By Sirzechs' decree the competition will be underway in August. The preparations for that fated battle begins now!

* * *

Returning back to the Gremory family Residence, Michael received an earful from Rias regarding his behavior during the meeting, and how he literally ended up almost every devil's list. Although things did strangely turn out for the best, he still disobeyed her orders and had to punished afterwards.

During their return, they caught up with Azazel, who made it to the residence and also received a scolding from Rias for taking Michael mid-way through their trip to the underworld. After all complaints were made, everyone went straight to business about their showdown with the Sitri group.

Already prepared Azazel had already planned a training itinerary for everyone in the peerage, and had selected their own individual trainers for the remaining month until August, but there was more to it than just the Gremory side training since the Sitri side was also getting their training menu in return and it was getting supplemented by none other than Son Kai and Katerea Leviathan.

Everyone couldn't believe the news, but found it fair since they were receiving help from big people like Azazel and his other trainers. The start of their training would commence the tomorrow in the morning. With everyone rearing to go, the announcement of the hot springs being ready from Grayfia lifted their moods even higher, except for Michael though…

"No fair…" Michael sadly wobbled his back to his guest room, he was denied entering the Hot Springs with everyone else as punishment, "This was supposed to be the greatest summer ever! Sure, training can be fun, but not this! Why can't I ever win!?"

Opening his room door, he groaned, "Oh, well, better just shower and get ready for tommo-"

"Good evening, Michael-sama."

"You know out of everything that I've been through today, I actually don't mind this. So what's with the getup, Ray-chan?" Upon entering his room, Michael found himself staring at Raynare, who wore a French maid outfit just like the other maids in the Residence.

"While you were away, I took some advice from Grayfia-san about to being a proper maid and Queen for you in the future!" Raynare excitedly squealed.

"If its from Grayfia, then it must be some good advice." Michael didn't know why, but he felt that Grayfia felt reliable, and that was also supported by the fact that's literally the Queen of a Maou. At first he was worried that things would get weird, but now he feels that everything was going to be okay.

"Yeah! So, I heard you were punished by Rias-san. I take it you didn't take a bath yet, right?" Raynare curiously asked.

"Yup." Michael went over to his bed to fetch a towel, "About to take one right now."

"Great, so let's get started, Michael-sama." Raynare rolled up her sleeves.

Hearing the way that she worded that, Michael quickly placed some distance between himself and Raynare.

"What in Maou's name are you doing, Ray-chan?" Michael asked.

"Isn't it obvious. We're going to give you a thorough bathing." Raynare held her bicep up like Rosie the Riveter.

"Uh-uh…there is no we! Only me! I don't need your help with this! I'm a grown ass man!" Michael shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Michael-sama, but this is one of the things that Grayfia told to me to do. Now let's get you in the bathtub, so I can clean all of that sweat dried up on your body!" Raynare made weird gestures with her hands as she forced Michael back into the bathroom.

"Wait, how come you're not changing?" Michael asked.

"Another piece of advice that Grayfia gave to me. Never attend to your duties without the uniform now get in there!" Raynare started to wrestle the clothes off of Michael.

"No way! That makes it worse! Get away from me! Stop! Stop it! STOP!" Michael tried his best to chop away Raynare, but she just wouldn't give up. He knew that she wanted to be his Queen in the future and help him, but this was too ridiculous.

"Just…let me help you!"

"I can help myself!"

"Then let me help you to get help!"

"Never!"

"Get in the damn bath, Michael-sama! This is all necessary for you! Everything that I'm doing is for you!"

"I appreciate the offer, but I'd rather keep my dignity!"

"DAMMIT! JUST HOLD STILL!"

***BONG!***

"Ooough…my tenders…" Michael held his crotch in pain and passed out from the pain.

"Whoops…" Was all Raynare could say before she shrugged and dragged his unresponsive body into the bathtub. Later that night, Michael woke up to find himself sleeping in his pajamas which frightened him about what happened after he passed out. He would have panicked, but he saw the peaceful sleeping faces of Raynare, Asia and Xenovia on his bed.

All three of them weren't used to the opulence of the guest rooms, they were bigger than the ones they had at home and they were recently remodeled. So, Michael decided to allow them to share the same bed as him for the night. After all that happened today with him catching up with Saji, hanging out with Millicas, sticking it to those stuck up devils and learning that Rias' cousin is his apprentice brother, he wondered if the next day was going to be just as hectic as today.

"…Z…zzz…Michael-san…" Asia rolled her head onto Michael's chest and clung herself to his shirt.

Comfortably, Michael used his arm to act as Asia's pillow as he patted her head, something that earned a relaxed smile from the sleepy Asia.

_'Just rest Asia…because we're going to need it for tomorrow.' Michael thought before wincing in pain, 'It's bad enough that I got hit there of all places but…'_

"Zzzz… !" Moving a little crazily in her sleep, Xenovia's tired head slammed directly onto Michael's crotch. He learned the hard way about Xenovia's poor sleeping habits, and they were even worse than his own. He could only imagine what position she'd been in the morning because this was ridiculous!

"Please let day come already…" Michael whimpered in pain as Xenovia sharply stuck her elbow into Michael's inner thigh, "Please…"

Michael squeaked one last time before drifting into the lulling abyss of slumber.

* * *

The next day, everyone assembled in a corner of the Gremory family's huge garden.

"All right! Let's do this!" Michael started doing squats and stretches to start off the day.

It was time for everyone to get assigned their training schedule for the month. Since it was only natural, everyone decided to wear their school jerseys for the occasion, even Azazel wore one. Standing in a row, everyone awaited their schedules as Azazel flipped through a clipboard filled with papers.

"FIGHT! ON! FIGHT! ON!" Michael excitedly did a set of squats.

"Good to see that you all made it. Especially you Michael. I was sure that you'd be depressed about not going into the Hot Springs and seeing some luscious breasts!" Azazel teased.

"FUCK! OFF! FIGHT! ON! FIGHT! ON!" Michael kept doing squats to burn off his excess excitement, he wasn't going to let Ero-Ossan get to him today!

"Whoa, Michael-nii is really into it today." Gasper watched the excited young man continue his exercises.

"Watch, he'll burn himself out before we begin." Koneko commented.

Clapping his hands, Azazel received everyone's attention, "Alright! Alright! Before we start, let me say this. What I'm going to tell you now is for your training menu that focuses on sharpening your weak points and what you lack. Everything that I observed from your past battles have been analyzed into the perfect training for you all. Some of you aren't fully in here because I may have already assigned you a trainer, or a trainer has requested to train you themselves."

Azazel shook his head, "These aren't for just good results. This training menu is for the long run, and all of you are young, so try to make as many mistakes as you can before you grow old like me, so you don't get held responsible as much. Now then, first up is you, Rias." Azazel pointed to Rias.

"Yes?"

"From the beginning, you have been a high-spec devil with everything, including talent, physical ability and magic power. However, just those specs aren't good enough if you wish to keep up with your servants. From your report during that Chimera crisis, you agreed that you were unable to share as much support as your servants, correct?"

Casting her eyes down, Rias nodded, "Yes."

Michael stopped his stretches to look at Rias in worry. He knew how rough things were back then, and didn't want to open old wounds, but it was still a little true despite him denying it.

"That's why we'll have to push your training regimen even further than most high-class devils. Which is why, you'll be progressing your strengths as not just a King, but also your specs with magic and a little of your physical prowess. Thankfully, I chose someone that you know to be your trainer." Azazel handed Rias a sheet of paper, and once Rias looked at it her face went pale.

"Oh, dear…" Rias gulped.

"Things may be seem difficult, but this is for the long run, remember that. Every one of your servants play a role and support you. As you are now, you can't support them since you don't have enough power or skill, which is why you must better yourself in new ways rather than just going over the basics again. Understood?"

"Hai." Rias glossed through her schedule and sighed at the challenges she'll face for the entire month straight. Michael felt a little sorry for Rias, but reassured himself that she'll get through this stronger than ever. Cause after all, he always did love her for her strong passion to do her best for her servants and friends.

"Next is you, Akeno." Azazel turned to a sullen Akeno.

"…Yes?" Michael could tell by Akeno's emotionless voice that she wasn't too fond of Azazel because of him being a Fallen Angel, but he didn't sense as much hostility as she did against Kokabiel, so he sort of understood her feelings. He couldn't help, but wonder if this hatred really stemmed from her father.

"Akeno, I'm going to be blunt with you, so this "thing" doesn't get dragged out. Stop holding yourself back and use the power that your bloodline gave you."

Azazel just pulled the pin off of that grenade rather quick.

"!" Akeno was taken by surprise before she frowned.

Shaking his head, Azazel chose to ignore it and said, "These records on your recorded images of the battle with the Phoenix family were pitiful. What was this? You suffered a humiliating defeat at hands of a much weaker [Queen]. You could have turned things around during that battle if you had just used your Fallen Angel powers. Limiting yourself to only thunder costed you the match. If you had combined light with your thunder, then you could have displayed the power of [lightning]." Azazel scolded Akeno, who looked to be in deep thought.

She couldn't help, but remember that night. The night where she faced defeat against that hooded woman who dared affiliate her with that "Thing." Since that night, she's been doing her best to suppress the words that came out of her mouth, but it still plagues her mind whenever she's reminded anything of her true heritage:

 _-"But holding in all of that backed up luggage isn't going to help you here, Missy! But I can understand where you're coming from. You hate your daddy so much that you despise your own existence. And sister, I know just what you're going through. Refusing to use the power he's given you could be a bonus, but in the end, it reminds you of how pathetic you would be to rely on your_ _**precious** _ _daddy's power. We're a lot alike you know?"-_

_"We're a lot alike."_

_Those words echoed through Akeno's head as she tried to rationalize her thoughts._

Her only response to Azazel was, "I can do fine even if I don't depend on that kind of power."

Azazel could tell by Akeno's answer that her situation was still a little complex, but shook his head.

"Don't deny yourself. What will you do if you can't accept yourself? In the end, the only thing you can rely on is your own body, right? It's your choice on whether you want to do this training, I can't force you. But know this, if you keep doing things the same way for long, you'll become a liability to not just your [King] but also your fellow servants. You must no longer take up the moniker of the "Priestess of Thunder", but the "Priestess of Lightning"."

"…" Akeno didn't say a thing, but reluctantly complied with Azazel.

_'Good luck, Akeno-senpai! I know you can do it.' Michael thought._

"Next is you, Kiba."

"Hai!"

"First things first. Here." Azazel hands Kiba a slip of paper containing a magic circle.

"What is this?" Kiba closely examined it.

"Something your trainer gave to me. It's a one-way magic circle, it instantly beams you to the destination that's been appointed to it once you place some magic into it. Once you go there, you can't use it to come back, and that's all I have to say. Good luck." Azazel passed Kiba off.

"Wait, isn't there anything essential for me to focus on that you have to say?" Kiba asked.

"*SIGH!* Trust me when I say that I really want to help test out your rare, new Balance Breaker, but your trainer told me to stay out of it and leave it to him. I was told to just give you this and no questions asked. I had originally planned for you to go over the basics, but he told me that it was a waste of time to do just do that, so you'll be going through whatever he assigned for you to do." Azazel pouted like a kid, before patting Kiba on the shoulder, "Please! I need you to hold out for not yourself, but for your friends when you start your training! Giving in won't end the pain!"

"H-Hai…!" Kiba sweatdropped in fear.

"That bad, eh? It almost reminds of my first-time training with Shishou, but don't worry Pretty Boy, you can do it even if your body does break into pieces! I believe in you!" Michael laughed.

"Thanks, Michael-kun." Kiba still sweatdropped, but accepted Michael egging him on.

"Next, Xenovia."

"Hai, Sensei! What sort of power building training have you in store for me!?" Xenovia excitedly huffed.

"Y-Yeah, about that. Look, this training is fairly simple. All you need to do is tame Durandal much better than you do now. The Holy Sword is fickle whenever it chooses its wielder, so you'll have to completely tame it before you can start your training with your trainer."

"My trainer? Who will it be?" Xenovia asked.

"Kiba's old Sword Master, of course."

"Really, Master is going to train Xenovia-san?" Kiba smiled, excitedly.

"Yup. I looked into a couple of your 'complaints' about Xenovia's fighting style and requested him to sharpen the areas where she definitely lacks." Azazel smirked.

"Xenovia-san, please listen well to Master's teachings. I assure you that you won't regret it, so please don't keep trying the same hard-headed tactics you use when wielding a sword. Be open to learning and-!"

"U-Uh-huh! I understand, Kiba. I-I really do…" Xenovia tried to get through Kiba's ramblings and she looked to be unaware of what Azazel's true motives for her was.

"Now onto you, Ga-" Azazel looked at an empty space of air, "Where'd he go?"

"…Here he is." Koneko came out from behind a few hedges carrying a Gasper filled box.

Opening the box flaps, Gasper looked up at Azazel with teary eyes, "Y-Yeeeees?"

"Relax. I just want you to go through some training to get rid of your excess fear. You're specs with your bloodline and your sacred gear is great enough to support you, but…it won't matter if you don't support yourself mentally. I noticed your condition getting better ever since the Peace treaty, but I'm going to push you even further to break this usual attitude of yours." Azazel wore a bright smile, "That's why I'm going to tutor you to improve your bishop skills in magic."

"T-That doesn't sound so bad."

"In PUBLIC. For the entire month. No computers. Video Games. Or Cellphones. Just Social Interaction in PUBLIC." Azazel coughed each time he said 'public'.

"B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-But…!" Gasper was about to let out a wail of fear.

"Gasper!" Michael shouted out to his kouhai and patted his bicep, "BE A MAN!"

Remembering those exact words of encouragement, Gasper nodded and screamed, "H-Hai, I'll do my best, Michael-nii! I'll show that I can be a man like y-!"

"Social Activity."

"Kyaaaaaaaa~!"

"Looks like my summer won't be a complete bust. Whipping this Shut-in will keep me entertained for the time being." Azazel walked up to Asia next,

"Now onto my favorite student, Asia."

"Favorite?" Asia was a little flustered at that remark.

"Hey, I thought I was your favorite student!" Michael shouted.

"Your ears must not be working. She's my favorite student. You're my favorite brat…no, scratch the favorite part, you're just a brat."

"Why I outta-!" Michael rolled up his sleeve.

"Now to you Asia. You will improve your body and magic with basic training. You're still rather new to being a bishop having been resurrected months ago, so it's important that you strengthen your Sacred Gear."

"Hold up, Ero-Sensei. Isn't Asia already good enough with her Sacred Gear? She can basically heal anyone just by touching them and it's been a great help." Michael asked.

"You're right about two of those things. She can heal whoever she touches, but her being only able to do that in close-range makes her Sacred Gear a little inconvenient in most possible scenarios. Which is why, we'll work on expanding her range with her Twilight Healing." Azazel explained the details written on his clipboard, "She can even fire it at allies individually afar if she chooses to."

"So I can heal Michael-san and the others by from far away?" Asia made a throwing gesturing which Michael found cute.

"According to the theory based on the data gathered by our organization, you should be able to do that and more. With this you can prove a valuable asset to the team." Azazel smiled.

"Isn't that great, Asia! You're our ace player! With my guts and your healing, we'll be unstoppable!" Michael jovially grinned at Asia.

"Y-Yeah! I'm really happy that I can be of use to everyone and help them!" Asia smiled with some fighting spirit in her eyes.

"But onto the other part, Asia, your nature worries me." Azazel said with a serious look.

"Eh? My nature?"

"You're too  _kind._ I bet when you see an injured enemy on the battlefield, you'd have this feeling to heal him despite their status as an opponent. This nature allows you to not only heal allies, but also enemies, so it's a dual-edged dagger for this team if her powers were to heal both sides, but we'll handle that little issue through your training. So, do your best."

"Hai!" Asia nodded with a rather conflicted look on her face before looking determined once more.

_'I never knew that Asia being nice could be a bad thing in a fight, but I guess that's ironic.' Michael scratched his head._

"Next is Koneko."

"…Sup."

"I heard that you recently accepted your real power not too long ago, so this will make your training a lot easier than it needs to be. Your stats as a rook with your offence and defense are purely on their own, but there's still much that you lack especially for your Sage Arts or Senjutsu if you prefer."

"…" Koneko nodded.

Michael watched the pair discuss Koneko's training closely as he recounted that day where Koneko supported him in his fight by unleashing that ability. He was a little weirded out by how Koneko grew her cat ears and tail, but soon grew to accept it as became a natural part of his life. Especially when she does it while sitting on his lap all the time.

"Your growth has been substantial since you unlocked your true power, but there's still room for growth which is why I got you a skilled trainer that's adept at using Senjutsu."

"Skilled? You mean Kai-sama?" Koneko asked.

Heh! It will be surprise, so just wait until your trainer shows up with their assistant." Azazel's dirty laugh worried Michael as he wondered what terrifying beast, he would have chosen for his Kouhai's trainer.

_'No, I should just hope the best for Koneko-chan.' Michael gulped._

"Koneko-chan." Michael gave her the peace sign, "Fight on."

"…" Koneko nodded and gave the peace sign right back.

"Now then, as for you Michael. Your new teacher will be here right about…" Azazel looked at his watch while a huge shadow descended from the sky and landed on the ground with an earth-shaking crash.

"Now." Azazel points up at the huge fifteen metered dragon, Tannin that stood behind him.

"It's time. I hope you've prepared yourself, Youngling!" Tannin crossed his arms.

"Oi! What's up, Gramps!" Michael shouted at his instructor with so much vigor, "I'm ready to do this! Bring it on! Bring it on! BRING IT!"

Michael hyper-actively did squats.

"Such tenacity! I wonder how long you can keep it up! Now let's get going, you're about to learn the Hierarchy of my territory, the Dragon Mountains, as soon as we get there!" Tannin guffawed.

"This is going to be freaking sweet! I'm going to see other actual living dragons!" Michael already started the countdown to his Balance Breaker.

"Wait~!" Raynare came running in her maid outfit carrying a backpack filled with supplies, "Don't leave without me!"

"Ray-chan?"

"Please! I'm going tooooo-whooooa!"

"Easy there! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thank you, Michael-sama!"

Raynare tripped on a rock and almost fell until Michael helped catch her fall.

Standing herself up, she said, "I'm going along with you!"

"For real? You sure about that? I might be roughing it up there so we won't be near civilization for a long time." Michael chuckled.

"Not just that, but you're also required to read through these textbooks about Devil history and to memorize your devil alphabets!" Azazel grabbed a rucksack filled it and tossed it at Michael.

"Great. More homework…" Michael said depressingly.

"Don't worry about me, Michael-sama! I can take care of myself out there, so I'll come along to assist you as your maid and future Queen!"

Raynare saluted.

"Y-You can just come along as my friend, y'know…Please, no more sponge baths…" Michael shivered at the violation that he suffered.

"Okay, I promise~!" Raynare winked.

"That doesn't assure me. I actually feel more scared now." Michael shivered.

"It would appear that fighting spirit you showed before has withered away." Tanning laughed at the boy.

"Shut up! You try living with yourself after going through an awkward sponge bath!"

"Ufufufu…" Raynare laughed into her hand while maniacally thinking,  _'This is wonderful~! Now I have an excuse to stay all alone with Michael-sama! No Rias-san to regulate the amount of time I spend with him. No Akeno-san to outdo me, and no Asia to interrupt us. Just me and Michael-sama alone in the wild. Ohohoho! I can imagine it now being alone with him while he's all sweaty and tired. Eventually, he'll have to release his lustful urges with me around, and then I can finally connect with him in an emotional and oh so literal way! Ohohohoho!"_

Raynare's laughter ended with her excessively drooling.

"Oh, and Raynare. You're not going anywhere." Azazel grabbed Raynare's arm.

With all her hopes dashed at that moment, Raynare squeaked, "What?"

"Didn't I tell you? You're going to undertake some training as well. Both Mittelt and Kalawarner are getting some special training and so are you by one of my close associates who volunteered to train you." Azazel smirked as he saw the life flush out of Raynare's face.

"But-But-But-! This was supposed to be my moment to shine! My time to be alone with a half-naked and sweaty Michael-sama!" Raynare cried.

"Half-what now?" Michael blinked in surprise as he began listening in on their conversation.

"Well, I guess you could do that some other time. Now let's get you started by transporting you the Grigori facility!" Azazel laughed at the anguish on Raynare's face as he dragged her away.

"No, stop! Michael-sama! Quick! Give me some hope! Take off your shirt and splash cold water on your muscles!" Raynare desperately cried.

**[Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!]**

"What, Ray-chan? I just equipped my Balance Breaker! Can you repeat that?" Michael shrugged in his dragon armor.

"This isn't fair. THIS ISN'T FAIR! Aaaaaaaaugh!" Raynare balled her eyes out once she left the garden with Azazel.

"I can't let my guard down for even a second around any of you guys…" Rias sweatdropped and felt a little relieved that things ended the way they did.

All of the girls included as they let out a sigh of relief.

"Such passion, you've gotten yourself hooked by an amazing woman, Youngling." Tannin coughed as he took flight.

"Yeah, she's pretty nice. But sometimes I feel like she can go off the deep end over the strangest of things. Oh, well! I'm ready to freaking do this, Gramps!" Michael took flight with Tannin and waved goodbye to Rias and the rest of his friends.

"Bye, everyone! See you in a month!"

"Michael, do your best!" Rias gave him a thumbs up and a cheer.

"You know I always do! Good luck with your training, everyone!"

"It's time to go! Make sure not to lose me, youngling for I won't slow down if you start to tire!" Tannin took off before Michael could react.

"Don't underestimate me, Gramps! I can keep up with you! No sweat!" Michael gave everyone else one last thumbs up before soaring through the air tailing after Tannin.

The One Month Training period for the Gremory family has now begun!

* * *

**Next Chapter- The days of arduous training has begun! Hold on, you want me to take *you* as my vassal!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, everyone, and I hoped you enjoyed the chapter!
> 
> A lot went down in this chapter and since everyone has been distributed their own training regimen they'll each get shown with their trainer in the next chapter! I gave a few characters a trainer because in the original story I felt as though it was played too safe by having most of them go through the basics without being taught anything new, so Bam... I decided to give them each good training menus.
> 
> And next chapter there's going to be someone that Michael's going to be meeting for the first time, and their encounter will be a violent experience for the both of them.
> 
> Also if you're interested in my geeky exploits, you can see Michael Hanamura's wikipage here if you're interested: http://dxdfanon.wikia.com/wiki/Michael_Hanamura
> 
> Well, I'm Out, so Peace Out and have a wonderful day!


	52. The days of arduous training has begun! Hold on, you want me to take *you* as my vassal! (Part 1)

**The days of arduous training has begun! Hold on, you want me to take *you* as my vassal! (Part 1)**

* * *

"We've arrived." Tannin said, their flight took a little more than a few hours, but they were able to reach their destination.

"Whoa…Dragon Mountain…" Michael was breathless at the sight of so many different dragons inhabiting the mountains. There were Flame Dragons, Blizzard Dragons, Lightning Dragons and many more either flying around the mountains or resting in their own separate cavern.

And the mountains, the entire mountain range was massive, Michael wondered if the entire range could be equal to the whole of Kuoh town. No, he doubted that because these mountains had varying types of environments suited for each dragon.

Such as the snowy ice mountain tops where Blizzard Dragons inhabit and blanket their bodies in snow. Or the terribly scorching mountain tops that were high in altitude and closer to the sun, they were suited for Flame Dragons that like to sunbathe their scales in the heat. Not to mention the lower levels of the mountains where resided a humid yet flourishing jungle like forest with strong rivers a gushing waterfall, and adequate shading for Earth Dragons.

And those were just the places that Michael could identify. There were so many more that were around that he kind of got overwhelmed at his new living arrangement for the next month.

Michael and Tannin decide to land on a tabletop mountain that's in the middle of all this nature. Unequipping his scale mail, Michael walked over to the mountain ledge and looked out at the various lands ahead.

"This place is…" Michael had no words to describe the sheer expansiveness of the land around him. Not just the land was overwhelming, but the many dragons inhabiting it were vastly powerful and numerous in terms of numbers.

"This area is the dragon's nest where my brethren live. After becoming a devil, I worked hard to achieve my ranking as an Ultimate-Class to attain a suitable environment for my kin." Tannin said.

"Wait, you can get territory in the underworld by becoming an Ultimate-Class devil?" Michael gasped, and received a nod, "That's so cool...I can't wait to start training already! Learning under an Ultimate-Class devil is the perfect way for me to learn to be one, one day!"

"Kukukukuku! I see that you're prepared even though you haven't even heard of your training regimen yet." Tannin smiled.

"Hah, you're not going to scare me off with any of your training, Gramps! I've survived through Shishou's training, so give me your best shot!" Michael grinned.

"I wonder if you'll have the energy to say that after you actually hear of your training for this month." Tannin coughed and grabbed Michael's full attention.

"Michael Hanamura, your stay here in Dragon Mountain will purely be for molding you into a proper dragon. You will learn how to fight like dragons, how to use magic and energy like dragons, and fly like dragons. Your time here will be for the purpose of you controlling the Red Dragon Emperor's power within you."

Tannin pointed at the multiple lands around in the mountains.

"That is why you'll be facing different types of dragons in their natural habitats. Each opponent will be chosen randomly for you, daily, so it will be impossible for you to prepare yourself against an opponent you're already accustomed to. This training will help you handle unpredictable battles and give you a sense as to how you should properly engage the enemy."

"So I just have to beat up dragons and get stronger? That sounds simple."

"There's more to it than that. Right now, you're at the bottom of the Dragon Mountain's hierarchy." Tannin crossed his arms.

"Bottom? Wait, this place has a hierarchy?" Michael's eyes widened.

"It shouldn't come off as a surprise. Most dragons are prideful and enter high staked brawls to prove their superiority to their own kind. Obviously, it's been enforced that no dangerous killings are permitted in any fights on the mountains, but fights still remain to keep the balance around here.  _The strong respect the strong._  That's a saying we have around here, and you're going to abide by this hierarchy, too."

Tannin crouched down and dragged his claws to create a hierarchy graph.

"So where am I on this hierarchy?" Michael crouched down next to Tannin.

On the graph were these levels: High-Level Dragons Middle-Level Dragons Lower-Level Dragons You.

"Here." Tannin pointed at the very bottom.

"What the hell!? How come I'm dead last! I'm at least at middle-classed level, and that's just me being humble!" Michael growled.

**[I find this to be a fair ranking for you.] Ddraig chimed.**

"What, even you, Ddraig?"

**[These dragons won't just accept you out of the blue because you already have power. You need to climb yourself up these levels to gain their respect. It's beneficial, so you can learn more about how these dragons fight and how you can apply them to yourself.] Ddraig made some good points.**

"Correct, the majority of high-level dragons won't even speak to you unless you at least prove your strength to the others." Tannin agreed.

"Fine. It looks like I'm climbing the leader-board to the top! At least I have something to focus on during this training unlike training to just survive."

**[Dragon Booster!]**

"Alright, let's start that countdown, Ddraig." Michael summoned the boosted gear.

"Ahem!"

"What?" Michael caught Tannin staring intently at him, "What!? Go on, you coughed like you had something to say, Gramps."

"Another part of your training requires you to avoid the use of your Balance Breaker this entire month."

"Say what now?"

"No Balance Breaker."

"You're kidding." Michael said with a straight face.

"I never kid around, youngling." Tannin shook his head.

"Aw, but WHY!?" Michael whined.

"The point of this training is to help you better control the Dragon energy within you. Training you with your balance breaker activated is counterproductive, you can learn to better control yourself, but as you are not you come at risk to accidentally hurt yourself with too much unnecessary boosting. So, we need you to strengthen your base form and get you naturally acquainted with the power."

Tannin explained.

"Dang it, but, hey, wouldn't it be faster with the Scale Mail? I can handle some pain, it's part of the training after all?" Michael tried to negotiate his thoughts.

**[Partner, this is the only efficient way to get Welsh Drive. You need to toughen your body and train yourself to control the dragon power. Welsh Drive requires you to be in your base form without the use of your Sacred Gear. You don't need to rush with your training, you have all the time you need this time.]**

"But-!"

**[Look this isn't the same as that week of training for that Phoenix Rating Game. There's no rush. You have a month to improve yourself, so take your time and allow your body to properly go through the motions, okay. It will leave you less strained, and you'll learn more effectively.]**

"Okay…" Michael begrudgingly listened to his partner's advice.

"Now show to me you're Boosted Gear." Tannin reached his hand out.

"Sure, but why?" Michael asked.

"Because I'm going to seal your Balance Breaker with this seal that the Governor-General gave me." Tannin summons in his hand a small blue crystal with various code floating around it, "Only him and I have the authorization to break the seal, so that you won't break it while training."

"Seriously, you can trust me! I haven't given you a reason not to trust me, Gramps!" Michael pleaded.

"True, but you haven't given me a reason to trust you either."

Michael glared at Tannin in silence.

_'_ _Damn, that was a good comeback, and he isn't wrong.' Michael thought._

"Okay, fine do it." Michael shrugged and watched as the crystal levitated over the Boosted Gear's jewel and integrated itself into the jewel. The jewel processed the crystal before a massive "x" formed over it.

"There you are. Officially placed on lockdown." Tannin said.

"Yay…" Michael drearily raised his fist.

"Now let's find you a suitable cave to hold your belongings." Tannin began to lead the young man to the mountains below until a massive shadow came their way.

"Hold it right there, Old Man!"

***THOOOOOM!***

"Whoa!" Taken off guard by the abrupt entrance of another dragon, Michael's eyes widened to find that it was a dragon that almost looked identical to Tannin. It was young as evidenced by its height being a bit shorter than Tannin's by only 5 meters, and judging by its lesser keen eyes, Michael could tell that the dragon lacked Tannin's warrior wisdom.

"So you finally decided to show yourself, Bova." Tannin laughed, "Good, it makes things easier if we introduce the two of you now."

"Don't get the wrong idea you, old fart! I only came here because of the racket your making with this little snot! Tch!" The dragon named Bova clicked his tongue.

"Hey, Gramps. This dragon really looks like you! What's up with that is he your kid or something?" Michael gazed up at the short, but towering dragon.

"The resemblance is rather uncanny isn't it?" Tannin joked, and patted the non-compliant Bova's back, "But you've guessed it. This is my son, Bova!"

"Wow, your…son…" Michael smiled, but caught on to those words again,  _'Wow, after hearing that phrase said about somebody else and their relative, I wonder…the times that Grayfia-san, Aniki, that train conductor, and even Leviathan-sama said that to me…were they also referring to someone related to me? Nah, it sounds crazy, but maybe...'_

Michael returned to listening about Tannin's son, Bova with a curious look on his face.

"He's the youngest out of my three sons and is known as a Hell-raiser in the Underworld. His actions have earned him the title of "Bova the Destroyer". He has a reputation for stirring up trouble for the higher-ups by challenging guys that he deems worthy to fight. Bova this is Michael Hanamura, this generation's Red Dragon Emperor." Tannin introduced.

"So this brat's the Red Dragon Emperor, huh?" Bova didn't look all that impressed.

"Wait, you have kids, gramps? Wow, you really are old!" Michael shrugged the comment off and was amazed about Tannin's many offspring.

"I've lived a long life after all, kukuku! Plus, don't mind any outbursts he gives, he's still going through his rebellion phase."

Bova jerks himself away from Tannin, "Would you knock it off you, Old man! I already told you! I'm not going through a phase!"

"Yeah, yeah…!" Tannin laughed it off while Bova passively growls and crosses his arms.

"Well, if your gramps' kid then we'll see more of each other soon enough! Nice to meet you, Bova!" Michael stuck out his hand to the massive dragon.

"Peh!" Bova took a condescending glance at Michael and rudely spat at the ground.

"…Eh?" Michael grew an angered tick mark on his head as he forced himself to smile, "What was that just now?"

"So anyways, old man. What was the purpose you had for introducing me to this scrub." Bova asked.

"Oi, did you just call me a scrub?" Michael's rage was steadily increasing.

"Simple. From now on, I want you to help assist with Michael Hanamura here with training on the mountains." Tannin explained.

"Are you serious?"

"Are you serious?"

Both the young man and the dragon looked at each other before turning back to Tannin with narrowed eyes. Neither of them were pleased about this sudden change one bit, but Tannin didn't look to be joking about this.

"I'm always serious." Tannin stated.

"Listen, old man! I don't want to spend my precious time working with this little shit! Why should I even bother lending him a hand, anyways?" Bova growled.

"Yeah, Gramps! Why do I have to get help from the knock-off when you're supposed to be my trainer." Michael openly insulted Bova.

"What was that punk!? Care to fucking say that again!?"

"Gladly, leatherhead. Compared to the Gramps, you're a total knock-off!"

The two argued, but were stopped by Tannin.

"Quiet, both of you!" Tannin's yelling shut both the devil and the dragon up, "The two of you were paired because of how your personality align together. Though, I expected this bickering to happen, I still think that the two of you can learn some things from each other."

Tannin turned to Bova,

"Bova, when you're mentioning your precious time are you speaking about the times where you do nothing, but laze around doing nothing? Apart from challenging dragons and other stronger devils, you basically don't do much here. Your older brothers are keeping themselves busy by getting in touch with the Underworld community while you're flying around battling random opponents with no aim in sight." Tannin went in depth with Bova's problems.

"Here we go again with this talk…" Bova rolled his eyes.

"I know I might be nagging you, but it's the truth. You're less driven, and you need something to keep you preoccupied, so take the time to be Michael Hanamura's guide and sparring buddy from time to time. You may learn something valuable if you work hard with him."

Tannin kept the answer vague, and turned to Michael, "Youngling, you shouldn't be so picky when your given extra help. Although Bova isn't as strong as me yet, he's still quite a powerful dragon. He's even ranked amongst the higher ranked dragons. Out of my three boys, he's the strongest and yet the most rash compared to the other two."

"Who're you callin' rash, old fart!" Bova said.

"Really?" Michael asked for reassurance.

"Really. If you want to be taught how to fight like a dragon, then Bova is the excellent teacher for you. The two of you basically sync up with your personalities being so similar. Plus, it will be quite a pair for one of my offspring to be paired with a fledgling Red Dragon Emperor." Tannin nodded.

"Well, if you say so, then I guess I wouldn't mind that much." Michael shrugged, not having any sort of stance against that logic.

Too bad Bova had a stake against Tannin's logic though.

"Hold up just a minute, Old Man! I see what you're trying to do! You're trying to pawn me off to this newbie Red Dragon Emperor because you want me to be just like you, when you were the original Red Dragon Emperor's vassal."

Bova shook his head,

"Get real, already! Just because I don't have a clear-cut goal like you and my stupid elder brothers doesn't mean I want to take stride in your over glorified footsteps! I'm me and I'll follow a different path than you and my brothers, and for me to do that I'll have to beat the shit out of the rest of you to do it, too!"

_'_ _Wow, he's really determined about his dream. Being the youngest out of his brothers while being the son of an Ultimate Classed Devil must place a lot of pressure on him.' Michael became somewhat sympathetic of Bova until the dragon laid his furious sights on him._

"Plus, why should we even bother teaching this pipsqueak the ropes anyway? It's not like it will matter, he'll just die off sooner or later because of his eventual fight with the White One. Hell, even Aunt Tiamat might pop up someday to finish him off while we're not looking."

_'_ _Wait a sec, you mean that dragon bitch visits these mountains?' Michael was visibly surprised and looked to Tannin for answers, but found that he was purposely looking away, 'So that means, we're going to have to fight her again…'_

Both Michael and Ddraig felt dread as they said,

"Dammit…"/ **[Dammit…]**

"Besides the titles of the Red Dragon Emperor don't mean squat anymore. Have you seen how those humans used the power? No, have you seen how many humans who wielded the power died? They went insane beyond belief because they couldn't handle it, and what do you know this guy will do same, too. I refuse to acknowledge this kid at all because he'll just ride the coattails of his given title like the others before him." Bova belittled Michael, who was shaking in anger.

"Shut up! What do you know about me anyways, Leatherhead!" Michael's outburst took Bova by surprise, but the dragon didn't back down.

"What? Does the little pipsqueak not want to hear about the failing legacy of the Welsh Dragon anymore?" Bova snickered.

"You can say that. Just like I don't want to hear about your obvious inferiority complex towards gramps your brothers! Grow up, you're sounding like one of those cheesy delinquent characters on one of Koneko-chan's favorite shows! Plus, you're not even doing the delinquent character well at all, why don't you go take notes from an actual good delinquent character like Shirou!?"

Michael smirked as Bova was getting infuriated.

"So, the little guy has some bite behind his bark after all, but are you seriously stepping up to me?" Bova cracked his neck in an intimidating fashion.

"Heh, you really are lumping me with my past seniors. There's no way in hell I will let you run off after belittling my greatness! Now allow me to show you my guts that let me stand apart from Welsh Dragons of the past!" Michael cracked his knuckles.

Both Dragon and Devil were staring each other down as both allowed their auras to flare around them dangerously. Tannin could read their intentions from just looking alone, a fight was about to ensue and these two seemed to be too hard-headed to listen to reason at this point, so he swiftly flew a safe distance away from the mountaintop to spectate their fight.

Getting through to them with words was pointless for Tannin. These types of people only speak through their fists.

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

Releasing a massive gulf of flames in the air, Bova warms himself up as Michael finishes stretching.

"Looks like I'll be the one to put down this era's Red Dragon Emperor! I'll prove to the old man how washed up that old dragon he used to serve really is!"

"Well, then I guess you're losing because I'm going to be much more than them and Ddraig combined! So, let's get it on Daddy's little princess!" Michael laughed.

**[Dragon Booster!]**

_'_ _I may not have my Balance Breaker, but I still have Ascalon and its dragon slayer properties. Plus, I can use my [Magnum] function for a more devastating attack.' Michael clenched his armored fist and assumed his stance._

_'_ _I may have lost some of the brute force of my balance breaker, but I still have Touki, and my Dragon shots and Dragon Break. If I can trick this guy with my small size, and use it to my advantage, then I can actually keep up with him!' Michael grinned._

"All right! Here I go!" Surrounding himself in touki, Michael took the lead and charged at Bova.

**[Boost!]**

_'_ _Focus the Dragon Slayer Aura and sync it with my touki! So, when I get in close range, I'll get him with this hard blow!'_

Michael prepared his attack and was about to close the gap between him and Bova, but…

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

Almost instantly, Bova inhaled a huge amount of air and released a stream of flames that engulfed Michael. His coating of touki took the brunt of the attack, but he still received damage.

"Agh! Son of a bitch!" Michael rolled back and patted the fire off of him, frantically.

"Hahahahaha! Don't tell me that was your best! This fight's going to be in the ba-!"

"Cliché overconfidence opening!  **Dragon Shot!"** Michael fired a beam of energy into Bova's right eye while he was gloating and forced the dragon to scream and grip his bleeding eye in pain.

"Agh! You dirty mother fuc-!"

"Hahahahahahahaha! Don't underestimate me you, second-rate delinquent bastard! I'll kick your ass in front of your daddy and give you a bigger inferiority complex!" Michael laughed, "So prepare yourself as I use my guts to defeat y-!"

"Monologuing in the middle of a battle! Chance!" Bova breathed out a huge ball of flames.

"Gyaaaaaa!" Michael just barely managed to dodge the incoming attack on his own, but was still unprepared and sustained some serious burns, "Damn that stings! You bastard, you can't just do MY thing!"

"Deal with it!"

"That's it no more holding back!"

"Agreed!"

"Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Huraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Both opponents wildly charged at each other with reckless abandon. The only thought that crossed their minds were how to beat the enemy in front of them black and blue. These two dragons were about to engage in a fierce fight that would shake the sturdy Dragon Mountains to the core.

* * *

Following the instructions given to him, Kiba warped from the Gremory Residence's garden to a desolate and corpse ridden battlefield with crows pecking and eating away at the rotting flesh.

Taking a look up into the sky confirmed for him that he was still in the Underworld, but sadly, he didn't know where this place was in Underworld.

The wasteland seemed to be completely devoid of life save for the crows.

It took Kiba a little while to get used to the smell of decomposing corpses and rotting flesh that's been baking in the sun for who knows how long. However, despite the being in a graveyard, he was intrigued by how the many weapons that littered the wasteland. Every sword, ax and lance was stabbed into the ground.

Wandering around aimlessly, Kiba searched for his instructor, "I can't seem to find anyone here, and this place is giving me a bad feeling. Just, where am I?"

"You're training ground for the next month." A voice echoed from above.

Kiba turned around to face Zethyr, the man was sitting on top of a large demonic skeleton imperiously looking down at the [Knight]. It took Kiba a moment to gather his bearings, he couldn't even detect that man's presence, and just being in his presence all of a sudden really overwhelmed him.

Neither him or Zethyr were speaking after the man's sudden reveal as it only served to make the air around them that more tense.

"H-Hello, my name is Kiba Yuuto. Thank you for taking it out of your time to train. I hope that we get along well." Kiba pushed himself to make that introduction, otherwise the awkward silence would continue.

"I already know who you are, we met not too long ago after that meeting with the Three-Factions. So, there's no need for you to introduce yourself to me twice." Zethyr immediately responded to Kiba's introduction with some annoyance in his tone.

"R-Right." At this point, Kiba started to mentally kick himself after remembering that. He was so anxious that he spoke without thinking.

Noticing how nervous the young devil was, Zethyr sighed and hopped off the skull of the giant skeleton to walk ahead of Kiba, "Walk with me."

Breaking out of stupor, Kiba was surprised that his mistake wasn't ridiculed by the man, and quickly followed. The pair were walking straight for the center of the battlefield with Zethyr leading, and Kiba lagging behind him. Although it was his second time properly meeting the man, Kiba still couldn't help but feel honored to be in his presence.

He had heard stories about him from his master, Souji Okita about the Zethyr Lucifer the strongest swordsman in the Underworld. At first, Kiba couldn't believe that his master was the second strongest in the underworld until he was told more tales of Zethyr and his gift of being a true genius. The first being that he was a descendant of the Original Lucifer as a pure-blooded devil and the first within his family line to harness the Holy power the Original had before he lost it when God casted him out of heaven.

By attaining Holy power, he was able to fuse it with his demonic energy or use both powers separately; thus, making him the very first devil in history to ever use holy energy along with demonic powers. This achievement served as a sign of him surpassing the original Lucifer.

Although there was more to his story than that, Kiba didn't quite know much about Zethyr apart from the vague fact that his master told him that Zethyr was once an enemy to the New Maou Faction during the Great Devil Civil War as a ruthless leader, who matched even Sirzechs and Ajuka on the battlefield with his superb swordsmanship.

That is until he was defeated by an unlikely newcomer to the war, Son Kai, the Third Generation Sun Wukong, who kept clashing with Zethyr, interlocking into a consecutive number of ties on both sides of the battle with no clear victor. After that it was all a mystery as to why Zethyr was now with the New Maou faction rather than the Old Maou faction, but dwelling on that only made things complicated for Kiba.

He's already trying to get used to the man's appearance since he looks completely identical to his best friend's arch-rival, Vali. Kiba wanted to ask about their relation to one another, but remembered a painful memory before when Zethyr knocked him out just by mentioning Vali's name, so he kept quiet.

"We're here."

"Huh?"

Snapping himself out of his stupor, Kiba realizes that the barren wasteland they were walking through was covered in a thick black fog. The dark atmosphere sent a shiver up his spine as he saw nothing, but weapons and corpses around them.

"If you don't mind me asking," Kiba paused once he heard a dark moan from deep within the fog, "But where are we exactly?"

"As I said before this your training ground for the next month. We only have a few minutes before  **it** gets here, so show me the fruits of training with that assignment I gave to you." Zethyr turned to face Kiba who was trying to get a grasp of their situation, but the lack of listening to his order annoyed him.

"When I said show me your training results, I meant show it to me  **now."** Zethyr emphasized that while subtly frightening Kiba with an intimidating glare.

"R-Right, sir…" Kiba pulled out the black katana that Zethyr bestowed to him and held it tightly to concentrate his demonic energy into the blade. The pressure around it increased as the edge looked sharper with all of the aura surrounding it.

"…Good." Zethyr leaned in to examine the blade and Kiba with intrigue, "I'm honestly surprised that you managed to figure it out. I was sure that I would have had to tell you how to properly sharpen this blade."

"Thank you." Kiba smiled.

"I wasn't complimenting you. I just stated a fact, you only just realized the true function and purpose of this sword and not the training it was meant for am I correct?" Zethyr said, harshly.

"Y-Yeah." Kiba lowered his head, meekly.

"I've heard stories about you from you last master, Okita. He tells me you're quite skilled with a sword and that you can practically be called an expert swordsman, but that's all going to end starting today because I don't sing praise or relish the fact that you know your way with a sword. In my eyes, you are still a novice."

Zethyr reached his hand out and received the katana back.

_'_ _Does that mean I'll be learning the basics from him?' Kiba gulped._

"But first, let's get rid of this." Crushing the katana with his bare hand, Zethyr made the once powerful blade shatter into pieces. Kiba was shocked and Zethyr could tell by that expression that an explanation was in order,

"I assume you thought that I gave you some ancient sword of legend to train with. Well, that's wrong. That sword was a creation of mine using my demonic powers, and its main function was to release huge amounts of the wielder's demonic energy with each swing." Zethyr patted off any residual dust and said,

"And before you ask how I can make swords from out of thin air like your Sword Birth. First, tell me how you create your demonic swords."

"You mean the process of what's in my mind when I make one?" Kiba asked and received a nod, "Whenever I make a whole group of swords, I think of a variety of elements or designs that each weapon has. If I want a buster sized sword then I create one, or if I want a rapier then I'd be able to create one too. It's an easy process for me to go through."

"So, what you've told me is that Sword Birth helps you create a set number of swords without putting too much thought into the swords that your creating." Zethyr said.

"Well, yes." Kiba began to feel worried.

"So, you basically account for sheer quantity over quality with your swords."

"Huh?"

"With the way you described it, you only have the designs of the blade, the attributes or elements, and sizes accounted for, but they have no quality. Sword Birth basically gives you full reign over these traits, except for quality such as composition, the quality of the sword's material, designating whether you want to dullen the sword's edge, lighten the weight of the sword and other steps to creating a sword." Zethyr went into full detail explaining Kiba's sacred gear flaws.

"Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"Hai."

"You rely on Sword Birth for the basic configuration of your swords. You can imagine and create a weapon you think seems to be effective, but it's not going to last without proper materialization. I use more steps to create a sword in mere seconds and yet the process would be exceedingly long with a total of an hour or more to create a good-quality sword for a normal person. There's also the fact that I pour in just enough demonic energy to increase its powers and any elemental attribute I want."

Zethyr explained as he created a pitch-black claymore with a red-edged blade, the blade was oozing with concentrated demonic energy and fire magic. Kiba's eyes were wide, but he gasped once Zethyr crushed that blade into dust, too.

"Quality beats quantity any day. Which is why many devils don't quite make use of materialization magic to create weapons. The process is too long and quite complicated for the normal mind to comprehend, and that's going to be part of what you'll be learning this month, too."

Zethyr explained.

"Do you really think that I can do something that complicated at the end of a month?" Kiba asked.

"No." Zethyr honestly answered and took Kiba by surprise, "You're going to learn proper sword creation and that will take you years of training to be an expert of it. No, you're getting the gist of this training to figure for yourself later. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if you failed, but it would seem pathetic if my 8-year old daughter can go through half of these steps while you can barely go through the first three."

Kiba nodded, and began to sweat, he could already tell that the training will be extremely difficult.

"Now to warn you about another lesson you must learn yourself, and it involves the training you did before." Zethyr warned Kiba.

"Yes." Kiba nodded.

"That was my warning." Zethyr said, stoically.

"Is that really it?" Kiba sweatdropped.

"I already referred to your past training with that demonic sword I made. If you figured that out then you should figure out what to do next with the other "half"." Zethyr said.

"Other half?" Kiba repeated to himself, but stops any process of thinking once he heard the heavy quakes of the earth beneath him, and the air around him turned

"Ah, here comes your training partner." Zethyr faced forward and watched as the thick black fog slowly let up. It wasn't much at first, but Kiba could easily see something which resembled a pitch-black foot, and it was a very, very bony foot. Trailing his eyes up that very foot, Kiba looked up with his body completely struck with fear.

"What in the-!"

Before his very eyes, Kiba looked upon a 5-meter-tall Skeletal monster with the motif and horns of a devil. The creature was wielding four individual swords in order, yes, the monster had 2 extra appendages to wield two more strange looking swords that gave off an eerie aura. Just looking at the creature froze Kiba like a statue in fear, its malice and very presence was horrifying.

Before Kiba whited out, Zethyr stepped in to explain the monster before them, "This monster is known as the Sword Dancer. It's an ancient creature that has been known to travel throughout the Underworld and Human world for powerful opponents. With every victory and loss, it progresses and evolves its form to compensate for its past losses."

"So, something like this has been around for ages?"

"Yes, the corpses are a clear indicator. Didn't you notice how organized this battlefield was? With the weapons being aligned in a specific order." Zethyr pointed at the rows and rows of deadly tools around them.

"Sword Dancers collect both the corpses and weapons of its defeated enemies as a trophy. Through each battle, it's acquired the techniques needed for each blade it overcame." Zethyr explained.

"So, what your saying is we're basically in this creature's home?" Kiba gulped.

"Exactly."

"And you want me to battle it here for the next month?"

"Is that hesitation I hear?" Zethyr questioned.

"N-No, sir, I was just wondering how to defeat such a veteran of a monster." Kiba wondered to himself.

"You're not supposed to defeat him. Just focus on surviving." Zethyr shook his head, "This monster is too advanced for someone like you to just "defeat" for this creature to be successfully killed you need to best it in combat 3 consecutive times. If you can't fulfill that task, then you either die or run and fight another day. You should know which option you should take if you had enough."

"R-Right."

"Now if you'll excuse me." Zethyr prepares a magic circle for himself.

"What, you're not going to stay and observe?" Kiba had expected to be taught more from the man, together. Seeing him leave so suddenly was unsettling.

"I did promise to train you, but I'm training you the way I see is exceptional. I'm not going to be holding your hand the entire time, you get your own results while I study your Balance Breaker's abnormality to control a holy element. That was my main goal the entire time, whatever you learn yourself is your own business, not mine. I'll be back halfway through the month to see the fruits of your training." Zethyr gave Kiba the cold shoulder without the least hint of sympathy, "There's a forest nearby this site, so if your ever in need of food and a less corpse filled place to sleep in then there it is."

"Ngh…!"

Kiba could feel his hands trembling in fear, but resolved himself to try and muster up the courage he had to deal with the challenge placed in front of him, he thought,  _'I can't let the others get ahead of me. Especially, Michael-kun, he'll surely give me an earful if I was the only one who came back without results!'_

Readying himself, in his stance, Kiba creates a holy-demonic sword and prepares to pounce on the monster, but hesitated once his trainer decided to give him some parting words.

"Don't feel too discouraged if you're forced to retreat. At your age, I tried to face this creature myself and while I was victorious with each progressing fight, I still had to force myself to refrain from challenging that monster. It's evolution and growth with swordsmanship was getting quite closer to my level back then. So, take caution whenever you feel your back is against the wall."

Although Zethyr was showing a moment of kindness, Kiba was too caught up thinking of another thing he mentioned.

_'_ _This is bad, extremely bad! So, this thing even faced a young Zethyr-sama in the past and still survived? This means that he evolved with the knowledge that Zethyr-sama had in the past as well. Forget trying to survive, how will I even put up a fight with this thing?' Kiba was sweating in fear, but kept hold of his blade._

"Don't disappoint me, and try not to die." With that direct goodbye stated, Zethyr immediately leaves Kiba with the towering being that was blindly stalking through the fog filled battlefield. Now left alone with the malicious monster, Kiba could only hear its deafening moans and heavy steps.

Taking a few staggering steps forward, Kiba initially caught the Sword Dancer's attention as its entire head snaps back to look him dead in the eye.

The creature's ominous red eyes seemed to have peered through Kiba's soul with just a single glance. Neither of them made a move, they just continued staring at each other for a prolonged period of time before Kiba accidentally taps a finger on the handle of his blade and unintentionally beckons at the Sword Dancer.

***KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!***

Reacting in turn, the sword dancer released an ear-piercing shriek before charging straight for Kiba. The monster's arms released the blade that it was currently equipped with and extended its four arms to grab 4 new ones that were scattered about in the field.

As the creatures lessened the distance between them, Kiba fully comprehended the situation he was in. Starting now, he wasn't going to fight against just some monster, but match blades with a professional infamous swordsman!

* * *

**Next Chapter- The days of arduous training has begun! Hold on, you want me to take *you* as my vassal! (Part 2)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! I hoped that you all enjoyed the chapter! Now that we've finished establishing training for the two powerhouses of the Gremory peerage lets focus in on the rest in the next chapter!
> 
> So, did anyone get the Tales of series reference with the Sword Dancer? If you did then you are AWESOME! Pat yourselves on the back, and for those who were surprised about Bova making an appearance you can already guess what's about to happen based on the chapter's title alone, but that conclusion is for Part 2!
> 
> I hope you guys have a wonderful day, and stay safe! I'm Out so Peace Out and have a great day!


	53. The days of arduous training has begun! Hold on, you want me to take *you* as my vassal! (Part 2)

**The days of arduous training has begun! Hold on, you want me to take *you* as my vassal! (Part 2)**

* * *

"…" Standing in front of the large doors leading into the Gremory Residence's library, was a pale Rias who began sweating in fear and anxiety. What lies beyond this door meant everything that Rias ever feared to face, and it isn't helping much since Azazel was egging her on to open it.

"You know that staring at the door won't prolong the inevitable. You'll have to get this over with eventually." Azazel said with a knowing smile.

"Don't rush me! Can't you see that I'm mentally preparing myself?" Rias shouted at the Governor-General, who simply shrugged in response.

"The moment that I open this door…I won't be able to escape the true hell that lies in wait for me." Rias fearfully muttered to herself.

"Oi, you're really taking this seriously, aren't you?"

"Of course, I am! You have no idea what it's like at all to be put through this. I refrained myself from screaming after being assigned this trainer for this month. Do you have any clue about the suffering I'll be put through?" Rias for what looked to be the first time broke her usual calm composure.

"Nope, but if you want to you can skip this training and just let your servants do the hard work. I'm not one to stop you." Azazel raised an eyebrow.

"Never, I don't want them to see me as a fragile King, who can't even defend herself. I'll grow alongside with them to better improve myself." Rias remembers the events with the past fight against Natsuru and quietly says, "I won't let myself be deadweight anymore."

"Wow, you look resolved. So, I guess you are ready to handle your training now." Azazel approached the and raised his hand.

"W-Wait, give me a few seconds to prepa-!"

"Too late!"

***WHAAAM!* *THUD!* *THUD!***

With a single kick, Azazel knocked both doors off of their hinges.

"I'll let you two handle things. I'm off to supervise Asia and Gasper's training." Azazel runs off and leaves a surprised Rias to be face to face with her mentor.

"Ah, it appears that you've arrived, and on time at that. Welcome, Rias." Bowing her head, Rias' sister-in law, Grayfia nicely presents herself to Rias. This wasn't the usual Grayfia the maid, that has been working faithfully for the Gremory household, but instead the real Grayfia who was no longer restrained by her maidly duties.

She changed her appearance to clothes befitting such a regal person like her, she wore her hair up into a braided ponytail. This change in style emphasized her strict look as she lightly tapped her pointer stick on the seat in front of her.

"Now shall we begin our briefings on your training over the following month." Grayfia said.

Sighing in defeat, Rias did as her sister said and sat with her. She was aware that this would happen once she heard that her teacher was Grayfia. The powerful woman immediately took the role once asked by Azazel for help, she was always a stickler for following her duties, so her vacation hours piled up and allowed her to use the current month to take a break.

Looking over a chart of Rias' stats, Grayfia read, "Let's see, it appears to me that you're set magic wise, but you lack enough hand-to-hand combat to protect yourself. So, we'll be going over basic self-defense these first couple of days to get you through the motions."

Rias nodded.

"But first let's track back to your magic artes and discuss an issue you have. You rely too much on your ability to use the power of destruction, and if used too much your foes will read your attacks without difficulty, so we'll be working on teaching you more technical ways on using that ability with other elements."

Rias nodded again while remaining silent.

"After that we'll work on your battle tactics to produce much better judgement during a Rating Game. Your efforts against Riser's peerage was impressive, but still held too many flaws when dealing with a malfunction with a plan. Such as a contingency plan should Riser's queen overpower your own, or reckless loss of your rook after dealing with a handful of Riser's servants. The list goes on while the unorganized mistakes keep piling on." Grayfia harshly bombarded Rias with a long scolding to which Rias sadly had to sit through,

"These mistakes won't be tolerated once you grow older, so do everything in your power to correct them understand?"

"Yes." Rias meekly bowed her head.

"Raise your head, Rias." Grayfia said gently and smiled at Rias with her Big Sister smile, "All I wish is to see you progress and be better than "you" you are now, okay?"

That comforting smile was all that Rias needed as she joyfully nodded,

"Okay, I'll try my best, Onee-sama!"

"Try?" Grayfia's eyes dangerously gleamed as she savagely smacked the teacher pointer on Rias' wrist.

"Kyaa! O-Onee-sama?" Rias frighteningly gripped her throbbing hand and looked upon Grayfia's towering shadowed out figure menacingly tapping the pointer in her hand.

"There will be no trying! You will do your best whether you like it or not, Rias! Am I making myself clear?" Grayfia's face was more hardened than before.

"H-Hai! I promise to do my absolute best, Onee-sama! I do! I really do!" Rias pleaded to Grayfia.

"Good, good…but from now on…" An unsettling smile crept its way onto Grayfia's menacing yet beautiful face, "Call me, Sensei."

* * *

***BOOOOOM!* *CRASH!* *THUD!* *CRASH!* CRASH!* *THUD!***

A series of explosions and falling trees came from the thick forests surrounding the Gremory territory. Whole sets of ki blasts were rapidly firing at two targets effortlessly evading them. Getting out into a much spaced out portion of the forest was Koneko in her nekomata form and she was furiously attacking the two shadows that were evading her attacks.

"Hyaaa!" Firing one large blast of Ki, Koneko separates the two figures. With one jumping into the trees for a much higher vantage point while the other side steps from the blast and momentarily lands on the ground.

_'_ _There!' Koneko places her hands on the ground and uses her senjutsu to manipulate the roots underneath the figure to latch onto their legs and lock them in place._

"Uh-oh, this looks like trouble!" The trapped lady figure gasped.

Koneko used this chance to charge in with her Ki clad fist.

"Pscyhe, nyan-nyan~!" The figure used their claws to cut through the vines and jump over Koneko, who struggled to stop her movement to turn around.

***DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!* *DON!***

"…!"

This lack of movement left an opening for her opponent up in the trees, who made it rain Ki blasts upon her body. The damage inflicted was powerful, but not too damaging that she couldn't jump away from the worse of it to catch her breath. Her wounds weren't enough to really cripple her because of her Rook traits, but they still did knock the wind out of her.

"You know instead of attacking me from out of the blue, you could listen to my reason for being here." Emerging from the shadows, Natsuru steadily walks on the tree branch before sitting on it.

"To be fair, Natsuru-sama, I think it's a normal reaction considering what happened last time. Not to mention you are pretty scary~!" Emerging from the shadows next was a lithe and toned woman with tanned skin, long golden-orange hair and green eyes. She would have seemed to be just an ordinary human woman if it not for her orange cat ears, dark cat tail and long sharp claws. Her clothes seemed rather conservative as she wore a loose, long sleeved cardigan that revealed her black bra strap, blue jeans and brown boots.

"Anzu…" Natsuru reprimanded the tiger chimera. After the events that happened a month ago, Anzu was taken in by the Grigori to lessen the extreme modifications that her former "master" did to her and make her appear more human. Sadly, a few of the mods were permanent still having her keep some of her feline traits. Being the only survivor of that incident, who shows her loyalty to Natsuru, she's been tasked with being Makoto and Kiyome's bodyguards during her absence.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry~!" Anzu playfully apologized and stroked her hair.

Natsuru did her best to ignore Koneko's glare and only sighed. Things escalated quicker than she had imagined once she introduced herself, or rather revealed her presence to the Rook openly. Without any hesitation, Koneko attacked the both of them, relentlessly using her senjutsu and superhuman strength to take them down.

Self-defense was their only means to reciprocate the young girl's attacks. It was only a matter of time before she exhausted herself just enough to listen to what they had to say.

"Looking at me like that won't change a thing, Koneko-chan."

Natsuru noticed the girl's face furrowing after being called that, but ignored it,

"Your little sudden assault holds no threat against us. You should already know of my upcoming as a Kitsune and Nekomata hybrid. I share half of the same blood as you, but that ends there. I hold far more experience with my Sage Arts and incorporate enough of my youkai instincts to give me an edge. While you just started to embrace your instincts again with using sage arts, too. So, your moves are too base and predictable to read, so in a simple way of speaking, your rusty." Natsuru tiredly scratched her cheek.

"Is she right?" Anzu commented and looked to Koneko.

Trying to save some face, Koneko begrudgingly looked away while clicking her tongue.

"Ping-Pong! She was! She was! Natsuru-sama, you've won the game, nya!" Anzu jovially clapped her hands.

_'_ _So, this is what Azazel-sensei planned for me all along.' Koneko drew the blanks and figured out how the section of training under "Sage Arts Practice" came to play. She would have expected Kai to teach her since he was her former guardian, and well versed in the art, but never would have expected Natsuru at the slightest._

"Now before you get angry at me for calling out your shabby way of fighting, I'll explain why I'm here to train you. It's not because I volunteered, or thought of it as a way to kill time. I was ordered by Azazel to train you in the arts of our race. You're obviously a beginner when it comes to properly using senjutsu in battle, so he decided to have me teach you." Natsuru kicks her legs freely on the tree branch,

"So first on our agenda is meditation, you have to learn how to stay completely motionless while absorbing the natural energy in your surroundings. This is key to getting a good grasp into mixing that energy with your own Ki or in a special case since you're a devil, demonic energy."

Gesturing to Anzu, Natsuru said, "Next we'll have you be incorporating senjutsu into real life combat. Of course, I won't be facing you Anzu will."

"Hello, little kitten, nya~!" Anzu playfully waved.

"She's quick, flexible and clever. You'll be up against an opponent you can't normally catch up with. You're still quick even though you're a rook, I'll give you that, but this sparring will help you learn various ways with dispatching an opponent." Natsuru jumps off the branch and lands, "Now with all of that exposition out of the way, do you understand the regimen now?"

"I only understand one thing." Koneko said lowly with disdain.

"Hm?"

"That you're still the same person who harmed and tried to kill Rias-buchou. You even kidnapped Michael-senpai for whatever plans you had. I can never acknowledge you as my teacher after all of the things you've done." Koneko voiced her dislike for the older woman with some venom in her usual quiet voice.

Inhaling sharply, Anzu said, "Looks like this is going to be a rough job for you after all, Natsuru-sama."

Natsuru sent Anzu an annoyed glance before sighing and giving Koneko a serious look, "You're right about me. I did try to kill your master, and take your precious senior away from your group. Not to mention all of the other heinous things I've done to you lot, I won't deny it. But, I won't deny that I don't regret the things I've done either, I needed to do those filthy tasks to achieve my plans and I took them. To be honest, if I was given the chance I would do it all again to make sure my errors would never have happened."

This earned a deep scowl from Koneko.

"Don't completely judge me yet, I have more to say. I may not have regret those things, but I do regret getting Kiyo-chan and Makoto-chan involved. Now that they know about the things I did, they'll only worry and try to involve themselves like before, and if I act out now then my actions won't just give me consequences but also the family who took us in and raised us would get major scrutiny from the alliance."

Natsuru noticed Koneko still glaring at her, and pinched her temples, "So you don't have to worry about me converting you or secretly planning to kill you, I just want to go through with my orders and properly teach you proper senjutsu, okay?"

It was a lot of information for Koneko to digest, and that didn't really make her sympathize with Natsuru than intended, but she at least understood her predicament, and gave her answer,

"I still don't want you to teach me." Koneko replied harshly and turned her back to them.

"Ouch. Even after all of that, she still doesn't want you as an instructor, Natsuru-sama." Anzu teased.

"Quiet, Anzu…" Natsuru sighed, and began to think carefully. All things considered she wanted to at least teach the girl and bring out any latent potential within her even if this job was forced upon her. She can't describe it, but she feels a little kinship with Koneko and wants someone of her race to excel. So, coming across an idea, Natsuru playfully rubbed her chin and said,

"I understand that you don't want me as your teacher, Kone-chan, but… You have no other options at the moment. I'm stuck with you and your stuck with me, but I won't stop you from leaving besides I guess you already have a training plan for you powers that you barely used up until now, right? Because I was sure that Azazel didn't plan for anything else but this." Natsuru wore a cheshire cat smile once she saw Koneko's cat ears twitch,

"Not to mention, it'd be a real shame if Michael-kun caught wind that you weren't able to do your training."

"…!" Koneko's entire body from her ears to her tail tensed up.

"When he comes back, he'll surely be disappointed that you didn't improve yourself at all. Imagine the look of disappointment on his face, the shame that you'll go through for not advancing like everyone else. Not to mention all of the praise going to his other kouhai, Gasper, the crybaby. Boy, wouldn't it be a blast to see him receive all of Michael-kun's head patting and attent-?"

Natsuru's remark really hit home because Koneko snapped and literally punched a tree in half. As the tree falls, she turns around and angrily confronts Natsuru with narrowed eyes. The act of submitting to her ploy really forced her to cast aside her own feelings.

"Fine. Then teach me." Koneko said, aggressively.

"I'm so glad that you see things my way. Now we can begin." Natsuru mischievously smiled as Anzu and Koneko prepared themselves to spar.

* * *

***WHOOOOOOOOOSH~!***

The harsh gale of winds surrounds the cloudy mountain tops of the Underworld as Akeno and a gruff looking middle-aged man were confronting each, unaffected by the fierce winds. The air around them was tense and it wasn't because of the mountain's altitude, Akeno was silently glaring daggers at the older man for quite some time when he arrived.

It was obvious that there's some deep-rooted disdain for the man in front of her, but the man himself looked quite passive and serious as he faced the young woman.

Finally breaking the silence, Akeno asks, "Why are you here?"

"It's been a while, Ake-." The man said.

"Do not speak to me so casually." Akeno coldly said, "Now answer my question. Why out of all people, are you here?"

"I am under direct order from the Governor-General to train someone to use their power as a proper fallen angel. He requested that I teach them how to incorporate their light magic with thunder to produce holy lightning." The man explained with his rough, yet calming voice.

"…" Foreseeing something like this happening, unfortunately, Akeno took a deep breath and tried to relieve herself of any lingering contempt for the man.

"I found that order to be befuddling considering the circumstances of using Holy Lightning, but things started to make sense once I was told that I would train my own daughter." The man sighed, but got sharply interrupted by Akeno.

"Do not refer to me as your daughter!" Akeno snapped at the man before he could continue.

"Akeno, I…" The man tried to speak, but Akeno wouldn't allow him to when within her presence.

"Let's get this over with already. There won't be any need for you to hold back." Using magic to transform her jersey into her Miko outfit, Akeno's demeanor became completely serious. This training doesn't need any unnecessary chatter, to her, she just needs to complete it and be done with it just like ripping off a band-aid.

"Do you understand the meaning of these clothes? These represent everything that I stand for and stand against." Akeno glared at the man,

"I have no father, so let's get this training of yours over with, Barakiel."

* * *

***CRAAAAAAAASH!***

"Again!"

"Huraaaaa!"

***CRAAAAAAAASH!***

"Again!"

"Hyaaaaaa!"

***CRAAAASH!***

"Do not falter! Concentrate! Should your limbs fall apart, then use your will to push yourself past your limits!"

"Hai, Master Okita!" Xenovia roared as she took one more major sword swing with Durandal, releasing another wave of holy energy across the training ground. These training grounds resided under the Gremory Residence as it was one of a few that resided underground.

Xenovia was tasked with training under Kiba's old sword master, Souji Okita, a well-known man in history for being the captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi police force during the shogunate period in Kyoto. The man was famous for mastering the Tennen Rishin-Ryu technique at the age of 18. His skills even convinced Sirzechs Lucifer to take him in as his own [Knight].

Once Xenovia had heard that this man would be her instructor, she was elated at prospect of gaining more strength along with learning more powerful abilities from him. However, her expectations were subverted from this when he instructed her to focus practicing on techniques to help her better wield Durandal.

So, she was tasked with doing 500 sword swings with Durandal in a continuous set, and should she falter even a little, she wouldn't progress onto the other training exercises that Souji had laid out for her. Keeping an eye on her, Souji was watching her like a hawk to push her through the exercise and correct her posturing for each swing that seems lighter than the last.

"Doryaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

***CRAAAAAAAAAAASH!***

With one mighty swing, Xenovia unleashed a bigger blast of holy energy than the last few swings, effectively tiring her out even more.

"Xenovia!"

"Y-Yes?" Xenovia yelped as Souji approached her.

"You wasted too much stamina with that swing. Be consistent and try not to release so much power. In a battle of attrition, you need to know what's enough force needed in a swing of your blade. Durandal is a powerful weapon, so you shouldn't put too much force into swinging all of the time."

"Yes, sir!" Xenovia panted and tried to keep her grip on Durandal steady, but the fatigue that she faced was extreme. She wasn't even at the 50 mark yet. Using Durandal as the sword for the exercise was taxing enough since it was a difficult blade to control. It would constantly release wave after wave of holy energy sometimes whenever Xenovia doesn't intend to.

"Huaaaaaaaaaaa!" Xenovia takes another swing of her blade and fires more holy energy that was starting to gain more consistency with its output.

_'_ _As expected of Durandal it truly is a wild child. It's offensive aura says it all. Up to this point Xenovia has probably used it's power alone with relying on skill. However, she's as much of a wild child as that blade, she keeps trying to force it into control without finding perfect balance with the blade.' Souji rubbed his chin and watched her strong-willed expression,_

_'_ _Her strong perseverance is enough for now, but I wish to enter more crucial training with a technique that will benefit her fighting style with the blade. Yuuto did warn me about her tendencies to forgo proper technique for raw power, so making up for that will sharpen one of her major flaws in combat.'_

***CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!***

"Xenovia!"

Souji witnessed a massive arc of holy energy destroying more than half of the training ground.

"S-Sorry, sensei…"

* * *

In the underworld's main Grigori facility, stood a terrified Raynare dressed up in her jersey's sweatpants and purple tank top. Inside of the facility, she was tasked with meeting her instructor right after she was dragged away from the Gremory group. She was feeling down about not going with Michael for his training, but was somewhat happy to be with her friends, Mittelt and Kalawarner again.

Being back at Grigori felt strange to her because she honestly thought that she wouldn't return back here again, so she felt a little suspicious about why she was even brought back in the first place until she was told to wait in one of the advanced training facilities in the building.

Everything seemed to be going well until she came face to face with her trainer.

"Good, you're here already. Now we can begin." Raymond entered the facility wearing comfortable workout garments.

This development came out of nowhere and smacked her straight across the face. Raymond was the last person that she wanted to see, but she can't help but kick herself for not seeing something like this coming.

There was a deep silence which filled the room as the two faced each other.

Catching sight of Raynare's fearful behavior, Raymond sighed, "Relax, I know this may have come as surprise for you, but the only purpose I serve here is to train you because of the Governor-General's orders. Are we clear?"

Raynare only gave a nod, not even speaking with Raymond.

This caused him to sigh, and go on with his explanation, "The reason that we're both here is obvious."

Raymond creates a hellish red flamed orb on the tip of his finger which frightened Raynare.

"You are to conjure up your own set of Nightmare Flames. We share the abilities, so you should be able to do this with no hindrances." Raymond said.

"M-My own Nightmare flames?" Raynare trembled.

"Nightmare flames are an extension of negative energy that fuses with fire magic. By fusing these two together, you create red flames with the ability to force out the mental trauma of any enemy it touches." Raymond watches as Raynare steadily steps back in a little fear.

_'_ _Right…you know that part already out of experience.' Raymond inwardly kicked himself for forgetting that and went on explaining._

"These Nightmare flames can be potent and may keep an enemy in an eternal nightmare loop until you deem it enough. The flames themselves are 10 times as powerful as regular fire magic, and since we're Fallen Angels, fire is just as akin to our light spears as thunder, so…"

***SNAP!***

***ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!* *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

Snapping his fingers, Raymond activated the facility's projection mode to create a massive boulder before chucking a light spear covered in nightmarish flames at it which instantly decimates the boulder into ashes. Astounded, Raynare was speechless at the display of sheer power as she turned back to Raymond.

"We get a more destructive response with our power." Raymond rolls out wrist, "Out of everyone in the Grigori, we are the only two with the capabilities to use this power. The only one before us, who could was the infamous devil, Iblis."

"A-A devil, but then how are we even able to use the power of a devil in the first place." Raynare questioned, and received a weird glance from Raymond before he returned to his usual stoic look.

"I might tell you one day when you finally choose to stop avoiding me." Raymond answered.

"…" Avoiding eye contact, Raynare realized that she actually broke her silence and engaged him in conversation.

"But first…come at me." Raymond cracked his fingers one by one as he glared at Raynare.

"W-What?" Raynare noticed the dark aura of flames exuding from him.

"To bring it out of you. I'm going to have to face you in combat, and then from there I'll show you how to use it." Raymond said.

"B-B-But…there's no way that I can face someone like you. I'd be too frightened to even raise a fist…" Raynare shied out as she sweatdropped.

_'…_ _Fine…I guess I'll have to play the bad guy.' Raymond coughed._

"I understand, if you don't want to train, then I'll just let you go, but not without an ultimatum." Raymond's eyes looked lifeless and cruel, "I heard that Michael Hanamura was staying at the Dragon Mountains, correct? So after you leave, I'll use my free time to place him into a permanent nightmare with you as the cause."

"…! No, y-you wouldn't!?" Raynare panicked.

"Some skeletons aren't so easy to hide in a closet. I wonder what terror I should put him through? Ah, right... Maybe I should use you, yes, just think about it, he'll be in an eternal nightmare where you'll be the one killing in an infinite loop. Yes, that'll work, so what will it be, Rayna-?"

***ZIIIIIIIING!***

Zooming past Raymond's face and grazing his cheek was a light spear thrown by Raynare. Her demeanor was less frightful and more abrasive as she narrowed her eyes at Raymond in pure rage.

"You son of a bitch! Like I'd ever let you do that…" Raynare's voice was oozing complete and total vexation.

_'_ _I guess her concern for that young man trumps her fear of me.' Raymond wiped off the blood on his cheek._

"What's wrong, Raynare? You can't handle going through the guilt of making someone that you care about suffer even more?" Raymond goaded her one last time as he finally made her break out into an uncontrollable rage.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Unfurling her dark wings, Raynare charges at Raymond with her light spears in hand as Raymond prepares himself to defensively take on the attacks.

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

It was a fierce flurry of light spear against light spear, both siblings clashed their blades without holding back. Raynare was too lost in her rage to see that she was getting each hit parried as Raymond kept his cool and continued to knock away each hit before finally slamming the heel of his foot into her stomach, which knocked her halfway across the facility.

"Kuh! Ack! *COUGH!* ha….ha…!" Raynare held her pained stomach and coughed up a mouthful of blood. The pain was too much for her to bear as she kept kneeling down nursing her bruised abdomen.

"Is that all? I might as well just leave you here to whine about your bruised stomach and go straight to Michael." Raymond mocked.

"Tch…!" Forcing herself to stand, Raynare tenses her wings and flies to the air to get an aerial advantage over him as she comes falling down towards him.

"Good." Raymond simply raised his hands and encircles himself in a ring of flames before raising his palm at Raynare to releases a powerful blast of fire. It may have been a cruel tactic to rile her up like this, but it was the only way to get her to improve.

* * *

"I-I-I-I…!" Saji's face brightened as he giddily smiled like a fan boy.

"Errgh…" Jirou's expression was of discomfort as the young man gazed at him.

This has been going on for over 5 minutes since Jirou's arrival in the outer parts of the Sitri territory. The two resided in a beautiful lush marshland with crystal clear pools and the glorious mountains around them. The place was given to them as a training ground by the Sitri Head so damage near the residence would be to a minimum.

Hours before, Saji was stunned to hear that he would get his own personal instructor during his peerage's meeting. However, any doubts of him getting any old trainer were doused when he actually met with an actual celebrity. Jirou Fujimura, the Nine-tailed Fox-King of Kyoto, one of the smartest people in the world!

Next to the other geniuses like Ajuka and Falbium, Saji placed Jirou as one of his own personal top 3 favorite idols. So, the amount of excitement rushing through him was insurmountable as no words could come out of his mouth.

"So, are you Saji Genshirou?" Jirou asked, but received no response save for a couple of "I-I-I-I's".

"I'll take that as a yes. Saji Genshirou, for this next month I'll be your teacher for reasons that will forever stay unknown." Jirou said, bitterly as Kai's annoying laughter echoed through his head,

"I was told that you were a hard worker and quite an intelligent young man. Now I can understand why you were forc-I mean given to me to supervise. I heard that you fought off one member of the Khaos Brigade with only one-fourth of your sacred gear until help arrived. The enemy was told to have had a power spirit assisting them, so the amount of courage needed to face them and strategize a plan is quite impressive." Jirou pulled out a clipboard, "Before I begin my briefing on future schedule do you have any questions to ask?"

_'_ _Come on, Saji say something! Say anything to not look like a complete and utter dingus!' Saji's mind raced as he said the first thing that came to his mind._

"CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH!" Saji blurted and knelt down with his head touching the ground.

… … …

"Sure…maybe when I'm done talking about your training." Jirou said with a deadpanned expression.

_'_ _Dammit! Now he probably thinks I'm some sad fanboy of his!' Saji gritted his teeth in embarrassment._

_'_ _Great…another fanboy…I'd be flattered if that wasn't every stranger's reaction.' Jirou sighed, 'Why'd I get myself talked into doing this?'_

_Jirou remembered Kai's favor after their meet-up last time:_

_-'Now listen up, Foxey! I want you to do me a favor, and it's going to be easy for someone as smart as you. I ask of you to train my little sister-in law's Pawn, Saji Genshirou, he's a very bright boy with a good head on his shoulders. He has the critical thinking skills of a champ with as much willpower to back him up, but he lacks something important which makes him falter. Self-confidence. No, he's not a complete wimp, he just doubts himself too much based on how he compares himself to his more successful peers. Now normally I'd take a crack at training him myself, but I'd figure you can balance him out because…I get the feeling that you two share more in common than you'll think. Good luck, oh, and by the by…I made sure to send Yasaka that message about Walburga. You're welcome~!-_

_'_ _That bastard…do you realize how much I suffered because of you?' Jirou cried tears of agony, he couldn't even return home to see his beloved daughter because his wife kicked him out. So, this favor was the only choice he had to do until things cooled off back at home, 'And what the hell did you mean by having something in common? I don't under…wait, could he be talking about?'_

Jirou gasped in surprise as an idea came to him.

_'_ _His master…she has a…but her other part makes up for it, and didn't also mention about this boy holding feelings for her? Which means he really is_ _**like** _ _me.' Jirou's hands trembled, 'But no…I can't be too sure. I have to check.'_

"*COUGH!* Ass! *COUGH!*" Jirou coughed.

"Huh?" Saji pitifully looked up.

"*COUGH!* *COUGH!* Ass! *COUGH!* *COUGH!* Ass!" Jirou coughed.

"Wha…?" Saji was confused as Jirou kept on coughing.

_'_ _Every man who's dedicated his life to their love must choose either side that drives their passion! Young Saji, I have analyzed your feeling for Young Sona-san, so prove to me that you are a fellow_ _**brother!'** _ _Jirou kept on coughing and uttering the word "ass"._

_'_ _Wait, is he? Calling me an ass? Oh, maou…I blew it didn't I? Now he thinks I'm a complete dumbass! Damn! Is my life really going the down hill!?' Saji gripped his head in shame and cried._

"*COUGH!* *COUGH!* Ass! *COUGH!* *COUGH!* Ass *COUGH!* *COUGH!* Ass! *COUGH!* *COUGH!* Ass!" Jirou continued to cough.

_'_ _Come on say it, young man! Don't be ashamed of your true feelings!' Jirou passionately clenched his fist._

_'_ _Please stop it! I can't take this anymore! I just wanna die! Just kill me with your fox flames! Just do it!' Saji misunderstood the whole situation and continued crying to himself before uttering something to himself._

"*COUGH!* *COUGH!* Ass! *COUGH!* *COUGH!* Ass! *COUGH!* *COUGH!* Ass! *COUGH!* *COUGH!* Ass! *COUGH!* *COUGH!* Ass! *COUGH!* *COUGH!* Ass!" Jirou continuously coughed.

"Is my life…" Saji moaned to himself in distraught as he didn't completely voice out his sentence.

"…!" Jirou dropped his clipboard.

_'_ _This young man…he's that serious about his ass fetish? Ass is my life? That level of self-understanding took me years to admit to, but this young man openly agreed to it without hesitation! A child of such young age admitting to his desires…impossible…could he be the chosen one? The one to lead us Ass-men who have been hiding in shame into the light by openly admitting our love for the beautiful ass of a women? Yes! That must be it! Faith has brought us together, but the chosen one looks…'_

_Jirou looked at Saji's squirming hunched over body,_

_'_ _Unsure of himself? No, he's still too inexperienced to deal with the pressure, but he has so much potential, his love for his master is true, and her well-developed ass is a powerful sign that proves his love for it her out of this world. Which is why I'm here to teach him and make him carry the burden of us men, who have been discriminated against by those distasteful Breast faction peons! I will create a new uprising with this young man as the chosen one! I will do whatever it takes to help him reach that level no matter the cost!'_

Jirou crouches down next to Saji and clasps his hand on his shoulder, "Saji Genshirou."

"H-Huh?" Saji was a mess of tears as he looked up to see a smiling Jirou giving him a thumbs up.

"It's okay. I'll do my best to be a suitable master for you. Failure isn't in my dictionary." Jirou said in a comforting tone.

"J-Jirou-sama…?" Saji didn't understand what was going on, but was relieved that Jirou somewhat understood his problems even if he didn't completely understand them.

"No from now on call me your Master." Jirou shook his head.

"M-Master?" Saji repeated.

"Yes, Master." Jirou nodded.

It was at this moment everything changed for the world that was to eventually come.

* * *

"*GASP!*" Matsuda looked out into the distance.

"What is it, Matsuda? What happened?" Motohama looked to his Breast Brother in arms with concern.

"…I sense a disturbance in the force…a war…a war like nothing our forefathers have ever seen." Matsuda touched his head, dramatically.

"What do you mean?" Motohama asked.

"It's beginning, Matsuda. The Beginning of the End, the final battle to decide which is the better body part for the female body!" Matsuda stood up.

"You don't mean?" Motohama gasped.

"YES! The Summit War between the Breast Faction and the Ass Faction has been predetermined!" Matsuda shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Lifeguard there are boys in the changing room!" Girls changing into their bikinis screamed at the top of their lungs as the two young men get chased out by a large muscular man.

"Fuck! Run, Motohama, we must warn our brethren!" Matsuda screamed.

"Right!" Motohama nodded.

"You two shits get back here this instant!" The lifeguard screamed at the top of his lungs, "Don't think you can get away! I've already dealt with two punk ass kids, who took me by surprise, but I won't let neither of you escape!"

"Hey wait a minute! He's that guy who Michael and Saji met after breaking into his home? Remember that one time…?" Matsuda asked.

Motohama and Matsuda were told that story during one of Michael's gloats about how great he was.

_**[Go back to Chapter 25 to see this flashback!]** _

"Yeah, I remember now. Didn't he kick you right in the balls? Hahahaha! It was true, wasn't it?" Motohama laughed.

"You know those two shits!? That's it after I get my hands on you, you're telling me where they are!?" The lifeguard shouted.

"We may be assholes and spread rumors about them behind their back, but we're not so evil as to spill the beans about where they live, idiot!" Motohama mocked the lifeguard.

"You'll never catch us, sucker!" Matsuda laughed.

"GET BACK HERE!" And so, another hectic day at the beach ensued for the Perverted Duo.

* * *

"Now Saji, lets review your training to better your growth in the frontlines!" Jirou encouraged the boy up onto his feet.

"Hai, Master!" Saji excitedly nodded.

"You're already this peppy. Nice, you'll be needing that enthusiasm for what I have planned for you." Jirou pulls up his clipboard and starts to read out what's written,

"Saji Genshirou, based on the stats that your master, Sona Sitri gave me, I was able to deduce your strengths and your weaknesses. However, your weaknesses outweigh your strength by a milestone."

Jirou's words really cut deep as Saji slightly frowned.

"You're intelligent, and quite tactile for someone of your age, and like I said before your quite brave and a quick thinker. These pros would work for just about anyone since you can defeat most opponents with your wits rather than your fists." Jirou said.

"Really? So, I'm powerful if I just use my mind?" Saji asked.

"No that's far from it."

"Huh? Saji curiously looked at Jirou, who started tapping the clipboard.

"Now getting into your weaknesses, you're a complete pushover in close combat or actually any physical fight in general. In order for you to fully extend the capabilities of your mind, then you should have some higher form of strength." Jirou said, "I could tell that you wanted me to teach you proper battle tactics and how to better apply those strategies in a Rating Game, but your training these first 15 days will revolve around gaining raw power and combat experience against an unpredictable opponent. Luckily for you, I just so happen to have chosen a good sparring partner for you."

"A partner? So, who is he?" Saji asked.

***Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine~!***

"Would you look at that, he's finally arrived." Jirou happily smiled.

"…!" Saji's eyes popped wide open once he saw Shirou emerge from the magic circle with a big old smirk on his face, "No..."

"Surprise!" Shirou laughed.

"Him!? Shirou's going to be my sparring partner?" Saji asked.

"Yeesh, and I thought that you were the smart one compared to that dumbass Michael! But yeah, what the hell did you think I was laughing for when we met at the young devil meeting, or during that question corner?" Shirou glared at Saji.

"Uh…that last part isn't really canon…"

"Shut the fuck up, Saji! Now it's about time that I kick your ass and make you my bitch for the whole of my summer break! That's right! Officially starting today, you're my bitch! I'm going to shove my foot way up your ass, you'll taste i-!" Before Shirou could intimidate the shivering Saji any further, he was interrupted by Jirou hugging from out of the blue.

"Oh, Shirou! It's me, your uncle~!" Jirou started coddling Shirou with familial affection much to the teen's disapproval.

"Oji-chan…" Shirou grunted and tried to escape the old-fashioned bear hug.

"Uncle!?" Saji gasped as he staggered back.

"Yep, my wonderful nephew here is going to be your sparring partner for the next month, so try to get along. Oh, who am I kidding? My nephew wouldn't be so rude to you, he's the kindest person in the world~!" Jirou laughed, jovially.

"I'll kill you!" Shirou threatened Saji.

"He used to be the most adorable little foxling when he was younger! You should have seen him try to take his first steps. It was so beautiful, he fell on his little tushy each time that he tried to stand!" Jirou cooed.

"If you tell ANYONE including that idiot about this I will bury you somewhere so unknown that they won't ever find your body." Shirou's eyes gleamed dangerously.

"Don't worry, Saji, you and Shirou will get along, he's so popular and has amazing social skills~!" Jirou turned back to Saji and laughed.

 **"** **Die!"** Shirou exhaled blue dragon flames from his mouth as he gave Saji the death stare.

_'_ _So is he blocking this out or is he that doting over his nephew? No, wait, to start off, Shirou is the famous Jirou's nephew? So that makes him a kitsune just like him!' Saji sweatdropped, 'Not to mention how similar their names are, I can't believe that I didn't pick up on the signs earlier.'_

"So Oji-chan, do I have full permission to do anything I want to Saji?" Shirou asked.

"Yup!"

"Even use him as my personal punching bag for the following month as part of my own training regimen? I still have some attacks that I need to test out for total effectiveness." Shirou cracked his knuckles.

"Yup!"

"Hot damn! This summer is looking to be one of my best so far." Shirou smirked as he approached Saji with a menacing smile.

"Good luck, Saji! Try to do your best!" Jirou waved.

"W-Wait, hold on! At least give me some time to mentally prepare myse-!"

"Training begins now!" Shirou roared.

***BAAAAAAAAAM!***

"Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Saji was sent flying with a punch to the nose by Shirou.

***CRASH!* *CRASH!***

Crashing through a couple of boulders, Saji grips his bleeding nose in pain as the entirety of his body was shoved into the cracks of one remaining boulder.

"You weren't ready." Shirou sighed.

"Ow…" Saji whimpered in pain.

"You're doing good out there, Shirou! Keep it up!" Jirou cheered.

"W-What about me?" Saji cried.

"Don't die!" Jirou shouted.

_'_ _Boy, that was helpful!' Saji thought._

"Who said you can rest yet, bitch!? We're still in the middle of teaching you, your first lesson is to-!" Shirou charged at Saji.

"Y-Yeah, and what's that?" Saji tiredly grumbled.

"DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODGE!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaugh!"

***BANG!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!***

Another series of boulders were smashed as Shirou high jump kicked Saji through them with relative ease.

Watching the chaos from afar, Jirou simply watched with a smile on his face until a familiar maid teleports by his side.

"Jirou-sama, your accommodations at the hotel are ready." Walburga graciously bowed her ribbon covered head.

"Good, good…now I can enjoy my short vacation. I'll be seeing you tomorrow, Saji! Take care until then!" Jirou waved goodbye and leaves through a magic circle with Walburga by his side.

"M-Master! Please don't leave me with hi-!"

"DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODGE!"

"Gyaaaaaaaaah!"

Saji received a powerful roundhouse kick to the face and was sent crashing into one of the large pools of water around them.

* * *

Back at the Dragon Mountains, the battlefield that Michael and Bova fought on was in complete desolation. Soot from Bova's flames, craters from Bova's missed blows, and the jagged ground caused by Michael's poor swordplay with Ascalon. The tabletop mountain was not molded into just another rugged mountain.

"This outcome was inevitable." Tannin sighed as he watched Bova victoriously stand over Michael's beaten body.

The fight between these could be described as Brute strength vs. Misdirection and trickery. Bova had the overall advantage, being a dragon with overwhelming power and the ability to breathe fire. While Michael lost most of his strength once his balance breaker got sealed away, so he had to rely on his usual mischief to get through the fight.

Bova was able to swat Michael away for most of the fight with either his huge claws or tail, and even squashed him like a fly once his multiple attempts at swatting him failed to really keep him down. However, due to Michael's size being quite smaller, he had trouble keeping track of the guy once he used big flashy attacks such as breathing fire to keep him at bay.

Cleverly using his size to his advantage, Michael made short work of Bova's constant need to fly up in the air since he had a sky advantage with his large dragon wings while his own devil wings were quite normal and less fast. So even the odds, Michael punctured Bova's wings with Ascalon and brought the dragon down to earth with him after a few vain attempts.

The battle was thought to have ended early due to Bova's brute strength, but Michael's quick thinking evened things out. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep it up for long since he eventually got overwhelmed by Bova who launched a bombing of flames down upon him. Now he was lying in a crater covered in ash and burns.

"Oi, Old Man is this good enough to declare me the winner!?" Bova shouted.

"You're the only one left standing after all, so I'm afraid so." Tannin nodded.

"Good, now this little pest can finally see things my way! Bova sneered, "You pathetic, sick animal! You actually thought that another carbon copy of the Red Dragon Emperor can step up to me? I'm nothing like my old man, I'm better than him and you! So, learn your place, and-!"

In between, Bova's ranting, Michael shifted his body just enough to reveal the grin on his face before turning around to raise his hand up in the air.

"NUT SHOT!"

***DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

***GOOOOOOOONG~!***

Releasing the remaining and collected energy in his body, Michael fired a powerful blast into Bova's crotch.

"IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH! MY CHILDREN!" Bova cried out in pain and keeled over in pain while nursing his crotch.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Dumbass, you actually thought that you let your guard down around the most vital area for me! Now we're both going down and making this fight a tie!" Michael laughed.

"Bova wins the match!" Tannin exclaimed.

"EH!?" Michael screamed.

"You were down for 5 minutes, so he's the obvious winner, youngling." Tannin said.

Looking somewhat content, Michael smiled, "Whatever…at least I got to hit someone in the balls, I don't care much about this fight anymore. Ugh! Besides, I used everything on that last attack, so it was totally worth it."

Both the dragon and devil were lying on their backs facing the sky.

"Dammit…you freaking cheap shot…" Bova grunted.

"Yup, but you don't have to be so sore about it, you still won the fight. Anyways, you're quite impressive." Michael grinned.

_'_ _It would seem that the two are going to get along now.' Tannin smiled._

"You must have balls of steel to endure my attack. To be expected of Gramps' son." Michael remarked.

_'_ _Wait, wait…what? How is that something to be impressed about?' Tannin sweatdropped._

"Tch! I have to admit. For a token Red Dragon Emperor, you really surprised me in this fight." Bova spat.

_'_ _What the youngling said was weird, but I'm sure that Bova must have gained respect for him.' Tannin nodded._

"To have ingeniously spotted my most unguarded weak spot and attack it at the same time. I don't think any other Red Dragon Emperor has ever done something like that. You're okay in my book now." Bova sighed.

_'_ _What the hell is wrong with the both of you? A Red Dragon Emperor may not have done that, but some immature child in the park would have!' Tannin simply shook his head in confusion, 'No, no, maybe this is just their way of understanding each other, I'll just have to be patient and continue watching them.'_

"Thank you, but do you want to know more about my Nutcracker techniques? I was once trained by an old man in the park when I was young. One day, I saw him approach another old man handing these two kids porn mags about breasts before he majestically kicked him in the nuts. That spectacle amazed me and from that day, I made my solemn vow to follow him and kick every person that I disliked in the balls…" Michael finished his story, "And that's it."

"Whatever happened to the Old man? Didn't he train you?" Bova asked.

"Oh, when I was just about to ask him to train me the next day, he sort of died of a heart attack." Michael said, nonchalantly.

"Oh…that's cool." Bova nodded.

_'_ _Like hell it is! This was the moment that you two were supposed to get along like brothers! Or comrades, but where did this conversation go to? When did nutcracking become the topic? You two better not be messing with me, I'll burn you to ashes. I mean it. I'll releases a fireball to punish you for messing with my expectations!' Tannin sweatdropped._

"But on a serious note, punk, I was being honest with you being sort of all right. You may in fact be good enough to ride the coattails of "Red Dragon Emperor" title." Bova clicked his tongue.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not going to ride the title's coattails just because it was given to me. I want to become more than the title, no, I want to create a title that surpasses this one."

Michael hears Bova scoff at him and says, "I'm serious. I'm only holding onto to this image for now because I'm using it for my own means. Who says that I can't be my own person while carrying the title of the Welsh Dragon? Who says that I can't even surpass the collective reputations that my old seniors carved for themselves? No one, and if someone does, then they don't matter. My goal is to one day become a Maou."

"Chi! So, it goes back to you being a devil, eh? Just because your shedding the title of the Welsh Dragon doesn't mean you're solving the issue. You're just running away." Bova said.

"I never said anything about me becoming a Maou just because I'm a devil. I'm doing this because I, Michael Hanamura, am going to attain that goal with a new title of my own that has nothing to do with me being the Sekiryuutei, or a devil, or even as just a dragon. I'm going to do it by being just the Gutsy Michael Hanamura. Heck, maybe when I gain my position as a Maou, it'll be another stepping stone for me to gain a new title that surpasses the one I wanted…meh...now I'm just overthinking things…"

Michael's head started to hurt from all of the thinking.

"…!"

But his bold speech really struck through Bova's tough exterior as he found himself opening his eyes for the first time in a long time, metaphorically speaking, of course. For most of his life, he's been burdened by the expectations that dragons and devils have on him. Being related to his dignified and warrior-like father had made people assume that he would be the same as him since they liked that image of his father projected onto him.

This made it really difficult for him to stand out as his own person, and led to him rebelling and acting the opposite of his father to gain some semblance of his own image, despite his father, brothers, and people frowning upon this behavior. This path of delinquency was the only one that Bova could follow while retaining most of who he is.

But…maybe that wasn't the only path that he could have followed, these thoughts along with a lot more started to cloud up in his head, and it was Michael's own words that were the cause of it. Completely, losing his usual composure, Bova immediately shouted,

"If your saying that you can attempt to do that, then do you think that anyone could forge their own identity like that? Even someone like me, whose been in my father and brothers' shadows!?" Bova immediately got up.

A little surprised by Bova's outburst at first, Michael simply shrugged and smiled, "I mean, yeah, anyone can do it. I'm part of anyone, man and you, too. There's nothing special about me that makes me the only exception to that."

_'_ _This guy…! He's…!' Bova's eyes widened as he viewed upon Michael bright, yet beaten expression in admiration, 'Not just some ordinary peon that's carrying the Welsh Dragon name. He's not even like the Red Dragon Emperor that my Old man followed, he's different. Michael Hanamura, you're a stunning new beacon for misunderstood dragons like me!'_

Settling something deep within his heart, Bova quickly launches himself at Michael without regard for his size and shouted,

"BOSS!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Michael screamed, "Moron, are you trying to kill me!?"

"BOSS! Do you mind if I call you, Boss from now on?" Bova screamed.

"Sure, fine, do whatever you want! But back up, your spitting all over my face!" Michael growled, and then realized something, "Wait, Boss?"

"Great! Boss, allow me to follow you during your journey as a devil to Maouhood. I wish to become your loyal vassal, and be by your side as your faithful guardian in battle!" Bova proclaimed.

"Vassal? Ddraig?" Michael looked to his partner for some clarification.

**[I'm quite surprised, Michael. I figured you'd get a vassal of your own, but I didn't think it would be Tannin's own son. Essentially, a vassal is someone that acts as your subordinate, its straight to the point. So, you can just count this as you attaining your very first powerful ally under your command.]**

"Really?" Michael was still on the fence about this idea before Bova got all up in his face again.

"I can see it now, Boss! You're future, and bloody path, we have in front of us will lead to so many unexpected turns, and I can't wait to see what you hold for dragons like us in the future! But wait, you're still a Low-class devil, right? Well, shit, we have to gather you a strong force that will raise your rankings quicker! Now don't worry, I have loads of punk ass dragons that I subjugated into my gang, we can use them. They ain't no pushovers, so you don't have to worry about tending to any weaklings, Boss! With our combined might, we can gather other powers under your control, and get you a step closer to your goal of being more than just the Red Dragon Emperor!"

Bova excitedly laid out his plans while sounding more and more like a gangster, but-!

"STOP!" Michael's yelled out his complaint and used what energy he can muster to stand up.

"Huh?" Bova blinked in confusion.

"Look, I don't know what's going on or whatever, but I don't need any more help from your gang of dragons, or even you." Michael jabs his thumb into his chest, "This is my goal, I want to achieve it on my own, and having you're friends act as extra help will suffocate me. I need my space!"

Michael sounded agitated and serious with that comment which confused Bova.

"B-But Boss, don't you want to get to your goal as quickly as possible, we can help you prepare for-!"

"No! I want to do it on my own!"

"But-!"

"Shut up! I already made up my mind!" Michael growled, "You're not going to change it. You're offering to be my vassal, and I'll accept that at least, but I don't want all of you helping me for that goal the whole way there!"

"Boss, you can't be like that. Acting selfish won't *GASP!*" Bova gasped as he realized something.

_'_ _Selfish? The boss, he's acting selfish just like a true dragon should act!' Bova thought._

"Look, I'm not saying that you can't help me once in a while, but only when I admit to wanting it, and if you and your gang ever need help don't be afraid to call me for help. It'll be a fair trade, and I don't know about this vassal thing's subordination concept or whatever, but let's just change it from subordination to friendship then, alright?" Michael tiredly scratched his head and grinned.

"R-Roger, Boss!" Bova bowed his head in respect while Michael groaned.

"Don't bow to me! I-I said to consider being my vassal as a friend-you know what? Forget about it…" Michael bitterly smiled.

Watching from afar, Tannin wore what appeared to be the proudest of smiles as he gazed upon the kinship now forged between Michael and Bova.

"It looks like the youngling and Bova has finally formed a bond. I wonder what lies ahead for their future as Boss and vassal." Tannin said, deep in thought, before shrugging it off, "That will be a thought for another day."

Taking a deep breath, Tannin spews out a small fire ball and ignites Michael on fire.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Michael screamed and rolled around in pain, "I'm on fire! I'm on fire! Put me out! Put me out!"

"Right, Boss! Hold still!" Bova raised his massive hand.

"Wait, hold on, STO-!"

***SMASH!* *SMASH!* *SMASH!* *SMASH!* *SIZZLE~!***

Without any thought involving his huge size, Bova smacked Michael down until he was trapped in a hole shaped like his body.

"Not that hard…" Michael squeaked.

"S-Sorry, Boss..." Bova apologized.

"Don't think that I forgot about those half-witted remarks about nuts, youngling!" Tannin roared.

And so, Michael's first day of training on the Dragon Mountains ends.

* * *

**Next Chapter- 15 days of training has passed! A visit from an obligated Natsuru-senpai and a visit to the Gremory Residence reveal the hindered progress of the [Queen] and [Rook]!**


	54. Invitations

**Invitations**

* * *

**Valhalla**

* * *

"It seems that we've received more news from the new Three Faction Alliance, Odin-sama."

"Again…? Those rambunctious brats really are serious about getting me involved in their business, aren't they?"

"I'm afraid so, since they even took it upon themselves to invite you for one of their upcoming Rating Game between their young generation of devils."

"A rating game, eh? Seeing the sight of such exuberant youngsters fighting passionately might make for a change of pace. This old body of mine craves excitement, so I believe I'll take up their offer to spectate such a bout."

"As you wish, Odin-sama, but, p-please... Try to behave yourself as our representative there, we would not want to lose any face in front of the other mythologies."

"Do not worry, Freyr. Until a beautiful woman crosses paths with me, I'll act as a stunning example of the Norse mythology."

"…That does not reassure me, Odin-sama…"

***SLAM!***

"Yello, Old Timer~! Ya miss your lovable granddaughter?"

"I have a lovable granddaughter? Where is she and how come I haven't heard of her until now?"

"I see that you've got jokes as always, Old Timer! That's what I love about you, you know that, but about that Rating Game that you were talking about…"

"So you were eavesdropping on us, Lucia…"

"Oh, yello, Uncle Freyr! It's nice to see you this evening~!"

"Before we get to introductions, I just wish to know. How exactly did you get in here? This meeting was private, and there were tons of guards keeping watch."

"I don't know, maybe security here isn't as tight as you thought."

***SLAAM!***

"Odin-sama! Freyr-sama! Forgive me for letting her out of my sight!"

"Ah, Rossweisse…"

"Excuse my abrupt entrance, but believe me when I say that I tried my best to stop Lucia, but she managed to paralyze the entire guard that was guarding the meeting hall's door while turning every painting on the way here upside down!"

"Hehehehehehehe!"

"Now going through the halls will give me such a headache…"

"Ah, you finally made it, Instructor Rossweisse!"

"Lucia! How many times have I told you that you aren't allowed to skip your training review, and barge in the meeting hall while Odin-sama is having a meeting with other gods!"

"But we're family, and besides going over training is bo-ring~! I wanna have some fun for a change."

"Unacceptable. You can't slack off even for a moment. It took me years to become an exemplary Valkyrie, and all of that hard work was worth it, so bear with it and become a true warrior for Asgard!"

"Fine, but hanging out with you is so depressing Instructor Rossweisse. You may be a pretty good expert when it comes to hard work, but not with men…"

"U-Uuuuh…waaaaaaah! I-I get it, I'm just an unattractive Valkyrie, who can't even snag herself a single lover!"

"Wow, you broke down easier than expected, but back to that Rating Game business, Old Timer. Can I tag along? I don't have anything to do around here."

"Don't have anything to do? That just means I should give you more work."

"N-No, please, grandpa! I'm begging you! I can't stand staying holed up in Valhalla anymore, and I really want to see what the underworld looks like!"

"…*Sigh!* Fine…but does your father know about this?"

"Hmph! He's too busy with work to even listen, and besides he wouldn't even care."

"I see, but I guess I can tell that things have been hard for him ever since Loki's outrage over the Three Factions creating an alliance. So, let's be off, I'll take you and Rossweisse as my guardians for this event."

"Yahoo! Ya hear that Instructor? Maybe you'll actually get a boyfriend in Underworld!"

"Uuuuuuuh…the way you phrased that doesn't make me feel any better…"

"Hey, anything could happen, so don't be picky and make sure to lower your standards because there is bound to be one guy you'll like there!"

"I guess…"

* * *

**(On the Dragon Mountains)**

***ACHOOOO!***

"Huh, wonder where that came from…" Michael rubbed his nose, "Now where was I?"

***ROOOOOOOOOAR!***

"Oh, right, today I'm fighting a Lightning Dragon. Better get on that! Hyaaaaaaaaah!"

* * *

**Mt. Olympus**

* * *

"Gahahahahahaha! That old fool, Azazel never stops surprising me!"

"An invitation to watch their young warriors battle? What a thrilling idea, you should most definitely attend this, Lord Zeus."

"Hmhmhm! I'd expect an answer like that from you, Ares. This does seem like quite a good chance to scope out the younger generation of devil's. In fact, I'd suppose I should take my grandson to see this Rating Game."

"Uh…Lord Zeus which Grandson?"

"Ohoho! Right how stupid of me for not being specific. I wish to take along Theo with me."

"M-My son, but Lord Zeus, Theo is still, uh…green and I don't know how he'll behave in the Underworld."

"Nonsense, Ares, the lad just needs time out to see the world and those close to his age fighting a passionate battle. By interacting with them, he'll be sure to get over that timid nature of his. Not to mention, he needs every little bit of help if he wishes to fully participate in the Mt. Olympus Games for my throne. Maybe this event could possibly be a way to create allies and create his team for the upcoming games."

"Y-Yes, my lord."

"Speaking of the games. When the time fully rolls around, I want for you to tighten security. Hades has been up to some suspicious behavior as of lately, and I don't want him to ruin things, understood?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Haha! Excellent, now it's time to prepare a trip to the underworld, and we're going to represent just how exuberant Mt. Olympus can be! Gahahahahahaha!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everybody I hoped you enjoyed this little short because WORLD BUILDING! I love developing DxD's world since it's so huge, and if you can't already tell, yes, a few characters that were introduced or at least mentioned were the OCs that I received from BlackIronBob, and ChouSmashAniki! These guys were really helpful with their OCs matching up with my story, perfectly.
> 
> Plus, you might tell, but this Short hints at future events in the story that will take place, so expect more original new arcs like the Natsuru arc in the future.
> 
> And I know that a few of you guys send me OCs for this story from time to time, but I just want to level with you. I don't accept ridiculous OCs with ridiculous powers, races, backgrounds and histories. I like realistic OCs that would make sense in the confines of DxD's story, and if you give me some Fox/Dragon/Devil/Any god or whatever hybrid, then I definitely won't accept it. Less is more, and to be honest, I'm still accepting OCs, but not to such a great extent as I did in the past.
> 
> I'm picky, and each OC just can't be inserted without a story around them. I don't mean to sound rude, but I will be critical, so no hard feelings.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you all have a wonderful day and stay safe.
> 
> I'm Out so Peace Out and have a nice day!


	55. 15 days of training has passed! A visit from an obligated Natsuru-senpai and a visit to the Gremory Residence reveal the hindered progress of the [Queen] and [Rook]!

**15 days of training has passed! A visit from an obligated Natsuru-senpai and a visit to the Gremory Residence reveal the hindered progress of the [Queen] and [Rook]!**

* * *

Making her trip to the Dragon Mountains, Natsuru decided to use the free time that she had to visit Michael. 15 days had already pass since everyone's initial training began, and Natsuru was at her wits end with her student these past couple of days. She and Koneko couldn't communicate properly which is a result of to Koneko ignoring her much needed advice, not heeding her instructions, and not to mention that she would tire herself out too much during combat practice.

Getting through to the girl was a challenge itself for Natsuru and getting her to open up to her, at least for training, only made things more difficult. So, searching for some advice, she decided to go ask Michael on ways to better communicate with the girl. He was the only that she can go to for advice since the others don't think fondly of her.

Upon her arrival at the Dragon Mountains, she found herself overwhelmed by the numerous power signatures around her, so she decided to focus on Michael's own lingering signature for her search. It might be faint, but she was still able to trace the energy signature, efficiently, with no issues.

***BOOM!* *BAAAAAANG!* *CRASH!***

She could also infer that whatever was making havoc on one of those mountaintops was probably her reckless kouhai. So, levitating her way to the top, she took some caution as to avoid any of the commotion's backlash.

On said, mountaintop was a large earth dragon bellowing a mighty roar as it overshadows the smaller form of its attacker. Noticing the attacker's wearing a cocky grin, the agitated Earth Dragon tried to flatten them with its large clawed hand, but to no avail. The figure simply jumped back to dodge continuously they because of the dragon unrelenting attacks.

***DOOOOON!* *DOOOOON!* *DOOOOON!***

The Earth dragon shot blast after blast of concentrated earth energy at the figure as they smoothly dodged each attack by moving side to side. After doing so many consecutive attacks in a row, the dragon decided to do a tactical retreat to recover some of its lost stamina.

"Where do you think you're going!?" The figure tensed his legs and pushed his body to jump over the dragon and land in front of it. Taking a deep breath, the figure spews a huge fireball with enough force to knock down the Earth Dragon. Turning away from the smoking dragon, the figure points to the massive purple dragon watching from nearby.

"Hah, so what do you think of that, Gramps? That fire ball was bigger than last time, and I actually got it to hit!" The figure shouted.

"Hmm…" Tannin examined the downed Earth Dragon and saw it slowly get back up, "I'll give it a four out of ten."

"Four out of ten!?" The figure shouted as they move away from the clearing smoke to reveal himself as Michael Hanamura, who has slightly grown a bit during his stay at the mountains. His school jersey was torn to shred during his first five days of training, so the dragons provided for him some new garbs such as a sleeveless gray shirt, white baggy pants held up by a worn out red belt as he remained barefooted. His physical appearance hasn't changed all that much save for his arms, legs, and forehead being completely bandaged from all his past challenges.

"That firepower is still a little on the weak side, youngling." Tannin said.

"EH!?" Michael complained, "But I just took care of this Earth Dragon, easy! There's no way that its coming up after getting hit like that!"

Unbeknownst to Michael, the Earth Dragon was already up on its feet; having recovered and used the time it took playing dead to gain back some stamina. Stamping its feet, the Earth Dragon charged at Michael with its horned head lowered.

"Kukukukuku! I'm not so, youngling." Tannin laughed to himself as stood back and watched.

"Huh, what are you talking ab-Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Michael was sent hurling in the air due to the Earth Dragon's tackle and was spiraling into mid-air.

"ROOOOOOAR!" The Earth Dragon even followed up the tackle with another beam of earth energy at him which exploded on impact and forced the boy to spurt out a mouthful of blood.

"Gck!" Michael squirmed in pain once he hit the ground, "Crap…the wounds from yesterday's fight with that Ice Dragon are really getting to me."

Sighing, Tannin looked over to the Earth Dragon and gave it an affirmative nod to leave and go back to its own business. Flying closer to Michael, Tannin shook his head,

"You're gloating really hindered your sense of a battle. The fight isn't over when you think it's over." Tannin lectured.

"My bad…" Michael sat up and wiped his lips, "I forgot how hard it is to really crack those guys' shells."

"Earth Dragons, although they may be low ranked amongst other dragons, they still possess thick armor-like scales that are difficult to penetrate. That blast of fire you shot was probably less than an irritation for him." Tannin explained.

"Then I'll be more than an irritation! I'll make my flames even more powerful!" Michael proclaimed, but winced in pain.

"But first you have to learn how to not push your body in the middle of a fight. Your reckless attempt at challenging a high ranked Ice Dragon should have been a good learning reminder for you not to disobey the training curve I made for you. You're still barely getting through Low class dragons, and those injuries aren't helping you either." Tannin watched as Michael glanced at his bandaged wounds slowly bleeding.

"It's good to be energetic about your training, but pushing things won't help at all. You have to steadily improve, or else you will stunt in progress. You've grown since you've gotten here. It might not have been by a big margin, but your still better with how you handle your fights and how to fight in general. In fact, after the day is over, I believe you've at least earned the right to have your Balance Breaker unsealed." Tannin nodded.

_'_ _At least…? Doesn't really help that 15 days already passed for them to be unsealed. I would have wanted to get them unsealed by beating a high ranked dragon…guess its fine though, my stamina increased…' Michael sighed with an anxious look on his expression._

Noticing, Michael's dissonance, Tannin said, "Youngling?"

"Oh, sorry, Gramps." Michael coughed and picked himself up, "Just thinking to myself. Besides, your right I have gotten better. In fact!"

Michael inhaled and fired a huge ball of flames which decimated a huge boulder within seconds, "I think my flames have gotten just as strong as yours! If not stronger!"

"Hou! You believe so? Then follow me, youngling." Tannin guided Michael to the cliff side as they faced an even bigger mountain that belittled the one that that they were standing on.

"So, what is it? You trying to show me another part of your territory?" Michael looked up at the mountains to see no dragons inhabiting it, and scratched his head in confusion.

But he didn't get a response, and once he looked up at his teacher, he figured out why. Tannin's stomach began to expand with the large breath he must have took seeing this Michael's only reaction was to scream out in surprise.

"Oh, my Luci-!"

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!"

***GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

"Awowowowowowoh!" Michael was stuttering as Tannin fired a massive sea of flames which destroyed the mountain in a matter of seconds. That sort of firepower the old dragon demonstrated was extremely powerful, and what made Michael shudder from sensing the output was that it wasn't even close to his max power.

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU~!***

Smoke emerged from the piles of ash that once was a tall mountain.

"What do you think of that?" Tannin smirked as he looked down at the stunned boy, who looked up at the dragon with a look of excitement and enviousness on his face.

"I-I'm sorry for underestimating your power, Gramps, but…" Michael sweatdropped as he looked at the remains of the mountain, "You really shouldn't be blowing up mountains like that."

"Kukukukukukukukuku! You're right! I got a little too excited, forgive my hastiness! Kukukukukuku!"

"Hehehehe…Hahahahahahahahaha!"

Both the 15-metered dragon and the regular sized teen laughed with each other at the Old Dragon's attempt to show off. Although the power was overwhelming, Michael was still relieved to know that even veterans just like Tannin could get a little reckless from time to time.

"I've been wondering. Whatever happened to Bova? Wasn't he supposed to be here to assist with your training?" Tannin asked.

Michael wore a tired expression as he muttered, "He's off preparing something for my territory back at Buchou's place…"

"Territory? When did this happen?"

"About yesterday afternoon, I received a call and message from Buchou about it. It was some land with a huge mountain taking up most of the space, I didn't really mind, but Bova overheard my conversation and immediately flew off to "prepare" a few things." Michael air quoted.

"Ah, that would explain all of his muttering this morning." Tannin nodded, "Do you know what he was about to do there before he left this morning?"

"Nope. He kept asking question so I kept saying that I don't care until he left. He was strangely happy after I said that…don't know why though…" Michael shrugged.

"It seems that you and he have grown a stronger bond than I thought."

"To be honest, I appreciate the attention, but I preferred him when he was being an asshole to me." Michael scratched his head.

**[I thought that you wanted attention. Wasn't that a main driving force for you becoming Maou as well?] Ddraig asked.**

"Yeah, but Bova's different! He was supposed to be the straight dragon to my wise guy act! We're supposed to do a thing we're our personalities conflicted and get us into stupid arguments just like with Shirou and Saji. Now that he's being super nice to me, I can't do any of that. He's throwing me off of my game!" Michael groaned, "I mean, geez, he keeps looking up to me like I'm some chosen one! I'm just doing what I need to do, plus, I'm nothing gr-gr-gr…ugh! What the hell? What was that…?"

**[*GASP!* I can't believe it. It's finally happening!]**

"W-What? What's happening?" Michael panicked.

"Good. It seems like the training here is working." Tannin proudly smiled.

"I don't get it! Why are you guys being cryptic! Just tell me what that terrible feeling in my chest is. I feel a huge weight on my back, and I can't shake it off!" Michael panted as he was slowly getting crushed by an invisible force.

**[You haven't noticed, partner? Your stay here on the dragon mountains have taught you many things besides fighting.]**

"W-What? No…you don't mean?"

"Yes, youngling, you've grown to actually humble yourself." Tannin nodded.

***CRACK!***

"Agh! No! Impossible, I-I can't…!" Michael's back cracked under the force as he fell on one knee.

**[Not just that, you've also learn some humility.]**

***CRACK!***

"Gyaaaaaah!" Michael fell on both knees and barely kept himself up on all fours.

"Plus, the most important thing of all, you've started to gain a sense of responsibility." Tannin gave a thumbs up.

***CRACK!* *SNAP!***

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh! No!" Michael fell on his face, "This can't be happening! Not me! Not the gutsy Michael Hanamura!" Michael panicked.

**[Embrace it, partner. Embrace, maturity…]**

"Never! I won't allow it! I'll prevent it even if I have to bring back that old catch phrase of mine!"

**[Wait, Michael, stop!]**

"I, the Great Hanamura won't let myself get pressured responsibility anymore!" Michael slowly got up on his legs as if the mysterious force holding him down was disappearing.

"I-Impossible how are you-?" Tannin gasped.

"Hahaha…the Great Hanamura can handle something as simple as this. Bet on it! By using the power of my boastfulness as a teenager, I was able to overcome my maturity." Michael maniacally laughed with an evil look in his eyes, "Don't underestimate me… Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more training to do since I don't want to fall behind at all! *GASP!* Oh, no…"

**[It seems to me that your maturity must have taken a stronger effect on you earlier than I thought.] Ddraig laughed.**

"True, it is inevitable. You'll have to eventually walk this path if you wish to become a Maou." Tannin nodded.

"Is it true? Have I really *GULP!* matured…!" Michael falls onto his knees and screamed to the sky, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-oh, hi Natsuru-senpai!"

Michael stopped as soon as he noticed a levitating Natsuru approaching him and Tannin. She graced him with a warm smile as she approached and said,

"Hello, Michael-kun. Greetings, Tannin-san, I hope I'm not interrupting anything important." Natsuru said.

"No, not at all. We were just about to have a break." Tannin shook his head.

"Oh, good because I actually came here to ask Michael-kun something." Natsuru said.

"Ask me something?" Michael asked.

"I see…I have no qualms about this, but you are not to leave the mountain vicinity for this. I'm sorry, but I have been told of your past crimes from the Governor-General, so consider this a warning." Tannin crossed his arms in a domineering fashion.

"I get it. No need to apologize." Natsuru wasn't visibly disturbed by the suspicion, and shrugged it off.

"Since you understand." Tannin gave a quick roar as he summoned two of his high ranked dragon servants to watch over the pair as they sat side by side on a large rock.

"So Natsuru-senpai, what brings you to my new neighborhood?" Michael winked.

"I just wanted to ask you for some pointers about how to handle Koneko-chan." Natsuru sighed.

"Koneko-chan?" Michael blinked, "Why would you need pointers?"

"Because I was tasked with training her proper sage arts by Azazel." Natsuru said.

"Whoa! For real! That's awesome, you must be teaching her a ton of incredible moves!" Michael remembered Natsuru's prowess with Senjutsu, and didn't find it hard to believe that Natsuru would be a suitable teacher.

However, Natsuru frowned, "That's the thing, I've been teaching her the bare minimum of what I should be showing her."

"Eh, but why?"

"Because she doesn't want to listen to me. No, much like, she doesn't want me to even be in the same vicinity as her. Whenever I try to instruct her, she either ignores my lessons, or does the opposite of what I want her to do. This defiance is heavily hindering her progress because she either tires herself out with sparring with Anzu, or she just struggles to do proper mediation." Natsuru shook her head.

_'_ _Meditation…?' Michael though with interest, but shook it off._

"So, I just wanted to ask you if you know of any way to make her lighten up around me. I get that she's made about what I did in the past, but I just really want her to know that…I care about her growth as a fellow nekomata." Natsuru said with a desperate look in her eyes.

Rubbing his chin, Michael gave a hopeless sigh, "Sorry to say, but I can't seem to give pointers on how to get on Koneko's good side. For me it's either heads or tails, we do argue but we also get along, so it's complicated. As of lately, she's gotten more attached to me, but I don't think anything else from that will help you. My personal experience may not help with your situation since we're different people."

Natsuru was a little surprised by Michael's straight forward answer, "I-I see, you're right. I guess, I can't just ask you for a solution like that. I'm honestly surprised that you were able to give me a mature answer like that. Thank you."

Natsuru's warm smile caused Michael to grin in return even though he mentally kicked himself for showing his new growing mature side.

"Looks like I have to go back to the drawing board, and hope that I can figure something out." Natsuru sighed.

"Wait, why don't you ask Buchou?" Michael shrugged.

"Tch! Her?" Natsuru clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"I know that you two aren't on good terms, but maybe she could give you some advice since she is Koneko-chan's master after all." Michael sweatdropped.

"You think I haven't tried her? Although I hate to admit it, I went to her for advice first, but she denied any attempt of a meeting between us. Says that she'd rather deal with her horrifying training than speak with me." Natsuru said with an unamused look in her eyes.

_'_ _I guess there's still going to be some bad blood between them, huh?' Michael thought._

"Luckily, her mother was there during one of my visits, and I managed to ask her for some help." Natsuru said.

"Vene-sama talked to you?" Michael asked.

"Surprising, right? She knew about the events that transpired last month, but kindly came to me when I was troubled. I guess, Gremory-san's parents aren't as rude as her…" Natsuru said in annoyance, "So I decided to ask her about Koneko-chan, but she told me that she doesn't have a clue either. So instead of letting me leave empty-handed; she decided to tell me something of equal value."

"Really, what?" Michael asked.

"Koneko's past." Natsuru smiled, "I'm sure you know it by know, but-."

"I don't know anything about Koneko-chan's past." Michael scratched his head.

"You don't?" Natsuru gasped, "But weren't you the least bit curious about why she had the power of senjutsu or was even a youkai at all?"

"Not really. Wanting to know her past never came to mind, I just always saw her as my kouhai, Koneko-chan, she's still the same even if I did know about her background, and I wouldn't let it sway my own thoughts anyways." Michael scratched his head.

Her expression softening, Natsuru smiled, "That's right, I almost forgot who I was talking to."

Misunderstanding that to be a bad thing, Michael said, "Oh, crud. Um, sorry, was that wrong of me to think?"

"N-No, you're fine. That way of thinking is okay, too. If you want I can still tell you about her past if you're still curious." Natsuru offered.

"Sure, learning a bit more about Koneko-chan could probably help me understand her more." Michael nodded, then thought,

_'_ _I wonder if Koneko-chan had as rough a past as Kiba…I hope not…'_

"Then I'll begin explaining what I was told by Rias' mother, she told me about a story of two cat sisters." Natsuru began.

"Two cat sisters?" Michael received a nod.

"The sisters were always together, when they played, when they ate, when they slept. The sisters were the only family they had, no parents or home to go back to. They only had each other to rely on as they survived through each grueling day just to stay alive. One day, the two of them were picked up by a noble devil, he made the older cat sister his servant while the younger sister was allowed to live with them."

Natsuru glanced over the vast terrain beyond the mountainside, "They finally found a home, the sisters could finally live happily without ever struggling to survive. However, something abnormal happened with the older sister, due to her becoming a reincarnated devil, her growth in power surged to new heights. The hidden potential which resided in her was finally unleashed, but for a steep cause."

"What happened?"

"You already know that Koneko, Makoto and I originate from the Nekomata species of youkai, right? We're a special variant of Nekomata known as the Nekoshou, we are completely capable of utilizing both Youjutsu and Senjutsu to the fullest potential. I'm a halfling with kitsune blood in me while Koneko, and her sister are full-blooded." Natsuru explained,

"Our latent potentials differ because of this fact, but this case became even dangerous with Koneko's sister. Add her powerful ability to use sage arts with her new ability to command demonic energy to fuse with her power, and you have a completely unstable youkai on your hands. So, after the sister had her breakthrough in power, she ran rampant and killed her master after her mind got warped from all of the power."

Natsuru sighed, she saw how similar Koneko's past was when compared to her own and Makoto's.

"Are you serious?" Michael clasped his hands together while looking concerned, "She lost control just like that? What happened afterwards?"

"She ran away. The elder sister was soon labeled as a dangerous A-Class Stray Devil, she annihilated all pursuit squads, and vanished without anyone being able to trace her. Sadly, her total escape led to another issue, her little sister. Once all searches for the sister were called off, they turned their attention to the little sister, who was abandoned." Natsuru narrowed her eyes in irritation,

"The devils were skeptical about keeping another possible threat around, so they contemplated about the idea of eliminating her."

***SLAM!***

Slamming his fist into the boulder they sat on, Michael took a deep breath and said, "Sorry…I got a little too wound up, but what happened next? Koneko-chan's still alive, so they couldn't have gone through with it."

"I was told that Koneko-chan was saved by Son Kai, Serafall Leviathan's Queen, he managed to interrupt their disposal of the girl and took her under his care." Natsuru said.

"Shishou!?" Michael jumped up in surprise, then looked up, "Well, that would explain why they knew each other so well back during training camp."

"Wait, so you mean to tell me that you were also trained by Son Kai?" Natsuru was literally surprised after hearing him call the man his master.

"Huh, yeah. He's the one, who trained me to death to draw out my touki." Michael explained, "He even taught me how to do proper martial arts, too."

"That's…interesting…I never thought that someone like him would teach you of all people." Natsuru rubbed her chin in thought.

***CRUSH!***

"S-So…I'm not good enough to be trained by him?" Michael grabbed his chest in depression.

"Wha-? No, I didn't mean it like that, but I'm just shocked that someone like him would openly accept students like that. I did hear that he had one before, but that was probably because he was already acquainted with that student's circumstance with their devil family, but you…it seems almost random." Natsuru always studied the history of her species and found Son Kai's history to be quite interesting, but unsettling as well.

"Random? Is that bad?" Michael asked.

"N-No, well, it depends it's just Son Kai never does anything without reasons, so there must be something you have that he either wants to see, or fight. Honestly, I can't even guess what someone like him is thinking at all." Natsuru said with a distant look, "He's really a troublesome guy."

"I know this may be veering off topic, but did Shishou have some issues or something in the past?" Michael asked.

"Yes, and no…you see, Son Kai is basically a factor with the Old Satan Faction being defeated, he was shunned from Mt. Sumeru by his Monkey brethren as an outcast and went on a journey around the mythological worlds with his 5 companions which consisted of youkai, and young gods at the time. Remember this took place centuries ago, so some information may be outdated, but he still did some amazing things." Natsuru was engrossed with the lore that surrounded the man.

"Wow…Shishou really did all of that? So, isn't he considered a great hero since he helped the New Satan Faction?" Michael excitedly asked.

"Well, you see…the thing about Son Kai is that he doesn't really have too strong a moral compass to follow. In fact, most of the achievements that could be seen as good were made for the sole purpose of enjoying a fight." Natsuru trailed off.

"So? I like to fight sometimes… Well, not excessively like battle maniacs, but still." Michael shrugged.

"N-No, Michael-kun, he  **loves** to fight. So much so that it isn't healthy. Any conflict that pops up will excite him, and if he gets bored, he'll create conflicts unless he's busy with something else that's keeping him busy. There are rumors, and these rumors don't really paint him as the hero most people would make him out to be." Natsuru leaned in.

"What?" Michael leaned in.

"There's word that Kai actually barged into the Great Devil War to fight to the New Satan Faction and face their stronger Super Devil leaders like Sirzechs and Ajuka."

"Are you serious!?"

Natsuru nodded, "There's also word that he was convinced by one of his companions and Sirzechs to fight on their side with a promise, a promise that no rumor so far has yet to clarify."

"So, does that mean Shishou is bad, or…?" Michael began to feel conflicted, he didn't know what to make of Kai. He knew little to nothing about the man, but he still admired the man for his kind wisdom and willingness to train him to face Riser. However, that didn't excuse some of his uneasiness whenever he was around the man.

"I wouldn't say that he's wholly a bad person. He's done great things which regarded him as a hero like saving the world from the incoming invasion of the Chinese mythology after God's death, helping the New Satan Faction win the war, and of course, saving Koneko-chan from getting executed." Natsuru looked at Michael seriously,

"But that doesn't mean that he won't do anything unexpected, I just think that you should be cautious around him because he may be your master, but it doesn't excuse the fact that he's a dangerous man."

"Right." Michael heeded Natsuru's warning, "So about Koneko-chan; how was Shishou able to convince the high-classed devils that she was innocent?"

"He was able to convince them that under his wing that Koneko wouldn't run out of control like her sister. The elites accepted this because of Kai's status as Sirzechs' advisor and Serafall's Queen." Natsuru said, "From there on, he adopted Koneko to restore her will to continue on living and smiling. After a couple of months, he was tasked with personal business which wouldn't allow Koneko to follow him, so by a recommendation from Sirzechs Lucifer, he entrusted Koneko to Gremory-san."

"So that's how Buchou recruited Koneko." Michael said.

"Not to mention, she gave Koneko a new name to replace her old one as a way of putting the past of being betrayed by her elder sister and discriminated by the devils, who saw her as a threat by being related to said sister." Natsuru sighed, "Thus is the tale of the two cat sisters."

"I didn't know that Koneko-chan went through all of that." Michael finally understood why Koneko was always so stoic, he just expected her to be naturally quiet, but that was just insensitive simple-minded thinking.

"So, were you able to come up with anything?" Natsuru asked, hopefully.

"Nope." Michael shook his head.

"I see, it looks like telling that story didn't help…well, I don't want to waste any more of your time, Michael-kun. I will have to figure this out on my own then, thanks for trying at least." Natsuru hopped off of the boulder and began walking away.

"I might not have a new idea, but I think you're fine doing what you've been trying to do." Michael hopped off the boulder and pocketed his hands, "You're looking for ways to help, Koneko-chan, and your so worried that you even asked about her past. Thanks to all of this, I can tell that you really want to take care of her."

"I'm not actually caring for her wellbeing. I-I'm just looking out for her since she has an amazing potential as a fellow nekomata." Natsuru looked to the side while trying to hide her small blush.

Wearing an honest smile, Michael said, "It may take a long time, but she'll eventually open up to you. Hell, she even opened up to a loudmouth like me, her complete opposite. So just continue trying your best, and you'll get results."

"If you say so. Thanks." Natsuru bowed her head gratefully.

"No need to thank me…or bow your head…seriously, I get enough of that from Bova." Michael whispered that last part in annoyance, "But I should be thanking you because now I understand Koneko-chan a bit better now. I wish you luck. Now…back to training…I wonder if I can find that Ice Dragon again and get a rematch."

Turning around, Michael began to walk off, unbeknownst to him Natsuru was still there looking at him in thought. After receiving good advice, she wanted to think of a way to repay him, and that only brought multiple lewd rewards to present to the teen.

"Hey~! Hey~! Michael-!" Natsuru was about to pounce the boy from behind before she caught sight of something fluttering in the sky. It was a small bat fluttering its wings as it intently watched the pair, and just by sensing it, she could already tell, who it belonged to and why it was there.

"Well played, Gremory-san, well played…"

"Huh?"

"Nothing~! I just wanted to say goodbye, nya~!" Natsuru purred with a cute kitty-like smile.

"Okay, see ya later, Natsuru-senpai!" Michael waved goodbye.

"Bye-Bye~!" Natsuru continued to hold up her playful façade before glaring at the bat familiar fluttering in the sky.

_'_ _I'll let this chance pass for now. Just know that I won't hesitate once an opportunity alone with him arises again, Gremory-san.' Natsuru smirked as she made her way down the mountain, she just hoped that Koneko was off trying to train herself during her absence._

* * *

Taking calm breaths, Koneko sat in the middle of a forest clearing to practice her meditation. She had been practicing on her own ever since Natsuru temporarily placed training on hold. Not that it made any difference for Koneko since she's been listening to her instructions to a minimum. These past 15 days have been fruitful for Koneko's understanding of her power, but any progress made was stagnantly low.

Although she was given the basics of her training, she still ignored any extra tips or help that Natsuru provided for her. She still was cautious around the woman, and found it better to fill in any blanks that she came across herself. Especially due to how violent Senjutsu can become depending on the user's surroundings and state of mind during meditation. She couldn't take any chances when listening to a former enemy, who could possibly force her to go berserk.

"…" Koneko remained silent as she tried her best to clear her mind of anything besides the very moment that she's in. However, she found it quite difficult to stay completely motionless without completely losing focus. Most attempts would last for more than a couple of minutes, and on her rushed tries, 30 seconds.

She might have failed those many times before, but lately she's been able to hold out a bit longer than usual. The attempt was getting closer to passing her old limit of meditating for about 6 minutes straight.

"…" Koneko slowly calmed her nerves as she grew closer to peacefully calming her mind. That was until something ominous had entered the proximity of the forest. The atmosphere grew dark around her as a strong wind began to pick up. Something wasn't right, and Koneko felt the ominous presence to the very core of her being. No, she recognized the presence before, it was the same one that she felt during the Khaos Brigade's attack on the Three Faction leaders and…in the distant.

Braving herself to continue, Koneko did her best to calm herself and gather what remaining concentration she could spare for her meditation. She was so close to setting a landmark for her training, and had to focus all of her attention into blocking out the ominous presence that was encroaching around her.

_'…_ _!' Konenko's body began to tense up as she was slowly losing focus. It slowly began to become apparent that she was no longer trying to meditate, but rather keeping her eyes closed as a futile way of trying to ignore the presence._

_"_ _It's been a while, Shirone~!" The sound of an alluring voice graced Koneko's ears as the image of a black cat emerged into Koneko's mind._

"…Aah!" Koneko fell back out of fear as she looked around in a panic. There were no signs of the voice's source, but she still felt that they were nearby.

_"_ _My, my! How you've grown, and I see that you've been starting to tap into your potential. Sad for you that you lack the proper "guidance" to fully bring it out. Which is why I'm going to give you an offer and you have until tomorrow to take it or…well, we can discuss the rest once you finally come to me. I'll be giving you a chance to make the_ _**right** _ _decision in about 15 days~!"_

_The voice purred, "I trust that you'll know when I'll arrive because after all, we share a very strong sisterly bond~! So, make sure to choose the right decision which is the only one I stated to you! Bye-bye, nya~!"_

Suddenly the ominous presence disappeared, but the lingering sorrow still remained as Koneko got up on her hands and knees; sweating after her short, overbearing reunion with her sister. She had to make a choice, and it had to be made in 15 days or else…

"…Damn…" Koneko cursed to herself.

Hearing all of this from behind a tree, a sweating Anzu sighed, "Oh boy…Natsuru-sama isn't going to be too thrilled when she hears about this."

* * *

After seeing Natsuru off, Michael was now sitting on the top of a giant flat rock as he took a meditative form. He was in the lush forest area of the Dragon Mountains as he took his place near the flourishing waterfall. His expression was deep in thought as he did his best not to lose focus, but that was more of a challenge than facing dragons on a daily basis.

"Hmm…" Michael's expression slowly contorted with frustration.

**[Michael, you have to stay focused and calm.]**

"Hrmmm…!" Michael slowly began to grind his teeth.

**[You're starting to lose it.]**

"Grrrrrrrrrgh!"

**[And you're losing it…]**

"DAMMIT! Why can't I enter my own god damn mindscape!?" Michael shouted at the top of his lungs as he rapidly scratched his head.

**[Maybe it's because you're being a little too impatient. It will come naturally to you once you clear your mind and focus your thoughts into the Boosted Gear.]**

"I know you've been telling that to me the entire time, and I still haven't made any progress! This sucks…" Michael moaned and laid flat on his back, "Are you sure that I have to do this in order to get Welsh Drive?"

**[Yes, you do. By entering your mindscape, you'll meet with the past Booster Gear possessor, who will give you their blessing to unlock the mode.]**

"But wouldn't that imply that means don't matter unless I enter the mindscape, so why don't I just knock myself out, meet the guy, and then I can finally move on with my training and get stronger…" Michael stated simply.

**[Technically, I'm not for that plan, but it would work, but…the past possessor wouldn't meet you if you didn't follow this condition. He explicitly stated that you have to go meet him of your "will" and that doesn't mean bashing your head against a boulder until you lose consciousness.]**

"Ugh! Why does he want me to do that? Is this guy some kind of asshole who likes to make things hard for me?" Michael groaned.

**[You mean a Hardass?]**

"Yeah, that's what I said? Why are you repeating me?" Michael asked.

**[I'm not, you described a Hardass while I just stated the name of the term.]**

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure I said it…" Michael rubbed his chin.

**[Well, you didn't…and the possessor, who acknowledged you, is a bit…] Ddraig trailed off.**

"Of an asshole? A wise guy? A Saji? A Gasper?" Michael guessed.

**[Why are you just bringing up people at this point?]**

"Because everyone can tell how a person can act by just hearing their names. So, is he a Shirou? Or dare I say a *GULP!* Koneko?"

**[He none of them, and besides he acts someone I'm quite familiar with. He's brash, acts reckless, has a big mouth, but acts polite, is less outgoing with people, he can be quite shy and sometimes hate confronting new people.]**

"Wow, he would sound like an upright guy if he didn't have all of those nasty traits that you stated befo…aaaaaaaah! You son of bitch, you're talking about me aren't you!?" Michael growled.

**[I wasn't being subtle about it, and you still acted like it was someone else. You only have yourself to blame…]**

"Tch! Krck! Tsk! Whatever, I just want to finish getting Welsh Drive, and get on the same wavelength as Vali in terms of power." Michael clicked his tongue.

**[Even if you do get Welsh Drive, you still wouldn't be equal to his power, technically. You still actually have to gain more strength the way you've doing it before.]**

"Okay, I'll gain more strength once I get Welsh Drive." Michael impatiently scratched his head, "I might as well get something from waiting this long."

**[What's wrong?]**

"What do you mean?"

**[You've been impatient ever since your training began, and its been getting worse. Having that state of mind isn't going to help you enter your mindscape, so just tell me.]**

"Can't you just look into my thoughts to skip this part and tell me what I'm doing wrong as always?" Michael rolled his eyes.

**[Doing that will only solve half of the problem. So, I want to hear you say it to me…]**

"…" Michael remained quiet.

**[*Sigh!* Are you still bothered by that dream you had?]**

"…" Michael silently looked at the waterfall with a disturbed yet frightened look in his eyes.

**[Michael…you can admit it to me, I noticed how you've been struggling to go to sleep. Before you can enter a deep sleep, you immediately wake yourself up afterwards, so be honest and come clean about it.]**

"I dreamt that I was killed by the Boosted Gear's Scale Mail at the academy." Michael sighed.

**[…! You did?]**

Michael nodded.

**[Are you sure it was the Boosted Gear?]**

Michael nodded once more.

**[That's rather strange. Did anything else happened?]**

"I kept hearing Vali's voice as he talked about…my parents and them abandoning me." Michael's tone deepened to express his growing depression.

**[Oh…]**

"Yup…there was also something strange about the Scale Mail. It had red eyes with this strange black gauntlet before it attacked." Michael sighed.

**[Red eyes and black gauntlet? That should be familiar? Don't you remember them from before during your fight with Vali?]**

"Of course not. I would remember something that strange during an important fight like that." Michael shrugged.

**[Wait, so you don't remember having formed a new gauntlet called the "Cursed Gear"?]**

"Nope, why? Should I?" Michael asked.

**_[Strange…his memories of that technique must have been erased, or were even there in the first place. But what exactly happened to them?] Ddraig thought to himself._ **

"Ddraig?"

**[Sorry, Partner, I was just talking to myself. Now tell me what's ailing you.]**

"Well, aside from the messed-up dream of dying to the Scale Mail, I've kind of been thinking of some heavy stuff about my parents." Michael drummed his fingers against the rock slab below.

**[Strange, I thought that you weren't as concerned about this topic.]**

"It wasn't until I had this dream…I'm sure that I wouldn't really care unless I found out the truth about why I was abandoned or if I was even abandoned at all. The Ero-Ossan must have answers or Vali would never had known all of this." Michael looked up with a serious look on his face, "The answers about my parents are so close, and I can finally achieve them just by asking him."

**[If that's what you wish to do to find closure, then I have nothing to object to. Just make sure to inform me when you have another strange dream, I wasn't able to see the last one, so it's probable that it may occur again.]**

"Okay…" Michael nodded.

**[And partner?]**

"Yeah?"

**[Please tell me when you're emotionally distressed rather than me speaking up about it. You don't have to stew up your issues and deal with them yourself, besides your usual irritate behavior, I don't mind lending an ear whenever you need it.]**

"Okay… But that's strange, how a spirit can lend an ear when they don't even have a body." Michael chuckled.

**[That's the annoying bastard, I know.]**

Michael lightly laughed, and said, "Thanks…"

"Oi, youngling! You seem to be quite popular today. Another visitor has come to see you."

Descending from the sky, Tannin was joined by the Governor-General of the Fallen Angels, Azazel holding a large set of boxed lunches.

"Yo, you seem to still be alive! How's it going?" Azazel waved.

"Speak of the devil…he's here. That's…convenient…" Michael sighed and waved at the two old men approaching him.

After catching up, Michael immediately dug into the boxed lunches that Azazel brought with him.

"Fooooooooooooooooooood!" Michael shoved as many rice balls as he could into his mouth, "Thank goodness, some actual food. Ero-Sensei, you're a saint! I've been getting tired of eating charred meat from the animals in the underworld!"

"These three are from Rias, Asia and Akeno. At first, Rias wanted to surprise you by making one for you in secret, but eventually Akeno caught on to her charade and decided to make a boxed lunch for you as well. You should have seen it, the kitchen back at the Gremory castle was like a battlefield, and there were literal sparks as they competed to make you the best boxed lunch ever. Oh…they wanted me to tell you to choose a favorite out of both of theirs when you see them again." Azazel cackled.

"How come I'm always the one, who's stuck in the middle?" Michael groaned.

"That's the price to pay of being well loved by two strong willed women." Azazel said.

"Say I didn't hear you mention, Asia. Wasn't she apart of their competition?" Michael asked.

"No, she just so happened to make you a boxed lunch since she worried that you lacked nourishment out here in the wild, and asked me before I left to give them to you. She even packed some medical supplies for you. Here." Azazel handed Michael a small kit of meds, "Besides the other two, she seemed to act like the only mature one. Of course, I never said this out loud or I wouldn't even be here…"

_'_ _Asia, thank you…' Michael gently smiled as he gazed at the kit before placing it to the side. She's just as kind as always ever since they first met. He felt the need to do something kind for her after this whole trip was over._

"So, I can see that you've made some substantial progress during your time here." Azazel examined Michael's physical change in appearance, "Your eyes, they're starting to look much better than your old brattish eyes. Not to mention, I can tell that you've gotten a better grasp at controlling the dragon energy within you."

"Well, Gramps certainly didn't pull any punches when it came to my training. I had to go a few rounds against a couple of his subordinates and a few other dragons here to improve." Michael explained.

"I see…" Azazel nodded.

"And that's not even the half of it, he even taught me how to breathe fire like a dragon. He explained that if I better applied my dragon energy hard enough in my stomach then I could create a powerful ball of flames. Plus, speaking of flames…!"

Michael immediately hopped up and spewed a fireball into a nearby large boulder, demolishing it instantly.

"I've gotten the technique down and I don't have to go through the long process of breathing too much air to do it. Unless I charge up for a stronger fire ball." Michael shrugged and went back to eating.

"Nice…nice…" Azazel nodded.

"Oh! Oh! And you're not going to believe what happened to me when I first came here, Ero-Ossan. Gramp's kid, Bova wanted to be my vassal but even when I told him that I didn't really need one. He still insisted and even began coming up with plans for my future. He's such a handful." Michael giddily laughed like a child trying to tell an adult their long day of adventure and fun.

"Personally, I didn't expect Bova to take a complete 180 like that, but you must admit that he has gotten quite loyal towards you since you arrived." Tannin explained.

"Yeah, a bit too loyal if you asked me." Michael sighed before grinning, "But he's not the biggest handful when compared to you! You're not going to believe this Ero-Ossan, but Gramps here got a little "carried away" and blew up an entire mountain."

"I do admit that it was a bit too much."

"A bit? Gramps, you can still see the freaking smoke!" Michael pointed over the various mountains at the humungous smoke cloud filling the sky.

"Well, it's like I always say. There ain't no kill like overkill." Tannin chuckled.

"Wow…I'm going to steal that line and totally take credit for it in the future!" Michael laughed, "So what do you think about all of that Ero-Ossan?"

"Hmm…yes that's interesting, kid." Azazel nodded.

"Ero-Ossan?" Michael's eyebrow twitched.

"Incredible, I didn't know that you finally came out the closet. Hm, yes…I'll support you through this hard time of your teenage life, but it's okay…it's okay…" Azazel was busy scrolling through his phone as he was oblivious to the whole conversation.

"…!" Michael gritted his teeth as he decided to get back at the rude Governor-General.

So, he and surprisingly Tannin took a deep breath and spewed a collective lick of flames to engulf the perverted teacher.

"Gyaaaaaaaaha! I was still listening, albeit not fully, but I was still conscience about your story here!" Azazel patted himself of the flames and tried to repair his burnt cellphone.

"That's still not good enough! Don't you realize how long it's been since I've been here! I've collected great and wonderful tales that should ever grace the ears of many yet you think that being on your phone is more important?" Michael exclaimed.

"Excuse me for being a good sensei for checking in on the other's and their training!" Azazel rolled his eyes and continued to fiddle around with his phone, "So Tannin how has the brat been doing these past 15 days?"

"Oi, don't just ignore me to start talking wi-!"

"He's doing rather well. Better than what I had expected, but I should have expected him to be this durable since he was last trained by Son Kai. His stamina and strength have improved, and he's almost comparable in strength with the Mid-ranked dragons on the mountains. At the rate he's going, he appears to have gotten stronger both in power and mind." Tannin spoke, proudly of the young man's progress.

"Good, so he must have gained around 8 to 9 days for his Balance Breaker state, right?" Azazel asked.

"Around that much? Pfft! You must be joking, I've been doing this for 15 days, so it has to be that exact amount right, Ddraig?" Michael wore a smug grin.

**[The longest he'll be able to last is about 10 days at least.]**

"What!?" Michael screamed.

"Looks like I was wrong too, but that isn't so bad." Azazel shrugged.

"B-But Ddraig how can I only have ten days when I've been busting my ass off with 15 days?" Michael panicked.

**[Just because you're training for a whole month doesn't mean you'll get that exact amount time for your prolonged state in Balance Breaker. You're building up stamina, so it's going to take time until you reach a whole month. This should have been obvious.]**

"B-But! Vali's been ahead of me by staying in his Balance Breaker for a month, so I should catch up and be able to do that as well!" Michael angrily huffed.

**[Michael, that's his progress. Focus on your own and you'll get better results without having to compare your strength to Vali's every step of the way. It's good to notice the difference between the both of you, but it's also good to get stronger following your own pace.]**

"Yeah, yeah…" Michael waved it off and sighed.

"Tannin, you mentioned Michael's achievements during his training here, but tell me…" Azazel seriously looked at Michael being uncaring about Ddraig's helpful advice, "What were the setbacks he faced?"

Tannin nodded, and looked just as serious as Azazel as he stated, "During his time here, the youngling may have gotten stronger and more unpredictable with the way he's fighting, but his desire to get better has made him impatient. Just this week, he faced off against three high ranked dragons, and apart from two of those unauthorized fights, I wasn't able to stop the last one which caused him some heavy injuries. He went behind my back to train more by himself, and got hurt in the process."

"I see…" Azazel noticed Michael trying to avoid looking him in the eye, "Anything else?"

"Yes, he has yet to properly gain the ability "Welsh Drive". It had been 5 days since we began preparing for it, and he has failed to properly enter his own mindscape. This is a result of his impatience, he can't sit in place long enough to do it, his mind wanders, and he breaks focus and complains about it not happening right away."

"I see that part of you hasn't changed since the training began." Azazel said in a light tone, but still kept a serious look.

"…" Michael kept quiet.

"Many times, I've told him to take things easy, but in the end, he breaks concentration and never seems to properly enter his mindscape." Tannin shook his head, "You've already progressed enough and you'll still keep progressing these next 15 days, so why the rush?"

"…" Michael stayed silent.

Sighing, Azazel said, "Looks like we're not getting an answer from you, huh?"

"…" Michael looked down and quietly said, "I want to know more about my parents…"

"…!"

"…!"

Both Tannin and Azazel were shocked to hear; Azazel more than Tannin since he already pieced together what brought this up.

"Vali said that he looked into the Grigori database and found some files regarding my supposed homeland, clan and family. So, if anyone knows anything about me, then it would be you, Ero-Ossan. You did promise me in the clubroom that we'll talk about this later. Now is "later" enough so spill."

Michael faced Azazel with a desperate/serious look on his face, he needed answers or else he would still be plagued by these doubts that Vali and his dream instilled into him.

"Michael…" Azazel spoke using the boy's name, showing that he was serious about the discussion, "You deserve to know the truth because after all the information isn't my background to keep. Data about your mother, your original place of birth, and the happenings of why you aren't with them. You deserve to know everything."

"…"

"…"

A long silent and awkward pause emerged after Azazel stopped talking.

"Well?" Michael said.

"Hm, well what?" Azazel asked.

"Wha-! You know what's what! Weren't you going to tell me about my parents?"

"Oh no, you probably must have misunderstood, Michael. I told you that you did deserve the truth; never said anything about you getting it now." Azazel grunted as he got on his feet, "Well, I better head back and check to see how Gasper's doing in that crowded mall I ditched him in, I mean, the crowded mall that I…yeah, I ditched him to deliver this food to you. Enjoy."

"Are you serious right now!?" Michael angrily shouted as he jumped onto his feet.

"Yes, I was originally going to tell you about your past when I found you mature enough to handle it, but Vali kind of setback my plans by a few more years by telling bits and pieces of what happened." Azazel scratched his head.

"Few more years? When were you planning to tell me before that?" Michael asked.

"When you reached your…*COUGH!* 25th birthday." Azazel coughed while looking away.

"You were going to tell me when I turned 25?" Michael growled.

"Well, 29 now." Azazel shrugged.

"You added 4 more years!?" Michael growled.

"Vali spilling the beans about some of the details made me believe that you wouldn't handle the truth in 8 years, so I decided to wait 12 years when you're close to becoming a full-fledged adult." Azazel said.

"I can't believe this. You're just going to hold out on telling me the truth for that long?" Michael walked back and forth before looking at Azazel with an exasperated look of frustration in his eyes.

"Give or take." Azazel nodded.

"Why can't you just tell me now? I can take anything bad that will come from hearing about my past, so let her rip!" Michael tried to settle down his temper.

"You don't look like you take it."

"Yes, I can."

"Then try to stop walking in place. Usually when someone is moving around, they're trying to distract themselves from the main subject that's in front of them. For you this pacing back and forth is a sad attempt as an emotional distraction. So, no, you don't seem prepared enough to handle hearing about it n-."

"Well, I can okay, Ero-Ossan! So, if you would stop being elusive and cryptic as shit! Just tell me all about my FUCKING horrible past!" Michael snapped.

But he wasn't the only one.

"First, tell me why you assume that your past was wholly a horrible experience!?" Azazel shouted which shut Michael up,

"*SIGH!* This is why I wanted to wait. You're generalizing all of the negative things that Vali told you about your origins without considering more that maybe there could be some good things about your past that you just don't know. You're too single minded right now to critically think for yourself, in the future, I wanted to discuss this with you once you actually found your place in the world and fully mature."

Pinching his temples, Azazel said, "Dear god…this just turned into a big mess…look, you'll know about it once I believe you to be ready for it."

"Ero-Ossan, I have found my place." Michael noticed Azazel shaking his head out of a disagreement, but still urged the man desperately, "I'm serious, I'm Rias' Pawn and I want to become a Maou that she can be proud of. I'm not sure about maturing, but I'm sure I can if I at least learn about my parents and what really happened. You can see that I've been working hard here and I can do much better if you actually fess up to me about it."

"…"

"He's not entirely wrong, Governor-General, the issues aside, he still has improved with his training these past days. Why not at least give him a chance to prove it to you?"

"…?"

Azazel still didn't show signs of budging, but then turned around to strangely look at Tannin.

"Excuse me for barging into this, but I don't believe the youngling is entirely wrong. Perhaps hearing about his past could help him grow and realize things that would have taken him years to comprehend. Who knows, maybe he can rough out his main flaw that you worried about." Tannin said.

"And what would you suggest that he'd do to prove that he's ready for the truth?" Azazel asked.

"I'll leave that up to you, I only wished to voice my own opinion. Take it as you will, but just know that it could be a possibility for the youngling." Tannin crossed his arms and nodded.

"See, I'm totally capable of maturing once you tell!" Michael excitedly nodded.

Looking reluctant, Azazel looked between Michael and Tannin and was about to voice his denial of the suggestion before groaning, "Okay, fine. I'll give you a chance to hear about your parents."

"WOOHO-!" Michael cheered.

"Only IF you can accomplish this condition to prove to me that you're ready." Azazel interrupted, "Unlock your Welsh Drive and I'll tell you what you want to know."

"Oooooo…Oh…crap…" Michael's cheering peered out, "Isn't there something else I can do?"

"No, Welsh Drive should be more than enough proof to trust that you can handle the truth. You'll know what I mean IF you can actually enter your mindscape and get it." Azazel flicked Michael's forehead, "This is the only time I'm giving any outside interference to sway my mind, so you'd best accomplish this in the next 15 days or you won't get to hear about anything until I deem it, okay?"

"Yeah…yeah! Don't have to tell me twice because my guts will help me get that mode, then I'll catch up to Vali and get you to spill about where I came from. I'll finish this in 5 days, no 2 days! Just you watch!" Michael heartily declared to Azazel and got caught up in his growing anxious excitement.

Shaking his head, Azazel said, "I don't believe you fully understand the needed process to wait to really attain that ability, but you at least have a strong drive. I'll be leaving everything to you, Softhearted Dragon King." Azazel mocked Tannin much to the dragon's dismay.

"I only voiced out my opinion because I see a chance for the boy to grow. Whether that comes from this training or from you telling him the truth. The end result is still the same." Tannin said.

"What if that change didn't just end with a good result? It could equally turn out to be bad." Azazel said.

"Every decision made comes with either outcome, we can't avoid that irrevocable truth. Surely you must know that this outcome would still apply if you decide to tell him later in the future. He may or may not have matured enough to handle the truth. At the end of the day, it comes down to how much he takes the information." Tannin explained.

"...Yeah…well, I better go and check up on, Gasper. I installed a few hidden cameras at the mall and found him passed out in the ball pit of some nursery." Azazel begins to walk off before turning back to face Michael, "Before I go, Michael."

"Yup?"

"You've been called back to the Gremory annex, so Tannin, I hope you won't mind this annoying brat leaving for a day. I'll make sure to bring him back by tomorrow morning." Azazel said to Tannin, who nodded.

"It's quite alright. I think having the rest of the day to rest is needed for the youngling. Besides, I have an appointment with someone that might help with his training, so he needs to be in top condition." Tannin unfurled his wings as he was about to leave.

_'_ _Dammit, looks like I'll have to try training back at the castle. I just hope I can manage to…' Michael noticed Tannin giving him a stern look._

"W-What?" Michael sweatdropped.

"Don't push yourself by doing unnecessary training by yourself, and get some rest." Tannin scolded the young man.

"Okay…" Michael groaned, "But don't tell Bova where I'm going."

"Why not?"

"Because he'd storm in and make it hard for me to relax, and you want me to do that so keep that in mind." Michael pointed at Tannin with a frown.

"I'll do my best. Farewell." Tannin batted his wings as he took off deeper into the mountain territory.

"So…why did I get called back all of a sudden?" Michael whistled.

"Well, apparently Rias' mother wants you to go through a few lessons with her."

"Lessons? But I've already finished all of my lessons about devil culture and the devil alphabet. I've gotten so good that I learned how to cuss using the language. Wanna hear?" Michael snickered.

"There's a time and place for everything, brat. Do it later when we're both not busy, but until then…do you have it written down somewhere?" Azazel looked around and leaned in to whisper.

Michael pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Azazel, "Yeah, I got the stuff right here…I keep it on me to get a good laugh during training. Oh, the first word written is cu…"

Michael whispered into Azazel's ear.

"Hahahahaha! Nice." Azazel laughed.

"I know right, but the tutor says that its "unrefined" and "uncultured" and "stop teaching Millicas-sama these words" pfft! The nerve of that guy." Michael quoted as he angrily looked away. It wasn't his fault that the stuffy tutor didn't know when to take a joke. His lectures were boring and the only thing that kept Michael going was the thought of scribbling dirty words in a different language. Not to mention making Millicas his partner in crime.

"He just doesn't know pure comedy." Azazel pocketed the piece of paper.

"Exactly! Ero-Sensei, you get me!" Michael sniffled.

"Sadly, I do, and it gives me a headache." Azazel tiredly rubbed his head.

"You know, you can always relieve that headache by telling me about my-."

"Get Welsh Drive, then we can talk." Azazel unfurled his many black angel wings and walked off.

"Worth a try…" Michael shrugged as he whistled, "Sirius!"

Calling out to the heavens above, Michael summoned his red flying cloud to his side, "Nice to see you again, Stratus! We're going to Buchou's place, so let's not waste a minute, okay?"

Before he took off, Azazel said, "Wait, Michael."

"You know, you've been calling on me to tell me stuff more than once. Are you sure you don't want to tell me about my par-?"

"I entrust Akeno to you. Do your best for her." Azazel wore a serious smile.

Michael looked at Azazel in confusion before grinning, "You don't have to worry about Akeno-senpai, I've already been doing my best for her since the beginning. Heck, she doesn't even need me as much because she's already a strong person."

Satisfied with that response, Azazel turned around and raised his hand, "Whatever, see ya later, brat."

"Yeah, see you in 15 days! You better prepare to tell me about my past because I'm going to get Welsh Drive! Woooooooooooh!" Michael hollered as he zoomed into the vast sky.

"15 days, eh? We'll just have to see if it has to come down to that…" Azazel said to himself as he took off into the sky.

* * *

In the annex that was detached from the Gremory main residence, Michael was currently with Venelana during what could be the most tiring thing that he's done for the month, dancing. As soon as he arrived, he was suddenly dragged along into the annex; practicing which steps to take, correcting his rugged posture, and learning how to not step on his partner's feet.

Michael would have preferred those stuffy lectures with that tutor compared to this because Venelana was as strict as Tannin was when it came to teaching.

"Michael-san, keep you back straight." Venelana corrected.

"Hai."

"Michael-san, you should already know that we were supposed to turn during this step. Pay attention."

"Hai…"

***CRUNCH!***

"Nnnngh….ow…"

"Michael-san, you should know better than to take my steps. Memorize your own and pay attention like I instructed." Venelana sighed.

"H-Hai…" Michael squeaked as he teared up.

"I believe a break is in order. Unless you wish to try again and see how you fare?" Venelana smiled, graciously.

"N-No! A break sounds good…really good…" Michael bit his lip in pain.

"Do you need help taking a seat?" Venelana asked.

"Nope, don't worry about me. I got it, see?" Michael tried his best to muffle his screams as he limped to his seat.

"Impressive, I see that you do got it." Venelana teased Michael as she sat right next to him.

_'…_ _I don't know why, but getting teased by Rias' mom doesn't feel so bad…' Michael sweatdropped._

"So, is there a reason why I'm the only guy dancing, Vene-sama?" Michael grunted as he tried to catch his breath.

"You're asking why Kiba Yuuto-san and Gasper-san aren't here dancing with us? That's because they were already taught these techniques before you become a part of Rias' peerage. The reason why I'm teaching you this is because you lack common etiquette, no, I believe that you lack the base etiquette that a commoner raised in the human world should have." Venelana answered.

_'_ _Not going to deny that…' Michael agreed that he wasn't the politest person to be around._

"It's best to teach you an adequate amount of etiquette before you and Rias make yourselves known in high society. Customary practices have to be practiced as soon as possible during your short stay here in the Underworld." Venelana explained, but was quick to lose Michael as he looked dumbfounded.

"W-Wait, me and Ri-I mean Buchou in high society together?" Michael didn't understand what she meant with that, but Venelana quickly covered her mouth and smiled.

"Oops, I carelessly let that slip out. It's still quite too early to speak about this. Onto another thing, Michael-san." Venelana held her finger to Michael's face and scolded him, "You don't have to keep calling Rias by that title when around me. You can properly call her by name anytime you want, I don't mind it and I'm definitely sure Rias won't mind it either."

"Y-Yeah, but…" Michael sweatdropped.

"We already know that you two are dating, so as her boyfriend don't restrain yourself from saying her name around us." Venelana encouraged the boy with a smile.

"You guys already know?" Michael said in surprise.

Venelana nodded.

"How?"

"Sirzechs told us that during the meeting with the other factions, you admitted to having sex with Rias." Venelana explained.

"Oh…OH!" Michael's eyes widened as he shook his head in fear, "I'm so sorry! I'm not going to deny I said that, but she is your daughter and-and-! I cannot say how sorry I am…sorry…"

"Why are you apologizing? There's nothing wrong to admitting to having sex with your lover. In fact, just the other night Rias' father and I thoroughly embraced each other in a passionate tryst." Venelana shared her experiences with the reluctant Michael.

"No, I'm fine, Vene-sama. Thank you." Michael shook his head with a mortified look on his face.

"After a little foreplay, I decided to let him do it in the position he favored. Did you know that Rias' father loves to do it dog-?" Venelana whispered to Michael.

"No! No! I didn't, and now I do…I'm imagining it right now and now I'm scarred for life…" Michael whimpered.

"Just kidding~!" Venelana winked.

"Thank maou…" Michael groaned.

"It was actually my turn to choose, so we did it cowgirl style."

"Yup, that image is stuck in my head. Thank you…" Michael closed his eyes and sheepishly smiled in agony.

"You're welcome." Venelana joked.

The two laughed with each other as they grew to enjoy the other's company.

"So, is it really okay for me to call her Rias in front of you? I thought it would be a bad thing to do in front of her parents." Michael scratched her cheek.

"Michael-san, devils are quite understanding when it comes to relationships. My husband has a harem that I manage hearing my daughter's boyfriend call her by name is the least of my problems." Venelana smiled.

"Zeo-sama has a harem?" Michael almost fell out of his seat after hearing that.

"Like I said we devils are quite open with our relationships, and me and my husband are no exception. I make sure to manage his harem from time to time to make sure things aren't as hectic. Something that Rias should do with your own harem."

"My harem? I don't have one…do I?" Michael said, unsurely.

"I don't know you tell me. Give me some examples of weird behavior that you go through when around them on a daily basis." Venelana said.

"Well, there was that one time during the start of my devil life when Ray-chan and Asia fought over who would cook for me."

"Mmm-hmm."

"Ray-chan kind of gets clingy whenever I'm alone with her. Hell, she even volunteers to do my morning jogs with me despite her tiring out quickly."

"Yes…yes…"

"Asia gets really sad whenever I get too close to the others and pinches me, she even said that s-she loved me that one time... Koneko-chan's gotten used to sitting on my lap like it's her property, and Xenovia is…Xenovia. Kalawarner, oops, I mean Kalawarner-sensei is very nice but I admit that she's always trying to make some sort of move on me whenever she wants to personally tutor me. There's also Kiyome-senpai, who doesn't mind me being engaged to her and…"

"Go on…you're almost there." Venelana saw realization dawning upon Michael's face.

"And Akeno-senpai likes to tease me and tried to get close to me before summer break by sneaking into my bed!" Michael shouted upon figuring things out, "Oh my maou... It's true, I kind of do have a harem."

"See?"

"Yeah…" Michael looked around awkwardly and scratched his neck.

"What's wrong? You don't seem to be thrilled to hear that." Venelana asked.

"Its not that, I just don't know what to do is all. I never expected to have everyone like me that way. I'm dating Rias, so its fine for this to happen, right?"

"I can tell that Rias doesn't like the idea of sharing too much, but have the others ever stopped their attempts at showing you their affection?"

"No."

"There you go, I'm sure that Rias will get used to things, but if everyone feels the same way then it can't be helped." Venelana gently patted Michael on the back.

"So, do I have to act a certain way since I have one or…" Michael scratched the back of his head.

"There isn't anything wrong with the way your acting now. So just act natural and be yourself that's probably the reason why everyone likes you so much." Venelana pinched Michael's cheek in a playful manner, "That reason is probably why Rias fell for you in the first place."

Pulling himself away, Michael rubbed his cheek and looked away in embarrassment, "Got it."

Venelana's honest and kind advice touched Michael's heart as he felt strangely happy talking to a motherly adult. Usually he would feel this way around Saji's mother, too since he barely gets time to interact with an older woman. Instead he gets stuck in conversations with old men like Azazel and Ddraig.

**_[You're lucky that you're in the presence of a respected woman or I would have slapped you for calling me that.]_ **

_'_ _Oh, forgive me. I meant to say old sack of reptile flesh. Oh, wait I forgot, you don't have your body anymore.' Michael thought._

**_[You're going to regret this…it might not be today, or tomorrow, but it will come when you'd least expect it.]_ **

_'_ _Yeah, yeah…" Michael rolled his eyes, 'I just wonder why I'm so relaxed when talking about stuff like harems and…sex with Rias' mom. I know that me and Ero-Ossan would enter a little banter before taking the talk seriously, but with her I feel like it's natural to talk things out with her. I wonder why.'_

Before his mind could wander a little longer about that Michael remembered something from earlier that bothered him when he and Azazel parted ways.

"Excuse me, Vene-sama, mind if I ask you a question?"

"I don't mind, go ahead." Venelana smiled and nodded.

"How's Akeno-senpai doing? She's here, right? I wanted to know how her training is going." Michael kicked his feet in his chair as he looked concerned.

His concerns only worsened once Venelana put on a sad smile,

"She's been fine as of lately, but 5 days ago, she was sent here to rest after collapsing from exhaustion during her training."

"C-Collapsed!?" Michael said in a panic as he immediately got up on his feet.

"Don't worry, she's fine. She just overexerted herself during her training, I heard that she rushed to complete her entire training regimen throughout the first 10 days without any rest. She was able to accomplish her training in that timespan, but at the cost of her own health." Venelana held her cheek and sighed, "She's still recovering, but she isn't in a bad state as she was back then anymore."

_'_ _So Akeno-senpai has been going through more trouble than I initially thought. Could it be about her dad? No, I can't worry about that I need to cheer senpai up as soon as possible.' Michael shook off the pain in his foot as he turned to Venelana with a psyched expression._

"Vene-sama, which room is Akeno-senpai on?" Michael asked.

"On the second floor, in the south wing. Her door is the one at the end of the hallway." Venelana pointed up.

"Thanks! I'll be taking off!" Michael rushed off.

"I'll make sure to ask the servants to prepare your room for tonight, and I'll be sure to inform Rias and Asia-chan that you're here." Venelana exclaimed.

"Okay, oh and Vene-sama?" Michael stopped at the door and asked, "It was very nice talking to you like this. Do you mind…if we can talk like this again later?"

Wearing a delighted smile, Venelana said, "Why of course. I don't mind doing this with you again, Michael-san. Feel free to ask me about anything you want and we'll talk again, okay?"

"Sweet, thanks!" Michael wore a bright grin as he was about slip out of the room until…

"Michael-san."

"Yeah?" Michael pops up from behind the door.

"If you want you may call me Mot-." Venelana hesitated as she shook her head, "No, it was nothing. I apologize for holding you up."

"No, it's no problem! Well, I'm off!" Michael took off running, leaving Venelana to herself as she sighed in shame. She was so close to making the same outburst as her husband. After getting to chat with the young man, she finally understood Zeoticus' urge to do the same thing, but for a different reason besides the obvious future preparations that needed to be done.

_'_ _His eyes…' Venelana noticed the sad look in Michael's eyes when he asked to speak with her and couldn't help but try to offer that choice to him, 'I hope he's fine. Rias, you'd best get a better grasp of your boyfriend's turmoil or else things may take a bad turn for the worse.'_

* * *

Running through the halls even though many of the butlers and maids kept telling him not to, Michael made a beeline to Akeno's room. Nothing was going to distract him from doing what needs to be done.

"AKENO-SENPAAAAAAAAAI!" Michael screamed at the top of his lungs as he quickly climbed the steps and made his way to the second floor's south wing.

"AKEEEEEEENO-SENPAAAAAAAI!" Michael shouted a bit louder as he was approaching the door at the end of the hallway which opened to reveal a surprised Akeno wearing light clothing with her hair let down.

"Michael-kun?" Akeno blinked in surprise.

"Senpa-whoa! Whoa! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Michael slipped on the carpet and began rolling into the young woman's room.

***SLAM!***

"Ooof!" One of her dressers stopped his clumsy falling.

Looking at the young man in surprise, Akeno said, "Michael-kun, are you okay?"

"My mouth tastes like paint…I don't know why but that always happens when I hit my head. Is that good?"

**[No.]**

"Oh." Michael shrugged it off as he remained on the ground with his upper body's back against the dresser, "But don't worry about me! Are you okay, Akeno-senpai?"

"I'm fine, no need to worry, but are you…?"

"I'm fine!" Michael rolled over and hopped up on his feet, "I came to check up on you because I heard from Vene-sama that you fainted! So, I thought that I would cheer you up afterwards."

"You came all of the way here to check on my health?" Akeno gasped in surprise.

"Of course, after I heard that you collapsed, I freaked out and hightailed it up here!" Michael said in a state of panic before coughing, "But no need to worry since someone as capable as me is here to help you get better!"

Looking at Michael bewildered, Akeno slightly blushed before laughing into her hand, "Ara, ara, what a gentleman. Thank you for coming all this way just for me, Michael-kun."

"Hah! It's obvious that I'd come running, but…why did you complete your training so quickly?" Michael frowned.

Realizing where this was going, Akeno knowingly sighed and walked toward the table in her room to raise a teapot and offered, "I was done making some tea for us to enjoy, so let's talk while drinking some, okay?"

"R-Really!? *COUGH!* I mean, yes, I'd love to have some tea…hehehe…"

Usually, Michael would be excited to jump at the offer to have Akeno's delicious tea, but he tried to keep himself in control so he wouldn't get distracted. After taking his seat with her and grabbing his cup, and took a long sip of his tea with a serious look on his face.

"So, how is it?" Akeno asked.

"This tea is very  **nice."** Michael coughed.

"I'm so glad you liked it. I could make another pot for you if you want." Akeno offered again.

"N-No, it won't be necessary. Tea this good should be savored over time." Michael took a quick sip of his tea.

"I'm glad that you love my tea this much." Akeno wore a tired smile.

"Of course. Akeno-senpai, made it so of course it's going to be great." Michael grinned before gulping down the rest in his cup before pouring more.

"Thank you, Michael-kun…" Michael felt a tinge of exhaustion in her voice.

_'_ _Looks like she hasn't fully recovered yet.' Michael thought, 'That's not it. She also sounds conflicted and…'_

Looking closely at Akeno, Michael said, "Akeno-senpai…"

"Eh?" Akeno looked surprised but still kept her smile, "Is something the matter?"

Michael leaned in and said, "Are you sure that you're okay?"

"I'm quite fine. Don't worry." Akeno blinked as her smile began to look a bit forced.

"You're lying, aren't you?" Michael didn't hesitate to point that out.

"…!" Akeno didn't know how to react once Michael started to act more earnest.

"Already, I can tell that Akeno-senpai is bothered by something. Or else she would have already teased me by the time I entered her room with her alone. Not to mention, you're smile. Whenever you wear your caring smile, I get this feeling of assurance, but the smile you have isn't coming from the heart like it used to. Sure, you're tired, but that never stopped you from making it infectious to make everyone happy like you." Michael sat back and placed down his teacup to examine Akeno's surprised expression.

"Something is bothering you, so you can tell me and I'll do my best to cheer you up." Michael grinned, "I mean, if you want to. I don't want to pry unless you're ready to come out with i-."

"N-No, I guess, I should have been more open about it rather than trying to keep it hidden from you." Akeno looked down with a sad smile.

"…" Michael kept quiet as he intently listened.

"I take it you asked Venelana-sama about what happened, right?" Akeno asked and received a nod in response, "I see, then I guess I can get straight to the point. I accomplished Azazel-sensei's training all with the span of 10 days, and as a result I fainted due to the pressure."

"More like lack of rest. Akeno-senpai, why would you risk your health like that?" Michael asked, he knew better that he was the last person to say this to anyone, but his unease with her condition mattered more to him.

Exhaling deeply, Akeno loses her smile to solemnly tell the truth, "I wanted to lessen the time that I spent training with my instructor as quickly as possible."

"You did?" Michael tilted his head in confusion.

Akeno nodded.

"But why?"

"Because being around that man made me sick to my stomach, I couldn't handle the thought of being trained by him for the whole month. So, I managed to make a swift copy of the regimen planned out for me, followed the basics of what he taught me, and practiced the harder exercises that he planned for me when training during the day was over." Akeno's eyes narrowed with disdain, "I did what I had to do to get away from that man."

"So, you decided to train nonstop without a break until you collapsed?" Michael's eyes widened.

"…" That seemed to be the case as Akeno allowed the silence to answer the question for her.

"Sheesh, whoever your trainer was he must have been a complete assh-!" Michael stopped himself mid-sentence as he started to piece things together.

_'_ _Wait when the Ero-Ossan talked about her using the power her bloodline gave that would mean she'd have to train with her…' Michael kicked himself for not realizing this sooner._

"Hold on. Was your trainer your da-?"

"That thing? Yes, he was." Akeno interrupted before Michael could finish, "Sensei placed me in that thing's care for the rest of the month to teach me how to utilize the ability passed down to me that's called [Holy Lightning]."

"Whoa, that sounds awesome! What is it?" Michael asked.

"Basically, it's a fusion of my fallen angel light magic with my thunder magic to create holy lightning." Akeno showcased this by creating each property of magic before combining it into a sphere of concentrated white lightning.

"Cool…" Michael's eyes brightened in amazement, "So you learned how to do this in just 10 days? You're really something, Akeno-senpai."

"It's not much." Akeno looked disinterested and ceased the orb's appearance, "I didn't intend on using it after I learned how to use it anyways."

"Seriously, but why?" Michael asked.

_-"Refusing to use the power he's given you could be a bonus, but in the end, it reminds you of how pathetic you would be to rely on your_ _**precious** _ _daddy's power. We're a lot alike, you know?"-_

_The irritating voice of the hooded woman rang through Akeno's mind as she clenched her hand tightly. There were also Azazel's words that kept conflicting with her feelings as well._

_-"Don't deny yourself. What will you do if you can't accept yourself? In the end, the only thing you can rely on is your own body, right? It's your choice on whether you want to do this training, I can't force you. But know this if you keep doing things the way you are now, you'll become a liability to your King and your other servants."-_

_She didn't want to become a nuisance to the others who were getting stronger, but she just couldn't bring herself to give in and use the power that thing passed on to her._

"…" Akeno remained silent again; leaving Michael to wonder how to approach her problem. He couldn't think of any way to go about continuing from them. He knew that it was obvious to assume that she despised her power because it came from her dad, but he could feel some turmoil from her. He couldn't just tell her to suck it up and use her powers like everything will be okay. But he couldn't just leave her alone to deal with her problem either.

So, finding himself with a double negative, Michael came to a conclusion that he was more willing to choose.

"Akeno." Michael placed his hand over Akeno's clenched hand.

"…! Michael-kun?" Akeno broke out of her silent stupor to look Michael in the eye as he comfortingly smiled at her.

"What you do with your power is up to you. Whatever choice you make won't make any difference, I'll still do my best to support you. Even without that power, you're still my reliable senpai, so don't worry about it too much. If you come across a fight that you can't handle alone, then I'll be there to support you side by side to get through it." Michael firmly held her hand in his.

"So, do what you think feels right for you."

"…What feels right?" Akeno blushed as she repeated those words.

"Er…sorry about that." Michael quickly pulled back and scratched his head,

"So, yeah. Do what you think is right. This is your choice, so don't feel pressured to do what you don't want to do. The Ero-Ossan might have said to be honest with yourself, but that doesn't mean you have to force yourself to accept your power. I can't just assure you that using it will be better for everyone if you're this unsure… It's not Ero-Ossan's power or your father's or even mine. That power is yours, Akeno, and its your choice on whether or not you want to use it."

"My power…" Akeno looked down in deep thought before looking back up at Michael, who wore an unsure grin.

"However, if you want, I was wondering if we can do a tag team attack with your new power and my boosted gear. It would be awesome syncing with you just like I did that one time with Pretty Boy. I'm not trying to steer you into making a choice, I was just stating a possibility is all." Michael scratched his cheek.

"A team attack with you, Michael-kun?" Akeno blinked.

"Yep, but we can still try one even without that Holy lightning power. So, don't read too much into what I said, okay?"

"Its fine, Michael-kun. I get it, thank you..." For the first time since he arrived, Michael could tell that Akeno's smile was much sincerer than before.

"No problem! It looks like my mission is accomplished. You cheered up! The Gutsy Hanamura prevails like always…except for that one time and that one time and…that time when I tried to prank Kiryuu and almost got castrated by the archery team…" Michael sucked in his lips and rubbed his chin.

"Ara, ara, you know what they say. Failure breeds success even if failure is more likely to happen than success." Akeno giggled.

"Wait a minute, Akeno-senpai are you trying to cheer me up by implying that I should fail more in order to actually succeed?" Michael groaned.

"I don't think I was implying, but saying, Michael-kun." Akeno playfully stuck out her tongue at him.

"Augh!" Michael grabbed his chest as he felt his heart crush into a million pieces, "That just makes it worse."

Laughing at Michael's exaggerated cry, Akeno found herself cheering up along with the weight of her past doubts being somewhat lifted.

"I don't think its bad thing that you fail often. In fact, I find that to be one of your most endearing qualities." Akeno mumbled to herself.

"Hm?"

"Oh, it was nothing." Akeno laughed.

"Hmm…well, at least your back to wearing that smile of yours now. I can safely say that my work here is done." Michael stretched back in his seat before getting up, "I better go back to my room and rest before I get sent back to the Dragon Mountains. I have a lot of training to do…a lot of training…"

Michael looked solemn for a moment before shaking himself back to normal, "So I'll see you later!"

"Ah, wait a minute, Michael-kun. I have something to give you!" Akeno rushed over to Michael, who was near the door.

"What is it, senp-?"

***CHU~!***

Leaning in, Akeno kissed Michael on the cheek and embraced him tightly.

"Thank you for coming." Akeno nuzzled her cheek into Michael's chest.

"U-Urh…no problem." Michael returned the hug while trying to process the kiss that he received. Sadly, he didn't get much of it since he detected the presence of two others approaching the room, and he could already tell who they were.

_'_ _Crap, they're coming! I have to entangle myself from the hug before-!' Without Michael's knowing his right arm automatically opened the door and behind it were the looks of a surprised Rias and a teary-eyed Asia who were glaring at him._

"M-Michael-san?" Asia whimpered.

"Just what is the meaning of this?" Rias surrounded herself in a murderous aura.

**_[Payback's a bitch.]_ **

_'_ _Ddraaaaaaaaaaaaig!' Michael angrily shouted in his head._

"Oh, hello, Rias. I'm sorry, but could you leave us alone for a couple of minutes? Michael here took the liberty of visiting the residence out of concern for my health. He even openly embraced me after I gave him a kiss to the cheek." Akeno taunted the crimson haired king.

"Oh, really?" Rias' grew an angered tick mark on her head as her sights were set on Michael!?

"So, I take it that it never even crossed your mind to greet your girlfriend first when you arrived? Right, Michael?" Rias wore a forced smile.

"W-Wait, I have a very good explanation about th-ow!" Michael noticed Asia pinching his arm, "Asia, I'm sorry, too! Please forgive me!"

"Hmph…" Even Asia was displeased with the sight that occurred in front of her, but still, she was glad to see him doing well.

"Look, I can explain, so please calm do-!"

"If you want to explain something, then explain why I received word from a dragon outside that you decided to name your territory "I don't care" Mountain." Rias angrily exclaimed.

"My territory is named what? Ugh! Bova! I never told him what I wanted to name it, all I said was that I didn't care about that right now and…wait, yeah, I can see how that turned out the way it did…" Michael hoarsely sighed.

"Letting your guard down will hold some dire consequences, Rias." Akeno winked as she hugged one of Michael's arms.

"W-Why you-!?" Rias trembled.

"I won't lose, either!" Asia rushed out and grabbed Michael's other arm, "If Buchou is letting down her guard then I'll take advantage of getting closer to Michael, too."

"…!" Rias' anger was reaching to new heights as she threateningly approached Michael in a slow manner, "Hey, Michael, I heard that you were staying the night here before going back. So, let's privately discuss what you wanted to explain, okay?" Rias' murderous aura only spiked with each step.

"No, no, no, no! I'm supposed to relax! This can't be happening! This can't be-hyaaaaaaaah!"

Michael's screamed echoed off of the Gremory residence's halls and reached the annex where Venelana was taking a quick sip of tea as she knowingly smiled.

"Fight on, Michael-san, fight on…" Venelana giggled.

* * *

**Next Chapter- Special Training Day: The Adept Lion vs. The Rookie Dragon! Time to see if my Older Apprentice Brother lives up to the hype!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! So, what do you think of the progression that took place in the story?
> 
> A lot of exposition occurred, so I'm sorry if the story is a bit too much to read.
> 
> I hoped you enjoyed Michael's chat with Akeno and Natsuru. I didn't want to do the usual thing of having Michael instantly know the right thing to do for both of their problems since that's his own perspective on things which wouldn't completely work for others. Not to mention, Akeno's issue since he didn't want to force her into doing what she didn't want while at the same time convincing her that her [Holy Lightning] is still her power since she has the responsibility of doing whatever she wants with it.
> 
> Hey, next time, we'll finally see an interesting match-up, so don't miss it along with a special chapter surrounding how a powerful monkey and a little lion cub met in the first place so stay tuned.
> 
> Well, I'm out so peace out and have a wonderful day!


	56. Monkey meets Lion

**Monkey meets Lion**

* * *

_11 years ago_

* * *

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

The day was started off like any other for a young 8 year old Sairaorg Bael, he would wake up, deal with the incessant jeers and bullying of the local country devil then exercise by himself to get stronger for the sake of his mother.

This was the daily quota for young Sairaorg, but one day during his training he decided to deviate from the usual pattern and take a quick bathroom break in a bush.

Unfortunately for him during that break, he came face to face with an enormous big jawed, and sharp toothed demonic looking monster. It reigns destruction wherever it went, but its advances upon the Bael Countryside territory was interrupted thanks to the vain attempts of Sairaorg keeping the beast at bay.

He was outmatched, no matter how strong he was, he just couldn't defeat a powerful opponent such as this. Though things looked bleak, he just couldn't give up because if he did then not only would his life be at risk but more importantly the life of his own mother would be harmed in the process as well.

"Mother…all my life, you've been doing everything you could to make me happy. Even when everything was stripped away from you because of my existence, you still never wavered and kept smiling for my sake."

Sairaorg trembled as he faced the beast, it was ready to rips its fangs into him one last time.

_'_ _No…I'm not going to run away! I'm not going to let myself get scared! Because this time…'_

_Sairaorg took a deep breath before exhaling to put on his biggest smile._

"I'm going to be the one to protect you with a smile just as comforting as yours!"

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

The beast pounced and went on a wild charge after the young devil boy.

"BRING IT!" Sairaorg roared as he stormed into what seemed to be the last fight of his life.

"THERE YOU ARE!"

"H-Huh?" Sairaorg stopped in his tracks once he spotted a silhouette flying down toward the monster.

***BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!* *SPLAAAATTER!***

And from there he witnessed an unbelievable sight, in a matter of seconds the monster's entire upper half was blown to pieces thanks to a single punch from a brown haired man with an athletic build wearing a Hawaiian shirt, black shorts, sunglasses and sandals.

"…!" Sairaorg was at a loss for words as he was covered in the bloody remains of the vanquished monster.

"Phew...I knew there was more of these little critters scampering about. That alchemist really pulled a fast one on us by keeping a bunch of these things hidden away before releasing them automatically just as he got captured." The man cracked his neck as he walked off the carcass of the dead creature.

Taking a closer look at the man, Sairaorg's eyes widened in excitement as the gears in his mind made a connection.

"Oh my maou! Y-You're THE Son Kai, the [Queen] to the satan, Leviathan!" The injured Sairaorg forced himself to approach the powerful man standing before him.

However, unaware of Sairaorg's presence, Kai was busy surveying the area.

"Looks like this section of Sera-chan's territory is cleared…hm?"

He looked around and noticed some of the weird landscaping. "Uh-oh? Did I go a bit too farther than I thought? Let's see…"

Kai pulled out a map and checked the regions that surrounded the place.

"Ah…looks like this monster ran away to one of the Bael family's distant countryside territories. Good thing I manage to arrive before it rampaged even further. I would have hated to put up with those smarmy Bael folk..." Kai crumpled up his map and tossed it aside.

"E-Excuse me."

"Hm?" Hearing the frail voice, Kai finally caught wind of Sairaorg to spot the heavily injured boy clutching his bleeding and gashed arm in pain, "Can I help you?"

"Y-Yeah…I-I just wanted to thank you for helping us…" Sairaorg bowed his head.

"No need for thanks, it was just my duty to exterminate these pests." Kai said awkwardly as he thought,  _'Huh…I don't know why, but I didn't sense anything from this kid, weird.'_

"Well, I better be off. Take care of those wounds, okay?" Kai began walking off and waved at Sairaorg.

"WAIT!" Sairaorg screamed.

"Yeah?" Kai turned around to face Sairaorg, who was twiddling with his thumbs.

"W-Well…you're Son Kai, right?"

"Yeah…?" Kai didn't know how to emotionally react to the kid, he was a complete stranger that decided to talk to him from out of the blue. Despite having no reason to listen to whatever the kid was trying to say, he still felt intrigued by the boy for some reason.

"W-Well, I was wondering if…" Sairaorg paused, could he really ask someone of such high caliber a question that he already knew the answer to?

"If...?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

Hesitating, Sairaorg looked away and said, "Nevermind, I'm sorry that I wasted your time…"

"Oh…don't be, I already wasted my time catching that monster, so you stopping me is like overtime…" Kai shrugged, being brutally honest with the injured boy, "Wasted time on top of wasted time is still wasted time..."

"O-Okay…bye…" Sairaorg crestfallen turned himself around and began dragging his injured body back home.

_'_ _That kid…he's really injured…if he were simply a victim, then he would have been dead by now, but he's still standing, and moving, why?' Kai thought as he pocketed his hands._

"Hey, boy!"

"Yes?" Sairaorg stopped as he maintained his downtrodden demeanor.

"You wanted to ask me a question, right? Then ask."

"Come again?"

"Look, when a man has something on their chest they say it without hesitation of the feelings of others or anyone that judges them. The only thing that matters is how they feel when they express themselves. A man who can't even do that isn't a man at all." Kai said, seriously, "Now talk."

Still depressed, Sairaorg was now somewhat motivated by Kai's speech and decided to tear the bandage off as quickly as he could.

"Do you think that a demonic-powerless guy like me can…become a…Maou?" Sairaorg meekly averted his eyes from Kai.

"Look me in the eye, and I might just answer that stupid question, kid." Kai said.

Sighing, Sairaorg did just that and found Kai smiling at him.

"Why the hell not? It might be difficult, but certainly not impossible."

"W-What?" Sairaorg was stunned once he heard those words.

"Judging by the way you look, I can tell that you gave that monster one helluva fight. Okay, you didn't really tire it out, but you still fought and stood your ground. Most sane people would have just ran away, but you actually stood your ground and fought it. Hahaha, idiots like you never live long that's for sure, but you all make the future much more interesting, which is why I'm going to be the one to ask you a few questions myself."

Kai approached Sairaorg with a gentle smile on his face.

"I-I-I-!" Sairaorg was shaken after receiving so much praise from his idol.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to play 20 questions with you. I just want to ask you two questions. Like, what's your name, kid?" Kai smiled.

"M-My name is Sairaorg Bael." Sairaorg muttered.

"A Bael, huh? Surprised to see that you're out here in the country, but who cares about that. Anyways, now I don't have to call you "boy" or "kid" anymore since… I want to ask you this question, personally." Kai reached out and patted Sairaorg on the head,

"Sairaorg Bael, how would you like to become my first ever student? You've shown enough guts to prove that you can face death with a smile, so I don't think I'll break you as easily as I think and with enough elbow grease, I think that you can even become as strong as Maou. I mean, unless you want to take up my request that is."

"…" Sairaorg froze in place as he simply gazed at the powerful man before him.

Never in his life until now has he…

_"_ _Pathetic…!"_

_"_ _This sad excuse of a devil can't even use demonic energy!"_

_"_ _And you're supposed to be of the Bael bloodline!? Disgraceful!"_

_"_ _You'll never amount to anything you, defected failure!"_

_"_ _I have no son…"_

Ever been praised and looked at with such kind eyes beside his mother.

Eyes tearing up, Sairaorg began to tremble as he spoke incoherent words, "I-I-! Mmmrgh! I-!"

"I can't understand you, so try speaking up and look me in the eye with your answer like a real man, Sairaorg."

Slowly raising his head, Sairaorg just couldn't stop the tears from flowing as he did his best to live up to his past decree while forming the words he needed to say.

"I-I-! I accept!" Sairaorg exclaimed as he wore the wimpiest smile imaginable.

"Heh!" Grinning, Kai raised his hand and gave Sairaorg a hearty slap to the back, "Great! Nice to meet you, my new apprentice!"

Falling to the ground, Sairaorg fell unconscious from Kai's hard back pat and succumbing to the wounds he had received earlier.

"That's not good..." Kai sucked in his lips as he poked at the boy with his staff.

* * *

_Present_

* * *

Facing the Dragon Mountains with a bright smile on his face, a grown up Sairaorg eccentrically climbed the arduous mountains. Before continue, he spotted a flying red cloud carrying a young man, who was flying beside a large purple dragon.

"Boss! I already sent word to my gang that after you leave, I'll be stationed at your new territory, Mt. I Don't Care, and maintain it for whenever you come to visit! Oh, I almost forgot to show you my Dragon Circle in case you want to summon me for support and-!"

"I SWEAR TO GOD-ow! BOVA, CHILL OUT!" The young man screamed as the pair made their way to very top of the mountains.

"Heh! Shishou, you were right, he really is a lively one isn't he, Michael Hanamura?" Sairaorg picked up the pace of his climbing to face his new Apprentice Brother,

"Alright, hup! Let's go."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hoped you guys enjoyed this Short about Sairaorg's past in this story.
> 
> Anyways, I hope that you all have a wonderful day, I'm out so Peace Out and have a wonderful day!


	57. Special Training Day: The Adept Lion vs. The Rookie Dragon! Time to see if my Older Apprentice Brother lives up to the hype!

**Special Training Day: The Adept Lion vs. The Rookie Dragon! Time to see if my Older Apprentice Brother lives up to the hype!**

* * *

Waiting patiently on top of a mountaintop, Tannin awaited the arrival of two very important people scheduled to be here. One of them was supposed to be here by now as the learning student while the other was a visitor who happily volunteered to progress the learner's training.

Looking out into the distance, Tannin took note of the flying dragon and young man sitting on a flying cloud, compared to the dragon the young man looked to be miffed about something. Upon getting closer to landing distance, Michael hopped off Sirius to land alongside Bova.

"Ah, you two finally made it. I was beginning to think that you were lazing around the comfortable home of the Gremory Household." Tannin crossed his arms.

"Mmmrgh!" Michael grumbled under his breath as his cheeks were swollen red.

Taking notice of his anger, Tannin asked "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it…" Michael angrily whispered as he struggled to put aside all his traumatizing memories of Rias' constant scolding, Akeno's teasing, Rias getting mad because of Akeno's teasing, and Asia's jealous pinching.

There was only so much that he could take that by the next morning, he slipped out of bed without waking them up and took flight for the mountains without even looking back. He knew that he wouldn't survive the next fight which would arose in the morning since their last argument before he forced himself to bed would have led to them asking him about who's bento box was his favorite.

Along the way, he begrudgingly met up with Bova who loyally waited for him through the night. He would have chewed the dragon out for inputting that ridiculous, permanent name for his territory.

Yes, it was permanent, during his scolding from Rias, she told him that a low-class devil being given their own territory was honestly something that the Gremory family would allow, so it would in the servant's best interest not to give it an outrageous name, or else they would be forever stuck with it as a haunting reminder treating such a generous privilege as a joke.

"I see… So, I guess you didn't take the news of your territory's new name too well?" Tannin grimaced.

"What the-!? How did you know about that?" Michael gasped.

Tannin spared a glance towards Bova, who nervously looked away.

Following the old dragon's line of sight, Michael shouted, "Bova!"

"Yeah, Boss?" Bova whistled.

"Mind explaining why Gramps knows about "I Don't Care" Mountain?"

"Probably because I called and told him about it while you crashed at the Gremory Residence."

"Why!?" Michael's cried.

"I thought you didn't mind the name at the time, so I wanted to tell the Old Man how amazi-no, great your naming skills were." Bova slumped his head down.

Shaking his head, Michael screamed, "Oh no you don't! I do admit that I do have great naming skills, but you're not getting off the hook that easily, pal!"

"Yes, boss. Sorry, boss." Bova kept his head down and nodded.

"Because of you I had to suffer at the hands of Rias all day, yesterday! I-It was horrible!" Michael wept, "That was the second most painful experience of my life!"

"What are you talking about Boss? You told me on the way here that you were getting hounded at by Gremory-san because you-."

"No, no! Shut up, don't say anything else! Did I say I was done!?" Michael shouted.

"No, boss…sorry…" Bova sighed.

"Damn right you are… But despite the physical pain that I received; what you did by assuming that "I Don't Care" mountain would be one of the great names that I would come up with was the last freaking straw!" Michael growled,

Calming down with a cough, Michael said, "You barely used any of my favorite key words such as "Great" or "Gutsy" or even "Michael" and lets not forget the most important part: Hanamura! These are the perfect names that I would have used for the mountain!"

"I-I understand…" Bova was thrown out of the loop, but tried his best to understand.

"Y'see, you can't just give something a title without including yourself that would just be a waste. The people have to know that YOU own the land without having to ask who named it." Michael elaborated.

"I see… So, it's sort of like spray painting your name on the walls of your streets, so some enemy punks will steer away once they hear your name's apart of the land!" Bova snapped his clawed fingers upon his realization.

"Exactly!" Michael nodded.

"I get it, Boss, how clever! I promise not to make such a half-assed mistake again, but for future reference what naming tips do you have for me?" Bova asked.

"Well, I'm glad that you asked Bova because I have a list right here…"

"I'm quite taken surprised with how fast your mood has changed youngling, but …Wow, he actually did pull out a list…" Tannin wondered where the young man pulled out the list but instead listened intently to his long list of names that he crafted for what seemed to have been ages ago.

"Ahem! My first recommendation would be to include either Great or Hanamura in any title you make. But always! ALWAYS! Include Michael and Hanamura together or people will get confused about who's Michael, and who's Hanamura." Michael coughed.

"But boss, how will people know, who you are based on the title of "Great Hanamura" alone for the territory? Wouldn't they still be confused about who you are?" Bova asked as he was writing down Michael's instructions on a strangely large notebook.

_'Eh? Bova, where did you pull out that notebook? I didn't know that there were notebooks made to accommodate for dragons.' Tannin sweatdropped._

"Tch! Another stupid mistake, Bova…" Michael shook his head, "Isn't it obvious? It shouldn't be a surprise since people will obviously know about me since I always talk about myself in the third person, duh!"

"…That's genius…" Bova looked at Michael, speechless.

"Thank you…" Michael bowed.

"Sometimes I can't tell whether you're enjoying your new friendship with Bova or not…" Tannin shook his head and pinched his temples.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm about to go and start my meditation! I can't waste my chance by letting the Ero-Ossan's offer pass by!" Michael began running off before getting pulled back by Tannin's large tail.

"Ah, not so fast, youngling. Don't you remember what I told you before you left the other day?" Tannin asked as he lifted the entangled Michael to face the dragon's larger face.

"That I'm a clueless buffoon?" Michael asked.

"No."

"Then who did call me that?"

**[I did.] Ddraig chimed in.**

"Oh yeah, I do remember you saying that… Hey, Ddraig?"

**[Yeah?]**

"You suck." Michael lightly growled, "So Gramps, what's so special about today?"

"I told you that you had special training planned for you because someone graciously took it out of their busy schedule to personally see to your progress." Tannin said.

"What!? Seriously, can't that wait after I finally figure out how to enter my own mindscape?" Michael pointed to his forehead.

"That can wait, besides, you could use the extra practice. I'm sure it will give you some more battle experience than what you've already earned from facing most of the dragons earlier this month." Tannin slightly smiled.

"Really?" Looking intrigued, Michael placed his worries about his deal with Azazel to the side to wonder about the training that Tannin offered, "Am I going to be facing a High-level dragon this time? Perhaps one of the dragons from your peerage? Or perhaps, you'll give me the chance to face off against you again, gramps."

"Hmph! Not even close, youngling, you're still not ready for that kind of challenge yet. No, you're going to be facing someone who isn't a dragon for the day." Tannin shook his head.

"Someone who isn't a dragon? So that means that I'm going to be fighting a devil, but who?" Michael wondered and rubbed his chin.

"Don't worry, Boss, you're more than capable of facing any scrub that my old man invites to fight you." Bova gave Michael a confident thumbs up.

"Yeah, I'd like to see it that way, but if Gramps is going this far for something special today... It must be a tough opponent, but who is it…?" Michael grumbled in deep thought.

"THAT WOULD BE ME!"

Echoing from over the edge of the mountain cliff, a prideful voice was heard echoing from the bottom of the mountain.

"Who the hell was th-yikes!"

Curious, Michael rushed over to look for the voice's source, but was met with a powerful force of air created by a shadow who jumped over and landed valiantly behind him. The sheer speed of the individual surprised Michael as he fell on his butt.

"Hahaha! It's nice to see you once again, Michael Hanamura!" Standing proudly over the knocked down young man, a grinning Sairaorg stood over him with his shadow casting over Michael's fallen form.

"No freaking way!" Still startled, Michael stood up and looked to Tannin, "You mean I get to fight…?"

Tannin nodded and gestured to Sairaorg,

"Youngling, meet your sparring partner for the day, Sairaorg Bael."

"Once I caught wind that you were being trained on the Dragon Mountains with Tannin as your instructor, I just had to take the chance to gauge the strength of my little apprentice brother." Sairaorg joyfully laughed.

_'Apprentice brother? Right, he did call Shishou, well, Shishou during that meeting with the upper echelons of the devil society.' Michael remembered with a shocked expression._

"It's nice of you to finally come, Sairaorg, I trust that you had a pleasant trip over here?" Tannin bowed his head in respect.

"Yes, and excuse me if I came a little late. It's just that I haven't been in the wild for a while, so I decided to take my time and enjoy a regular hike through the mountains. I see that most of the inhabitants of Dragon Mountain are doing well?"

Tannin nodded, "There haven't been any severe conflicts over territory the last time you were here so don't worry. The Higher leveled dragons are comfortable with areas so barely any trouble occurs, but that doesn't excuse the-."

Tannin and Sairaorg got into a deep conversation leaving Michael alone to digest all of the new information that was thrown at him.

***Poink!* *Poink!***

"Whoa! Rael…?" Michael turned his head over to his shoulder to spot a small dragon perched on it. He swore that it was Asia's familiar, Rael, but taking a closer glance, he found it to be a different dragon with purple scales.

"It looks like my old man really went all out for you, boss. This looks like it will be a tough match for you but don't worry I believe that you can-!"

"Who are you?" Michael questioned.

"I-It's me, Bova." Bova muttered.

"Oh… So, you can turn yourself into an adorable Sprite Dragon at will? That's pretty cool." Michael smiled.

"I only used a transformation spell to reduce my size to that of a Sprite Dragon, I didn't really change species." Bova looked irritated with a scowl on his face.

"What's up?" Michael asked in question of the small dragon's alarm.

"I…can't stand this form." Bova growled, "People find me to look cu-cu-cuuuuu…!" Bova struggled to say the words.

"Cute?"

"Yes, that." Bova nodded, "Because of people seeing me that way, they started to get the idea that I was fine with getting patted on the head like a dog or get my cheeks pinched! Can you imagine the humiliation that I went through during my old man's special appearances in devil society?"

Michael noticed Bova tearing up and knew how prideful the dragon could be and can see how justifiably shamed he was to be put through that sort of embarrassment.

"Bova, I'm so sorry that you were put through that, no one should have to be forced to experience that form of pain… Ever…"

"Boss…" Bova admirably gazed at Michael.

"Remember, Bova, you may get on my nerves when you're thinking about my future and my well-being but I will always try to respect your privacy." Michael smiled.

"Thank you, Boss." Bova smirked.

"Now…" Michael raised his hand,

"Can I pinch your cheeks?"

"Huh, what? No!" Bova immediately denied.

"Aw, come on. Just one cheek pinch is all that I need. It doesn't even have to be a pinch, I can just poke you on the cheek; it will be completely harmless just trust me, okay?"

"Whatever happened to respecting my privacy?" Bova sweatdropped.

"I asked you instead of straight up doing it so that has to be a consolation, right?" Michael asked with a playful shrug but Bova was not amused with him twisting up his own words to use as his advantage.

"Poke? Poke? Pinch? Pinch?" Michael teased the small dragon by poking and pinching the air in front of him.

"No." Bova answered seriously.

"I see, if that's your decision then I understand. It's your body and you have no reason to accept my plea and I accept that." Michael solemnly smiled with his eyes closed.

"…Boss, put your hands down..." Bova didn't buy it as he felt the presence of Michael's hand almost touching his cheeks.

"So close…" Michael sighed before turning his attention to Sairaorg, "I know that Sairao-I mean, Aniki is a powerful guy from the Bael Clan, who was trained by Shishou but that's it. Just by sensing his energy signature I can tell he's going to be a really difficult guy to beat, but is there anything else that I don't know about him?"

"There's more to Sairaorg-san than that." Michael was taken aback by Bova's respectful usage of Sairaorg's name as the small dragon visibly began to sweat, "But out of all of the younger devil's he is considered to be the Strongest Youths of his generation."

"The strongest? Not even Buchou or the other masters can compete with him?" Michael gasped from that eye-opener of a fact.

"The reason that Sairaorg-san's the strongest is because he didn't follow the norms that devils were privileged to have; this makes him a serious threat to them because the path of hellishly training his body gives him more of an advantage against pure-blooded devils who solely rely on the power their bloodline gives to them."

Bova nodded.

"But wouldn't Aniki have his own bloodline powers to use? Does he not use them as a show of relying on his physical prowess rather than magic?" Michael asked.

"That's something you should ask Sairaorg-san, Boss. I don't believe I have any right to talk further about his past with you." Bova shook his head.

"You really have a lot of respect for him, huh?" Michael smiled.

Thinking that this was a bad thing, Bova said in alarm, "That's not it at all, Boss! I-I mean I do respect this guy's strength and all, but I still prefer to be loyal to you as Vassal until the end! In fact, I think you stand a chance against him even if he is stronger than you, faster than you and definitely experienced than you!"

"Chill out, I wasn't questioning your loyalty. I just figured that since he even has you respecting him than that must mean he really is something else." Michael crossed his arms and examined the flow of energy exuding from Sairaorg.

Just like at the Young Devil Meeting he still felt an exuberant amount of energy flow from his body like a rushing river and that was just the layer of power that he allows out of his body.

_'Incredible.' Michael thought._

He couldn't help but smile for some reason, unlike his fights with Shirou and the countless high-leveled dragons on the mountain, he didn't feel as frustrated once the opportunity to spar with a powerful opponent such as Sairaorg was brought up.

Perhaps it was because he knew that Sairaorg's training originated from the same master. This instilled into Michael an eventual promise that he'll get as powerful as Sairaorg as he stays under Kai's tutelage.

At the time, his worries over rushing through the fight to focus mainly on his meditation were swept aside at the notion of fighting someone who was the perfect benchmark in power for his future.

"Oi, Aniki!"

Grabbing Sairaorg's attention, Michael smiled while crossing his arms in front of him before swinging them out in front of himself, "Osu! I'm grateful for the chance to spar with someone like you!"

"Nice vigor, I expect that from my fellow apprentice!" The well-built devil chuckled.

"So, are we going to be fighting until one of us gives up or what?" Michael excitedly turned to the massive dragon.

"The fight won't end until I deem it so try your best to hold out. Remember, winning isn't the objective so use this opportunity to learn from Sairaorg and better yourself. The experience might even help you with your meditation if you're observant enough."

"It can!?" Michael shook in anticipation, "Woohoo! Now this is a two for one battle that I just can't wait to have! Let's do this!"

"Hold your horses, youngling." Tannin picked Michael by the scruff of his collar and brought him up to his face.

"What now?" Michael said in a rushed fashion.

"I just wanted to remind you that we still haven't undone the seal on your Balance Breaker the other day due to the conversation that you and the Governor-General got into."

"Whoops, that was supposed to happen wasn't it…?"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

Michael sucked in his lips and summoned his Boosted Gear.

"So, do you wish to undo the seal and use your Balance Breaker during this fight?" Tannin asked.

"No thanks, I can wait once the fight is over."

"What?"

Swinging himself from Tannin's clawed finger, Michael lands on the ground with a grin on his face, "My training so far only required me to train without a Balance Breaker, so I want to test how far I've come with my base state alone for now."

Tannin was visibly wonderfully surprised by the boy's change in attitude; if this were the same Michael from 15 days ago he would have insisted on using Balance Breaker without hesitating.

"I mean if that's alright with you, Gramps." Michael asked.

"It's fine with me, youngling, I understand, and I sort of see the logic you're using for approaching this spar." Tannin nodded.

"Logic?"

"You wish to fight Sairaorg using your base form because you have yet to properly train in your Balance Breaker form yet which could lead to it severely hindering your ability to properly fight. That's a really insightful observation, youngling, I'm impressed."

Tannin praised the sweating Michael.

"Hahahaha, yes! That was completely my mindset from the start! I really am such a clever genius, aren't I? Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go face him now!"

Michael laughed before hastily walking to face Sairaorg with a distressed look on his face.

_'What the hell? How did he get all of that from me denying to undo the seal? I just wanted to test my base state and see if it'll be a match for him so I can gauge whether using my Scale Mail would even things out! I didn't know that using my Balance Breaker right now would cause some trouble…'_

Taking off into the air with Bova by his side, Tannin said, "I'll be watching from above so use this mountain to your hearts content and don't hold anything back you two."

"You've got this, Boss… I mean I hope you got this… Either way if you start to get your ass kicked just know that I'll still be rooting for you!" Bova exclaimed.

_'Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence but I have to agree that Aniki seems to be on a whole other level than me.' After groaning, Michael began to get in his fighting stance,_

_'So, I'll have to throw everything at him while seeing what he can do!'_

"Nngh! There we go…" Sairaorg grunted.

"Eh?"

Placing his attention on the stronger devil, he was taken aback by Sairaorg stretching his limbs out.

"Aren't you going to stretch too, Michael Hanamura?" Sairaorg exhaled after stretching out his arms, "Its crucial that before a fight you stretch so you can avoid cramping up. Wouldn't want to fight you with my muscles so tightened."

"A-Ah, right I guess I should do that." Feeling a little embarrassed for getting too excited, Michael heeded Sairaorg's advice and did some leg stretches.

Michael kept quiet expecting a long moment of silence as they stretched but was stirred by Sairaorg breaking the ice with a light conversation and the best part was that he wasn't even awkward about it at all.

"Although Tannin gave us the go to fight to our heart's content, I'm going to set a little condition for myself during this sparring match." Sairaorg finished stretching and raised a finger, "I will only attack when engaged so I'll allow you to take the initiative and throw the first hit and so on. Most of my moves will be reactive so things won't be too overwhelming for you this sparring match is for your benefit, so I won't get too proactive."

Grimacing at this, Michael started to feel a twinge in of dissatisfaction,  _'So he's going to hold back…Fine, then I'll just have to make him get serious as the fight contin-?'_

Dashing the boy's worries though, Sairaorg laughed, "But don't get me wrong I intend to take you fully seriously when you engage me so don't think I'll just let you get away with your usual tricks."

Sairaorg grinned once he noticed the look of surprise on Michael's face, "I make a habit of never underestimating my opponents especially those who take advantage of being underestimated because they more than anyone else can change the tides of battle. Your battle with Riser Phenex is a perfect example of that."

"You know about that?" Michael asked.

"Of course, I just asked for permission from my Uncle and Aunt to watch the recordings of Rias' first Rating Game. Each of you equally fulfilled your parts and made up for what the other lacked in combat, but what really helped Rias win that Rating Game was your unpredictability against Riser and his servants. The opposing side was arrogant and had assumed that victory was already in their hands, but by using their arrogance to your advantage, you managed to force them out of their comfort zone and knocked them flat."

Sairaorg said, "You're a tricky one, Michael Hanamura and I intend to keep a rather close eye on you so I don't miss something interesting, and above all else get caught up in one of your clever ploys to catch me off guard."

"…" Michael was speechless as a rush of emotions conflicted inside him, he was of course happy that a High-class Devil like Sairaorg was acknowledging his strength but that only emphasizes how much of a threat Sairaorg was to him in a fight.

_'It looks this guy really is the worst kind of opponent for me to face right now.' He remembered the Rating Game Tournament and Ddraig's warning after he fought with Shirou._

**_[Because you are weak against opponents who have trained and practiced using their power, the type that fight all out and won't underestimate anything you do. They won't be pushing you around or toying with you, in fact, they may actually be seeing you as a threat to defeat or to kill.]_ **

_'This will be one hardest fights I've been in since my time on the mountains, save for Gramps, but I'm not going down so easily!' Michael encouraged himself and continued stretching before stopping himself to think,_

_'Wait… Ddraig did you just repeat what you told me back then in my head?'_

**_[Considering that I'm trapped in your empty skull then, yes, I did repeat that.]_ **

_'Why?'_

**_[Because unlike you I don't like hearing my voice replay itself in your head. If you want to recollect about something I said, then just ask me.]_ **

_'Alright…' Michael shrugged, 'Hey Ddraig remember that one time when you said that one thing to Typhon when he brought up Tiamat the Bitch dragon?'_

**_-[Of course, all the memories that I had when I was alive became blurry when I was sealed inside the sacred gear. She attacked us last time and I couldn't understand what she was saying!]-_ **

**_[Michael, I swear that I will choke you in your sleep with your own arm if you continue to-! Wait, hold on... How did you know about that conversation? Weren't you unconscious when Natsuru kidnapped you?]_ **

_'…You see, Ddraig, I kind of…' Michael gulped before smiling, 'Have to focus on the fight so this conversation is over."_

**_[You slippery, son of a bitch! You were already gaining consciousness and pretended to be knocked out just to hear our talk didn't you!?]_ **

_'This conversation is OVER!'_

**_[No its no-!]_ **

"So Aniki!"

Michael immediately cut Ddraig off to snatch Sairaorg's attention for the moment. He didn't have a good opinion on High-class devils like Riser or the old devils that he met in that important meeting, but he could tell that Sairaorg was vastly different from them considering that he isn't as condescending and arrogant as they are. Including that he was trained by the same master as him, he wanted to know more about his senior apprentice.

"After this is over do you mind if we talk afterwards?"

"Hmm…" Sairaorg rubbed his chin while looking gravely seriously, "I did say that I wanted to talk with you later, but… We don't have any tea or snacks, especially the snacks…"

"Snacks?" A question mark popped up over Michael's head as watched the muscular devil contemplate his thoughts.

"What kind of example would I set for my younger apprentice brother if I can't even share a conversation without providing any refreshments?" Sairaorg clenched his fist in vexation before snapping his fingers upon realization,

"I've got it! After our spar, why don't we go hunting for the wild Rage Boars outside of the mountains and use them as sustenance while we talk?"

_'He's really keen on eating, huh?' Michael could somewhat relate to the man._

"Sure, I don't mind going out for a little hunt." Michael forced himself to make a bitter smile.

"Great! Now that we've got our meal plan sorted out we can finally get things underway!" Sairaorg looked up and gave Tannin a thumbs up.

**"If both fighters are ready then I'll commence the fight in 3…!"**

_'Time to see what Shishou taught this guy, he barely trained me any more than I needed because he was too busy but if this guy's been with him longer then maybe I could get to know a bit of his techniques.'_

_Michael slowly entered in stance again and examined Sairaorg doing the same although his had less form and looked less tense than Michael's._

**"2…!"**

_'Going all out at the start will only make me tired, I just need to go with the flow and see what he's capable of.' All of this intensive thinking stressed out the Pawn and the fight hadn't even started yet._

**"1…"**

Michael slowly began taking creeping steps and tensed his arms.

**"BEGIN!"**

Immediately taking off, Michael rushed Sairaorg with a rather normal pace before engaging the older man in hand to hand combat. Throwing the first hit, Michael swung his leg for immediate contact with Sairaorg's right torso; only for it to be swiftly guarded by Sairaorg's forearm before getting the ankle of his leg grasped by the man.

"…!"

Using the posture that Sairaorg forced him into, Michael leaned in and used the opposite arm to his blocked kick to throw a punch to Sairaorg's face but that only resulted in Sairaorg blocking the fist with an open palm before latching his fist into a tight grip.

Realizing how dangerous it was to stay locked in Sairaorg's grip, Michael leaned his body back to slam the heel of his foot against Sairaorg's jaw.

"Hmm?" Sairaorg noticed the boy subtly enhancing his free leg with touki, "Sorry, but I'm not going to let you do that."

"What the-!?" Sensing something build up in the palms of Sairaorg's hands, Michael felt something strange in caught fist and leg before he was suddenly propelled back from Sairaorg's grasp.

_'How did he-?' Michael gasped as he prepared for impact on the ground below and managed to stop his tumbling momentarily to catch his second wind, 'Okay, after getting knocked back like that I can finally get some space to thi-!'_

"I've yet to properly retaliate yet, so don't let you mind wander off!"

***BAAAAAM!***

***CRASH!***

"Gaaagh!" Getting an elbow to the face, Michael was sent flying and crashing into the mountain wall. Coughing up a fit as he wiped his bleeding nose, he glared at Sairaorg, who was comfortably cracking his knuckles with a smile on his face. That attack hurt almost as much as Vali's if not more in comparison to the former.

"I remember telling you that I would reciprocate your attacks with my own. Just because I'm mainly blocking your blows doesn't mean that I wouldn't throw your way now and then."

Sairaorg grinned as he noticed Michael get up with a determined look in his eyes to go all out. This form of excitement is hard for him to come by save for his past battles with Seekvaira's [Queen] so to further goad the boy on he made a taunting gesture and said,

"Well, I'm waiting."

_'Taking things too slow isn't going to work after all, I need to take things up a notch.' Michael exhaled as he cloaked his body with touki to enhance his speed and attacks._

"Impressive, I knew that attack earlier meant that you knew how to do it, too." Sairaorg crossed his arms.

_'I'm not surprised that he can do it, too…' Michael groaned, he knew that Shishou was a slave driver when it came to training, so this was a requirement of the results he would want for his students._

Kicking off the ground, Michael used the full force of his touki to launch himself at Sairaorg and throw an unrelenting barrage of punches his way. Just like before, Sairaorg continued to be reactive when blocking and redirecting each of his hits with the palms of his hands.

"Nice, I see that Shishou properly taught you the standard uses of Touki and the amount that you have along with the control over it is impressive. My only issue with your usage of it is: Why are you unnecessarily wasting so much of your energy with such redundant moves? Throwing the same punches over and over again won't change a thing." Sairaorg cheerfully praised and questioned the young man.

"Rrrgh!" Throwing one last punch, Michael missed Sairaorg's face.

"If you continue using the same move repetitiously it will be easier to detect the final blow and dodge it, you know." Sairaorg smiled and cocked back his fist.

"Heh!"

***SLAAAAAAAM!***

Michael wore a grin as he used his thrown fist's arm and cloaked it with Touki as he immediately hammered his forearm down upon Sairaorg's neck and indirectly the hard earth below from the blow's impact.

"Nice trick, your simple attacks before were simply a proxy to get the best of me, but I'd still have to say that the drawn out punches pretty much made it a bit too obvious." Sairaorg responded from below Michael's swung arm as he prepared his punch,

"Not to mention, you left yourself open by doing an upper body attack."

"Crap!"

***WHAAAAAAAAM!***

"Goooough!" Michael coughed up a mouthful of blood as he skidded back from the force of Sairaorg's single punch alone,  _'Damn, this guy's punches are devastating…!'_

Angrily stomping his feet on the ground, Michael stopped skidding and tried to catch his breath and devise a plan.

Sairaorg simply stood and smiled as he watched Michael walk around him in search of a weak point.

"I'm ready anytime you are, Michael Hanamura. I've yet to sustain any damage." Sairaorg reminded.

"I know that already, geez! I'm just thinking is all!" Michael angrily exclaimed.

"Looks like someone is getting worked up." Sairaorg laughed at the boy's honest response.

_'I don't get it, he's so relaxed in his stance, but I can't seem to find any openings. Just what in the heck did Shishou teach to make this guy so damn strong?' Michael clicked his tongue in frustration. He needed to think of a way to catch the Bael clan member off guard to at least land a single hit._

_Looking around himself for anything to use, Michael spots a huge boulder thrice his size not too far and immediately rushes over to it, 'This could work!'_

Using all of the strength his legs and back could muster, Michael lifted the boulder over his shoulder and faced Sairaorg. He gritted his teeth due to how heavy the object was but had not issue when throwing it directly at the man, who stayed complacent. Doing what would be common sense, Sairaorg cocked his fist back and prepared to smash the boulder to pieces.

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

"!" Sairaorg gasped once he noticed the boulder shattering before he could smash it.

**"Dragon Blaze!"**

***DOOOOON!* *FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

Decimating the boulder, a brilliant red stream of flames emerged and threatened to engulf Sairaorg's body along with the portion of the mountainside he stood on. Rather than be surprised by the fake out, Sairaorg relaxed his body and tensed his arm before simply throwing a single punch.

***FWOOOOOOM!***

With the force of his attack, he was able to create a pressurized blast of air that quickly extinguished the wave of flames. Upon removing the flames, Sairaorg noticed that Michael was no longer standing before him.

"…" Waiting patiently, he suddenly heard rushing footsteps coming at him.

**"Crushing Dragon Fi-!"**

***THUUUUUUUUUUUN!* *CLUTCH…***

Before coming in contact with his face, Sairaorg caught the wrist of a fist imbued with dragon energy and touki that was thrown at him from behind. The sheer power placed inside of it caused a visible disruption in the air as steam flowed from between Sairaorg's fingers.

"Dammit…!" Michael cursed as he tried to release himself from Sairaorg's grasps yet again.

"That was quite a cunning plan to fake me out not only once but twice before attacking me from behind." Although he was complimenting the young man's tact, the devil from the Bael family wore a confused expression,

"But again, you waste too much of your energy on needless movement. I'm beginning to wonder if you really do know the basics on properly applying touki in battle because your control over it seems to be too straightforward."

"I was only trained to the point of gaining the ability to use it along with increasing the capacity of how much I can use. Anything besides that was what I had to learn on my own, Shishou wasn't there to continually train me." Michael panted heavily as he tried to force his fist through Sairaorg's tight grip.

"That actually answers a lot of my questions." Sairaorg sweatdropped and remembered how fickle Kai was as a teacher, he would usually pop up whenever he wanted to and train him before getting swept away on business or personal interests.

"But…" Michael grinned as a red line shone through the fingers of his fist.

"Huh?" Sairaorg watched as the boy's fist opened to reveal a compacted sphere of dragon energy.

"I've been managing to get out of tight spots by following my own way of doing things!  **Dragon Shot!"**

***DOOOOOOOOON!***

"In hindsight, you should take into account whether to fire your attack when in your opponent's hold, but nice try." Sairaorg simply moved Michael's hand away from his face to avoid taking the point blank blast.

"Oh, come on!" Michael screamed in frustration as he receives another brutal punch to the stomach and a heel kick to face. Skidding back again, he was now forced back to square one as he gets over his momentary disorientation from the kick.

_'This is going nowhere!' Michael angrily screamed in his head, 'I can't even hit him without getting read like a book! How can he just block all of my moves like that while looking so natural and relaxed?'_

**_[Probably because he has a calm mind, Partner. Settle your nerves and try to come up with another strategy.]_ **

_'…Okay…' Michael heeded Ddraig's advice and tried to analyze Sairaorg's posture, his stance, his attitude and none them left an inkling of an opening, 'Dammit, I still can't find an opening anywhere…'_

**_[You're opponent is more experienced than you so finding any weaknesses will obviously be difficult. However, he's only strong since he's in a comfortable condition to properly exercise all of his strength.]_ **

_'Comfortable…? Wait, I think I get where you're going with this, Ddraig. So, if he's comfortable standing in place to react to my attacks ,then I should use that against him!' Michael grinned, 'Since the opponent doesn't have any shown openings then I'll just have to make one!'_

**_[I see that you've finally got the gist of it. Now go! Use what you learned on the mountains to your advantage!]_ **

"Osu!" Michael excitedly yelled as he charged at Sairaorg with reckless abandon.

Waiting for the attack, Sairaorg prepared to anticipate the pawn's attack with his own, but stopped himself once Michael ran through and phased through him. Standing up right, Sairaorg laughed to himself upon realizing Michael's ploy,

"The Afterimage technique? I'm quite shocked that you're able to use it this freely already, Michael Hanamura! It took me a while to get that technique down and you're already this proficient with it!"

A large circle filled with images of Michael provocatively making fun of Sairaorg emerged around the stronger devil.

_'These past 15 days required a lot of running away from the dragons around here, so I could devise good ideas to take them down. This technique was a shoo-in when using Scale Mail, but really tough to use without.' Michael thought in between the intervals of his images as he waited for the perfect moment to strike._

"Try to attack me at any angle, I won't hold back! And just a warning, this technique is fairly easy once you reveal yourself to strike, so put everything you have into it or else it won't damage me at all!" Sairaorg crossed his arms.

"That's the plaaaaan!" Rushing out from one of the afterimages that were behind Sairaorg, Michael cocked back his fist and threw it.

"Toh!"

***WHOOOOOSH!***

Almost instantaneously, Sairaorg threw a punch so powerful that it created a massive air pressured force that tore Michael's body to pieces.

***Zwoooooosh~!***

Fortunately, it was an afterimage that sustained the attack rather than the original.

"*Whistle!* Using an afterimage as a cop out, nice course of action, hahahaha!" Sairaorg chuckled.

_'WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?' Michael's jaw dropped once he saw his afterimage get split in half, 'Was he trying to kill me just then!?'_

_**[That's what you get for over-pursuing...]** _

_'Excuse me for trying to take the initiative, man, I think I almost saw my life pass before my eyes… I really need to get out of Kuoh town more...' Michael thought before resuming with his plans._

"Aniki!" Jumping from out of one of his afterimages, Michael locked his hands together and swung them down.

"Hmmph!"

***WHOOOOOOOOOSH!***

***Zwoooooosh~!***

"Another one? Huh?" Sairaorg unleashed another powerful punch which went through a phasing Michael before subtly noticing something move quickly behind him.

"Toh!" Throwing another punch, Sairaorg punched another afterimage of Michael sticking his tongue out at him.

_'This is getting repetitive.' Sairaorg sighed as he looked around himself and entered a familiar series of afterimages while waiting for the real Michael to strike. The process was tedious but Sairaorg wasn't letting up in the slightest since each of his punches only grew to be stronger as time passed on._

Immediately sensing a drastic change this time, Sairaorg spotted the real Michael charge in with after images dispersing around him. His fist had collected a massive amount of touki and draconic energy as he appeared to be throwing an actual punch this time around.

"Here I come, Aniki!" Michael screamed.

"Come!" Sairaorg cocked back his fist with a battle maniac smile.

"I already told you that I was! Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Michael roared as he prepared to face the built-up power that Sairaorg was trying to use on his afterimages. Met with this awesome power overwhelming him, he immediately smirked and stopped a few feet from Sairaorg.

"Psyche!"

***SMAAAAAAAAASH!* *DOOOOOOOOOOOOON!***

Michael immediately knelt down to punch the rock-hard ground of the mountainside with all of the built-up power in his fist. The force of the punch caused a third of the cliffside to shatter into pieces and fall off the mountainside along with the two devils that were free falling with it.

_'Perfect! Now he can't get a good ground when taking my next attack! I can exploit the falling to my advantage and since we're rapidly dropping to the ground, he can't risk using his devil wings to escape or else he'll be blown away by the updraft of winds, or crash into the large rocks falling with us.'_

Michael prepared to charge two spheres of draconic energy in his hands and used the falling debris to his advantage by kicking any near chunks of rock Sairaorg's way. Sadly, they don't do much to stall the man since he's able to shatter them with ease, but with a little trouble when dealing with his lack of mobility.

"I admit that this plan of yours is working to limit my moves, but that doesn't excuse the fact that you're in the same boat as me!" Sairaorg shouted.

"We'll see about that…" Michael snickered as he placed both of his hands behind his back and used the spheres of energy to release blasts that propelled him towards Sairaorg.

"I stand corrected."

Sairaorg scratched his head as he immediately blocks Michael's incoming knee to the face before countering each of his constant blows by pushing back to the falling debris around them. Unfortunately for Sairaorg, he unintentionally gives Michael some proper footing to aim himself properly at Sairaorg.

_'I'm finally getting him on the ropes! All he can do is manage with the limited space around him!' Intending to quicken things, he decided to land his first major hit upon the Bael clan member._

"There!" Sairaorg punched the air towards Michael and threw a blast of pressurized air which misses and shatters a chunk of rock behind the teenager.

"You're a slippery one, aren't you?" Sairaorg said.

"I prefer to call myself a Smooth Criminal!" Michael grinned.

**[Ugh…!] Ddraig groaned at the terrible use of the reference.**

Using the two spheres of energy to propel himself out of the way, Michael aimed himself directly at his opponent and wildly propelled himself towards Sairaorg with the two spheres of energy clenched tightly in both of his fists.

"This is it, Aniki! For REAL this time!" Michael exclaimed as he cocked his left fist back shining with the sphere of dragon energy in its palm.

"Good, now show me the full power to your resolve!" Sairaorg tensed his arm's muscles to throw one more deciding punch.

"Guh!" Michael could feel the sheer pressure from the future Bael successor's arm alone as he noticed touki being subtly poured into the fist that was ready to fire itself out at any time.

_'I have to be quick! Can't hesitate now or I'm literally finished!' Michael stared at Sairaorg dead on while Sairaorg did the same with an excitable smile on his face from the thrill of being in a heart pounding fight._

"MICHAEL HANAMURA!" Sairaorg bellowed as he threw his punch.

"Huaaaaaaaaaaah!" Michael screamed but to a lesser extent than Sairaorg as he swung his fist as well.

***DWOON!***

***BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!***

In that instant, everything was blown away due to a single punch. All of the falling debris was obliterated and the increased air pressure from Sairaorg's blow smashed into a nearby mountain and created a massive crater that was almost about Tannin's size.

"Guuuuaaack!" Michael coughed up an unbelievable amount of blood after taking a hit like that up close.

"Incredible! Absolutely astounding you managed to withstand my attack!" Sairaorg laughed but noticed that about half of Michael's torso was crushed from the force of Sairaorg's punch.

"That's not true… I faked you out with that punch and used the sphere in my hand to push me a bit to the side, so I wouldn't take the whole blow." Michael's voice sounded sore as he tried to breath through the immense pain, "*COUGH!* *SPEEEW!* *COUGH!* I can barely breathe by just taking half of the impact... If I got hit by the whole thing, then I wouldn't be conscious enough to do this…"

***FWOOOOOOOOOSH!***

"…!" Sairaorg looked at Michael's other arm to see a brilliant red fist covered in a mixture of red dragon energy and an intense blaze of blue flames swirling creating a large mass of condensed power.

***Grip…!***

Weakly grasping onto Sairaorg's collar, Michael coughed, "I'm not that good with any other elemental magic besides fire so I honed it and found a way to amp up the heat!  **Blazing**   **Dragon Magnum!"**

***WHAAAAAAAAAAM!* *FWOOOOOOOOOOSH!* *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

"Gchk!" Sairaorg gritted his teeth as a bit of blood spurted out of his mouth, the punch was thrown at a close distance so when he suddenly tried to cloak himself with touki it only nullified half of the damage due to poor timing. However, that was all the expanding flames that engulfed him did because of the superior defensive qualities of his white aura protected him any major burns, save for his clothes getting a bit singed.

"What an intense attack, he really had his heart set on blowing me away with that hit." Sairaorg looked through the smoke and found that Michael was tiredly talking to himself in frustration.

"Dammit…even after all of this, you still managed to react and defend so quickly… How are you able to…" Losing consciousness, Michael slowly went limp and fell through the huge smoke cloud quickly than Sairaorg.

At the rate that he was falling, he would crash into the ground at any moment.

"If he falls from a height like this, he'll die!" Sairaorg gasped and tensed the muscles of his legs before kicking the air and propelling himself towards the unconscious pawn. Despite the gap between them, Sairaorg managed to close it by jumping off of the air itself to reach out and grab the Pawn by the scruff of his collar.

"Got you." Sairaorg wrapped Michael's arm around his shoulder and kept kicking the air below him to slow down the descent of their fall to the ground. Looking over at his younger apprentice brother, Sairaorg smiled proudly,

"That was a stunning battle, Michael Hanamura, your last punch took me by complete surprise. I can't wait to see how far you'll progress from here on out, Apprentice Brother." Sairaorg lightly praised the young man once more as they landed on the ground.

"Boss!" Immediately leaving Tannin's side, Bova flew down to the mountain's base.

_'You've used your training well, youngling and despite losing, you now have the chance to learn much more than before.' Tannin thought as he opened his eyes, 'Now…'_

"Since Michael Hanamura is no longer able to fight, the victor is Sairaorg Bael!"

With Tannin's loud declaration, the sparring match ended and each of the combatants were getting their injuries mended (to a lesser extent for Sairaorg and a greater extent for Michael) as things began to wrap up.

* * *

Awakening from his unconscious slumber, Michael wakes up to the smoky smell of a campfire. Looking around, he noticed that he wasn't in the mountains anymore but in fact one of the forests that surrounded it. It was night and the cool winds complimented the warm flames residing in the fire pit in front of him.

"How did I get here?" Michael winced in pain as he noticed his bandaged torso.

"Ah, I see that you've finally awakened."

"Whoa!" Fully awake, Michael took notice of Sairaorg sitting on the other side of the campfire with what looked to be a couple of dead boar carcasses behind him.

"Hehe, sorry for startling you. Here." Pulling up a skewer from the fire pit, Sairaorg held out a piece of succulent, fresh boar meat.

"…" Michael silently looked at the shank of meat with hesitation; not out of fear but because he was completely left out of the loop of what was happening.

Understanding the pawn's confusion, Sairaorg said, "What's wrong? I did promise you that we would talk over a fine meal after our battle, so eat up."

Realization dawning upon him, Michael bitterly remembered the events which took place before ending up this way. The sullen sting of defeat was evident since he had more bandages wrapped around his body than Sairaorg's single bandaged cheek.

Still trying to cheer himself up, Michael put on a worn-out smile and took the skewered meat, "Thanks."

_'…Even after all of that, I still utterly lost…' Michael felt a mixture of bitterness and excitement from his loss. The bitterness obviously originates from his loss, but his strange excitement still came from the future experience that he'll gain by continuing to train under Kai._

"Michael Hanamura, do you mind if I just call you, Michael?" Sairaorg broke the silence.

"Not at all, but if you want you can call me the Michael the Gutsy if you want." Michael tiredly joked.

"Okay then, Michael the Gutsy!" Sairaorg grinned and gave Michael a thumbs up.

"…! In fact, just call me Michael!"

"Are you sure? You sounded like you wanted me to call you that other title."

"Yes, I'm sure! Ahem, thanks but you sort of taken me off guard by saying that…" Michael was visibly surprised by Sairaorg's acceptance over the latter name and expected him to ignore it like everyone else does.

"Alright then, Michael, I just want to properly express my gratitude for that splendid battle we shared. It was a thrilling experience and the most fun I've had in ages." Sairaorg bowed his head.

"N-No, I should be the one to thank you for even offering to spar with me." Michael shook his head before bowing his head in gratitude, "I finally got to use half of my training here to practice while learning more about the many possibilities of my training under Shishou by seeing how you fight."

"So, in a way, we both attained something from that fight. Wonderful, a perfect example on how an exchange of fists can help two fighters communicate and understand each other!" Sairaorg pounded his fist to his chest and took a bite out of his own slab of meat.

"Yeah…" Michael looked down before saying, "Say Aniki, I've been wondering about something during our fight. How were you able to-?"

"Read your moves and blow you away with minimal movement?" Sairaorg beat him to the chase as Michael nodded.

"Well, that's because I already mastered the basics of what Shishou taught me about Touki and how to bring out the full potential on how its properly used and dull out its common flaws. You see in that sparring match, you used touki as an overall enhancer for your body without realizing the effects it can have on the little things in a fight. For instance, when you tried to use a double fake out and attack me from behind, I heard your rapid footsteps without having to pay too much attention."

"You did?" Michael blinked as he looked at his feet.

"Because your speed was enhanced, your footsteps naturally get louder which make it easy to predict where your coming from based on sound alone." Sairaorg nodded, "That also accounts for your over pursuit when throwing your punches, the extra speed and power make them a force to be reckoned with but leave you wide open when you try to throw the finishing blow."

Raising a finger, Sairaorg seriously lectured Michael, "This was what I was referring to as your redundant moves. You place too much effort into your moves and that wastes energy and creates openings for your opponents to take. That is why you need to use effective ways of motion that require less energy while taking heed of your actions as you use touki as a full body enhancer."

"My redundant moves?" Michael looked at his hands and looked up at the man, "I don't get it. How am I supposed to do all of that?"

"Oh…" Sairaorg remembered something, "I remember you saying that Shishou taught you how to only unlock your touki and increase its volume, so I'll do my best to explain the basics before delving in on that."

"Okay." Michael nodded and watched as Sairaorg walked over to a tree.

"A demonstration." Sairaorg placed his hand on the tree's trunk, "Now pay close attention."

Squinting his eyes, Michael gave Sairaorg a strained stare.

"You don't have to focus that much…" Sairaorg sweatdropped but went on to demonstrate his example. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled and tensed his muscles for mere seconds before breaking the tree in half.

"The hell?" Michael gasped as he stood up, "How did you do that?"

"Why don't you tell me what happened?" Sairaorg asked.

"Uh…way to put me on the spot, Aniki…damn, I guess you used your physical strength to push the tree back?" Michael shrugged.

"Nice guess, but that's incorrect. You should remember that I did something similar to you when I had you arms and legs in a hold."

"That's right! You didn't even move an inch, yet you pushed me back with an insane amount of power. How'd you do that?" Michael asked.

"Touki can be more than just a body enhancer it can also enhance spells along with the force of wind one's punch can make. As you can see, I tensed my muscles for a moment and release a burst of touki into the palm of my hand. Control is key and you already have that down so all you need to do is learn how to gauge how strong your bursts are because going over the top by accident may slow you down in a fight."

Sairaorg began to walk a bit far from the fire pit and near the open space by it.

_'So, I can already do that part? Nice…I guess Shishou's training with the spirit cuffs really helped.' Michael smiled._

"Using bursts of Touki can minimize the chance of using redundant moves, but its not the only one though." Sairaorg took of his shoes and socks to stretch out his naked feet.

"What else is there to learn about?" Michael asked.

"Just watch." Sairaorg excitedly chuckled as he squatted down and jumped into the air multiple times by using the air itself to propel him higher into the sky.

"Oooh my MAOU! Y-You're flying without your wings!? No, you're freaking jumping on air, Aniki!" Michael's eyes literally popped out of his skulls as he watched the spectacular sight.

"Sure am!" Sairaorg nonchalantly uses one of his legs to hop on the air and keep in place.

"H-How are you doing that?" Michael excitedly asked.

"Like how I smashed that tree by using bursts of touki on my palms, I'm using touki on the soles of my feet to stay in the air with little bursts." Sairaorg took it upon himself to demonstrate the full capabilities of the technique as he bounded through the air like an acrobat,

"Using your wings in a fight is great and all, but they don't have as much mobility for quick reactions, so using your legs can expedite your dodging and movements in mid-air when used well!"

"Amazing." Michael watched as Sairaorg jumps through the air once more before landing.

"The drawback is still the same as before, you have to pay attention to the bursts released through your feet or you'll find yourself shot into the air and falling to your possible death." Sairaorg warned.

"Right." Michael gulped, "But wait a minute…if you could've done that, then wouldn't that mean you could have avoided my attacks during that free fall with the debris?"

"I could have, but the sparring was for your benefit and I didn't want to make to take too much of the initiative." Sairaorg explained.

"No, its cool… I just wondered why things were running suspiciously smooth back there." Michael rubbed his chin.

"Now that we've gotten those two out of the way, I'll tell you the last technique that I used during your sparring match which actually requires no Touki at all." Sairaorg said.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. The next technique is an ability which helps a person naturally fight without any thoughts placed in their movements and attacks. Only experienced Martial Artists can master this form of fighting after years of training and this ability is called  ** _Mushin."_** Sairaorg stated.

"Mushin? Isn't that Japanese for  _"No mind",_ Aniki?" Michael asked.

Sairaorg confirmed it with a smile,

"Yes, you see over years of rigorous training, those who wish to attain this state of mind try casting aside their anger, fear and ego during combat to eliminate all sense of judgement. Without judgement and those other distractions, fighters are able to totally move their bodies freely in a fight with no thought placed in their actions. By using your intuition, you're no longer bound to use wasteful moves; only efficient ones that body will automatically make in the heat of the moment."

"Whoa… This sounds like it can make anyone invincible." Michael said in awe.

"Invincible? No, it just makes you react better in battle. Those who use Mushin can still be overwhelmed if a stronger opponent comes along with superior skills and power. However, Mushin can counteract this by helping you evade their attacks but limits your own attacks since you're forming thoughts to harm your opponent rather than clearing your mind." Sairaorg explained the common misconceptions with the technique.

"You know… I think I remember Shishou training me to do something like this along with increasing my touki volume and control." Michael scratched his head, "Yeah, before the conference with the three factions, he wanted to teach me how to rely on my senses and clear my mind while dodging his brat's attacks."

"Ah, so I guess he did try to teach you something advanced during his short time training you." Sairaorg chuckled.

"Yeah, but I was mostly doing that to fight my rival, Vali and I didn't really have the chance to use it because he rushed the sequence of our fight. Since then I haven't really tried to do it again." Michael frowned.

"Don't worry about getting rusty or possibly forgetting how you did it. If you've been in constant battles, then you're not going to lose your edge. You may struggle when using it now but know that fighting strong opponents while attempting to clear your mind increases your proficiency with Mushin. Plus, don't feel bad about not being able to use it well since I've been training for years and still have yet to master it." Sairaorg crossed his arms.

"Really? You?" Michael looked at Sairaorg in disbelief.

"I've been through countless fights but have yet to manage to use it to its full potential by losing my composure. When you attacked me with that last punch, I immediately broke out of that state by throwing my own punch while unintentionally letting my mind get filled with unnecessary thoughts that lowered my guard." Sairaorg coughed as he admitted to his past blunder.

"Wow…this really sounds hard to work with…" Michael nervously scratched his head.

"If it were easy then anyone would be able to do it. I personally enjoy the long process needed to master this state of mind, I'm in no rush to conclude my training anytime soon." Sairaorg sat near the firepit and looked to the star filled sky.

Sitting by him, Michael asked, "Say Aniki, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Go ahead." Sairaorg smiled.

"Well, I don't mean to pry but how come you didn't use any demonic power during our sparring match? Were you holding yourself back that much?"

Shaking his head, Sairaorg said, "Of course not, it was never my intention to hold back any of my punches, but using demonic energy would be…a struggle for me."

"I get where your coming from." Michael nodded, "Until now I've been good with fire magic and that's all. I mean, I have some other moves that are cool but not at a grand scale like Buchou and Akeno-senpai. But hey us guys who can't properly use demonic powers ought to stay together!"

Laughing at Michael's attempt at cheering him up, Sairaorg said, "Thank you for cheering me up, but my situation runs a bit deeper than not being able to control it. That's because I was never born with the innate ability to use demonic power."

"Oh…" Michael blinked in surprised and frowned,  _'So that's why Bova didn't want to openly talk about this.'_

"I don't want to unload my full history to you, so I'll only tell you the specifics. In the Bael household, its important for the heir to retain its trademark ability called the Power of Destruction."

"*GASP!* That's the same power that Ria-I mean Buchou has!"

"Yup, she and Sirzechs inherited that ability from my Aunt Venelana, who married from the Bael clan to the Gremory family. The Bael clan is widely known devil family in the Underworld but it's a rather difficult family to deal with compared to the rest since they're more old fashioned with devil traditions."

"Ugh…I think I know where this is going." Michael rolled his eyes as Sairaorg chuckled at the boy's suspicions.

"Demonic abilities help them determine the worth of devils while those who didn't have good demonic abilities or at least have amazing amounts of demonic energy would be viewed at as…trash. Now this doesn't exclude family members since I was also regarded as trash for not being born with the Power of Destruction, so after getting replaced with my younger half-brother who did earn the power, I was swiftly discarded with my mother who created a defected product to one of the poor Bael countryside territories."

"That's awful… How come your entire clan proposed something that terrible to you and your mother like that?" Michael growled.

"The entire clan may have a say when it comes to decisions like this, but they weren't the ones who can execute a decision by themselves, it was actually the Clan's head, my father who accepted the proposition and even brought it up." Sairaorg explained.

"Are you for real, your flipping dad just cast his own wife and son out to the wayside!?" Michael angrily shouted.

"It was needed to save face before word got out that there was a useless Bael heir who couldn't use the clan's special ability. In the end, I guess the Bael family needed some time to maintain its important position in the Underworld at the time." Sairaorg shrugged with a small smile on his face.

"How can you be so calm about this? Aren't you pissed that they just threw you away like garbage?" Michael exclaimed.

"To be honest, I was back then and now I still hold some grudges that resulted from being placed in a poor living condition…" Sairaorg sadly looked down before breathing in and grinning, "But…had I not been exiled there then I would not have met Shishou and get this strong to take back my place as the Bael's heir."

Michael was surprised by Sairaorg's optimism as he continued to voice his thoughts on his fateful encounter with Kai.

"Shishou showed me that getting stronger isn't a linear progression that can only be gained through my bloodline. He showed me that true strength can be achieved through hard work and determination; that it can blow away any obstacle I come across without being over reliant on "gifted" abilities that are attained from my parents."

Sairaorg clenched his fist, "That is why I'm never going to let my anger power my small grudge because I don't want to fully think of that experience as a bad thing but a wonderful experience that led me to where I am now…even if there are some things that I can't fix with strength alone."

_'That's a really nice way of thinking about it, I guess, but I can tell that something drastic must have happened during his time in that countryside territory.' Michael thought._

"So…I've been meaning to ask you about Shishou? What are you're thought about him?" Michael asked.

"My thoughts? Well, he's a powerful and influential man that I've come to respect during my time under his wing. He's fairly kind and a great teacher, but he has his faults when it comes to his sense of morality, his hunger for battle and some of his training methods." Sairaorg nervously laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Let me guess he almost got you killed during one of your training sessions, didn't he?" Michael bitterly remembered how Kai informed Tiamat about his appearance in the Forest of Familiars.

"I can safely say…" Sairaorg recollected a past memory from over 11 years ago.

* * *

_11 years ago_

* * *

**_*SCREEEEEEEEEEEECH!*_ **

**_*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!*_ **

**_*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!*_ **

**_*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!*_ **

_"Urh…Shishou? What are we doing here again?" A young Sairaorg worriedly looked at the massive lake holding 9 frenzied Hydras heads attacking each other._

_"We're here to train, Sairaorg, we're here to train." Kai breathed in and out, "Ah, you smell that, Sairaorg?"_

_"You mean the smell of rotting dead animals?" Sairaorg pinched his nose and pointed at the many rows of animals carcasses that surrounded the lake. They must have been victims to the hydras while trying to take a drink from out of the lake._

_"No, the smell of nature…and its ruthless laws of Darwinism!" Kai chuckled._

_"So basically the dead animals, Shishou?" Sairaorg sweatdropped._

_"Hydras are a dangerous race of monsters who release a deadly poisonous gas and regrow their heads and multiply them for each one lost. They're extremely violent and even attack their own heads when there isn't a common prey before them." Kai smiled as he approached Sairaorg from behind._

_"Is today's lesson about learning about these monsters?" Sairaorg asked but got picked up by the scruff of his collar._

_"Nope, you're going to fight it." Kai swung Sairaorg back with a grin._

_"E-Eh!? N-No way! You can't be serious! I can't face a thing like that with my fists alone!" Sairaorg panicked._

_"Oh my…are you disobeying MY lesson for today, Sairaorg?" Kai emitted a dangerous aura around himself while wearing his smile._

_"No way, I would never do that but how am I supposed to fight a hydra and its 9 heads? It'll just grow them back after I cut off one of them!" Sairaorg panicked._

_"Use you're noodle, Sai-san... Cutting off all of their heads is only the second step. Making sure they can't grow their heads back is the obvious conclusion to killing it." Kai hinted._

_"What do you me-?"_

_"Now! GO BEYOND AND SURPASS YOUR LIMITS!"_

_"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"_

**_*Sploooosh!*_ **

**_*HIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS!*_ **

_Upon getting thrown into the middle of the lake, Sairaorg was immediately assaulted by the hydra and its nine heads dunking into the pool trying to tear him limb from limb._

_"Aaaaaaaaaah! Help me!" Sairaorg screamed._

_"Sai-san, make sure not to panic too much they actually enjoy their prey fighting back!" Kai warned._

_"O-Okay…"_

**_*ROOOOOOOAR!*_ **

**_*CHOMP!*_ **

_"Yeeeeeowch!"_

_"Oh, I forgot to mention that they start to chomp into their prey when they stop moving so don't play dead either, okay!?" Kai snickered._

_"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! I'm going to die!" Sairaorg wailed as he splashed around in the monster infested lake amidst the frenzied hydra heads._

_"Only if you keep having that attitude..." Kai scolded, "Now fight! Fight as if your depended on it because it does!"_

* * *

**Present**

* * *

"Oh my maou…" Michael blinked in surprise.

"Don't worry, I managed to defeat it on my second attempt by tricking it fight with its own heads together before chopping it off and cauterizing the wounds with a rusty sword that I put on fire." Sairaorg looked at his calloused hands to see some of the faint burn marks, "It was no easy task, but it was still doable."

"I-I'm so sorry that you had to be put through something that terrifying." Michael exaggeratedly cried as he sympathized with Sairaorg, the guy was just a kid back then and he couldn't imagine the stress and pain he had to go through. He could relate because Kai basically did the same thing to him before they met by sicking Tiamat on him during his visit to the Familiar Forest.

"Don't be, looking back at the experience, I'm glad that I was pushed that far in my training. I find it to be one of the highlights of being one of Shishou's disciples."

***Shiiiiiine~!***

"Hm?" Receiving a call via a small magic circle to the ear, Sairaorg said, "Excuse me…"

Standing up he answered the call and replied with "yes" multiple times before saying, "I see then I'm on my way back then."

Ending the call, Sairaorg said, "Sorry for suddenly leaving like this but I have some matters to attend to back home that can't be ignored."

"No, its fine I actually felt satisfied with our little talk. Thanks for sparing and talking to me, Aniki." Michael stuck out his hand.

"Anytime, Michael, if you want to fight and test your strength once more then I'll be willing to accept the challenge. Or if you're in need of some advice, ask Rias for help to contact me, I'm your Older Apprentice Brother so I'm always willing to help you advance whether it be as a fighter or as an upright person." Sairaorg shook Michael's hand rather strongly.

"Ouch…" Michael held his hand in pain.

"Sorry, I forgot that you're still a little injured from before." Sairaorg patted Michael's shoulder and began walking past him before stopping, "Michael, you once proclaimed that your dream is to become a Maou, right?"

"Yes…?"

"Well, if you're aiming to be one, then what kind of Maou would you be and represent?" Sairaorg asked.

"Actually I… Huh… I never thought about it like that…" Michael blinked upon realizing how vague his goal was, usually he'd grasp onto Rias giving him the goal in the first place but nothing deeper than that.

"As a fellow who wishes to become Maou as well, I suggest you think more about which position you want and the symbol you wish to represent to the population. I aim to become a Maou holding the Lucifer position, it's the most highly regarded seat amongst the four seats. I want to represent that even devils who don't have flashy or over the top demonic powers can reach the same incredible heights that high-class devils do."

Sairaorg said, "Now before I leave, I just want you to ask yourself about what you wish to accomplish and represent as a Maou."

"…" Troubled by that question, Michael stayed silent.

"You don't need an immediate answer keep thinking and it will come to you." Sairaorg waved goodbye, "I'll see you around and I wish you and Rias luck against Sona Sitri next month."

Using touki on his feet, Sairaorg took off and jumped through the air at incredible speeds as he already disappeared through the dark, starry skies.

Conflicted about Sairaorg's last comment, Michael repeated, "What kind of Maou do I want to be…? Is there even a position I like. Wait, what does each position do again?"

Finding himself completely uninformed and confused, Michael resolved himself to figure out his current conundrum as soon as possible. But not before putting out the flames of the fire pit and returning back to the Dragon Mountains to rest from his rough long day.

Entering one of the spare caves that Tannin lent to him, Michael crawled in his sleeping bag and said, "Wow, Aniki's an amazing guy, he went through a lot of crud but still looks so positive. He even has the same dream as me but actually has an idea for what he wants to do, I have to figure out more about what my dream should technically be about."

Yawning, he said, "But that can wait for tomorrow, I still need to practice that Mushin ability and touki bursts…"

Closing his weary eyes, Michael finally fell into the sweet embrace of slumber.

* * *

_(In Michael's mindscape)_

_"I'm back here again?" Michael once again found himself in the sweltering heat of the hot wasteland known as his mindscape. Although he was vigilant after experiencing that horrifying nightmare, he still couldn't help but wonder about whether he could accomplish his main task of contacting his predecessor through a method besides direct meditation._

_"It might be a long shot since Ddraig said that I had to come here myself, but I did sort of did that by falling asleep by totally staying calm so that has to count for something, right, right?"_

_In the middle of searching for a plausible loophole for getting there, he was met with the loud sounds of footsteps echoing through the huge vastness of the wasteland. Immediately tensing up, he prepared himself for the worst but as soon as he saw the source of the footsteps walk out from behind one of the rock formations all of his tension dropped._

_"Hey? You…wouldn't happen to be my senior, would you?" Stumbling upon that conclusion, Michael tried to get a better look at what appeared to be a man. The distance between them was far too great for him to make out the man's full appearance save for what appeared to be some sort of cap and a pipe…?_

_"…" Slightly looking back at Michael, the man returned to looking forward and took a leisurely pace moving forward._

_"H-Hey, wait!" The Pawn immediately rushed after the man, "Who are you? I-If you're really the old user of the Boosted Gear who acknowledged me then at least say something to me!"_

_Getting closer and closer, Michael was mere miles away from catching up until he could clearly see the back of the man's black coat._

_"Wait, I need to get Welsh Drive so hold u-up?" Michael winced in pain as he gained a throbbing headache that would have been acknowledged had he not been focused on the man before him._

_"Almost there!"_

_As he was only inches away from grabbing onto the shoulder of the man, he found himself grabbing nothing but air as the man ended up vanishing though a shroud of darkness._

_"Where'd he run off to? Wait a minute…where'd I run off to?"_

_Distressed, Michael realized that amidst his running, he was no longer in the wasteland._

_"No, no, no, no, no! How did I even get back here!" Michael screamed in fear._

_The torn courtyard, the damaged equipment and the many craters that ruined the once well-maintained campus of Kuoh Academy has appeared once again and Michael was not too pleased to return to his mind's version of school._

_"I have to get out before something crazy happens!" Michael kept his guard up as he frantically looked around for the Red Scale Mail that impaled him during his last visit. During his overwrought search for danger, he noticed something disturbing about the courtyard._

_"Where did the gym go?"_

_A huge crater where the gym was supposed to be gave rise to some of Michael's concern as he started to notice how different the damaged courtyard was when compared to his last appearance here. The ground had more deep scars than craters and there were remnants of broken steel littered all over the floor from multiple blades._

_Picking up one of the shards, Michael flinched back and held his burning hand, "Gah! That stung as much as the light spears that the Fallen Angels had. Hey, wait, it does sting like that! What's going on he-!"_

_Looking up, Michael's eyes locked onto something that caused him more distressed then his pained hand,_

_"Asia!"_

_["Asia!"]_

_Not even acknowledging that he shouted in sync with another voice like his own, Michael rushed over to a fallen Asia's side as she laid upon the floor covered in dirt and deep cuts and multiple bruises._

_"Asia, hey, Asia! What happened to you? Wake up!" Michael knelt by her side and cradled her head into his arms, "Come on, you're okay, aren't you? Aren't you, Asia!"_

**_["There's no escape for you here bastard!"]_ **

**_*CRAAAAAAASH!*_ **

_Crashing not too far from them into a crater, laid the body of a battered and bloody Kokabiel who looked up into the air with a cold and furious glare._

_"That bastard…! Did he-!?" Michael held Asia close to him as he was torn between leaving Asia's side or attacking Kokabiel._

_["T-That's right those eyes they look exactly like that c-creature's eyes…"] Kokabiel muttered through pained breaths._

**_["Crushing Dragon-!]_ **

_["The Hunter"]_

**_["FIIIIST!"]_ **

**_*BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!*_ **

_"Whoooooooooa!" Holding onto Asia tightly, Michael was sent tumbling back as a massive attack from above created a powerful shockwave which pushed him back._

_"W-Was that me fighting Kokabiel just now!?" Michael gulped as he did his best to see through the dust cloud._

**_*GLEAM!*_ **

_The heavy metallic sound of footsteps was heard approaching from the dust cloud as a pair of familiar red eyes now set their sights on him._

_"Oh, shit! That was ME fighting Kokabiel! We gotta g-!"_

**_["Dragon Shot!"]_ **

**_*DOOOOOOOOOON!* *RIP!*_ **

_"…!" Michael didn't have enough time to blink as a blast of red energy zoomed out of the dust cloud directly at him. Flinching in anticipation to receive the brunt of the attack, he realized that he didn't suffer any damage but that only served to worsen his horror once he opened his eyes._

_"*COUGH!* U-U-Urchk…" Wide eyed and stiff in Michael's arm, all of the life that once filled Asia was draining as her enter chest was carved out and hemorrhaging a terrifying amount of blood._

_"A-Asia…?" Michael was breathless at the sight as his voice almost cracked._

_"M-Michael-sa-?"_

**_*DOON!*_ **

_Before she could even speak what was her last words, a much smaller beam penetrated her forehead and killed the girl instantly._

**_*CLANK!* *CLANK!*_ **

_Finally emerging from the dust cloud, the familiar Red Dragon Emperor Scale Mail intimidatingly glared at Michael while holding its steaming hand up. The intense malice which was exuded from its armor was outrageous but Michael wasn't paying attention to none of that._

_All he could do was focus all of his attention on Asia._

_Her dirtied, mangled body._

_Her cold skin that was once full of warmth._

_Her carved out chest._

_Her penetrated forehead._

_Her green terrified eyes now lifeless…_

_Her beautiful golden hair now tainted by crimson red…!_

_Her face tainted by CRIMSON RED…!_

_Everything went red…_

_"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_

**_*SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*_ **

_Immediately dropping Asia's body in a fit of unholy rage, Michael formed a colossal volume of red-black aura with almost if not the same amount of malice as the Scale mail._

_Hatred._

_Self-loathing._

_Regret._

_Anguish._

_Revenge._

_Those were the emotions that swelled up in Michael at that moment, no other thoughts of the once vibrant young man were left as he was reduced to a howling savage._

**_*BAAANG!*_ **

_"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_

_Propelling himself at the Scale Mail with all of the strength that his legs could give him, Michael prepared to decimate the thing with a single aura-clad punch filled with tons of malignant energy._

_In response to the attack, the Scale Mail simply raised its hands; not as a preemptive attack but almost like a signal…_

**_*GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!* *GRAB!*_ **

_"Get the FUCK off me! Let me GOOOOO!" Too blinded by rage, Michael failed to notice the insurmountable number of arms holding him back from a red-black portal that was formed behind him. The arms seemed to have come from various men and women from all ages even the hands of children were holding him back._

**_[Use it…]_ **

**_[If you want to cast everything aside then use THAT solution…]_ **

**_[Yes, indulge in your desires and destroy everything!]_ **

_Eerie voices whispered into Michael's ears as the arms began to drag him into the portal beneath him much to his charging as he tried to struggle free and face the Scale Mail looking down at him with that infuriating look in its eyes._

_"LET ME GOOOOOO! DAMMIT!" Michael roared as each time ripped free from one hand's grasp another 4 more would pull him back, "You bastard! Y-You killed Asia! I-I'll! I-I'll-!"_

**_*Sniff~!* *Sniff!~*_ **

_"I-I'll n-never forgive you!" Michael's rage soon became replaced with sorrow as tears streamed down from his face, "I-I'll kick your ass and-and-!"_

_The malignant aura that Michael exuded was decreasing while the Scale Mail's aura increased, vice-versa._

**_["And?] For once the Scale Mail said something with a voice emanating from it sounding completely different than Michael's voice as it was a fairly soft voice with an ominous, dark tone._ **

_"…A-And…" Michael pitifully squeaked, completely choked up in his tears to properly put any effort into thinking or saying anything._

**_[Use it…]_ **

**_[You can erase everything by just giving in… One solution is all you need.]_ **

**_[You want to know how to use the solution, right? Right?]_ **

_Getting pulled deeper and deeper into the portal, Michael was close to being enveloped by the arms dragging him back._

**_[Just chant for it. Chant for Juggernaug-!]_ **

_"ENOUGH WITH THE NEGATIVE CHATTER, YA NARKS!"_

**_*CLASP!*_ **

_Feeling a strong hand grasp onto his hands, Michael stirred himself up to notice the image of a shadowed-out man wearing a paper boy cap._

_"Looks like you got duped into following this_ _**thing's** _ _plan, Nancy boy." The man's voice sounded very serious yet strangely jovial for some reason. Was he some sort of Englishman?_

_Michael couldn't understand it, but he began to strangely feel relief after hearing that voice._

_"Too bad that your face is so naff. Next time, I expect you to come here on your own volition with a face befitting a man." The hand grasping Michael enveloped him in a bright light as the immediately released Michael and hissed at his savior._

**_[You-!]_ **

**_[Why hold off the inevitable-!]_ **

**_[Juggernaugt drive is the best solution!]_ **

_"Shove it you bunch of spastic bastard! You already claimed the possessor before him, so it wouldn't kill all of your remaining souls to just let this one kid live a little longer!" The man's hand struggled to pull Michael out of the portal as the young man was emerging from the red abyss below and into the light._

* * *

***GAAAASP!* *PANT!* *PANT!***

Waking up in a startle, Michael looked around to find himself alone in his cave a sweaty mess.

"I'm back?" Michael looked at his shivering hands in distraught before clenching them in a vain attempt to calm himself down. They just wouldn't stop shaking no matter what he tried because even if it was all fake, he could still feel Asia's lifeless body and blood in his ha-!

***SMASH!* *SMASH!***

Recklessly smashing his hands into the hard ground below, Michael tried to use pain to calm his nerves as his body was still wracked with unnerving shivering despite the blood that oozed out from his bandaged arms.

"What the hell was that…? Who was it that saved me? Was it actually my predecessor? What was that Juggernaut thing that I heard about and-? Why did Asia die in my dream?" Michael asked himself too many questions that he didn't have the answer to.

All that he could do was wait until all the stress and anxiety that he went through disappear and finally let him go back to sleep. He was reluctant at first since there was a possibility of going back to his mindscape but couldn't deal with the incessant questions and irritation that he was going through when awake.

It's been already 16 days and his training has been met with a major mental roadblock that seems to be growing severe by each nightmare(?).

* * *

_(In Michael's mindscape)_

_"Fucking hell…" The silhouette of a man leaning a long metal pine against his shoulder gawked at the once bright side of the sunny wasteland covered in sheer dark nothingness._

**_[It happened again didn't it?] Ddraig's silhouette appeared behind the man._ **

_"Shouldn't you be checking up on your current, possessor?" The man asked._

**_[I wish to, but this takes pressing matters first. I came as soon as I felt something odd encroaching in Michael's mindscape. It seemed minimal at first since it somehow laid low and away from my detection, but after taking up this much space in here, I was finally able to get something to sense.]_ **

_"So how much space has it taken?" The man sat down beside the dragon and intently looked forward._

**_[About 25%.]_ **

_"That's a fourth of the kid's mind…" The man rubbed his chin, "I have yet to determine what this thing' is capable of yet. At first, it tried to break the kid down mentally before handing him to the negative influence of the Boosted Gear's other past possessors. Then, when I showed up, it just let me break him out without any resistance."_

**_[Should we try and suppress it and see if it works?]_ **

_"…No, I'm not sure what it_ _**really** _ _is yet, and I feel like messing with it right now won't solve anything. It'd be best to create a projection here and block this portion of the mind off should he ever get here on his own will." Belzard shook his head._

**_[I'll get right on that.]_ **

_The mighty dragon spread it wings out and surrounded the regular half of Michael's mindscape with a red transparent barrier which camouflaged the black abyss side of it. As the barrier slowly grew, the man looking ahead still kept his eyes on the silhouette on the abyss side, who had gleaming, menacing red eyes and trident like hair._

* * *

**Next Chapter- 1 month of training is complete! Now its to dance, dance, dance, bro!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading everyone and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! It took a while, but I was researching for the Sairaorg sparring match and a few stuff for Michael's predecessor, Belzard's homeland language as evidenced by his lingo such as Nark or Naff (look it up and it will make sense).
> 
> Also, for those of you who don't know what Mushin really is then look it up on wiki or if you want I'll tell you a secret and tell you where it was linked with "Ultra Instinct" from Dragon Ball. I know that I foreshadowed the technique in the past in Chapter 24, so I'm glad that I have some room to elaborate on the ability as the story progresses.
> 
> I'm Out so Peace Out and have a wonderful day!


	58. One month of training is complete! Now it's time to dance, dance, dance, bro!

**One month of training is complete! Now it's time to dance, dance, dance, bro!**

* * *

Thirty days have passed since the Gremory family were sent their separate ways to train themselves in preparation for their Rating Game match against the Sitri family, which takes place in five days. Today was the day that everyone would gather back to the Gremory Residence and prepare for the Maou-sponsored party the next day.

"Yeeeeehaaaaaaaw!"

Soaring through the skies on the scaly, monstrous back of a dragon, Michael boisterously roared for all to hear. He was finally done with his training and the remaining time that was spent was put to good use. Well, put to some productive use since he was finally able to stay within his Balance Breaker state for 15 days and even though he was mad that he couldn't get at least 30 days like Vali, he was still somewhat happy with these results.

However, he was gravely ashamed about his results for attaining Welsh Drive. He just couldn't be able to muster enough courage to do so, not after the nightmare that plagued him before. The thought of just entering his mindscape made him fear that he'd experience the same horrifying dream or something drastically worse. The bad dreams may not have happened after that, but the simple impact of experiencing one was already enough to keep Michael on his toes when going to bed.

Since everyone was gathering back together again, then that would mean Azazel would be back, too. Michael wasn't thrilled to face the man, especially since he couldn't keep up his end of the agreement. Anxiety came over him as he hoped that there would be a way that the man would give in and tell him about his parents, but each attempt that he thought out came to the same obvious conclusion.

"Grch!" Michael clutched his bandaged chest under his thick scaly cloak in pain.

"Boss!?" Bova worriedly looked back.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Michael tiredly smiled.

"I know how resilient you can be Boss, and I understand that you're excited to return to your master, but try not to overdo it with your wounds, 'kay? You barely managed to get through training with them and if you push yourself too far, you'll probably faint from overexertion."

"I know, I know… Geez, I'm glad that you're worried about me, but hearing you say that for the 5th time is such a pain…"

"Boss…"

"Gerh…fine…I'll stop pushing myself too far…until we reach Rias' place." Michael whispered the last part to himself.

"Good."

After this past month, Michael and Bova had been able to gain a somewhat tight bond of not just boss and subordinate, but an interlocked bond of friendship. Yeah, Bova was a bit too much whenever he excitedly bantered on and on about Michael's future leadership as not just a devil, but for all misunderstood dragons like him. But at the end of the day, Michael realized that the dragon had quite the heart of gold when he's not getting mad and picking fights with other dragons and his grandfather.

"I'm just a little upset that Gramps couldn't come see me off." Michael sadly sighed and clutched his chest even tighter.

"Don't worry, Boss, it'll take the whole of Heaven and Hell to kill my Old Man. His wounds just need a bit more time to heal before he can properly move again." Bova reassured Michael but noticed the sad distant look on the devil's face, "And besides, he did mention that he'd arrive at that devil's party after he's ready to fly."

"Really?" Michael excitedly gasped.

"Yup."

"Sweet!"

A smile etched itself onto Bova's face as he saw the vibrant attitude of his Boss finally return. About five days have passed since that "incident" in the mountains that got both Michael and Tannin injured during the final stages of the teenager's training. Michael blacked out due to being the first one that was critically damaged and after he heard the full story from Bova and the other dragons upon waking up, he blamed himself for inadvertently getting Tannin hurt in the process.

In no time at all, the two finally made it to the front entrance of the Gremory Main Residence. Hopping off of the dragon's large back much to Bova's worried chagrin, Michael tucked and rolled before stopping to do a valiant pose.

"Hehehe…Hahahahaha! Sorry to keep you all waiting, everyone! But don't worry since, I, the Gutsy Michael Hanamura is back! GUUUUUUUTS!" Michael laughed, haughtily.

Flying in on a dragon, check. Looking sweet with his new scaled cloak, check. Shout catchphrase while doing a breathtaking pose, check. Be fashionably late, check. Making a big entrance was just what he needed in order to show off to his friends. He could only imagine the cheers of his name that would proceed to fill his ears.

…

"Eh?" Michael looked up from his pose to look around. There was literally no one there but Bova and him. He was expecting to be swarmed by his friends, but then a thought occurs to him amongst his confusion,

_'Ah…wait, my training schedule was a bit different compared to the others so when you really look at it… I would have still been the first one to arrive… Meaning all of that effort into making the perfect entrance was all for nothing.'_

Michael fell on all fours, gloomily.

"Hey, Boss, I hate to leave you like this, but I really have other things to do."

As much as Bova wanted to stay and cheer up Michael, he still had other preparations to make for the upcoming party.

"Eh? Like what?" Michael picked himself up.

"For the party of course, my Old Man's still a well-known devil in the society, so I get a pass to go since I'm his son."

"Hm, makes sense." Michael nodded.

"Hehehehe, but don't sweat it, Boss, for I will be back later with my crew to pick you up and fly you and your friends to the party."

"Seriously? That's awesome, Bova, we'll be flying in style!"

"In more ways than you'd know, Boss, in more ways than you'd know…"

His excitement ceasing, Michael worriedly wondered about what Bova meant by that and figured something suspicious would happen. He didn't forget the dragon's last act of giving his territory a stupid name.

"Wait, Bova, tell me what you're about to-!" Michael shouted, but Bova immediately took off into skies before the boy's words could reach him.

"Gahahaha! Yes, tonight, we'll show the public just how we, Misunderstood Dragons roll! Hahahahaha!" Bova took off into the horizon, laughing heartily to himself.

**[I can say this for sure, he certainly does get his easy-going side from Tannin.] Ddraig whistled.**

"How!? How can you consider this easy-going? Sure, Gramps was chill about things, but that son of his gets worked up over everything!" Michael shouted.

**[That's obvious, Partner, you see back when Tannin was my vassal, he would…no, wait did he…? Could he have…?]**

"Ddraig?"

**[Ahem, I can say this for sure, he certainly does get his passionate side from Tannin.]**

"OI! You really couldn't find a comparison before can you!? Plus, you can't just write off the line you said before like it never happened." Michael screamed.

**[On the battlefield, Tannin would always hold strong feelings when faced with the enemy and would always care for his comrades like brothers, Bova's probably feeling the same way for you.]**

"Don't ignore me! I'm not going to let that slide just because you finally found the right words to say!"

"Hahaha, you really haven't changed these past 30 days, Michael-kun." Laughed somebody as they approached Michael from behind. This caught Michael a bit off guard, but he calmed himself upon recognizing the voice.

"Now…lets see how much stronger you are!"

"…!"

Upon hearing the sound of metal cutting through the air, Michael spun on his heel to dodge the thrusted edge of a black and-red bladed katana. However, that wasn't the end of it as he still found himself dodging and weaving through the numerous blade swings. He felt no intent to kill from the blade, but noticed that the intent was quite serious as each swing could deal some considerable damage to him.

Michael found no trouble with dodging the swings as he successfully kept track of each attack and instinctively allowed his body to move with the flow. Just as things looked to be like a continuous dance of dodging, he immediately sensed a sudden spike of killing intent as the blade's single movement was a bit difficult for him to follow as it got past his field of vision and made its way towards his neck.

**[Dragon Booster!]**

***CHNK!***

Before it could even graze the skin of his neck, the blade was stopped by Michael's gauntlet cladded fingers.

Whistling, Michael said, "Wow, way to catch me off guard. To be honest, you scared me a bit there, but I should have expected no less from you, Pretty Boy."

Smiling from beneath the hood of his black tattered cloak, Kiba revealed himself to his old friend. He looked quite muscular and toned than before, he may have mentioned once that his body couldn't get as toned as Michael's did before, but from the training he took, it must have pushed his body to undergo a complete physical change. But that wasn't the only thing that changed since his once untouched Bishounen face now had a scar over his right eye.

"And I should have expected no less from you too, Michael-kun. Your reaction time was incredible, I was actually about to cut you're neck there for a second and let you catch my blade before it could decapitate you." Kiba laughed.

"O-Oi, I get that you wanted to test me, but that sounds a bit morbid to laugh about don't you think." Michael sweatdropped.

"Hahaha! My bad!" Kiba just couldn't help but laugh, it wasn't joke, but simply being in the company of his best friend lifting his spirits. His constant training against the infamous Sword Dancer was intense and void of any human contact. To face the creature, one would have to cast aside all emotion to at least stand a chance of surviving against the monster.

"Man, even after a whole month, you're still manage to annoy me…" Michael bitterly chuckled as he raised his hand, "But it's nice to see you again, Kiba."

"Right back at you, Michael-kun."

The two gave each other a high-five as they proceeded to walk towards one of the front entrance's gardens to wait for the others. They exchanged tales that they accumulated over the timespan of the month to allow for time to tick by a little faster.

"So, you fought some crazy thing called the Sword Dancer for a whole month straight!?" Michael gasped besides Kiba as they sat on one of the marble benches.

"Yup, my instructor told me that I shouldn't put too much effort into trying to kill it since it would only evolve past my current limitations, so I simply survived and improved my swordsmanship."

"What about you're Balance Breaker? How long can you hold it now?"

"To be frank, I haven't the slightest clue, but if I were to guess then probably around 17 days now." Kiba rubbed his chin.

"Shit!"

"Huh?"

"O-Oh, its nothing…" Michael cried to himself, even Kiba was ahead of him in his overall time limit in the state.

"I may have been able to get a much better grasp over the state, but I had to focus my sights on another aspect of my training to figure out." Kiba raised his hand and created a black and white orb of demonic-holy energy.

"What did you do?"

"I was told that since I completed the training before, I was able to grasp perfect control over my demonic energy."

The orb became pitch-black as it overpowered the white energy.

"So, for the past month, I had to focus my training on something else. The opposite of what I had to do with demonic energy, a task that would be completely difficult for an ordinary devil like me to do."

Suddenly, white energy began to overtake the black energy and just before it can completely be whole, Kiba fizzles it out.

"So were you able to do it?"

"Yes, but with some difficulty, I still haven't perfected it yet, so it's a work in progress."

"So, what did you do? Show me!" Michael grinned.

"That's a secret." Kiba winked.

"Aw come on! You can tell me, I won't blab about it!" Michael exclaimed.

"Sorry, but I'm saving it for the Rating Game, you'll just have to wait like everyone else, Michael-kun."

"Man, you suck!"

Michael huffed in annoyance and looked away. Thinking of a way to quell the pouting pawn, Kiba decided to open his cloak to reveal something that only Michael would understand.

"But if you're interested in my swordsmanship, I can tell you about a style that I decided to try out."

"Yeah, and what would that b-! *GASP!* Oh my god-ow! You can't mean that you're-!" Michael's eyes lit up as he saw three katanas strapped to Kiba's waist. Out of the three there was a white katana, a black katana and an ominous black and red katana.

"That's right, I'm going to try the Three-Sword Style from that One Piece manga you recommended to me, and I'd just like to thank you for showing it to me."

"So, you're going to use the Santoryuu in battle?" Michael excitedly breathed.

"Yes, and no, it may be an interesting technique to use in battle, but I'm still getting the hang of it. Recently, I've been more efficient with using two swords than one, but I can use three swords for some final blows should I need to use it." Kiba explained.

"So, it's sort of like a trump card?" Michael asked.

"Well, one of my obvious trump cards, I still have a few more left that's hidden." Kiba patted the hilts of the black and white katanas, "And one special one right here…"

Kiba pulled out the ominous katana and showed it to Michael.

"What is it?" Michael asked.

"Well…"

"Hold on, let me guess you can't tell me?" Michael groaned.

"Sorry, but its more of a secret, but I'll tell you this. It's quite a legendary demon sword from Japan, and I was surprised that the Sword Dancer had this when I barely was able to cleave this out of one of its arms." Kiba looked up at the beautiful black steeled blade with its gleaming crimson edge,

"A famous sword from Japan, that's difficult to pinpoint since Japan has a tone of those." Michael groaned, "But whatever, I get that you want to keep your plan a secret, so the enemy won't be suspicious of what you have planned by how we'd react to it. So, don't worry about it, cool?"

"Wow…" Kiba looked genuinely surprised.

"What?"

"I guess the time that you spent on the dragon mountains really have changed you, Michael-kun. I noticed this earlier, but you seem to have this level-headed air about you. If it were the Michael-kun from before, he would have pestered me to reveal my secrets."

"For Lucifer's sake, why does everyone keep saying that!? I'm still the same Gutsy Hanamura, bet on it!" Michael roared out in annoyance, "Just say that I'm mature next! Do it, you Ken Doll Bastard! Say that to my face! Fucking do it!"

"Okay, I take it back then, you're still the same loudmouthed, immature Michael-kun." Kiba said with a genuine smile.

"That's better…" It took Michael a while to think about it, "Wait a minute… So, you have jokes now, eh, Kiba?"

Kiba simply laughed as Michael went on a long-winded rant about him.

_'You're right, Michael-kun, you've always been this way even if you do mature a bit, you still remain as the Michael-kun that we all believe in.' Kiba's thoughts lingered in his head as he began to finally pay attention to Michael's shouting._

"I swear, you never change, Pretty Boy, you always have to say something to piss me o-!"

"So that's why it was so loud around here its you, Michael, and you too, Kiba?" Approaching the pair was Xenovia, who had her arms heavily wrapped in bandages. Appearance wise, she wore a clean white dress shirt and black slacks, but physically, she looked exhausted as there were bags under her eyes.

"Xenovia?"

"Why hello there, Xenovia-san."

Looking at the two young men, Xenovia was able to see how dense and wild their auras have become and smiled,

"You two grew even stronger. I'm glad…" Xenovia yawned as she slowly stalked towards them.

"Hey, are you okay? You don't look too well."

"*YAWN~!* I'm fine, I just finished practice with sensei. I figured that the gardens here would be a nice place to rest, but you two talking actually woke me up."

"Yeesh…Sorry about that Xenovia, we didn't…" Michael and Kiba looked apologetic.

"It's fine, I decided to rest here just in case anyone returning passed by." She shook her head, "I may be tired, but I decided not to let it sway me from seeing everyone else's progress. I may have worked my body past its limits, but my mental fortitude has risen considerably over this past month."

"Incredible, so this Sensei of yours really went that far for you're training? So, what did he teach you?"

"Well…he, *Yaaaawn~!* he taught me how to do this…" Xenovia climbed onto Michael's lap and wrapped herself around his shoulders, "And thi-*SNORE!*."

_'Mental fortitude my ass!' Michael thought in annoyance but decided against saying it out loud since she was considerably tired._

"Looks like Master put Xenovia through the wringer. I just hope that he succeeded with changing her power focused tendencies."

_'So, it was Kiba's old master that trained her? Must have been rough for her considering her dynamics…' Michael stroked Xenovia's head and smiled as she nuzzled into the crook of his neck._

***Gacha!***

"!" Michael gasped as he sensed somebody very familiar approach them.

Opening the front doors of the manor was Asia, who was wore her nun apparel, she looked exhausted as she frantically looked around the front entrance. She had heard the loud commotion from earlier which came from Bova's flying and landing. The Gremory residence was a big place, so rushing to the front door took some time for her, but upon seeing her three friends in the garden, she looked indescribably happy.

"Michael-san! Kiba-san, and Xenovia-san, too!" Asia waved.

"Oh, its Asia-san." Kiba smiled but was quite surprised when he noticed that Michael vanished from his spot on the bench.

Before Asia could even take a step outside of the manor, she was wrapped into a tight hug from Michael. Despite still carrying the tired Xenovia in his arms, he still did his best to embrace the blonde girl as closely as he could. It may have looked to be an exaggeration for those watching, but to the him, it was a massive relief. The last that he saw of Asia was in that horrifying dream of his and how she ended up left him quite a mental scar.

_'S-She's safe, she's okay… That's good, perfect…'_

Having to suffer through a nightmare like that and be unaware of the well-being of the person in it was torture, and having seen that the Bishop was safe, he could finally alleviate some stress that he carried around with him.

"E-Erm…Michael-san?" Asia blushed as she made contact with Michael's bare muscles, she found the hug nice, but getting embraced like this allowed her to notice that Michael was completely shirtless beneath cloak.

Not minding Asia's embarrassment, Michael unbearably stopped his hug with her to avoid dropping the sleepy Xenovia to give Asia a calm smile, "I'm back…"

"Welcome back, Michael-san…" Asia returned a heartwarming smile as the two stared deeply into each other's eyes.

"Oh my, it seems that the remaining group that went out has finally returned." Appearing behind Asia was Rias, she smiled upon seeing her servants return, but looked inquisitively at Michael, who was passionately staring at Asia while carrying Xenovia in his arms, "And I take it that you're getting real acquainted with your reunion with the others, right, Michael?"

"O-Oh, Buchou, sorry… I was just-!" Michael panicked, he was already on her shit list after what happened during his last visit with Akeno.

Stopping him by raising her hand, Rias smiled, "Don't worry, I don't mind it at all. I'm just glad that you're back. All of you." She turned to all of her adorable servants before gesturing them to enter the comfort of her home, "Please come in. To save time, we already received reports from Akeno, Asia, Xenovia, and Gasper on their own results from their training, so the only ones left are you two, Yuuto and Michael."

Noticing something amiss, Michael asked, "Eh? Haven't Ray-chan and Koneko-chan arrived, yet?"

"Raynare-san is still preoccupied with her training, but Azazel says that she'll return tomorrow the night of the party. As for Koneko, she did return from her training, but she hasn't really spoken up about it. The moment that she returned, she headed straight to her room to rest."

"I see…"

Michael was a bit disappointed to hear that, but sort of expected this sort of outcome. Natsuru wasn't really Koneko's ideal teacher, so being instructed by her must have been a challenge. That's not to say that Natsuru wasn't doing her best to be a good instructor, he knew that she wanted to try her best for the benefit of the young nekomata and he couldn't fault her for that. Unfortunately, like he thought would happen, getting Koneko to warm up to her would take much longer than just spending a month together.

He really wanted to give Natsuru a hand with this, but he feared that vouching for her will only make the situation between her and Koneko even worse. He can't sway Koneko's thoughts so easily with his own views on Natsuru, she's her own person and she probably won't be satisfied if he forced his perspective onto her.

_'Senpai, good luck…' Michael took a deep breath and mentally gave his regards to Natsuru, all he could do now was trust that she'll succeed in getting through to Koneko. All he could do now was at least try to cheer up Koneko, but not today, she must be exhausted, so he'll try cheering her up tomorrow at the party._

* * *

It was heaven. Entering the air-conditioned haven that was Rias' home, forced Michael and Kiba to tears. The last month had placed them in the wild, so alongside their training, they had to learn how to survive without the aid of civilization.

Michael did have dragons to train with, but the hierarchy of the place was rough, and he had to basically learn how to hunt his own food, boil and sterilize his own water, and worst of all, he had to learn how to sow his own clothes after getting them singed or torn to shreds.

As for Kiba, he literally had no support whatsoever during his training. The forests that were around did have wild animals, so he was able to hunt and pick which ones were appropriate thanks to his extensive knowledge about the Underworld. However, he did find it difficult to navigate his way back to the Gremory Residence since his instructor dropped him in the middle of nowhere. Two days prior to arriving, he had to stop his training to find and trek his way back to the Gremory Residence.

Gathering in one of the residence's guest rooms, the remaining members of Rias' peerage finally discussed the results of their training. The others were already resting from their individual training to arrive, so they were understandably absent. Michael made sure to lay Xenovia on the couch to rest, he didn't want to strain his bandaged wounds any further since that stunt he pulled with rushing to hug Asia with Xenovia in his arms really was a bit much for him.

Reporting in, Michael and Kiba briefly told Rias the results of their training without going too in-depth with it. Short and sweet and to the point. They both were able to increase the days that they can maintain their balance breaker and learn more interesting techniques from their teachers. It came as relief to Rias once Michael told her that his control over his Dragon energy was more refined meaning she wouldn't have to watch her beloved Pawn either sacrifice a limb to the Welsh Dragon for more power or break his limbs for overusing said power.

Kiba's training had helped him get a better grasp of Sword Birth and the much-needed properties to create each individual blade but has yet to craft a perfect enough blade. It was like his instructor said, it would take him years to master such a detailed crafting process. Thankfully, he managed to make do with the much he could do and crafted two durable blades. Like with Michael, he was a little secretive about what the three blades strapped to his hip were capable of and not one to doubt her servants, Rias agreed to only know as much as he would tell her for now.

Stacking everyone's report together, Rias sighed, "And that's all of them. I just want to tell you all how proud I am to see how hard you worked this past month. I feel confident that we'll be able to give Sona and her servants quite a surprise."

"Hah, of course we will! This may not be like the Volleyball game, but we'll be sure to blow them all away especially since I've worked on some new bombastic techniques during my stay with Gramps!" Michael pounded his chest in pride before wincing in pain.

"Ah, Michael-san are you okay?" Asia immediately rushed over to Michael's side, she held her hands out in order to push aside his cloak.

"U-Urh! I-I'm fine!"

"You are?"

"Yup, see?"

Defensively shirking the cloak from her, Michael wryly smiled and delicately grasped her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Asia, I'm just a bit sore from training is all. I'll feel better later and if I don't well I'll rely on you to heal me, okay?"

"I-If you say so but promise me you won't overdo it though." Asia looked worrisome for his wellbeing.

"Heh, Michael Hanamura the Gutsy promises." Michael patted Asia's head much to the girl's amusement.

"Wow, Michael-kun, I'm quite surprised."

"What do you have to say now?" Michael tiredly look at Kiba.

"I must have been right before, you've matured so much that you're sense of lingo has gotten pretty bizarre. I mean who says Bombastic anymore?"

"Seriously, will you get off my ass already, geez!" Michael hissed.

"Get off your ass? What a strange term… Could it be referring back to baby-making se-?"

Immediately grabbing the pillow that she was laying on, Michael tried to smother Xenovia, but reacting on time the girl was able to momentarily stop that from happening.

"And look who we have here. I thought you were too tired to even speak let alone move. How come you decided now off all times to regain your energy?" Michael said with a deadly look in his eyes.

"I was actually awake during your whole discussion with Buchou and wanted to hear how far your training has come. Now that you've trained with dragons, you can now last longer in battle whether its on the battlefield or-"

She pulled out a condom, "In bed!"

Snatching the condom from her hand, Michael roared, "For Maou's sake, you haven't changed one bit this whole month!"

"That's not true, we all underwent training this month, remember? I'm much stronger than I was before." Xenovia looked quite offended.

"That's not what I mean, you haven't changed that freaking straightforwardness of yours at all!" Michael pulled at his hair, he liked the chick, but she was literally driving him insane.

"Huh? Straightforwardness?" Xenovia rubbed her chin, "Ah, I see, Michael, if you aren't too busy later, then would you mind coming to my room later. Make sure to bring as many of these as you can."

She took out another handful of condoms.

"Nice try but you can't do that after blatantly revealing your intentions! Sheesh! How come I have to be the straight man for you, its usually my job to be the wise guy!" Michael screamed.

"So, if I'm hearing this correctly, you mean you don't want to be straight or…" Kiba trailed off.

"Shut the Mmmngh up!" Michael censored himself in Asia presence as he argued with the two annoying Knights of the peerage while Asia did her best to handle damage control.

Not taking part in the lightheartedness, Rias simply stared at Michael in confusion and suspicion. The way that he acted when Asia reached to check his chest was awfully strange. Usually, he wouldn't act in such a way around the girl and would completely open to the idea of getting healed by the bishop. Well, that would be the case if it weren't an injury that he inflicted upon himself. Upon realizing that may be the case, she decided to personally speak with him about it later.

"Hey, Ri-I mean Buchou?" Michael looked to her with a smile.

"Hm? O-Oh, yes, Michael?" Rias was caught off guard by Michael's call.

Noticing that he broke her train of thought, Michael chuckled, "I was wondering if I can talk with you later about something."

_'What?' Rias was frankly stunned, usually she would be the one to pull Michael to side for a one-on-one talk but hearing him be the one to do it was a change of pace for her._

"I mean if you're too busy preparing for the party then I underst-."

"No! I mean-ahem! No, I'm too busy at the moment. We've already prepared the dresses so I'm completely free in case you have anything to discuss."

Rias shouted but recollected herself before her servants can notice her slight blunder.

"Sweet! Thanks, so I was wondering if we could actually start talking after the-!"

***Gacha!***

"…"

"Yo…"

Entering the guest room, Azazel waved to the remaining collection of his student rather solemnly while keeping a bit of his usual playfulness in his tone. Right now would usually be the time that Rias would scold the irresponsible Fallen Angel for rudely barging in like that, but she couldn't. Her attention, no, everyone's attention was on Michael, who stopped speaking and set his eyes only on the man, who entered the room.

Azazel eventually did the same as neither of them spoke for what seemed to be an awkwardly long number of seconds. Eventually, Azazel broke the drawn-out silence with a tired "Lets get this over with" before beckoning for Michael to follow him.

"Come on…"

Michael tensed up and nodded as he followed the Fallen Angel out of the room, everybody noticed something strange about the boy, his expression, he looked anxious on the verge of being desperate. As soon as they left the room, everyone was left to wonder what the two had planned, but before they could voice their questions, Rias decided to go figure out what was happening between the two.

"Why don't we end things off here? Yuuto, you must be tired from your trip. Forgive me for holding you up, so why don't you return to your room, shower and relax for tomorrow?" Putting a stop to the meeting had to come first, or else she'd lose precious time to listen in on what those two were discussing.

"Got it, thanks, Buchou." Kiba bowed his head as he left the room and took it upon himself to carry the worn Xenovia to her own bedroom. But before, he left out the door, he looked to the worried looking Asia and smiled, "Excuse me, Asia-san?"

"Oh, y-yes, Kiba-san?" Broken from her worried stupor over Michael, Asia approached Kiba.

"I was wondering if you could come with me to heal a couple of my wounds. I'm not as well versed in healing magic like you, Akeno-san and Buchou so my medical aid was barely able to keep me together during my rough training."

"S-Sure, I'll be glad to help."

"Thank you, Asia-san, you have my gratitude." Kiba bowed his head while looking to Rias and giving her an understanding nod. He knew the reason for the sudden end for the meeting and that his master was quite worried for her pawn, but it should already be a given that Asia would be just as worried, too. Measuring how much the pair cared for Michael would be downright unfair and impractical.

If Asia were to follow Rias, then it would probably difficult for the both of them not to get caught by the Fallen Angel Governor-General. This deserved a single person's kind of touch and Rias seemed more than ready to do just that.

"Lets go…" Kiba led the blonde girl out the room, but stopped as he noticed her lack of footsteps behind him. He looked back to see that the girl was no longer following him, but hesitantly stood still in the hallway, looking back at the direction that Michael and Azazel most certainly took.

"Asia-san?" Kiba called.

"Oh, r-right! Sorry." Asia rushed over to Kiba's side and stuck with him as they left Rias to herself.

_'Thank you, Yuuto.' Gathering the stacked reports, Rias beckons for a nearby maid to take them._

"Yes, Ojou-sama?" The maid bowed.

"Please take these to my room."

"O-Ojou-sama's room!?" The maid gasped in fear, "E-Excuse me for sounding rude, ma'am, but are you sure you want these in there?"

Rias sighed, she wasn't surprised with that reaction, she would have expected it from all of the servants in the residence. To them, her room was a form of Pandora's Box that's too frightening to open. She would recollect on why they were so afraid of it but decided to move things along before she missed Azazel and Michael's conversation.

"On second thought, please put them on my desk in the study."

"Right away, Ojou-sama."

"Thank you." After bowing to each other, Rias and her maid went their separate ways with Rias actually rushing down the hallways. Familiar with the route, she was led to one of her Residence's gardens. It didn't take much for her too look for the pair after she heard Azazel voice exclaim,

"First, lets see how much progress you made. Power up."

"Haaaaaaah!"

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

Emitting a bright red light engulfing the entire garden, Michael's body was cloaked in a dense layer of flowing red draconic aura. Rias was quite impressed with the display of power as she personally almost mistook Michael's usual aura for that of a real dragon.

"Good. You've finally managed to gain a respectable amount of aura, I can only imagine how powerful your touki has gotten as well. Next show me you're Balance Breaker."

**[Dragon Booster!]**

At Azazel's command, Michael called upon the Boosted Gear and concentrated before donning himself in the Red plated dragon armor. Upon equipping it, the intensity of his aura grew exponentially as the force of the dense aura caused strong winds to stir up the once serene garden around them. Before, his scale mail had this dangerous air about its aura, sure it was powerful, but there always this sense of cautionary tension when Michael used it.

It could be compared to an unsuitable wine glass that was breaking down because of the vast amount of water poured into it. Due to practically forcing himself to achieve Balance Breaker before his body was ready to attune to it, he would always be at risk of hurting himself when using the form. However, now he felt like an appropriate vessel for the power as it felt more concentrated and compacted to keep it from wildly flowing around him.

Rias took a deep breath out of relief, she wouldn't have to worry about watching him cripple himself anymore.

"Well done, brat, you actually managed to not only get a good grasp of your Boosted Gear's dragon energy, but you also managed to transform into it without the timer and finally get close enough to Vali's level in his own Balance Breaker."

"Really?"

"Now don't go getting too thrilled about that. I'm only comparing you to him based on when I last gauged his power which was about 2 years ago. This also applies to his stamina to stay in Balance Breaker for a whole month, I didn't really get to do any recent updates about his status because he preoccupied himself with his own agendas." Azazel explained.

There was no way to know how much Vali has improved especially after his last bout with Michael. For all he knew, the Lucifer descendant was probably honing his skills just like they were and considering Vali's extraordinary talent for magic and combat, it's likely that the power gap between the two would be drastically widened as a result.

"So, it's not enough yet?" Michael clicked his tongue out frustration as he reverts to normal.

"It is, don't get too hot and bothered about sheer power and scaling yourself to Vali. The progress that you made is already quite impressive considering your circumstances up 'til now. Hell, you can even say that you've finally became a decent Red Dragon Emperor in terms of power and control. Asking for any more than this is just asking for trouble."

Azazel glanced at Michael's bandages much to his confusion before continuing, "Besides, you should already know from your time with Tannin that battles don't just rely on sheer power alone, but also the environment and the versatile assortment of powers that one has. Your last fight with Vali is an example of the latter since you were able to use Ascalon's dragon slayer and holy properties to deal effective damage against Vali. Let's not forget that you also have the ability to use Touki, a form of power that not even Vali has."

Azazel still noticed the dissatisfaction on Michael's face,  _'Not convincing enough, huh?'_

"Well, that alone wouldn't be enough. To be frank it's your versatility that makes you a danger to someone as prodigious like Vali, so don't get too hung up about it and continue to get stronger."

Just as he finished giving the teen the tidbit, Azazel began to walk off. Confused and annoyed that Azazel was probably skipping out on their agreement, Michael called out,

"W-Wait! A-Aren't you going to-?"

"Ask about Welsh Drive? No need, I already received my answer through this display."

Visibly shocked, Michael grew enraged, even he himself knew that he couldn't attain the power, and it shouldn't be a long shot for Azazel to expect that as well, but what really got to him was that the man wasn't even going to acknowledge the probability of even attaining it or the serious agreement that they made.

"How can you be so sure about an answer that I haven't even given you yet? I thought you wanted to see the progression of each form, individually, so what am I missing here, Ero-Ossan?" He knew that the result would lead to failure, but he strongly held on to anything in order to make an argument. Hopelessly making an argument seemed much better to him than accepting such a daunting failure.

"You make a good point, I would ask for Welsh Drive after Scale Mail right now, but I didn't think that I would need to do that." Azazel swerved around and walked back to Michael, "I figured that since you're…you…that you would have excitedly shown me the form in your base state power up. No, I expected you to come out of the blue and show me since I figured you would be hasty enough to get the agreement over with and hear about what you wanted to know, am I right?"

Forced to shut his mouth, Michael sadly hung his head.

"Guess that's a point for me." Azazel said solemnly, "But instead of acting like your usual gloating self, you've been tense and oddly serious about this whole thing. You haven't spoken to build up your, ahem, "gutsiness" and you followed my instructions with that expectant look on your face. The look of failure."

Michael gritted his teeth in frustration and bitter acceptance.

"Two points for me..." Azazel sighed and reassuringly patted Michael's hair, "I understand that you want to know more about what happened, but I still don't believe it's the right time to tell you."

"But-!"

"I already gave you a chance and Tannin isn't here to speak up for you again. I was hesitant at first, but I did and still do believe you had the potential to unlock Welsh Drive, sadly I also believed that you couldn't attain Welsh Drive all within the span of a month. It looks like my belief of the realistic outcome came true. Listen, kid, rushing yourself isn't going to make life run faster. Things take time so enjoy life and what it has to offer until then, and who knows you may realize that the thing you really want won't be that important in the end, okay?"

"I understand…" Downtrodden, Michael softly replied. His eyes refused to meet Azazel's until he felt a sharp pain on his ear thanks to Fallen Angel flicking it, "Ouch! What's the big idea!?"

"The big idea is that you smell like ass. For Christ's sake, I can literally feel my nose hairs burn from taking single whiff of you." Azazel pinched his nose and shooed Michael away, "Go to the hot springs and clean yourself up before you accidentally kill a few birds flying by. Yuck!"

And with that Azazel left the teen on a light note much to Michael's annoyance since the flick stung more than Rias and Asia's cheek pinching.

Watching the conversation eventually end, Rias was a bit out of the loop save for the main conflict dealing with Michael's inability to attain Welsh Drive. She made a mental note not to bring it, so she wouldn't make the boy depressed. She really wanted to know what Azazel meant when he talked about some agreement and how important it was to her [Pawn].

She saw the annoyed expression on Michael's face slowly turn to sadness and deduced that it must have been impactful to force him to make such a face. Still undetected, she decided to reveal herself as he was calming his nerves.

The teen took a deep breath before he noticed the crimson haired beauty approaching him. He made sure not to show much of his negativity by taking another deep breath to grin at her. When she waved at him, he waved back enthusiastically. It may not have fully cheered him up, but it helped him to readjust to the regular flow of things.

"Oh hello, Rias, sorry for getting serious back there." Michael chuckled, "So are you free to talk with me now?"

"Sure, the meeting is already over, so I have enough free time for you." Rias happily nodded.

***SQWUAAAAAAK!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!***

Keeping his smelly armpits up for too long caused the stench to kill three birds that were flying by. As their dead bodies dropped to the floor, Michael froze and lowered his armpits, slowly. The surprised look on his face almost made Rias laugh, but she held it in and rubbed his arm, affectionately.

"Why don't we get you comfortable before talking. You deserve it after all." She figured that it would be best to kill two birds with one stone.

"Hahaha, yeah, thanks…" Michael chuckled as he followed Rias while looking up at the sky in a perplexed manner.

* * *

Being quite far away from their destination, Rias decided to cut their trip in half by teleporting them to one of the many gardens in the Residence. The Hot Springs there were Japanese themed, this made it easier for Michael to relax in a familiar setting as they were ushered in by the servants working there. After getting their towels and soaps, the couple entered the changing room without much fuss.

At this point in their relationship, they were both comfortable about being nude in the other's presence. After wrapping the towel around herself, Rias happily does up her hair as she relished her alone time with Michael. Looking back, she noticed Michael's pain-stricken face as he finally removes the cloak on his shoulders, giving her a good view of his large back and the bandages wrapped around it.

_'I-I can't believe it, he's gotten more robust, I wonder…' Reaching out to touch the muscular back, Rias stops herself and blushes, 'What was I about to do!? Touching him out of the blue might hurt him even more.'_

Casting out her inappropriate thoughts, Rias worriedly walks over and wraps her arms around him to cast some healing magic on his bandaged chest and midriff.

"Geez, you could have told me that changing was too much for you." Rias scolded.

"Thanks, Rias." Michael smiled, with some of the pain etched onto his face ebbing away.

"You can thank me by taking your wrappings off, my healing magic isn't as strong as Asia's so without direct contact, I won't be able to mend the wounds as well." Rias explained as she hesitantly tore herself away from the boy.

"Alright, but…you have to promise me that you won't get mad…"

"Why would I get ma-? Wait a minute… Is this blood?" Rias examined the thick red substance in her hand before gasping, "Michael, turn around."

"I-I think I'm fine like this actually…" Michael nervously laughed.

"Michael, turn around. Now!"

Heeding the demands of his lover, Michael did just that and revealed his bloody bandages much to Rias' horror. She didn't even have time to process the amounts of blood leaking out of them as she was already busy undoing the wrappings around him.

"Your wounds opened up? When did this happen, and why didn't you say anything?"

"See, I knew you'd be mad…"

***PULLLLL!***

"Ouch!"

"Of course, I'd be mad with you after seeing this… Dear Maou! It just gets worse with each layer that I unwrap…" Rias said in a mixture of anger and fear.

Michael looked away and exhaled sharply, "It started to get like this after I talked with Ero-Ossan."

"I see…"

_'That makes sense, Azazel did make him power up…' Rias decided not to say anything about it or else he'll find out about her eavesdropping. She wanted to know what they're "agreement" was, but figured that forcing the answer out of him would be no good, which is why she decided,_

_'I'll leave it to Michael on whether he trusts me enough to talk about it…' The talk that they're about to have was definitely not about what happened earlier, and she was fine with that._

"Rias, are you okay? You sort of stopped there for a second."

"No, I'm fine, I was just thinking about why you didn't-!" And it was after unwrapping the last layer of bandages that caused the woman to cover her mouth, horrified at the large bleeding scar on Michael's chest. The wound was deep and most of the skin that was there seemed to have been burned away. Looking up, her eyes met with Michael's as she cried,

"W-What happened?"

"Well, that's a bit of a long story…but first could you try healing the parts of the bleeding wound?" Michael asked a little in pain, he tried to smile through it, so Rias wouldn't burst into tears. Hiding his pain was a must in situations like this and at this point he was already used to it thanks to past experiences.

Getting rushed to the enter the Hot Springs albeit cautiously, Rias did her best to heal his wounds while enjoying the soothing hot water that covered their legs.

Deciding to cut to the chase before Rias started asking, Michael told her the events that led to him getting this big chest wound. It was about 5 days, he was getting prepared to face Tannin for the remainder of his training on the mountains and he was completely stoked to see how far he had come. The battle was an overall improvement than their first one but compared to Tannin's overall strength as an Ultimate-class Devil, he was still no match for the Dragon.

Every tactic, new technique and old fashioned trick up his sleeve may have helped him, but it still wasn't enough to cause serious damage to the Old Dragon. At that point, he felt anger, frustration and depression from his lack of strength and eventually, well, at that point he completely blacked out. After a couple of hours, he woke up in a beaten-up state with his deep chest wounds bandaged, he was out of the loop until Bova came and told him about a group of Rogue Dragons that attacked him and Tannin out of the blue in order to usurp the mountains.

Bova managed to explain that Tannin was able to eradicate them after surviving the life-threatening bombardment of fireballs, but still sustained crippling injuries that were a result of him trying to fight and protect Michael at the same time.

"So that's what happened, I hope Tannin-sama is alright." Frowning, Rias softly placed her glowing fingers on the bleeding portions of the wound.

"Don't worry, Buchou, he's fine. Bova even said that he'll try to make it to the party tomorrow." Michael reassured her.

"Really? Then I'm glad." Rias smiled as she manages to stop the bleeding, "There, that should do it."

She shamelessly drags her finger against his unharmed defined muscles before lightly touching the burned scar again, "Now let's move on to healing this…"

"Actually Rias, I was wondering if I could keep my chest like this." Michael touched the large burn scar compromising most of his chest.

"Why on earth would you want to do that?"

"Don't you mean, why on the Underworld would you want to do that?" The unamused look he got from the girl caused him to groan, "Okay, I get it bad time for a joke…"

"I'm serious, Michael."

"Sorry…" Michael scratched his head, "I just wanted to keep this scar as a painful reminder is all."

"A reminder for what?"

"A reminder about my weakness." Michael grit his teeth, "Even after training for a whole month, I still wasn't able to accomplish as much as I wanted. Sure, I can last longer in my Balance Breaker and my touki sure got a boost, but it still wasn't enough. I still got tossed to the side by stronger Dragons and became a burden for Gramps."

Suddenly the image of Asia from his nightmare popped into his head as his expression hardened a bit, "From then on, I decided that starting now I'd make sure to keep getting stronger to avoid losing my friends and loved ones."

Rias noticed how intensely he clutched the scar on his chest and made sure to move his hand away, so he wouldn't open any more of his healed wounds. Feeling Rias' touch was enough to settle his nerves as she wrapped herself around his arm and leaned against him.

"I understand, if that's how you really fear then I won't obstruct your vow. Besides, I think it suits you, makes you look pretty manly and gutsy…" Rias whispered the last part into his ear.

"You really think so?" Noticing his voice crack, Michael coughed and laughed, "I-I mean of course it does because after all I am the Gutsy Hanamura!"

"You sure are and I wouldn't have it any other way…"

"Hey, Rias, I-"

"I know, I love you, too."

"Wow, have I really gotten that predictable?"

"Yes, yes you have, but that's just another weird quirk that I love about you."

"W-Weird, and you didn't even deny it at all…" Michael's head fell, but he couldn't help but feel strangely happy about her reply.

Rias laced her fingers with his as the pair held hands in the steam filled hot springs, enjoying their companionable silence until Rias says,

"I've been wondering Michael, why didn't you have Asia heal your wounds earlier? It would have been a faster process with her doing it than me." The Bishop had been training her Twilight Healing for weeks now, so that question still loomed over Rias' head.

"That's because I wanted you to do it, Rias. I-I…just wanted to talk to you about it alone like this and I didn't want her to worry too much about it, so she can have fun at the Sponsored party tomorrow." There was also the fact that the nightmare he had was still bothering him and getting so close to Asia after reuniting with her wasn't really helping much right now. He just hopes that he'll be able to readjust to being in her presence soon enough.

"I see…" Rias was quite happy to hear that and agreed with what he said about Asia. The former Nun was quite a worrywart whenever he would injure himself before, so it would have devastated her to see him carrying such a gnarly scar like that.

"So…instead of talking about me. Let's talk about what you did for your training." Michael wrapped his arm around her.

"Yeah, how about we not do that. See? We can just sit here in each other's arms without ever mentioning my training schedule and instructor?" Rias sweatdropped trying to change the topic.

"Come on, it can't be that bad compared to me, I flipping fought dragons on a daily basis!" Michael chuckled, "And besides, I can't think of anything that can truly rattle you, so it must have been something minor. Rias?"

_'First rule of Onee-sama's training: Do not talk about Onee-sama's training!' Rias replayed one of the many rules that Grayfia beat into her head._

Michael stopped his laughing to notice the trembling Rias in his arms, the very mentioning of her training must have triggered something in her subconscious. Eyes widening with a hint of mischief, Michael said in awe,

"Whoa! I can't believe it, something or someone did rattle you up!"

"That's foolish, don't joke around like that."

"Hah! No way, I'm not letting this potential vantage point slip pass me! I'm going to figure out your weakness even if it kills me, so spill it!" Standing up in front of her in the springs, Michael made sure that Rias wouldn't escape by holding her hands captive with his own.

"No!"

"Come on, I promise not to tell anyone else! This secret is safe with me!"

"No!"

"Fine then, if you won't tell me then I'll just go ask Ero-Ossan or…I could just go to Vene-sama and get the full story from her. We've grown to be close friends, she and I, and I think we're close to discussing some embarrassing parts of my girlfriend's childhood." Michael smirked, devilishly.

"You wouldn't dare…" Rias lowly growled and narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, I dare milady… I dare…" Michael threatened as he toyed with her, "So what are you going to do about it? Come clean now or have someone else tell me about it? Taunt, taunt, taunt~!"

Taking a moment to think about it, she smirked, "I choose the third option."

"Nice try, but there is no third option." Michael dramatically glared at her.

"And that's where you're wrong "Darling" there's always more to the choices that one receives. If I can't get the outcome I want with either option, then I'll just have to make my own and to make sure that happens, I'm going to shut you up."

"And how pray tell are you going to do that, Rias? I already have you trapped, there's no way that you can get away from me. Face it, the Crimson Ruin Princess has finally met defeat at the hands of the Gutsy Hanamura! Hahahaha!"

Amidst his maniacal laughter, Rias giggled, "You, naïve fool."

"Nani?" Michael gasped.

"Keeping me trapped like this doesn't change a thing, I don't need my hands to shut you up."

"You're bluffing!"

"Am I, am I really?"

_'Ngh! How is this possible? I know have the advantage, I know I do, but why do I get the sneaking suspicion that I'm playing right into her hands! No, she's playing mind tricks, she probably wants me to think this way. Meaning, she's already putting her plan into acti-!"_

"Take~."

***CHU!***

Pouncing at him, Rias locked Michael in a passionate kiss that stunned him as the both of them fell into the hot springs behind the boy. Emerging from the warm depths, the two gasped for air without taking their eyes off each other.

"Curses, I fell for it. Hook line and sinker!" Michael wailed.

"It looks like the Crimson Ruin Princess dominated the Gutsy Hanamura yet again." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and snuggled into his chest, "Now how should I make use of my spoils of war?" Rias circled her fingers on his pectorals, as she had so many frisky choices to choose from.

Wrapping his arms around her hips rather forcibly, Michael whispered, "You'd best hurry and make your choice otherwise I'll make it for you."

"Oh, yeah?" Rias purred.

"Yeah… Is what I would say if I wasn't so tired, so take this!" Michael backed away and splashed water in Rias' face.

"H-Hey, no splashing in the hot springs!" Rias splashed back.

"Then how come you're doing it!"

"Because as your King, I hold immunity!" Rias continuously splashed water in Michael's face.

"No fair, that's just your way of saying you can get away with breaking the rules!"

"So~?" Rias stuck her tongue out.

"You sneaky little-!"

Laughter filled the hot springs as the couple rejuvenate themselves by enjoying the other's presence with them. Soon enough their horseplay came to an end as they silently rested in the large pools, hand-in hand before they had to eventually get out. The resident servants made sure to bring more suitable clothes for Michael just before they entered the changing room since the one's that he brought were in poor condition save for the dragon scaled cloak that they folded for him.

Walking back to the main residence took a while since the pair wanted to enjoy the other company for as long as they can. By the time that they reached the stairs to the second floor, Rias made a habit of stalling by standing in place with each step they took. This greatly halted Michael's walking but he didn't find it to be an issue, they haven't been together for a long time, so it was only fair to milk as much time as they wanted.

Eventually, they did make it to bedrooms and sadly said their farewells, but just as he was about to enter his bedroom, Michael could have sworn that he heard Rias mention something about inviting him somewhere and cleaning someplace up. Anyways, with everything done for the day, he finally relished a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, that good night's sleep was a bit hindered with both Asia and Xenovia fast asleep on his bed after waiting so long for his return.

_'Well, at least I have a bed again…' Michael shrugged and slipped into the covers with Xenovia and Asia. Soon enough he felt Asia wrap her arms around him, he found her light snores to be cute along with the way Xenovia tossed and turned in bed. The exhausted girl was all over the place especially her legs which seemed to get closer and closer to his crotch._

"Wait a minute, what?" Seeing the girl raise her leg and drop it, he estimated that his nads would receive critical damage.

"Xenovia, hold on, you have to wake u-!"

***GONG!***

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Michael cried before limply passing out from the pain.

* * *

Standing outside of Koneko's bedroom, Natsuru leant against the balcony as she quietly watched the sleeping nekomata through the window. Usually, it would be her job to keep watch over Michael, but since the two had their bedrooms placed together, she was able to still keep watch over him along with the girl. She couldn't explain it herself, but she at least felt compelled to do this much for Koneko since she wasn't able to teach Koneko much about senjutsu due to the white-haired girl's distaste for her.

The remaining time they had in the last 15 days was basically the same as before, but Natsuru felt that something was off. The moment she had returned, the girl was strangely acting distant and troubled. Of course, she had to use her senjutsu just to notice the girl's emotions since she was so great at being physically hard to read.

The Rook's resistance to her training hadn't gone away, but simply changed and that concerned Natsuru enough to just keep close tabs on her should something happen. She may have only been responsible for the girl's training, but she could be in deep trouble should something happen to the girl. So, she was only doing this just for the sake of being safe and avoiding any unneeded suspicion, yup, nothing else. Although she told herself that, she just couldn't help but feel like there was more to her worries than that.

***SNAP!***

"!" But before she could deny the notion of worrying about Koneko again, she sensed an unknown presence just at the cusp of the woods surrounding the Gremory Residence. Focusing her eyes, she could easily see through the darkness and through the thick brush of the woods below the balcony. Her surveillance of the area was quick and precise, she would have found whoever it was in flash, but it would seem that their form was much more suited for the environment and it didn't help that they're presence was dialed down to make it difficult to track them. All that she could get from it was that there was someone there and they didn't want to be found.

At least that's what she thought was what they wanted since after a while she caught notice of a black cat lazily lying on a tree branch staring at her.

***Meow~!***

"…"

***Staaaaaaaaaaaare~!***

"…"

Her eyes didn't even twitch as she stayed locked onto the cat. No, it was something more than just your average cat as it retained a total of two tails.

_'A nekomata…' Natsuru would have been ecstatic in the past to see another one of her kind around, but that was in the past, and besides, why would there even be a nekomata in the Underworld in the first place and what purpose would they have coming to a devil's territory like this?_

There were too many suspicious variables that she couldn't ignore, so she decided to do a little test. Immediately, she gave off a threatening aura through the use of Sage Arts to get a reaction out of the black nekomata. Her aura was a strange blend due to her mixed Kitsune and Nekomata origin, so that alone might give them a bit of a surprise to tread carefully. After a while, the nekomata responded back in kind as they released just an equal amount of aura that rivaled Natsuru's.

_'What in the-?' Natsuru thought in disbelief, here she had expected to surprise the potential enemy, but instead she ended up getting just as flabbergasted. Just like herself, the nekomata exuded a distinct blend in her aura as well, but it was more familiar yet artificial blend. A blend that reminded her of Reincarnated Devils like Rias Gremory's servants._

_'A Nekomata that also feels like a devil? Could they be?' Natsuru's eyes sharpened as she pieced two and two together. Faced with a perceived threat, she flared her aura as the black nekomata did the same. Eventually their auras clashed in a challenge to see who would back down first, but before a conclusion could be made Natsuru stopped herself as she heard the sound of rushing footsteps approach the balcony._

***GACHA!***

"…!" Pushing the glass doors open, Koneko ran outside in a cold sweat. Natsuru, who managed to hide her presence hid on the roof as she watched the girl frantically look around for the source of natural energy clashing. After a while, Koneko began to calm down and returned to bed, but not before looking out the window one last time out of fear.

_'I can't believe how careless I was. Getting riled up so close was bound to make Koneko restless.' Natsuru stood up and noticed the disappearance of the black cat, 'She must have left once Koneko awakened, too.'_

Going over what just happened, Natsuru seriously whispered, "She's powerful, I'll give her that, but she should be around the same level as me. Too bad I can't say that I'm that confident I could win a fight against them. They exhibited patience, back when I released my aura, they didn't hastily bring out their own. No, they got a good feel of me before replying back."

This wasn't any ordinary nekomata that she was dealing with, if anything they seemed to be quite a competent youkai, making them a formidable threat. Heaving out a sigh, Natsuru had hoped that things wouldn't have taken such a turn for the worst, but it looks like she'll have to get involved in putting a halt to someone's plot.

"I just hope that I have time to at least get some souvenirs for Kiyo-chan and Ma-chan…" Natsuru said wistfully as she wondered how her siblings were faring in Europe. The last that she heard of them, they were already accompanying Kiyome's mother to study the monsters that lived there along with some artifacts that her mother was able to discover.

* * *

Pouncing from branch to branch, the black cat traveled through a portal mid-jump and arrived on the coast of some unknown beach. Upon landing on the hot sand, the cat quickly scuttled towards the shaded table and chairs beneath a white parasol.

As it landed on the table, the cat painfully mewled, "Ny-owch! I should have known creating a dimension like this would be hell on my feet while in this form."

"I find the feeling of hot sand on my feet to be quite soothing."

"Seriously? How are you not dying out here? You're literally drinking Black tea, nya." The black cat looked over at the occupied seat to see an elegant, beautiful yet regal blonde woman sipping a cup of tea. The woman's clear blue eyes really brightened her face underneath the parasol as her lace braided blonde hair lightly swayed with the wind as the sea beside them swayed onto the shore. It may have been difficult to notice because of her business suit, but she has quite a lithe figure that would distract whoever wasn't paying close attention to how toned her body looked.

"Tea calms me down and it helps before a mission, so it doesn't bother me where I drink it, but you already know that because after all, you chose to create a pocket dimension like this in order to grate on my nerves, correct?" The blonde woman's ahoge bounced as she accusingly glanced at the cat.

"So, you figured me out, nya…" The cat stuck its tongue out.

"You being a vile cat aside, how were your efforts in surprising your little sister? I take it that it didn't go as planned." The woman looked around for any signs of another cat.

"You can say that, I really wanted to see her face when I decided to try and pick her up before the actual day of her choice, but I came across a very troublesome obstacle. I could have tried to dispose of them, but I wasn't really in the mood."

"And you stopped because you could have alerted the Devils in the area, right?"

"Oh, and that too, nya~!"

The blonde woman groaned, the cat probably didn't think that was a consequence and simply listened to her own lazy instincts.

"So how about you, Arthur? Receive any word from our donor, nya?" The cat licked its arm.

Wearing a hard to read expression, Arthur shook her head and groaned, "Unfortunately, I did and the talk I had with them was quite an experience to say the least. She used quite a bit of…modern lingo? Is that how you say it? Well, she made sure to tell that she positioned portals around the location of the party to act as our distraction for when we confront the Red Dragon Emperor and claim your sister."

"Good, good… Everything is coming together, and I didn't even have to do most of the work either. I should start doing this type of stuff in the future, you know, nya?"

"You mean sit back and watch others do the work for you? The thing you basically do all the time with my sister?" Arthur dryly replied.

"Oh, come on, Le Fay loves helping around the manor, so what's wrong with giving her more of what she wants?"

"Kuroka, stop taking advantage of her or else…" Arthur glared at the yawning cat.

"Whatever…"

"I mean it…"

"Yeah, yeah…" The cat dismissed the threat as she stretched out over the table, "So anything else our donor had to say?"

Rolling her eyes, Arthur said, "Not particularly, but to be frank, I tuned out most of what she was saying since the way she spoke disturbed me. All I remember was "Gotta get dolled up" and "OMG, I have got to start vomiting to fit into my old dresses" so yeah, that kind of dribble." Arthur imitated their donor using an overexaggerated teen voice.

"Sounds about right, I only ever talked to her once in person and I could tell that she was a loony." Kuroka said.

"Just where did you find such a person to help you?"

"I didn't really find her, she pretty much found me, nya."

"Come again?"

"Well, before I came to you, I originally asked Bikou to come with me to pick up my sister, but he backed out saying that there would be a chance that he would run into "him" should he even go with me. So, I pitched for some extra help from the other factions of the Brigade, who weren't too extremely busy to lend me a helping hand, then boom, she arrived with an offer in hand, nya-nya~!"

"That sounds shady and it's most likely that this "help" of hers can cause us just as much damage as the people we're using these chimera on…" Arthur rubbed her chin.

"I know, but should she try anything funny then we could simply kill her." Kuroka yawned.

"True, but I don't believe I like the vulgar way you phrased that." Arthur shook her head.

"I'm pretty sure there are a lot of things that you don't like about me, Arthur." Kuroka giggled.

"True yet again…" Seeing Kuroka sprawl her little cat body over her portion of the table, Arthur said, "Get off the table."

"No."

"You're about to spill my tea."

"Too bad for you then, nya~!"

"If you want to relax then transform to your human form and relax on the chair like a civil living being."

"Lemme think about th-no~!"

"Move…"

"No…"

This long battle of words dragged out to point to where, Arthur slowly summoned a golden portal slowly releasing the hilt to a sword.

"I'm not going to ask again, Kuroka. MOVE." Arthur coldly demanded.

"Nyeh~!"

***CHINK!***

Kuroka kicked not Arthur's tea cup, but instead the whole tea kettle onto the sand as the ground absorbed all of her precious black tea.

"…" Arthur angrily glared at the cat.

"Oopsie~!" Kuroka stuck her tongue out.

***SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!***

Suddenly a radiant light shined beneath the table as Kuroka's face went pale before nervously smiling,

"S-Sorry?"

"CALIBUUUUUUUUUUUUUURN!"

"Nyaaaaaaaargh~!"

And with a yowl of pain and fear, Kuroka and Arthur engaged themselves into another one of their usual spats that inevitably destroyed the dimension that Kuroka created.

* * *

The next day, during the evening everyone was already prepping themselves for the party, the girls were whisked away by the maids while the boys were taken by the butlers. It was a lengthy and tedious process for the butlers since they dealt with Michael's defiance to their assistance to help him change and Gasper trying to escape the crowded dressing room. By the time they got out, the boys wore their black suits with their hair combed back.

Deciding to go check on whether Bova and his gang had arrived to pick them up, Michael parted ways with Kiba and Gasper, who decided to wait for Rias and the others.

"Ugh…this sucks! I can barely move like this." Michael groaned, "And these loafers are killing my feet! Why the hell do men's shoes need heels!?"

"A month passes by and you still haven't changed."

"Wait a minute, that voice…" Michael whipped his head around to spot Saji approaching him, "Doctor Science!"

"Don't call me that, Mike, and its nice to see you again, too." Saji pushed up the frame of his glasses before waving at his best friend, he too was dressed up in a black suit. The young man had obviously changed during his own month of training over at the Sitri side, he appeared to be just as robust as Michael was. Not to mention that the aura he now possessed seemed way stronger than before and Michael couldn't tell if it were his eyes deceiving him, but it felt as if there was a familiar white aura mixed in with Saji's black dragon aura.

The two happily fist bumped upon their reunion.

"What the heck are you doing here, man?" Michael laughed.

"The Kaichou wanted to go to the party with Rias-senpai, so I decided to tag along as her body guard while the others went on ahead to the party. I sort of got lost after she went to change with senpai, and that's how I ended up here." Saji explained.

"Pfft! You seriously got lost? How sad, I've only been here a couple of times and I still managed to navigate myself around with no help at all." Michael chuckled as Saji rolled his eyes.

Passing by a maid worriedly approached Michael and asked, "Young Master, do you require any directions on how to reach the bathroom? Last night, you looked awfully distressed as you crawled around looking for it. S-Should I call some butlers to help carry you like last time? Or do you want me to bring some spare clothes for you in case you can't hold half of your bladder like befo-?"

"NO! I mean, no thank you, I'm fine…" Michael rapidly shook his head as he directed the maid elsewhere before looking back to Saji, who wore an incredulous expression on his face.

"Wow, what are the chances that the same maid would pop up at this exact moment. You must have been born under some special star, Mike."

"STOP TALKING!" Michael screamed.

"Alright, alright…" Saji sighed.

"But enough about that. You've really changed, Saji, you're much stronger now." Michael grinned, "This long interval of training really worked wonders on you."

"Thanks, Mike, I really appreciate that. I've been put through hell this entire month and I'm just glad that someone was able to-where are my…?" Saji touched his face to realize his glasses weren't there and spots Michael talking to them a bit away from him.

"I mean you even changed your frame and everything. These past years of training has done you some real justice." Michael excitedly laughed as he talked to the pair of glasses as if they were Saji, "To be honest, I almost didn't recognize you there but at least we're back to being the two amigos you and I! Hahaha-eh?"

***WHAM!***

"Who the hell are you even talking to?" Saji yelled as he gave Michael the old right hook.

"O-Ouch, just relax.. I was just talking to the real Saji. No need to get all fussy." Michael picked himself up and presented Saji's glasses.

"Mike, I'm right here! Those are just my new prescribed glasses. I pick them up yearly as backup should anything happen to my contact lenses." Saji explained.

"No, this is Saji, you should seriously get your eyes checked, dude." Michael shook his head.

"How exactly is that me? Those just appear to be a pair of glasses!" Saji exclaimed.

"Don't be stupid, these are obviously Saji, the very same Saji, who went off to the mountains in order to train for years when middle school was close to ending." Michael said, seriously.

"I did no such thing and you know that! Hold on, are you referring to time that I decided to first use eye contacts in exchange for glasses?"

"No, of course not, I'm talking about the time that Saji went to the mountains to train for years. Come on keep up." Michael scolded.

"Kind of hard to do that since you're talking crazy like a lunatic." Saji growled.

"Don't you get it? Well, I wouldn't expect a glasses hanger like you to get anything." Michael sighed, mockingly.

"O-Oi, hold up, did you just reduce me to nothing but a glasses hanger?"

"You see this was Saji back in the day, my best friend, I met him with glasses and I will forever remember him that way. No, the world will forever remember him that way since these glasses were his identity, they were the reason why he was ever truly Saji in the first place. You see where I'm going with this?"

"You're full of shit! How could a measly pair of glasses be me? They're not even the same as my old pair!"

"Sshh…shush!" Michael placed his finger over Saji's lips as he smiled, "That doesn't matter."

"The hell it doesn't!"

"Look, dude, you can't deny that these glasses make up 98% of what makes up "Saji" while the other 2% consists of waste and water." Michael held out the glasses.

"I counted so many things wrong with that statement." Saji sweatdropped.

"No, no, just listen to me for a second and think this through. Between the meat bag in front of me and these cool glasses..." The teen whispered as if he made some sort of breakthrough, "Which one is the real Saji?"

"You're the only one who needs to face reality!" Saji snatched the glasses away, "And give me that, your smudging the lenses."

"Smudging the lenses? No, I'm just clearing "Saji's eyes so that he'll see the truth…" Michael said, wistfully.

"Shut up, Michael…" Saji groaned.

After their little exchange, the two decided to sit on a couple of the nearby couches near the gardens to catch up. Michael and Saji discussed what kind of training entailed during the past month with Michael being more than happy to blab about his regimen rather simply while Saji talked about his own to a minimum without giving too much away. The conversation started off light-hearted, but after a while the mood began to turn serious.

"The game will be taking place very soon now." Saji brought up.

"Yup." Michael nodded.

"I trained like hell to get this strong."

"Me too."

"…"

"…"

The two remained silent, at this point they should have been considered enemies to each other for the upcoming match, but there was a somber feeling that welled up within them. Sure, they competed in the past like in the volleyball game, but that wasn't a real fight. Since the day they met, they've been the best of friends, working together like brothers and now for the first time in their lives, they were finally going to exchange fists as enemies.

Hoping to lighten up the conversation, Saji said, "You remember what happened back there with the Old Devils at the Young Devil gathering last month? Well, it got me thinking about something."

"Like what?"

"The Kaichou, her dream is to create a School for any devil without appealing to the class system. A school free of prejudice so the next generation can grow up and be given the freedom to choose what they want to do in life." Saji chuckled, "She has such a virtuous dream that reminds why I lo-admire her so much, but it had me thinking. What should my dream be?"

"How should I know? You're the smart one while I'm badass." Michael joked.

"Debatable, but I'm serious."

"I know, bro, but if I were to take a swing in the dark, I'd say that you would have wanted to help Sona-senpai out by being a teacher at her school, yeah?"

"You guessed right, that was my initial dream at first…" Saji trailed off.

"Was? What changed your mind?" Michael asked.

"…" Saji simply remembered back to his training days with Shirou act as his sparring partner, the two didn't really talk all that much since Shirou was too busy enjoying pummeling the poor pawn into the ground. However, there were a few instances to where Shirou grew interested in Saji's motivations for getting stronger and remembered back to the Young Devil Gathering too and how Saji's master was ridiculed as much as his own master.

_-"Listen here, helping out your master by becoming a teacher is good and all, but are you sure you want to build a dream based off of her own? I can tell that you like her, so shouldn't you try to grow a pair and figure out what **your**  dream should be? Masters like ours are hardasses so its hard to garner their attention without proving ourselves as their equals. Someone like Sitri-sama is never going look your way if you just keep following her as just her pawn. But what do I know, do whatever the fuck you want its not like I care or anything, fuckwad! "-_

"You can say that an unexpected yet brutal friend talked me out of it." Saji looked to the ceiling with a determined look, "Just because Kaichou has an inspiring dream doesn't mean that I should blindly follow her. I want to get better not just for her, but for myself as well. It would be a disgrace not to figure out my own goal while everyone is trying their hardest to attain their dreams. Which is why I decided… I'm going to become an Ultimate Class Devil and form a peerage of my own."

"That's a pretty good dream, Saji." Michael grinned.

"Thanks, but that's not all to it." Saji raised his hand to the sky.

"Huh?"

"That's only my first step, no, my actual dream is to become the Asmodeus Maou."

"…!" Michael may have been surprised, but he could help but grin after hearing his friend declare that.

"Sorry, if I sound like I'm taking your shtick, but I honestly can't think of anything else that can satisfy my dream than that. I already know that it won't be easy since I'll need Intellect, Power, Experience and the recognition of the entire devil society. Intellect and Power are a work in progress, but I lack Experience and gaining recognition is already going to be a pain after what happened at that Gathering."

Saji shrugged, "But I'm in no rush, I want to enjoy everything coming my way. Natural progress seems to be the only way for me to be considered the Kaichou's equal, so I'll take each step-in stride to fullest."

"Right… Then let's do our best to become Maou then, Saji. We might be a long way from accomplishing our dreams but let's make sure that we never give up on in no matter what." Michael raised his fist.

"Gotcha."

The two men fist bumped.

_'Just like Sairaorg, Saji has a clear idea on what kind of Maou that he wants to be, and he just attained this dream only recently too. I still haven't even decided on what kind of Maou that I want to be, much less what I want to stand for as one.'_

_Michael shuffled through all of his perplexed thoughts before shaking his head,_

_'No, I have to take my time. Creating a half-assed goal will only lessen the value that I give to it.' Michael shook his head._

"Michael, sorry for making wait. Hm, so Saji-kun was here with you?"

Arriving onto the scene was Rias and the rest of the girls, who wore wearing beautiful dresses that made them look to be like princesses. Walking along with them were Kiba and Gasper.

"Wow, you guys look amazing!" Michael smiled.

"Why thank you, Micha-!" Kiba started.

"Shut the fuck up, Kiba!" Michael growled.

"K-Kaichou?" Saji immediately blushed as he saw the dressed up Sona in front of him.

"Is something wrong, Saji?" Sona asked, curiously.

"N-No, ahem! Excuse me for that, I was simply amazed with swell you're looking this evening." Saji bowed.

"Why thank you. Now shall we?" Sona lightly smiled as she walked ahead of him.

"Right." Saji did his best to keep up, someday, he won't be watching her back anymore, he'll do his best to walk beside her as his equal.

"So, you said that Bova was coming to pick us up with his gang?" Rias asked as everyone made their way to the front entrance.

"Yeah, he said would be early, so he's probably waiting for us right as we speak." Michael opened the door to spot the dragons, and once he did, he instantly regretted opening the door.

"BOSS! WE! HAVE! ARRIVED!" Bova roared along with the many large dragons behind him as they loudly roared like a pack of animals. They seemed to have worn large leather biker jackets as they furiously pounded their chests like wild gorillas. Everyone was at a loss for words at the scene as the dragons just kept on chanting Michael's name.

Leaning in close, Saji whispered, "So I see you weren't the only one dealing with delinquents over the summer…"

"You have no ide-hey, wait, what are you talking about? Don't tell me that you-!" Michael was just about to call out who Saji sparred with for the month, but Bova's obnoxious chanting broke his concentration.

"BOOOOOSSSSS! WEEEE! HAVE! AR-RRRIIIIIIV-!"

"STOP TALKING!" Michael shouted out in annoyance, they weren't even at the party yet and he was already getting exhausted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!
> 
> Well, I'm Out so Peace Out and have a wonderful day!


	59. Let the Dancing Commence! An Unknown Request to Dance? The Neko-Kitsune and the Agares Agents stop the party-crashers! Part 1

**Let the Dancing Commence! An Unknown Request to Dance? The Neko-Kitsune and the Agares Agents stop the party-crashers! Part 1**

* * *

Soaring across the evening sky, everyone rode on the back of leather jacketless Bova, who along with his gang of dragons were forced by Michael to get rid of the jackets and quit the unnecessary chanting of his name. From then on, the flight had been a bit awkward for Michael and Bova.

"Hey, Boss… I'm sorry about before… I think I might have gone too far…"

"Ya think!?"

"*SIGH!* I went too far…"

"Dude, I know you want to help me, but you tend to go a bit overboard. Usually, I would just be sort of okay with it, but in front of my Master and friends? Now that's going way to far." Michael noticed Bova lowering his head and sighed, "Look, Bova, I accept that you're my "subordinate" and after getting to know you this month, I feel like I can truly depend on you, but you're at a ten, man."

Michael raised his hand above his head, "And being here could cause some trouble for me, so try to be around a…six or a five at best because all of this over the top stuff isn't going to cut it because…"

"Boss?" Bova noticed Michael trembling.

"Because that's supposed to be my thing!? How am I supposed to come up with the awesome plans and crazy ideas that I end up bring my friends into, me! If I keep playing the role of straight man to your wise guy, then I'll eventually lose touch with my wise guy schtick!" Michael cried.

***PINCH!***

"Yeowch!"

"…You're too loud." Out of irritation, Koneko, who sat in between Michael's legs pinched his leg.

"S-Sorry about that, Koneko-chan…" Michael grimaced in pain, he should have known better than to act up when around her. Especially since her nekomata sense really enhance the sensitivity of her ears.

After the commotion with Bova and his gang, everyone decided to climb aboard the dragon's accommodating back since they found his complexion to be less scary than the other dragons that Bova brought along. Sitting at his special seat atop Bova's head, Michael claimed the best view out of everyone else, and frankly he wasn't the only one because as soon as he sat down, Koneko plopped herself down on his lap like usual.

 _'_ _Geez, if she'd even go so far as to sit on my lap while riding a dragon, then there's no lengths that she won't go just to sit here…' Michael sweatdropped as he "officially" confirmed his lap as Koneko's favorite seat._

"So, like I was saying, you can still do the things you do, but be moderate about how you do them, okay?" Michael smiled.

"Understood, Boss, I'll do my best to consider that for the future." Bova nodded.

"Great because that's all I'm asking, dude."

"…"

"…"

"So, Boss does that mean?"

"Yes, you can keep the leather jackets."

"YES!"

"And make sure to get me one, too, but make sure to write my name on the back along with this title "The Dragonites"… Also make three other jackets like that just in case…" Michael maniacally rubbed his hands together.

"No, Michael, for the last time, we're not starting a goddamn band!" Saji somehow heard the conversation from Bova's back.

"Come on, Saji, we were meant to be Rock Stars! Besides, you know how much I like to play the guitar!"

"That's exactly what you said when you tried to make us daredevils but guess how that turned out!"

"Its not my fault that you bitched out from making a simple stunt with your bike!"

"That's because you wanted me to ride my bike up a ramp, off of our middle school's roof, and into the pool!"

"You lacked belief!" Michael shouted.

"Fuck your belief, I would have died!"

Coughing to his throat, Michael leaned in and whispered, "Just make four leather jackets for the "Dragonites"."

"Gotcha, boss." Bova winked.

After a couple more minutes of flying, Michael noticed Koneko's silence which isn't uncommon for the girl, but at this point in his relationship with his underclassmen, he was able to tell the difference between her usual silence and her rare moments of unsettling silence. The signs were clear based on her lowered head and how tense her shoulders were. It was clear to see that she was still hung up about the training, the Pawn's urge to talk about was met with his decided stance on the matter to not intervene with the possible growth of Koneko and Natsuru's relationship.

Resting his hand on her head, Michael garnered the girl's attention long enough to grin at her before directing both of their attention to expansive view of the Underworld around them, the evening sky really gave the sight a relaxing atmosphere.

"Such a great sight to look at, isn't it?"

"Mm…"

Michael smiled while the quiet Rook nodded in agreement.

"I may have ridden on Bova and Gramps' back a ton of times but this feeling I get when seeing such a beautiful sky and land from above just never gets old for me."

"Mhm…"

Still looking a bit dejected, Koneko simply gave minimal nods and answers.

Seeing that she wasn't budging from that comment, Michael sighed, "Koneko-chan, are you okay?"

Noticing Michael's voice sounding worrisome, Koneko opened her mouth to answer.

"Its okay, you don't have to answer me, I simply wish to say a few things to you. Heh, I even promise not to yell with this big mouth of mine." Michael grinned and hoped that had gotten a bit of smile from the girl, but sadly it didn't.

"I…can tell that your training must have been hard on you and that you may have been struggling with some baggage, but I can tell that you've been working hard all the same. So, I just want to tell you that you can believe that I'll be by your side to help you no matter what happens while I can believe that you'll do the same for me and the others. After all, you're more dependable than even this Upperclassman of yours."

Michael laughed as he tried his best to skirt around the issue. He hoped that he didn't give anything away about Natsuru talking to him about her past.

"Well, you're probably done hearing me blab on and on, so I'll leave you to the silent view."

"Michael-senpai…?"

"Yes?" He was surprised to receive a response from her so suddenly.

Any anxiety and doubt that she displayed washed away when Koneko gave her senior a smile, "Thank you."

"Heh, don't mention it! Besides, as the Gutsy Hanamura, I've been known for being quite an upstanding guy! I mean, I even got you to acknowledge my greatness just now so its only natural that I can handle talks like this!"

"Don't push it." Koneko narrowed her eyes.

"Got it…" Michael sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

After a couple of seconds, the two began to laugh. For Michael, it may not have been much, but it was still enough to put a smile on her face and that's all he wanted. While Koneko took this bit of levity as a refresher for what was to come for her, at first, she was too frightened and choked up about denying the ominous invitation laid out to her.

The thought of her past eventually happening again terrified her into simply complying, but thanks to sharing this tender moment with her senior, she would now be able to think much more clearly and fully commit to her definite answer.

"OI! Everyone get ready! We've arrived!" Bova rudely shouted.

In the end, they're talking allowed for time to pass by rather fast as they arrived at the hotel venue and it quite literally the size of Kuoh town. Michael's eyes lit up at the grandness of it all before excitedly cheering as they headed towards and landed on the ground runway for jets and apparently large sized monster transports.

"Alright it looks like you're all here. Good, I was afraid that one of you had fallen off my back on the way here again."

"S-Sorry about t-t-that…" Gasper guiltily raised his hand.

"Well, we better start heading off to our section of the party."

"Do they even have rooms that accommodate huge dragons like yourself?" Michael questioned.

"They do have a waiting space in their gardens, so we were just thinking about chilling there. Also, a message from my Old Man, he says that he'll be arriving after an hour or so."

"Gramps is coming? Woohoo!" Michael threw his arms up and cheered.

"Thank you for bringing us here, Bova, and it was nice…getting to know you and you're eccentric group of friends." Rias smiled, albeit a little bitterly.

"Don't even mention it, Big Sister Rias, you're the boss' girl so I hold you up in the same regard as him."

"W-Why thank you."

"In fact, you two together are the absolute best! With you by his side, the Boss will be both an incredible dragon AND devil, who will be a beacon for not just us dragons but misunderstood devils, too. So Big Sister Rias, don't hesitate to call for my help too BECAUSE-!"

"Alright! That's enough of that, go, shoo-shoo!" Michael noticed how taken back Rias was by Bova's overly ambitious nature and pushed the Dragon's inching head away from her.

"Hrphm! Sorry about that I got a bit carried away." Bova panted, excitedly.

 _'_ _A bit is an understatement…' Michael sweatdropped._

"Well, Boss, you know where to find me in case you need anything and if you simply wish to call me then you could use the…" Bova pointed out.

"I know…" Michael raised his hand and revealed the purple Dragon Gate magical circle on his hand. During their time together, Bova suggested that Michael made some form of contract with him similar to that of a devil contracting with a familiar. Now he could summon Bova at his leisure.

"Alright, alright, I guess that we'll be seeing you later then…" Bova and his dragons took off.

"Bye!" Michael waved.

Bova stops flying to ask, "Just make sure to call me in case you want to beat up some asshole trying to pick a fight."

"BYE!" Michael emphasized.

"I-I mean, I think it would be easier for me to keep those kind of jerks in check if I simply went in with y-!"

**[Dragon Booster!] [Boost!] [Transfer!]**

"BYEEEEE!" Michael used the Boosted Gear to increase the power of his voice and with that Bova took off.

Turning back to all of his friends giving him incredulous looks, Michael awkwardly shrugged, "Dragons, am I right?"

Arriving strangely on time, the hotel employees led their group to the limo they had prepared for them. Thrilled to finally enter one of these Michael was the first one to call shotgun before Rias had to urge him to ride in the back after she started to hear him mention the song "I'm on a high way to hell" to the driver.

Sitting next to a nicely dressed Rias and Asia, Michael whistled, "Wow, this is sweet! A limo, I never thought that I would be in one before… Oooh, is that bubbly water!? How do they even make it that bubbly?"

"M-Michael, just hold still please…"

Restraining the cheerful Michael, Rias made to straighten out his suit despite the harsh winds on Bova's back having no effect on them due to the protective barrier around them.

"Urp…sorry…" Michael apologetically grinned.

"I'm happy that your excited about this whole thing, but please relax. We're simply taking the limousine to the main hall. This time for the annual party will have armies in facilities around the hotel due to Khaos Brigade's current activity.

"Right, right, so where's Ero-Ossan, is he coming or…?" Michael tried not to sound awkward about considering how his last talk with the Fallen Angel went.

"He is, he's simply joining up with Onii-sama and the others before arriving on another route." Rias handed Michael a nicely decorated comb.

"Oh, okay…" Michael pocketed the comb.

"Michael." Rias seriously looked at Michael, "You may not have heard this since you were riding on Bova's head, but just before; I declared war on Sona. I told her that we will blow you away in order to accomplish our dreams."

"Really?" Michael grinned in surprise as received a nod from Rias, "Wow."

_-"Sorry, if I sound like I'm taking your schtick, but I honestly can't think of anything else that can satisfy my dream than that. I already know that it won't be easy since I'll need Intellect, Power, Experience and the recognition of the entire devil society. Intellect and Power are a work in progress, but I lack Experience and gaining recognition is already going to be a pain after what happened at that Gathering."-_

_Saji's words echoed through Michael's head as the clash of dreams finally became apparent to him._

_'_ _Buchou's dream to be Number One and my unspecific dream of being a Maou. I guess, everything is going to be on the line in this Rating Game match, and even though I don't know the type of Maou that I want to be, I'll still fight for the dream that I hope to one day figure out and attain.' Michael clenched his fist._

"Buchou, Saji says that he wants to be a Maou, too…"

"Really?" Rias was surprised but kept her composure as Michael raised his fist.

"Yeah, he even wants to be the Maou, Asmodeus. He looked determined with his eyes filled with a burning fire that I haven't seen before…"

"An admirable dream, even I have to admit that he's a smart guy and the fact that he now has all of Vritra's sacred gears makes him quite a formidable and tactical opponent to face in the Rating Game. Even so, we will win. They're not the only ones with dreams, either."

The two knowingly nodded at each other.

Looking at Michael's hair, Rias said, "Michael?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's the comb that I gave you?"

"Oh, sorry, here." Michael handed it back to her.

"No."

"What?"

"No, why didn't you comb your hair back?"

"Because I don't want to."

"Well, you have to look respectable in front of the other families, so…" Rias gestured to the comb and his hair.

"Rias…Rias..look, I already promised to wear the suit, these heeled guy shoes, and the tie. So, leaving the hair alone should be fair…" Michael crossed his arms.

"Well, this wouldn't be an issue if you had just used Hair gel." Rias narrowed her eyes.

"No, no, no, I'm going to wear that crap ever again! I mean, I hate having to clean my hands of the stuff after scratching an itch on my head."

"Michael, please, its just one little thing. Just comb your hair, and that will be it."

"Nuh-uh, nope."

"Michael, do  **it."**

"Look, I'll do it, but now. Later, and besides don't you trust me to think that I'll do it later, too?" Michael said with his eyes wide, Rias could tell that it was a lie a mile away.

"Michael, I'm really begging you, please, just comb your hair… For me?"

 _'_ _Ugh! Not the puppy dog eyes…' Michael turned away to avoid getting guilted into doing the task._

"Hey, I'll comb my hair whenever I want, I just don't want to right now." Michael huffed.

"…" Looking to the others in the limo, Rias nodded at them as they nodded in turn as they slowly approached the surprised teen.

"Get away!"

Arriving at the hotel's entrance and led in by many employees, the group managed to check and take the elevator to the main hall of the party.

"You guys suck…" Michael growled as his hair was painfully combed back.

"You gave us no choice." Kiba shrugged.

"Sorry, Michael-san." Asia apologized.

"Just to be clear, it took all of you to hold me down in order to comb my hair…" Michael bitterly said.

"Whatever keeps your pride intact, senpai…" Koneko patted Michael's shoulder.

"It seems that we're staying on the huge top floor. Michael, if you're called out by anyone please don't greet them so casually like did my parents. Properly greet them and try not to offend someone."

"…" Michael opened his mouth.

"And no, you're not allowed to do that."

"…"

"Or that either."

Michael closed his mouth, at this point in their relationship, its become a bit of thing to where Rias can predict most of Michael's usual shenanigans without him having to literally speak it.

"Okay, totally serious question this time. I swear, so wasn't this party prepared for you guys by the Maou?" Michael asked.

"Yes and no, honestly, once we arrive it won't cause much excitement. This is an annual custom, so the young devils won't have as much impact here like the other parties in the past. In reality, we're simply extras while the adults are the ones to usually enjoy themselves in the nearby facilities for their own meetings. *SIGH!* Probably to partake in some alcohol and get too intoxicated like always…" Rias disappointedly shook her head, "Father, why…"

 _'_ _So Zeo-sama's just like the Ero-Ossan when it comes to alcohol, eh? Wonder what's all the appeal in that stuff?' Michael thought, 'Does it taste good?'_

**_[Not so much the taste, but rather the effect it has. You'll find out when you're older.] Ddraig said._ **

After exchanging a few bitter smiles and laughs with each other, the elevator was finally able to arrive at the destination of the main dance hall. The extravagance of the hall surpassed even the grand architecture of the outer hotel. There were glistening chandeliers on the ceiling, delicious looking foods arranged on tables and a marble dance floor with some exotic paintings depicting some romanticized parts of the Great War.

[Ooooooh!]

All of the devils in the room clambered up to the group, specifically Rias and Sona as they voiced their admiration.

"Princess Rias, I can't believe how beautiful you've become over the years!"

"Ah, Princess Sona, your elegant charm just seems to grow more and more each time I see you!"

"Sirzechs-sama and Serafall-sama must be so proud of the two of you."

Smiling and shaking hands despite the overwhelming onslaught of compliments and adoring stares, Rias and Sona underwent their greetings right off the bat. It almost took Michael by surprise by how accustomed they were from all the attention.

"O-Okay, Okay…I can do this…" Gasper took deep breaths as he shook the hands of the approaching devils, "Why hello there, my name is Gasper Vladi, its quite nice to meet you."

 _'_ _Wow, Gasper is actually socializing with others, I'm impressed. The Ero-Ossan really did his best to train him over the break.' Michael nodded in approval._

"Why hell there, my name is Gasper Vladi, its quite nice to-Hrrphm!"

Just as Gasper was about to shake hands with another devil, he ran off covering his mouth.

"Say Kiba?"

"Yeah, Michael-kun?"

"That has to be a new record for the little guy, right?"

"Yes, I believe so."

***SLAM!***

"HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAH!" The sounds of Gasper's retching could be heard from outside of the bathroom.

"You did good Gasper, you did good." Michael pounded his chest in respect for the nervous shut-in.

"Hello, excuse me?" Someone tapped on Michael's shoulder.

"What?" Michael plainly said before spotting Rias giving him a stern look,  _'Right, right, forgot… I have to use my gentlemen skills and crud. Welp, here goes nothing.'_

"Why hello there good sir, my name is Michael Hanamura, pawn to Rias Gremory. Nice to meet you." Michael vigorously shook the man's hand.

"And you too, sir." The Devil nodded, Michael noticed that compared to the other noble devils, this one seemed different. They had long and spiky purple bound into a messy pony tail, purple eyes and quite a handsome face that belonged to a European man. He too wore a suit along with a red headband wrapped around his forehead.

After a while their handshake seemed to have gone on far longer than Michael would have expected.

"Hm, I see…" The young devil scratched his chin.

"What is it?"

"So you're right handed, huh?"

"Yes, how could you tell?" Michael asked.

"Well, I can deduce that since you held it out for the handshake and your grip seems incredibly strong. I mean, ouch, you are literally crushing my hand." The man sweatdropped.

"Whoops! Sorry!" Michael mentally kicked himself for not paying attention.

"Don't be because now I know the hand that you use to fap with." The man gave Michael a satisfactory smile.

…

"Excuse me?" Michael blinked in surprise.

"What? You don't use your right hand whenever you're uh…alone?" The man leaned in to whisper.

"Wow, this is really happening…" Michael awkwardly looked around before seriously looking at the man, "Awkward… Yet, I'm intrigued by this weirdness of yours. Go on…"

"Nah, no need to, I just wanted to get a bit of a chuckle from you since this looks to be your first greeting down here in the Underworld." The man laughed, "So I guess you could say that I popped your Greeting cherry, pfft!"

"Ohohoho, sex jokes, nice…"

"See? Finally, someone who gets my humor, you know, usually people get sensitive around me for making jokes like that."

"But they're the best kind though!"

"Oh my maou, I know right!"

"Say, what's your name?" Michael said.

"Aaron. Aaron Lancelot, [Knight] to Seekvaira Agares-sama." Aaron stuck out his hand.

"Wait a minute, Lancelot? Agares-sama? Aaron?" Michael emphasized before realizing, "Hey, you're that Aaron guy that Shi-rou was talking about, I guess it makes sense that you're a part of the same peerage."

"Shi-rou? Hehehe, nice, but seriously, my bud actually talked about me? That's a pleasant surprise, what did he say about me?" Aaron asked.

"Actually, he didn't really say anything about you per say. All he said was that you sound like a disappointment." Michael said with a straightforward smile.

"Yep, that's exactly what he would say…"

"So back to your last name, I can't help but wonder how AWESOME it was to hear it, so does that mean?"

"Yup, I'm descended from the ancient bloodline of Sir Lancelot of the Round Table." Aaron nodded.

"So cool… But hold on…" Michael contained the inner fanboy within himself to ask, "Isn't Sir Lancelot supposed to be some sort of Holy Knight like King Arthur? How the heck did you end up a devil?"

"Well, my friend that is a long story that took place 8 years ago…" Just as Aaron was about to talk about his backstory, both Michael and him spotted Shirou amongst the crowd of handshaking devils.

"Oh, there he is!" Michael shouted and pointed at the now pale-skinned white-haired devil.

"Hey, Shi-rou! Guess who I just met!" Aaron waved.

"Motherfuc-!"

"Ahem!" Standing next to Shirou was a stern Seekvaira, who wore a stunning, formal blue dress that moderately reached down to her knees.

"God Damm-!"

"Ahem!"

"Darn i-?"

"AHEM!"

"R-Really? Grr, fine…"

Going about to finish their last round of greetings, Seekvaira and Shirou left Michael and Aaron to their business, but not without Shirou shooting the two snickering devil's vengeful glare.

"Hehehe, he's so whipped…" Michael quietly laughed.

"Oh, you have no idea, and Seekvaira-sama isn't the only one in our peerage, who keeps him in check." Aaron winked.

"Really, who?" Michael asked, excitedly.

"Well, currently, she's…"

"Michael…"

"Ouch! Buchou?" Michael cried out as Rias pulled him away by the ear.

"We're still doing the greeting, so hurry up. You may not have known, but there are actually some noble devils, who want to meet you since you're the first Legendary Welsh Dragon possessor to be reincarnated into a devil. So, let's go!" Rias tugged Michael back into the crowd without releasing his ears.

"R-Right, ouch, I'm sorry, Buchou… Well, Aaron, I'll catch you on the flip, bro! Ouch, ow… Rias, please, I promise to finish the greeting so let me go…" Michael whined.

"It was my mistake to have left you on your own. No, you're sticking with me, so I can keep a closer eye on you." Rias scolded.

 _'_ _I guess Shirou isn't the only one who's whipped around here. Makes me wonder if those two have a thing like he and Seekvaira.' Aaron whistled to himself as he skipped out on doing the rest of his greetings._

Making their round of greetings was a challenge for Michael since acting like a gentleman was exhausting for him. His shoulders were stiff from trying to keep posture and his voice began to hurt due to restraining his usually loud voice. Once the greetings were done, he was able to catch a bit of his breath, but things were far from over for him once the music started playing.

Watching as devils started to dance in the hall, Michael noticed that he and Rias were standing side by side on the side of the hall. Looking over to her, he had expected her to ask him to dance, but the girl was quiet with a blush on her face as she began to fidget around. After recollecting his Gentleman lessons from Venelana, he started to kick himself for being so forgetful.

 _'_ _The guy's supposed to ask the girl to dance. Come on, brain! Work faster!' Michael thought._

"Ahem!" Catching Rias' attention with a cough, Michael held out his hand and smiled, "Hey, Rias, I was wondering if you wanted to…boogie down with me?"

"Michael…" At first, she looked about ready to reprimand the boy for his informal behavior, but the look then turned into a smirk, "I'd love to boogie down with you."

"Great, let's get DOWN! OW!" Michael received a pinch to the arm.

"Control yourself…"

"Heh, sorry."

As the two walked out onto the dance floor, they noticed a couple of familiar faces such as Kiba dancing with a few female devils, which wasn't a surprise due to his bishounen appearance. There was also Shirou dancing with his master, Seekvaira Agares, at first, Michael kind of knew there something up between the two during the Young Devil Gathering, but the way that they danced together was completely in-sync and rather intimate giving them quite a close vibe.

Surrounded by a crowd of eager male devils was Sona, who spent her time dancing with a line of them that were just captivated by her cold beauty. Worried for Saji, Michael looked around and was surprised to find that Saji was indeed dancing with on the dance floor and his partner was Tsubaki Shinra!?

 _'_ _Whoa, what a twist… I guess they have been rather close lately after we did help with that family issue in the woods.' Michael proudly nodded in Saji's direction, but this only confused the young man as he shrugged it off and happily danced with the somewhat blushing Tsubaki._

It was apparent that he wasn't fully aware of her feelings yet, but he's smart, so he'll get the hint eventually. In fact, half of the boy's attention was on Sona as he hoped to have at least one dance with his [King].

Smoothly dancing together, Michael was able to keep up with Rias in their waltz.

"Wow, Michael, I'm impressed. You really seem to be a natural at this." Rias loved him, but she did expect Michael to accidentally step on a few of her toes.

"Well, I do have my moments and besides dancing really isn't that much of a challenge since my great guts pushed me through to master all of those lessons." Michael grinned as he twirled Rias around and brought her back close to him.

 _'_ _Okay, Ddraig… How are things going down there?' Michael gulped._

**_[I can't believe you're making me do this for you…]_ **

Just before the party, Michael begged Ddraig to control his feet during the dance portion of the party. The dance lessons from Venelana was hell and he could barely remember most of the steps since he only remembers the pain of getting a heeled foot stabbed into his own foot.

The dragon wasn't experienced in this form of control, yeah, he'd slap Michael across the face with his own arm, and he'd even fix up the cracks of his armor, but dancing wasn't his forte. At this point, he was simply getting lucky with how simple the steps were and questioned why Michael found this even difficult in the first place.

Soon enough, the two's dance eventually came to an end as they took a few steps back and bowed at one another. However, receiving a tap to the shoulder, Michael turned around to spot Asia, Akeno, Xenovia and Koneko waiting in line to dance with him.

 _'_ _This explains why I didn't see them on the dance floor at all…' Michael tiredly groaned before he sucked it up and stuck his hand out._

"Why thank you, Michael-kun." Kiba chuckled as he took Michael's hand.

"Wha-? Where the hell did you come from!?" Michael screamed.

"I just finished dancing with a few volunteers and after I voiced my desire to dance with you, they more than willingly let me go to come to you." Kiba pointed over to the high class devils, who were excitedly breathing at the two men holding hands. Even a few of the held a heart shape at them, as a way of shipping them together.

 _'_ _What kind of bullshit is this!?Why are chicks into BL? Especially even High-Class devils, what kind of society allows this to stand!?'_

**_[The same kind that doesn't frown upon devils like you having harems…]_ **

_'…_ _Touche… Man, it's a bit weird having someone else point that out. At this point, its starting to become a natural feeling…this harem thing… But back to the main point.'_

"Let go, I was supposed to dance with Asia first so take a hike!" Michael hissed.

"Actually, Michael-san, Kiba-san was before me in line." Asia revealed.

"W-What?" Michael sweatdropped.

"So, shall we get going?" Kiba smiled as he dragged Michael by the arm towards the dance floor.

"This ain't right! Someone! Anyone! Please stop this!" As Michael cried, a beautiful black haired woman with blue eyes dressed in an elegant black dress and arm length red satin opera gloves entered the hall as a mature smile crept up on her face as she saw the merriment that everyone was experiencing. As she was about to exit the elevator, a black gloved hand tapped at her shoulder.

"Hello?"

***STAAB~!***

The woman turned around and quickly found that a blade of light had plunged itself into her heart.

"Uuuaa-Mmmmmmmpgh!" Before the woman could even scream another black glove quickly covers her mouth to muffle her screams as she was quickly pulled back into the elevator as the sounds of struggling could be heard before a quick flash of light occurred, then soon enough silence…

***DING!***

With the elevator opening once more, the black-haired woman entered the dance hall, as she giddily looked past the bothersome crowd of dancing devils at the sorrowful Michael dancing with Kiba. Soon enough, her lips crept up into a very unsettling smile as her violet eyes intently looked at him.

"Target acquired~!"

* * *

"So, is everything ready, nya?" Kuroka asked through a small communicator magic circle.

"Affirmative, all of the magic circles have been placed around the hotel. It would seem our benefactor studied the posts of the soldiers protecting the hotel and positioned quite a few of her chimera over them. This way, we'll experience less interference from them when we test the might of the Red Dragon Emperor for ourselves. I'm quite interested to see the Holy-Dragon Slayer Blade, Ascalon that Sir Vali mentioned. Hm, if I have the chance, I wouldn't mind adding it to my collection with Excalibur Ruler." Arthur responded from her side of the woods.

"A sword freak till the end…" Kuroka tsked.

"Better than being a cat that does nothing but bum around." Arthur insulted.

"Nyow, that was a real stinger." Kuroka playfully sniffled, "You may have just hurt my wittle feelings, nyoohoo~!"

"You being an annoyance aside, make sure to contact me when you're done getting your sister, Shirone. That way, I'll give you my coordinates when I find the Red Dragon Emperor, understood?"

"…"

"Do I make myself clear, Kuroka?" Arthur reiterated.

"I hear ya, but first, I just want you to do me a little favor before I send out a fraction of my chi for Shirone to follow."

"And what is that?"

"I want you to also be on the look out for anyone that may seem me-strange around you if you can."

"You mean?" Arthur asked.

"Yep, even though my sister neglected to learn proper senjutsu control from them, it would still seem that whoever they chose was quite a proficient master when using Sage Arts. I'd say they even stand on par with my proficiency and skill with it." Kuroka warned as a deadly smile etched itself on her face,

"I'm not going to get reckless and try to handle more than what we originally came for. We pick up my sister, then we "play" with the Red Dragon Emperor. Those are our objectives, and should we come across any outliers to that objective, we simply dispose of them as fast as we can. So, should you run into this other Senjutsu user, then please do everything you can to make sure my lovely reunion with my sister isn't ruined by quickly-"

* * *

_-"Disposing of them…"- Kuroka's words echoed._

_'_ _I can't sense any power signature or life force, but they are out there. I feel it.'_

Hanging off the side of the hotel's roof, Natsuru used her sage arts to detect anything around the radius of the hotel's dance hall. Her attire consisted of a black kunoichi garb complete with a mask covering her mouth, although it was strange that she was wearing one to a party, she fully realized that the situation was just too dire to even consider wearing a dress and that maybe she could tease Michael if she had the chance by emphasizing the revealing parts of her outfit.

 _'_ _Not just that, I can also feel something different from then, yet familiar… Something that's bringing back bad memories…' Natsuru distastefully looked over to the guard posts around the hotel and sensed an eerie feeling coming from above all of them._

From experience, she remembered a tactic that she had planned to use against Michael and Rias during the ruse of a date that she planned to capture the pawn. She originally wished to do it but opted for a subtler plan involving the chimera that she had under her control to disguise themselves as the workers for the carnival. Having a full on assault from the get go would have been disastrous and cause too much unnecessary damage that would only catch the attention of the surrounding enemy and create chaos.

"Wait a minute, chaos?" Natsuru whispered to herself before gasping, "Oh, no…"

Things were about to get exhausting this evening, and Natsuru was finding herself in a tough bind. Between protecting the hotel from a possible onslaught of enemies and heading out to find Koneko's sister before they acted out themselves. She couldn't get help from Rias Gremory, the two were already on bad terms and it wouldn't be likely for to even to a word that she would say, and Natsuru quite honestly didn't want to go to her of all people.

There was also Azazel, but it would only end in vain since the Fallen Angel was already drunk off his ass with the other leaders in the rooms above the dance hall. Natsuru didn't want to put up with the inebriated Governor-General and end up reeking of booze.

"Figures, I would have a difficult time in finding someone to assist me." Natsuru groaned, she wasn't quite a fan of devils to begin with, so her options were drastically limited. However, there was one person that came to mind, aside from Michael, they were a person that she came to fully trust among the devils that she had met. In fact, she honestly didn't want to owe them more of a favor than she already thanks to their past good deed.

"I apologize for doing this, but I really require your assistance…" Natsuru vanished in the shadows as she ventured forward to find her "ally".

* * *

"Oh my god, I'm so tired…" After the ordeal of dancing with everyone in his group, Michael panted as he sat back in his seat next to Asia and Gasper. The three managed to snag a few seats in the corner of the hall to catch their breath. Going from doing their greetings to dancing was mentally tiring for them, especially Michael and Asia since they were completely new to the world of devils.

Rias and Akeno were away talking with a few other female devils that were friends of theirs while Kiba was surrounded by female devils, no shocker there.

Arriving with various dishes of food in hand, Xenovia handed them to the trio, "Food's here, make sure to eat up."

"Food!" Michael cried as he quickly took his plate and began chowing down, "Thank maou, you're a saint, Xenovia, a saint!"

"Sorry about this, Xenovia-san." Asia apologized.

"Don't worry about it, Asia, its nothing, really. This amount is inexpensive, and you look like you needed something to wet your mouth with." Xenovia handed Asia a glass of juice.

"T-Thanks, its just…its my first time doing this sort of things, so my throat got dry since I was so nervous." Asia smiled as she engaged Xenovia in conversation.

Already finished with his plate of food, Michael looked over to Gasper and asked, "How are you holding up there, buddy?"

"Oh! I-I'm fine, Michael-nii just, hurp!" Gasper stopped himself from gagging, "Fine…"

"Hang in there, Gasper, you're proving to be a real man. Consider this event as an ordeal to prove yourself, got it?" Michael said, seriously.

"Os-urp! Hruuuphm!" Gasper nodded, but soon found himself gagging once more as he ran off to the bathroom yet again.

***SLAM!***

"Even if you throw your guts up, make sure to never lose your guts! Got it?" Michael still looked seriously as he looked at the locked bathroom door.

"O-Osu…" Gasper weakly cried.

Getting up to put away his dish, Michael starts to notice a silhouette approach him. In fact, this silhouette seemed awfully familiar. After he placed his dish away, they appeared right in front of him. It was a girl wearing a dress, she had blonde twintails and she was staring dead at him.

"Oh my goodness, you're-!"

"I-It's been a while, Sekiryuutei." The girl smiled.

_'Crap, she knows me, and I know her…sort of? I don't remember all too well, um… Oh, yeah!' Michael snapped his fingers._

"Wait a minute, aren't you that little sister with the brother complex for that Yakitori bastard, Riser?" Michael asked, distastefully.

"How rude! It's Ravel Phoenix! My name is Ravel Phoenix!" Heavily emphasizing her name, Ravel introduced herself.

"Whoops, sorry, I sort of forgot since it's been a long time, hahaha!" Michael laughed.

"You admit that while you're laughing? Seriously, this is why you low-class devils are so slow and just…ugh!" She crossed her arms, angrily.

"Okay, okay, that's on me. Sorry about that, so…how's you're bastard of a brother doing?" Michael wasn't subtle, he still didn't like Riser all that well.

Ignoring the remark, Ravel sighed, "Thanks to you, his spirits have been quite low. You defeating him like that really broke his spirits and it didn't help that you stole Rias-sama from either. Well, this was unavoidable since he always did rely on his talent, so beating him when he started getting a big head was a good lesson for him."

"And for me as well…" Ravel whispered to herself.

"Haha! Damn, you really don't hold back when you're talking about your brother, huh? I'm surprised that you could get away with that since you are a part of his peerage."

"Well, it's only the truth, and besides, it's pathetic of him to keep moaning over one loss instead of trying to get back on his feet to be better." Ravel said, "And about being a part of his peerage? Well, I've currently been traded over to be my mother's servant." Ravel fidgeted as she disclosed the information with Michael.

"Trade? What's that?" Michael asked.

"You don't know? Trading, according to the rules of the Rating Games, is possible when two [Kings] exchange pieces with each other. The only condition that's required is that they must be the same kind of piece. My mother traded an unused piece that she had in exchange for me since she doesn't participate in Rating Games. She says that she would trade me again, but only when I find the person whose family I want to become a part of." Ravel inquired as she looked expectantly at Michael,

"Yup, I'm essentially a free [Bishop] now. A [Bishop]. A single piece, that's all."

"Trading…trading… Sounds pretty cool, I can't wait to possibly do that when I become an Ultimate Class Devil." Michael rubbed his chin before blinking to realize that he zoned out in thought, "Huh, oh, sorry, did you say something just now…"

Groaning, Ravel shook her head, "N-No, it's nothing."

"Oh, okay…" Michael shrugged, "Well, its been really nice talking to you, Ravel, see ya."

"U-Um, wait!"

"Hm?"

"Sekiryuutei-!"

"Ah, enough of the Sekiryuutei title. I know it can a handful to typ-hrm!"

"What is it?"

"Sorry was about to say the wrong word there. I meant that it can be a handful to say, so just call me by my name, Michael Hanamura. We're both around the same age, so don't force yourself to speak so elegantly to me, okay?"

"H-Hey…!"

"Hehehe!"

Michael playfully poked at Ravel's forehead much to the girl's dismay.

"Hmph! Fine then, if that's what you want me to call you then fine! *C-Cough!* Michael Hanamura-sama."

"You know, you don't have to call me by my full name, Michael is fine, too, and -sama? I already get enough of that from a friend of mine, so you can just call me Michael."

"Absolutely not, addressing you this way is important, Michael-sama!" Ravel exclaimed.

"O-Okay then, you can call me "Michael-sama" then, hehe…" Michael awkwardly laughed.

_'_ _Geez, this girl is more expressive than Xenovia, yet, she's just as hard to read.' Michael thought._

"Ravel-sama, Lord Phoenix's friend is calling for you." Approaching the two wearing a long white suit left unbuttoned to show her mid-riff, black shorts and brown boots was an old face that Michael was more than comfortable to see.

"Hey, I remember you, you're Isabela!" Michael happily waved to the woman.

"Its been a while, hello, Michael Hanamura." Isabela bowed her head.

_'_ _Seriously? He remembers her name and not mine?' Ravel sighed to herself, she must not have left that much of an impression on him than Isabela._

"I-I see, if father's friend wishes to see me, then I should go there to meet them." Ravel hesitantly looked down before she exclaimed, "Michael-sama!"

"Y-Yeah?" Michael blinked out of surprise from the outburst.

"The next time we meet, would you like to have some tea with me? A-A-A-A-And if possible, and if its okay with you… I mean, if you want to… Not trying to force you into accepting, but would you like to have a homemade cake p-p-prepared by me?"

Ravel heavily stuttered.

"Cake?" Michael coughs into his hand before kneeling down to look up at Ravel's eyes to seriously say, "Make it either Velvet or Carrot cake, and we have a deal, deal?"

"D-Deal." Delighted, Ravel excitedly shook Michael's hand.

"Now if you'll excuse me." Ravel raised the hem of her dress and curtsied before she left. Touching the spot that Michael poked, she did look perturbed at first, but eventually she soon came to smile.

"So, Isabela, how have things been?" Michael asked.

"Rather slow lately, after you defeated Riser-sama, he has yet to take part in any other Rating Game, yet." Isabela confessed.

"Sorry if I sound like a jerk, but I'm not apologizing about beating Riser." Michael scratched his head.

"No need to, and besides, between the two of you, it looked as though you valued the battle more than Riser-sama to go to such extremes. I could tell with that powerful blow you gave me back then, I still remember it…" Isabela rubbed her midriff as a blush too small for Michael to notice appeared on her cheeks, shaking it off, she said, "In fact, I can tell that you're much stronger than before, too."

"Well, I did currently manage to completely master the power output of my Scale Mail along with learning a bunch of things from the dragons up on the mountains." Michael clenched his fist.

"Good, the stronger you become, the easier it will be to boast about my battle with you." Isabela smiled with a satisfied look on her face.

"So, are you Ravel's escort?" Michael asked.

"Something like that, the girl has things that she just can't grasp as a child, like our master Riser-sama. Since the Rating Game, she's done nothing but talk about you and your impressive bout with Riser-sama."

"Really? She was impressed? Sort of thought that she'd be pretty pissed off at me for ruining her brother's engagement." Michael asked.

"…No, it's the opposite actually. Well, it's fine. You'll understand eventually."

"Well, whatever the case is, when you're with her again tell her this: I don't know about always having tea together, but if she's ever in the mood to hang out, then shoot me a call anytime." Michael gave Isabela a thumbs up.

"Thank you for that, Ravel will be quite happy when she hears of that."

"And that invitation also extends out to you, too, Isabela."

"!?" Isabela looked surprised at the teen extending his fist out.

"I mean, you're not doing much since Riser's down in the dumps, right? Well, why don't you come over whenever you want to hang out or spar?" Michael grinned, "I really want to fight you again."

"Thanks for the invitation, b-but *AHEM!* I don't think that I'm strong enough to give you a proper fight much less a fruitful spar."

"I mean, after you knocked me flat the first time, I got strong enough to beat you, didn't I? So, who's to say that you can't get strong enough to match me, eh?"

Shocked, Isabela was surprised to such humility in the young man.

"By sparring with each other, we'll slowly get better and stronger than ever, so let's work hard at it together!" Michael did his best to sound like Sairaorg, it felt like something the guy would say.

"After receiving an offer like that, how could I possibly refuse?" After tapping fists with him, Isabela waved goodbye and followed after the daughter of the Phoenix clan.

"Catch you on the flip side!" Michael waved.

"Incredible, Michael-nii, you have so many devil friends already…" Gasper admirably popped up behind the teen.

"Heh, of course because after all I am-!"

"Hurp!"

"Okay, you seriously need help…"

"N-No, I think I'm fi-huuurgh!" Gasper gagged mid-sentence.

"You good?"

"It's fine, I just need to ride it out, hmmmgh!" Gasper rubbed his tummy.

"Well, in case you can't make it to the bathroom." Michael pulled one of the to-go bags from besides the table and handed it to the dhampir.

"Thank you…"

"Don't mention it, Gasper… Seriously, I don't want you puking on me." Michael directed Gasper to the seats as he returns his sight to dance hall. Everyone was where he last saw them, but then that got him question something that he missed when he looked out to the hall in first place.

"Where's Koneko-chan?" Concerned for her whereabouts, Michael began searching through the crowd of dancing devils only to come up short. The girl was quite small as it is and if she were to deem it, then she could basically make it next to impossible to sense her.

"Excuse me?"

Getting tapped on the shoulder, Michael turns around to come face to face with a beautiful and mature devil, the smile that she wore was welcoming and hopeful.

"Yeah?"

"You wouldn't perhaps be the Red Dragon Emperor that I've been hearing so much about would you?"

"Yup." Michael rushed to answer.

"Ohoho, how delightful~! You are just as kind and naively brave looking as they say!" The woman giggled.

"Naively brave? *SIGH!* Look, I'm sorry, miss, I appreciate the thought, but I'm currently searching for someone, so if you mind?"

"Oh no, please wait! All I ask of you is one quick dance. Nothing more, nothing less after that then I'll let you free." The woman winked.

"Erh…!" Michael looked torn as he looked around for Koneko before looking back at the pleading woman.

"Pwease~!?" The woman squeaked.

"What?"

"Ahem, I mean…please…"

"Gurgh, okay, just one dance…" Michael gave in and held out his hand, "But I seriously have to hurry."

"Thank you for accepting to dance with a selfish woman like myself, my name is Asriel Ipos, and do not worry about time because depending on the song, I believe that we'll finish things up quite nicely." Asriel took Michael's hand while hiding the other behind her back as she silently snaps her fingers.

* * *

***ZIIIIING!* *ZIIIIIING!* *ZIIIIIING!* *ZIIIIING!***

Appearing above the guard posts surrounding the hotel were multiple large magic circles, which soon opened a portal for large grotesque beasts to fly out. The beasts were the textbook definition of a chimera seen through Greek legend, they were lions that possessed the wings of eagles, the second head and hindquarters of a goat and snake headed tails.

Now set free, the beasts set their sights on the guards below them as they gave a loud roar before starting their hunt for flesh and blood.

"…Targets spotted, initiating countermeasures."

From below, a barrage of highly condensed magical bullets shot at the wings of the chimera before effectively riddling all of their bodies with destructives blasts of magic. Raining down from the sky, the once terrifying chimera were reduced to bullet filled carcasses.

Amongst the thankful cheering behind them, was a stoic, young, well-developed woman with long golden-blonde hair tied in a high ponytail using a blue ribbon, tied into a bow, and copper-colored eyes. Despite attending the party with her master and fellow servants, she still donned a navy-blue military dress for any form of battle.

Dropping both of her smoking rifles down into the magic circles below them, she creates a small communication magic circle to say, "This is Lyudmila Mykhailivna Pavlichenko. Post A's threats have been neutralized."

* * *

***ZAAAAAAN!***

In a single sword swing, the legion of chimera flying towards the next guard post were all cut in half.

***CHNK!***

Sheathing a long sword radiating a heavy demonic aura, Aaron tiredly sighed, "Sheesh, and just when I was about to score on a couple of chicks tonight…"

"Lancelot…" Lyudmila reprimanded the [Knight]'s complaining.

"Sheesh, okay, fine! Cool off why don't you, Lydie?" Aaron laughed, "Aaron Lancelot, ready and raring to go! Post B's threats have been effectively neutered! Bow-chika-bow-wow!"

* * *

"DIE!"

***BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!***

With only a single punch, the chimera around the third post were completely eliminated. Walking across the remains of the fallen beasts, was the white-haired delinquent himself, Shirou donned in his Grand Chariot armor.

**\Finally, now this is what I call a party!/ Typhon laughed.**

"Shirou Fujimura, here. Post C's threats are effectively buried…" Shirou said through the communicator circle, "And you Natsuru how are things going on you're end?"

* * *

"Posts D and E have already been safeguarded." Natsuru spoke as she was already dashing through the dark woods surrounding the hotel. She made sure to put the dead bodies that she tore to shreds with her claws to good use by controlling the roots in the ground to bury them and use their decomposing corpses as fertilizer.

Although it was a shaky choice to make, Natsuru was more than glad to have gotten some help with the current situation. All it took was a single call for Shirou and just like that, he was able to round up his nearby peerage members for a counterattack against the incoming threat.

"Just now, I felt Koneko's presence heading for the west, so that's where I'm going. I'll be sure to eliminate any chimera in this direction, but it won't be likely that they'll be any around her." If the enemy up ahead was Koneko's sister, then she would most likely have no harm come to her sister before their meeting. As a fellow older sister, she knew the exact precautions that older siblings take for their little ones.

["You need back up?"] Shirou asked.

"No, you handle the stragglers coming below on the ground, they're most likely coming through those other posts, so be prepared to enter the woods too and make sure that they don't scatter."

["Got it."]

["Understood."]

Both Aaron and Lydie responded.

After a moment's hesitation, Natsuru said, "Everyone, I-I just want to thank for heeding my call, and I simply want to apologize for tearing you away from your current engagements."

["Heh, baby, anything with you in it is always an engagement."] Aaron flirted.

[Are you seriously taking this chance to hit on someone, Lancelot?] Lydie scolded.

["Hey, its never too late to have more than a professional relationship with a kitty-fox like her and besides she can't possibly turn me down after showing off my cool side, heheh…"] Aaron laughed.

"Sorry, but I'm currently interested in somebody else." Natsuru flat out denied the advance.

["Hahahahahaha!"] **\Hahahahahahaha!/**  Shirou and Typhon laughed at the [Knight]'s rejection.

["Ouch, that actually hurt…"] Aaron whimpered.

["Aaron's failure at love aside, enough with the sappy crap, Natsuru. Until you called we were all virtually bored with the party. We literally do this every year, so stopping man-eating beasts is like a breath of fresh air for us!"] Shirou laughed.

["I do not know how to feel about receiving thanks from a former criminal, but I concur with our inept [Queen]."] Lydie started.

[What the fuck did you just say, bitch!?"] Shirou growled.

["…I've actually grown tired of these events, so I tend to go the guard posts and exchange tidbits about gun weaponry. I was even enjoying myself by participating in a timed gun assembly contest."] Lydie explained,

["But even though this surprise attack is a nice change of pace, I can't sit idly by and allow Seekvaira-sama's night to be ruined."]

"I see." Natsuru sort of admired the woman's loyalty, "But don't take this the wrong way, but I sort of expected for the next head of the Agares family to have more than you 3 as her servants."

["Oh, she has a [Bishop] and a [Pawn]. However, the pawn is too busy being crowded by a couple of admirers at the party while the bishop… Well, she's a bit complicated to explain let's just say that she doesn't like to attend social events like these and prefers to stay at home to tinker with her "babies"."] Shirou tiredly groaned, which made Natsuru wonder how troublesome the other peerage members were.

["Besides, we're more than enough because just as I told her the news, she gave us one simple order."] Shirou said.

"And what would that order be?" Natsuru asked.

* * *

An excited grin crept up Shirou and Aaron's faces while Lydie wore a dead-serious expression.

["""SHOW NO MERCY AND GO WILD!"""]

* * *

 **Next chapter-** **Let the Dancing Commence! An Unknown Request to Dance? The Neko-Kitsune and the Agares Agents stop the party-crashers! Part 2**

* * *

**Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Now then, I'm Out so Peace Out and have a lovely day!**


	60. Lucifers

**Lucifers**

* * *

Inside of a separate dimension, stood a spacious white manor that was 3 stories tall. Inside one of its many rooms was Bikou who was excitedly watching the American hero film,  _"Captain America: Civil War"._ Thanks to the perks of being a member of Vali's team, he essentially was free to do whatever he wanted unlike back on Mountain of Flowers and fruits where his ancestor would harshly train him in the ways of monk.

Upon hearing of these hero films, Bikou was more than thrilled to see the fights and the conflicts that would ensue in them. Right now, he was close to reaching the famous  _"Avengers: Infinity War"_ film. There had been other hero films that he tried out like the DC films, but he doesn't really like to think about that train wreck of a film franchise, except  _"Wonder Woman"_ he really enjoyed that one.

"No way, h-he! How did Zemo get the…? That's right, the stuff with Hydra, they collected surveillance of Bucky's assassinations." Bikou was breathless at the revelation.

"Oh, shit! Tony's going for it. Hell yeah, fight! Fight! Fight!" Bikou vigorously chanted.

"Bikou-sama?"

"Eh?" Peeved off, Bikou looked back over the couch to spot his other comrade on Team Vali, Le Fay Pendragon, the younger sister to Artoria Pendragon, or Arthur, since the woman prefers to go by the alias of her ancestor.

Le Fay was quite a cute girl, like Arthur, she possessed a foreign air around herself due to hailing from Britain. She retained the same blonde hair and blue eyes like her sister while having an attire consist of a blue and white mage's robe and a blue witch's hat that had a star pinned to it.

"Ah, there you are! Vali-sama has been searching for you." As she approached the television, she smiled, "Oh, you watch these American hero movies, too? Wonderful, but aren't you a bit behind because this is the part where-."

"Ssssh! No spoilers!"

"Whoops, sorry!"

Bikou made sure to shush the girl before she started rambling on about the plot points that he has yet to see. Le Fay was quite taken with stories about heroes and made a bad habit out of excessively geeking out about them. She's the reason why Bikou had to skip the first three Spiderman movies since she explained each film's individual plot.

"So, what does Vali want?" Bikou asked.

"Vali-sama wanted to ask if you knew where Onee-sama and Kuroka-sama went."

It may sound strange, but the two would usually bicker due to their conflicting personalities and feelings towards the White Dragon Emperor, so if neither of them was making any noise around the manor then that could only mean trouble.

"Of course, I do, but I'll tell him later, so shoo." Bikou turned back to the movie and realized he had forgot to the fight, "Chi, now I have to rewind it back…"

"Ah, Le Fay, so that's where you are and Bikou appears to be here too." Entering the room next was Vali Lucifer, he now sported a blank tanktop and black pants. Wiping off the sweat dripping down his brow with a towel, he had just finished with his training for the day and took it upon himself to find Bikou.

Surprised by his arrival, Le fay said, "Vali-sama?"

"Forgive me, I figured that searching for Bikou would have been a hassle for you so I decided to do it myself. However, it looks like you beat me to it." Vali nodded, "Thank you, Le Fay."

"No problem~! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going tidy up the new "gift" that Onee-sama got for me. Hm… Vali-sama, Bikou-sama? How do you feel about the name "Goggy" for it?" Le Fay asked while Bikou's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"I don't personally find any interest in naming things, but I believe that "Goggy" is an adequate choice for a name. What about you, Bikou? What do you believe the name should be?" Vali asked the steaming Monkey youkai.

"Oh my god! I don't care! Can't you see that I'm watching a movie? Sheesh!" Bikou snapped.

"I'll be sure to do that, but first, tell me where both Kuroka and Arthur went." Vali asked.

"If it will get you out sooner, then fine! Those two went off to the Underworld to track down your rival, the Sekiryuutei."

"They're doing what?" Vali narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, they said that they wanted to see the guy, who caused you to start acting strange this past month." Bikou inferred, he noticed Vali's apparent change as well.

The Lucifer Descendant used to have a certain air about his confidence. Not to say that he lost confidence in his own power, but in a sense that his confidence was no longer as prideful. While he wasn't as overly arrogant as the stuck up devils from the Old Satan Faction, he still retained some of that form of assured pride, but that changed after his fight with Michael. Now, he still holds a great amount of confidence in himself, yet he's become more calm and focused than before while seeming a bit more intense than usual.

Most of his comrades had even noticed how he much more interactive with things or subjects that were not pertaining to his thirst for battle or his main "goal".

"So they decided to get some help from some other faction in the Brigade." Bikou explained.

"Another faction? So was is the Old Satan Faction? …The Hero Faction?" Vali sounded grave when he brought up the second suggestion.

"None of them, but I can't quite say who's faction they're apart of. All I know is that they mentioned something about a member of said faction being one of the lead attackers at the Three Faction meeting. Didn't you manage to come across one of them there?" Bikou asked.

"I was preoccupied with…my own interests to notice anyone else." Vali admitted.

"Kakaka, you always did have tunnel vision when it came to fights, so are we done because…" Bikou unpaused the movie.

"We're far from done, Bikou." Vali shook his head.

"What now?" Bikou slowly groaned.

"If Kuroka had told you her plans, then that must have meant that she wanted you to go with her and yet you're here. Why?"

"Because there's no way in hell that I'm going to the Underworld! Not when there's a chance that  **he'll** there!"

Running into his relative, Son Kai, was the last thing that Bikou wanted. Last time, he was able to get off scott free, but if he were to encounter the man again, then he'd probably be forced to go back to Mt. Sumeru. Their original ancestor, the First-Generation Sun Wukong currently holds the official title and duties that comes with the position because Bikou up and left. Now out of retirement, the old monkey was now searching for him to take back the title and receive a severe punishment.

This includes Kai because if the Old Monkey couldn't find Bikou, then he would obviously be given the title and load of work that came with it despite already serving the bare of his time with the position before quickly passing it off to the next generation of monkey youkai.

"No way in hell!" Bikou shivered.

"Well, you are because you're going to bring them back. I was able to notice some strange activity somewhere and it seems familiar with the Norse mythology. I need everyone to be back so that we prepare for a possible fight."

"No, I'm not doing it and besides, I'm in the middle of a move." Bikou angrily huffed and sat back on the couch with his arm crossed.

"Bikou, go."

"No."

"That's an order."

"Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry, I could hear you. My ears have stopped working." Bikou picked at his ears.

"I see then if you're going to be this stubborn then fine. I'll go get them myself."

"Good luck." Bikou waved his hand.

"Won't need it, Le Fay." Vali turned to girl.

"Yes, Vali-sama?"

"After we retrieve Arthur and Kuroka, can you prepare to detect any power signature resembling a monkey youkai?"

"No…" Bikou gasped.

"Why yes, but the Underworld's population may have a few reincarnated youkai, so the process may take a while."

"No…no…no…no…no…" Bikou paused the movie and held his head down into his hands.

"Don't worry, as soon as you detect a large energy signature resembling a youkai, then that would be person that we meet. Once we arrive, I'll be sure to cut a deal and have him give Bikou something to do around here other than just lazing about." Vali said.

"Great Heavenly Buddha…FINE! I'll go!" Shaking his head, Bikou catches a small staff from his ear before growing it out to full size. Tapping the butt of his staff on the ground, he creates a portal.

"That's all I'm asking, nothing more…" Vali sighed while Le Fay laughed at the two's dynamic.

"Bye-Bye, Bikou-sama~!" Le Fay waved goodbye as the grumbling monkey vanished through the portal, "So Vali-sama, what should we do now?"

Turning back to Le Fay, Vali said, "Until they come back, just go about your business."

"You got it! Here I come Goggy~!" Le Fay saluted before scurrying off to her room.

Noticing the turned on television, Vali walked over and grabbed the remote, "Might as well turn it off."

_["This isn't going to change what happened."] Captain America panted._

_["I don't care, he killed my mom…"] Tony coldly said._

"…!" Suddenly the image of a bloodied blade looming over the body of a blonde-haired woman invaded his thoughts.

***DOON!***

**{Vali!}**

The moment that he heard that line, Vali's composure fell as he destroyed the television with a blast of demonic energy. Before things could escalate, Albion's call to his partner was able to settle the young man down.

**{Are you well?}**

"Yes…" Vali took a deep breath and watched his trembling hand, "I'm fine, thank you…" Grabbing his arm, he stopped himself from any unwarranted shaking.

**{Vali, I was already skeptical since you've been at this for days, but after this I must suggest you take a break just this once. Continuously training to find an alternative for Juggernaut Drive isn't an easy feat. As the first to ever attempt this, you must be at full strength.} Albion explained.**

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Rest isn't going to get me any closer to achieving the power that I need. Using Juggernaut Drive is no longer satisfactory if I can't freely hold the form without wasting my reserves of demonic energy. Mere minutes won't do me any good against those two "monsters" which is why I'll keep searching for a solution and that will all tie with the past possessors and their influence within Divine Dividing."

Exiting the room, Vali clenched his fist, "Besides, knowing Azazel, he must already be training Hanamura. As much as I enjoy the thought of him getting powerful, I absolutely can't allow him to keep up with me. The thought of him potentially gloating about his strength with that moronic smile of his makes me sick to my stomach." Finding it difficult to walk, Vali pulls something out of his pocket to stare at it.

**{You've been holding on to it ever since its been repaired. When will you finally decide to put it on?} Albion asked.**

"Never, I'm just holding on to it."

**{For who exactly?}**

"…You're asking a lot of questions, Albion…" Vali deadpanned at his inquisitive partner.

**{I simply wish to…uh…know you're intentions was all…} After many years of inhabiting this young man's body while befriending him, Albion has gotten quite used to no nonsense attitude to the point to where he wished that Vali would unwind for a while.**

"You can simply read my mind for the answers, yes?" Vali replied as he pocketed the object.

**{Yes, but I wish to hear you openly speak it to me about it. Preferably all within the span of 35 to 2 hours.} Albion offered.**

"No."

**{Worth a shot.}**

Albion sighed at his partner's reluctance to take a break as they made their way back to the Training room. Almost slipping out of his pocket, the object had light shine onto it which created a rather bright glare. Noticing his hand slightly tremble, Vali slowly makes it into a fist as it instead shakes in unbridled rage.

"Soon…" Vali's blue eyes burned with hatred, "Soon…"

* * *

"…" Somberly looking down upon a gravestone were a pair of unreadable gold eyes. Silence accompanied Zethyr as he and another were currently the only visitors in a private graveyard located in the Underworld.

"So, this is where you've been." Approaching Zethyr was Katerea, who wore a breathtaking purple dress with blue heels as she allowed her long brown hair to be down. Not even moving an inch as Katerea walks past him, Zethyr remains quiet as the beautiful woman kneels next to the gravestone.

"Did you decide to end your day off visiting this place?" Katerea smiled.

"…I've been here since dawn…" Zethyr said, lowly.

"Punctual as always…" Katerea lightly giggled as she gently placed down a bouquet of flowers on the gravestone.

"Thank you…"

"I'm not the one that you should be thanking. Kalia was the one, who insisted that we pick some roses from the garden. Hmhm, she was too hasty that she even pricked herself by picking one without wearing any gloves." Katerea reminisced back to just this afternoon, despite getting cut, the little girl still tried to put up a tough front even with tears forming in her eyes.

"She should have been much careful at the time…" Zethyr harshly replied.

"You're right about that, but her devotion at times reminds me of a certain someone back in the day." Katerea smiled.

"…"

"Well, I'd best attend the party and try to enjoy myself before Serafall makes trouble. Make sure to go read Kalia a bedtime story, she's diligently waiting for you, you know." Katerea walks by Zethyr and glances back at him, she had already asked him before if he wished to attend, but his answer was what you'd expect since Kai would most likely be there stirring up trouble.

***ZING!***

"Not even a step away from home and this happens… What, Kai?" Katerea answers the small communication magic circle near her ear.

["OOOOOOOOOOH! Kate-chan, you have to come over, quickly! Shit is going down~!"] Kai hollered.

"What do you mean?"

["Miwu~ Miwu~ Spiwaaaal! Prepare to put up your dukes, Si-Si-Zerches-chan, today we shettle thish!"]

["Red Satan Ranjah! GO! Yeash, lets, Serafwall! Today, is the day we finish things!"]

["SO-TWAN IS THE BEST!~!"]/["RIA-TWAN IS THE BEST~!]

Serafall and Sirzechs' slurring could be heard from the phone.

"Was that Serafall? No, was that Sirzechs!?" Katerea was surprised that Sirzechs of all people would be inebriated, at this point, she would have expected Serafall to do this at a party like this, but Sirzechs?

["Yeah, things sort of went south fast. The two have been at each other's throats for the Rating Game that's coming up. Eventually things turned up this way because of a certain someone deciding to settle their argument with a shot glass drinking contest."] Kai laughed.

"Why would you do that?" Katerea grumbled.

["W-What? Why did you think I was the cause of it?"]

"…"

["Look, just listen to my story first okay?"]

"Ugh, fine…"

["So first, I was minding my own business…"]

"Bullshit!"

["But I was~!"] Kai cried.

"You expect me to buy that? Seriously, who else but you would have started this mess in the first place?" Katerea groaned.

["Well…"] Kai's voice trailed off.

[Yes… Grown adults fighting in costumes, I can sell this… Hahahaha!"] Azazel's laughter could be heard in the background.

"…" Katerea and even Zethyr deadpanned at this as Katerea simply sighed, "Just make sure they don't kill each other before I get there."

["Heh, don't worry things won't escalate too-!"]

**[*GRAB!*]**

["F-Far…"] Kai squeaked.

 **["Thish ish MINE! THISH ISH WHERE MA BABY CAME FROM!"]** Serafall roared in her drunken stupor.

["P-Please hurry…"] For the first time, Katerea felt sorry for Kai as the man tearfully turned off communication with her.

"You'd best hurry." Zethyr shook his head, the current Maou were just insufferable and undignified sometimes.

"And here I wanted to enjoy my leisurely drive to the hotel, I guess teleportation will just have to do. I'll be back as soon as things wrap up." Katerea creates a magic circle beneath herself and waves goodbyes as she vanishes leaving Zethyr to himself.

"…"

***WHOOOSH~!***

After a momentary silence, Zethyr sighed, "…You had best explain your presence here right now before I'm done counting to ten."

In a bright light, the figure of a well armored man appeared behind Zethyr with his menacing brown eyes glaring at the Lucifer descendant. A mixture of light and dark aura surrounded Zethyr while the mysterious man surrounded himself in a deep black aura.

"I had expected a proper greeting from my old friend and comrade, but that was me expecting too much from a treacherous traitor such as you, Zethyr."

"The same goes to an uninvited guest that rudely barges in, Shalba…" Zethyr summoned to his hand a sheathed claymore and drew his blade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hoped that you all enjoyed this little necessary short, now let's move on to the real meat of the story! AWAY!
> 
> I'm Out so Peace Out and have a blessed day!


	61. Let the Dancing Commence! An Unknown Request to Dance? The Neko-Kitsune and the Agares Agents stop the party-crashers! Part 2

**Let the Dancing Commence! An Unknown Request to Dance? The Neko-Kitsune and the Agares Agents stop the party-crashers! Part** **2**

* * *

"…" Traversing through the thick woods, Koneko continued to follow the trail of energy left for her by her sister. Staying at the party had managed to clear her mind as she enjoyed herself by being with friends and dancing with Michael for a while. However, things soon came to an end when started to feel a presence that she was all too familiar with.

Ducking out of the party was a cinch for her due to the merriment and commotion that filled the hall. Now, steeled to face what could possibly be her hardest challenge yet, she bravely transforms into her nekomata form, growing her cat ears and tail as her aura formed itself to appear much thicker and strong as a sign of rigid confidence.

No longer was she to be swayed by fear, now she'll face her past with her head held up high.

***GLEAM!***

Stopping in the middle of the forest, Koneko's cat ears twitched at the sound of leaves and branches rustling up in the trees.  **She** was watching her but has yet to make a move or speak. Still following the trail, Koneko kept her eyes forward as the rustling of tree branches filled the area.

"My how you've grown, Shirone…" Jumping from tree to tree, a black cat kept its eyes on Koneko. Startled to hear such a voice from a long time ago so close, Koneko shook herself back to staying level-headed as she quietly traversed down her path.

Eventually, Koneko was able to make it to a small clearing just big enough for to finally see clearly. However, this wider range in sight had her catch the appearance of a black cat mewling at her from a tree branch. Her hand trembling, Koneko balls it up into a fist, takes a deep breath and approached the tree ahead.

Each step that she took, she found that the black cat's appearance was slowly transforming to take on the appearance of a beautiful and attractive young woman with a voluptuous figure, long black hair with split bangs, and hazel gold eyes with pupils reminiscent to that of a cat's. The loose fitting black kimono that she wore didn't leave much for the imagination as her slender legs and cleavage of her bountiful breasts were teasingly revealed.

"Way to go, Shirone, I'm so proud, nya~! I only sent a fraction of my chi out and you were still able to find me without being misdirected. And here I thought that I needed to tail you and lead you into the right direction. Goes to prove that you've grown with your sage arts quite a bit, nya!"

"…"

"Is that any way to greet your Big Sister after she took time out of her busy schedule to see you?"

"Kuroka-neesama, what do you want?" Koneko said with anger steadily rising in her voice.

"A response? A response, nya! Finally, and I here I thought that we were going to just have me talk through our little reunion. But…*SIGH!* that tone could use some work, my, my, our sisterly bond must has gotten weaker as the years passed by, and here I expected some sisterly love, nya…" Kuroka playfully teared up and sniffled.

"Nee-sama…" Koneko urged, seriously which caused Kuroka to groan.

"…You may have gotten cuter with time, but man, you sure have turned into a stick in the mud, Shirone. To cut to the chase, I had heard from the grapevine that the devils here were throwing a killer shindig, so as a natural party animal, I decided to crash the party was all."

"…" Not buying that explanation, Koneko continued to glare at Kuroka.

"What? I'm speaking the truth, ya know." Kuroka smirked.

"…"

"Ufufu, well, a half-truth actually." Kuroka mischievously giggled, despite that serious look on her sister's face, she knew that Koneko was still able to read as effectively as she did in the past. It was quite nostalgic, so like every conversation that resulted this way, she came clean to the 15 year old.

"You remember my leader, Vali, who attended the Three Faction Meeting, right? Well, of course you do, I mean, I was there to notice your presence and I'm sure you were there to notice mine, yes?"

"The White Dragon Emperor?" Koneko looked shocked at the revelation but nodded. She had also finally confirmed to herself about Kuroka's brief presence during that crisis and started to piece things together.

"Then that means that you-!"

"Yup~! I was the one, who helped facilitate an appropriate space for Vali and the Red Dragon Emperor to duke it out in. Well, after their fight ended in a draw, I started to notice a change in my sweet Vali's attitude." Kuroka winked, "Nothing bad, but its still quite a considerable change and that change had me wondering. "Wow, to effect Vali this much, this era's new Sekiryuutei must be something else-nyan!" So, interested in the Red tyke, I decided to come with a stuffy comrade of mine to play with him a bit."

"…! You mean that you're after Michael-senpai?" Koneko gasped.

"Michael-senpai? Oh, so his first name is Michael? Vali only refers to him as "Hanamura" or "Loser" so it was hard to pinpoint what his full name was. But yeah, I just wanted to see what he's capable of, and if I can test myself against him in a free style bout, then…" Kuroka's eyes gleamed, dangerously.

"I'd be able to keep myself satisfied until our next appointed battle that Vali has in store for us. You see, I was able to get some help to send quite a number of monsters to lure him out, but instead I got a bunch of other devils making a mess of that plan."

"…W-What?" Finally sensing her surroundings, Koneko noticed the multiple presences of wild beasts lurking in the forest as they made their way towards the hotel. She would have instantly turned tail and run to stop them, but the powerful energy signatures of the Agares peerage alleviated most of her worries.

"For a terrorist attack, I'd have to say this wasn't the most solid of plans, but oh well, after I'm done here, I'll make sure to go to the Sekiryuutei myself, nya." Kuroka sat up and jumps off the tree branch. But as soon as her feet touched the ground, she vanished.

"…?"

"So Shirone have you finally made your choice?" Wrapping her arms around Koneko, Kuroka lays her head next to her sister's much to the Rook's surprise, "As glad as I am that you've decided to try and learn how to use your power, I fear that you're not in the capable hands of someone who can properly bring out that potential of yours. So, come with me and I'll be able to make you much more powerful than you are now."

Trying to brush off Kuroka's embrace, Koneko turns around to notice that the woman was no longer there. No, she was now leaning against a tree wearing a menacing smile as her sights narrowed in on Koneko.

"So, implore you to make your decision right now, but before you answer. Let me just tell you the choices that you CAN make and my response. If you choose, YES, I'll just send you over to our place while I play with the Red Dragon Emperor with no issues whatsoever. But if you were to choose, NO, well… I'll make things simple and just say that you'll be in for a bad time, nyan~!"

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

"Nrgh…!"

Despite the cute kitty gesture, the aura that Kuroka exuded threatened Koneko as she literally felt the woman's sheer pressure exert dominance over her own. This was to be expected since Kuroka could quite literally be considered a master over Sage Arts and feeling even so much as killing intent from her would make even a novice like Koneko shake in her boots.

All of Koneko's instinct were telling her to submit just to save herself, but all of the confidence that she had built up told her otherwise as she steadfastly refused to utter the word "yes" to Kuroka's face. It was an internal conflict of her Instinct vs her Feelings due to this, she couldn't even give Kuroka an answer. She was at a crossroads and felt ashamed that she would even be THIS conflicted about this.

It would only require a little push to be tipped into either choosing "yes or no" and at a first hand glance at her older sister's power, she was starting to lean towards "yes".

However, a thought not too long ago, processed through her mind:

_-"I…can tell that your training must have been hard on you and that you may have been struggling with some baggage, but I can tell that you've been working hard all the same. So, I just want to tell you that you can believe that I'll be by your side to help you no matter what happens while I can believe that you'll do the same for me and the others. After all, you're more dependable than even this Upperclassman of yours."-_

Yes, Michael's belief and trust in her just before the party started.

_-"You don't have to tell me anything more. Knowing that your just afraid is good enough for me. Now I have to do my job as your senpai to handle your fears and make you feel more safe with yourself."-_

His blind declaration of helping her through her troubles despite not knowing or caring what they are.

_-"So just have faith in me for this single thing. You know I'm an idiot, so I'll probably mess up on most things, but trust me with handling your fears because I'll always blow them away…"-_

His stupid yet endearing promise to carry the weight of her fears. No, she couldn't allow that to happen anymore. Always letting her fear control her just to leave it up to Michael to deal with it for her, she would only be making more trouble for that reckless idiot of a senior of her's if she always gets swayed by her fears like this. She already grew past her fear of potentially going berserk with her powers, so now all she had to do was confront the person that created these doubts in the first, or else she won't be able to take herself seriously as that idiot Red Dragon Emperor's dependable kouhai.

Upon seeing Koneko's hands open, Kuroka smiled at the display of submission.

"No…"

"…Excuse me?"

***Tighten~!***

Clenching her balled up hands, Koneko narrowed her eyes at the glaring Kuroka and shook her head, "I'm not going with you, Kuroka-neesama. This is my home, Buchou, and everyone else here, I care about them and I won't just cut myself off from them just because I'm scared to stand up you, who got blinded with power and abandoned me. That's why I'll do everything in my power to resist you!"

Koneko grew ready in her stance to fight.

"Shirone, don't make me repeat myself anymore than this. Will. You. Come. With. Me. Or. Not?" Kuroka's body released a dark ominous aura that released a powerful malice and killing intent, "You do know what will happen if you defy, right, nya?"

"Nee-sama, I understand your power than anyone else. You're power could even rival that of an Ultimate-class devil, but I won't be afraid of it or you any longer! I'm no longer the frightened and dependent "Shirone" that you once knew. My name is Toujo Koneko, [Rook] to Rias-buchou and dependable kouhai to Baka-senpai! We may be sisters, but that doesn't matter since we're enemies! Even if I were to lose to you, I WON'T lose myself!"

After making a declaration that basically breaks their relationship of sisterhood, Koneko faced the unamused Kuroka, who's anger slowly subsided.

"So that's you're answer, huh?" Kuroka's hair covered her eyes.

"Yes, nya!"

Kuroka took a deep breath before raising her hand,

"Fine, then… I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way…"

***SNAP!***

"…!"

Immediately reacting to Kuroka snapping her fingers, Koneko did her best to subdue Kuroka by using her sage arts to manipulate the roots in the ground to bind the alluring nekomata.

"Nice hustle, but you should have attacked me before that declaration of yours, nya…" Kuroka smirked as heavy purple mist began to blow into the forest surrounding the pair. The ominous air about caused Koneko to shudder before she covered her mouth out of sheer pain from inhaling it.

"*COUGH!* What did you-*COUGH!* Do?" Koneko fell to her knees as she gripped her chest in pain.

Taking control of the roots, Kuroka undoes her bindings to approach Koneko with a threatening smile, "Just something that I was willing to teach you had you complied with my offer. This is a poisonous mist that helps restrain my enemies. For a devil like you its wicked effective, but the amount that I placed should have knocked you out upon you breathing it. I'm impressed Shirone, you really have gotten stronger than when I last met you." Reaching her hand out for the white nekomata, Kuroka giggled,

"Fortunately for you, I'll make sure that you'll wind up even stronger than me. Now just relax… You should know better than to defy your sister because after all. We tend to know what's best for our little siblings, nya."

Just as Kuroka was about grab Koneko, an unexpected development where her wrist got grasped by someone else.

"That…is easily debatable…"

"Y-You…" Koneko coughed as she looked up to see that her savior was none other than Natsuru, who stood in between the two Nekoshou sister.

"Oh my, an unwelcomed guest~! How may I help you today?" Kuroka may have laughed but her tone oozed with sheer anger.

"Thanks for the offer, but I can handle things for myself. Such as this poisonous mist, it seems very effective, but…" Raising her free hand, Natsuru snapped her fingers and easily dispelled the poisonous mist running through the forest.

"I sort of been dabbling with this form of Senjutsu in the past, so getting rid of at least this much isn't much of a problem for me." Natsuru smirked as she pulls down the mask of her kunoichi outfit.

"Wow~! So, you could do Senjutsu too, nya? How incredible, wait a minute, could you happen to be a part of the Nekoshou clan as well?"

"Why yes, but I'm considered only a halfling while the other is of the Kitsune bloodline."

"I see, I see… How interesting, you're interesting!" Kuroka secretly flexes her other hand behind her back and bares her claws, "Say why don't you and I have a little…TALK!"

***SHIIING!* *SHIIING!***

"…!"

"Heh…"

Upon striking her claws at Natsuru, Kuroka found that the other woman had the same plan as her as both of them had their sharper than knives nails close to each other's throats.

"Impressive…" Kuroka had to admit that the girl had some killer reflexes.

"You're not so bad yourself, Ms. Criminal." Natsuru complimented.

After a moment, the tension soon began to break as both ladies drew back their claws as Natsuru releases Kuroka to jump back and put some distance between the two. Despite the black nekomata's cute smile, Natsuru could sense her growing malice and killing intent that was now directed towards her. It looked like she came at a right moment since Koneko was about to get abducted.

Speaking back to Koneko, Natsuru said, "Stay back and find a safe place to hide or else I can't promise you that you'll live."

Standing up on shaky legs, Koneko panted, "…I-I don't need your help… I can do this myself…"

"Try saying that without pausing to take a breath. Just go." Natsuru urged.

"N-No, I can't… Nee-sama will…go after Michael-senpai if she…" Koneko tiredly breathed.

"Michael-kun… Hmph, shouldn't be surprised if that were a reason for her to also be here." Natsuru bitterly smiled since she quite literally had that same motive.

"T-This isn't a joke! I-I have to-!" All words cease to exit Koneko's mouth as a fluffy flurry of nine midnight black fox tails and cat ears grew out on Natsuru's body as she takes off her blue contacts just glare at Kuroka with her golden eyes.

"You mean, I have to defeat her to protect Michael-kun, you have to stay back and hide." Natsuru directed, but the look of defiance was ever so present on Koneko's face, "I understand if you don't want to trust, but at least trust in my power to keep any harm from reaching Michael-kun. It's my duty, no, my wish to do this much and letting you get captured here will only bring more harm to him."

Koneko's expression softened, but she was still too defiant to listen.

"Look, I know that you want to prove to yourself that you can overcome your fear of your sister, and I have to say you already accomplished that by coming here even though it was a reckless and stupid idea. Fighting someone as experienced as her alone is simply pushing it, and besides, its my fault for your inability to at least stand up to her in a fight so allow me to take some responsibility as your teacher for once."

After a moment's hesitation, Koneko looked between her sister and the serious Natsuru before nodding with a sigh, "F-Fine…"

Taking off, Koneko shoots Natsuru one last look over her shoulder before effectively hiding in the shadows of the forest.

"Aw, how heartwarming~! Its nice to know that another one of our kind is getting along with Shirone, nya!" Kuroka giggled.

"I was simply chosen as her teacher and nothing more, but I can at least say that she's getting along with me, her former enemy, rather than her own older sister." Natsuru giggled.

"True~! True~!" Kuroka smiled through clenched teeth.

Walking towards each other at the same time, both beautiful women made a show of their rising Ki before they finally got within range to stare each other down. The fierce clash of their energy shook the very forest around them. Her smile widening, Kuroka raised an eyebrow and said, "Ah… So, you're Natsuru Abe…"

"You know me?"

"Word gets around fast especially around a group of dangerous people in the Khaos Brigade. So you were able to capture the Red Dragon Emperor, nya? That's incredibly impressive to accomplish a feat such as that. I'm personally still struggling to capture the White Dragon Emperor's heart, but you captured the whole Sekiryuutei only within a matter of days."

Bad publicity was good publicity, Natsuru thought, she did expect that kind of response from a band of terrorists.

"But that accomplishment was short lived since you got captured immediately afterwards. Still that doesn't dash your condition while committing the act. You even did all of that on your own which only speaks volumes about your skills." Kuroka gestured out her hand and offered, "Why not join us? You're more than capable and I doubt that Vali would mind having another stray cat added to the team. We're alike in some ways, so it could work out."

"…" Natsuru smirked as her tails emitted a harsh blue flame, "Thanks for the offer, but I'll have to decline getting enigmatic offers from people I just meet. But I don't have any qualms with agreeing with you since I can see how we're alike."

"Really, nya?"

Natsuru nodded, "Because if  **I**  wanted to dispose of my enemy, I would make them an offer that I would have no intention of keeping while secretly planning to seal off their chi with a sealing spell." Natsuru's eyes trailed down to Kuroka's raised hand.

Winking, Kuroka admittedly raises said hand and reveals a black etching oozing a vile and purple aura.

"Whoopsies~! Ya got me, nya!"

Both women slowly raise their hands in secrecy behind their backs with Natsuru conjuring a flaming sphere of Ki surrounded by fox fire and Kuroka conjuring a blackened sphere of demonic energy and Ki.

"And there's one other thing that's similar about us too, when faced with someone who's exactly like us…" Natsuru said as she and Kuroka's smiles turned into murderous leers.

"We'll do everything in our power to stab them in the back before they do the same to us, nya!"

"Hear! Hear, nyan~!"

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

Both youkai fired their attacks without warning as a huge explosion became a result of the dangerous powers clashing. With a snap of her fingers before anyone at the power could grasp their attention, Kuroka made sure to raise up an isolation barrier around the perimeter of the forest to keep anymore intruders from getting in and to prevent Koneko from possibly getting out. This may prove to be an issue since the Red Dragon Emperor may not be able to detect them now, but this way, she'll get rid of the enemy in front of her and get her darling little sister back.

Kuroka just had to hope that Arthur wouldn't get miffed with this change of plans and speaking of Arthur…

Landing on a tree branch, Kuroka started to commune with Arthur via magic circle while looking through the harsh smoke of the explosion for Natsuru, "Hey, Arthur, um, I was just wondering where you are because I was sure to ask you clearly before about, well, I don't know… Getting RID of the other Senjutsu user in the woods!"

* * *

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

In another location in the woods, Arthur flawlessly fended off the attacks of her surprise assailant. The attacks thrown at her were child's play at best, no, they were simply test strikes in order to gauge her skill. Despite her distaste for being underestimated like this, Arthur simply smiled and had to admit that she was doing the same back.

Upon her blade meeting her enemy's she was able to react to their moves almost instantly. Not because of her mastery with swordsmanship, but because the enemy's blade was a blade that she knew all too well to heart and muscle memory.

But her momentary smile fell once she received Kuroka's call and noticed the barrier being set up above them.

"I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment, and its no surprise that you were the one to raise the barrier, so mind explaining what happened to the plan that we discussed!?"

["Well, apparently, I'm preoccupied as well thanks to a certain someone, and I did so because I didn't want to garner the attention of those other powerful devils at that party!"] Kuroka exclaimed.

"We are literally trapped with the enemies that are taking care of the Chimera, plus…!"

***ROAR!***

***ZAAAN!***

Arthur slashed a pouncing chimera in half with a two-handed sword that has a long grip with a round pommel at the end, a huge cross-like shaped guard and a long white blade with gold colored edge. The crazy amounts of holy aura that flowed from it was powerful enough to turn the bisected chimera into dust.

"The Chimeras that we let loose. We're literally in quite a predicament here!" Arthur exclaimed.

["You don't think I know that? Ugh, look, try to finish things as fast as you can and come over to me. I sense that the other two devils are still dealing with the majority of the chimera hoard. So, you still have some time, so hurry already!"]

Breaking off connection when a voice shouted "There you are" Kuroka left Arthur to deal with her own issues.

"I apologize, but this  **matter** will take a while." Arthur sighed.

"Hey, isn't it pretty rude to talk on the phone while you're having a reunion with an old friend." Cutting a few chimeras to shreds with a two-handed sword of his own was the descendant of Lancelot du Lac himself, Aaron.

Bearing a resemblance close to Arthur's blade, Aaron's sword was also a two-handed sword with a long grip, but instead had a sharp pommel at the end, a huge "x" shaped guard and a long black blade with a crimson colored edge. Flowing from it was a powerful and destructive demonic aura that obliterated each chimera that touched it.

"True, but isn't it just as rude as suddenly attacking said old friend without saying a simple "hello" at all?"

"Ah, touche, so Artoria, what bring you to this neck of the woods?"

"I go by Arthur now, and the reason why I'm here is because I'm free from my duties from the Khaos Brigade, so I came simply see the Sekiryuutei."

"The Red Dragon Emperor? Oh, I almost glossed by that… I see that you're still struggling with that conundrum about you not being born a male because your father won't accept a woman to be the heir to the Pendragon Household. And here you are a terrorist, your father and…mother must be very proud."

"I see that your treachery has lead you to becoming a devil. How fitting, and may I ask how you ended up this way? Was it perhaps your own vanity being your downfall or were you tempted by some adulterous act?"

"Uptight Nancy…"

"Lustful Pig…"

Both swordsman traded insults before their hostile smiles turned to that of familial smiles between childhood friends. Readying their blades, the two charged at each other and began their battle. However, each strike that they traded was simply met with a block or a parry, nothing was thrown to kill each other as they talked.

"So, how's Le Fay doing?"

***GIN!***

"Quite alright, she's been rather cheerful since we left the household."

***GIN!* *GIN!* *CLANG!***

"Whoa, really? Man, things must be going to shit in Europe. So, how's your father?"

***CLASH!***

"Still as paranoid and pompous as ever, your attempt to take his life has not lost its effect on him."

"I see!" After throwing a few sparring blows at one another, the two settled for a long clash of their blades as they tried to push their respective enemy back. Looking serious, Aaron asked, "What about Merlina?"

"The last I saw of her was when Le Fay and I left home. I've tried to contact her, but I've yet to receive a reply from her…"

"…" Aaron clicked his tongue.

Pushing each other back, as soon Arthur and Aaron's feet touched the ground, they suddenly charged at each other with a sudden intent to kill. Each of their blades were close to severing their respective limbs yet instead, they simply went past their opponent to dice two chimeras to pieces. Back to back, the two swordsmen keenly glared at the accumulated amount of chimera around them.

It would appear that their fighting attracted a few over to them.

"So, I take it that you're not the one who made these things?" Aaron grinned.

"I would never stoop to using my family's magic just to create these abominations." Arthur shook her head. "These were simply lent to us, so it was natural to expect a few of them to attack even me…"

"Then I guess that just leaves us to clean these fugly things up."

Nodding in agreement, Arthur said, "As much as I want to seriously cross blades with you, this will fully take my attention."

"Hehe!"

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. Its been a while since we did something like this. But I wonder…wouldn't the combination of my Arondight and you're Caliburn be a bit Overkill for these things?" Aaron wondered.

"Well, its like the saying our era of young adults make in their lingo…erh…"Is not no kill like over kill" am I…am I saying it right?" Arthur sweatdropped.

"Jesus, you really haven't change in that area as well either, well guess the same goes for me when it comes to be a lady killer!" Aaron howled as all of the chimera pounced at them while the two swordsman reciprocated by charging in with Aaron happily screaming, "BOW-CHIKA-BOW-WOW!"

* * *

"Hmhmhmhm~!"

"…Mmmm…"

Dancing amidst the crowd of devils was Michael and his new dance partner, Asriel Ispos. After begrudgingly accepting to dance with her, Michael received a few glares from his female friends for dancing with such a beautiful woman. Apologizing to them in his head, he tried his best to keep cool while he handed control over his legs to Ddraig, so he wouldn't step on Asriel's toes.

Just recently, he sensed something big occur outside not too far from the hotel before the signature suddenly vanished. He could have sworn that it was his imagination, but it felt too real and rather dangerous to ignore. He would have put his full attention to it were it not for the woman that he was dancing with.

"My, you have such strong arms, Sekiryuutei, and such a broad back, too~!"

"Mmmmhmmm…" Michael uncomfortably nodded.

Letting his guard around her was an absolute no-no!

"And you're face…so full of youth…ah…" Asriel stroked Michael's cheek much to the young man's discomfort.

"T-Thanks…" Michael nudged his head away to avoid her touch.

_'Does this lady not know personal space!?' Michael screamed in his head, he would have instantly stopped their dance, but he didn't want to seem rude since Rias is watching and he's already on thin ice after he failed to do the greeting alone._

Taking full advantage of their slow dance, Asriel hugged Michael tightly and whispered to herself, "Thank you for the meal…" Michael had managed to hear most of that and wondered why she would say something like that.

_'The wha-?'_

"Di-Did you just sniff my hair?" Visibly shocked, the pawn looked back at Asriel, who shook her head on his shoulder.

"O-Oh, forgive me I just got over some allergies but it would appear that I still haven't gotten rid of them all." Asriel sniffled.

"I-I see…" Michael awkwardly looked away.

_'Yeah, this doesn't feel right. Maybe I should put an end to this.' Compared to the times where he was teased by Akeno, Kalawarner and Natsuru, Michael didn't feel any form of seduction that those three had from the lady. Sure, she's just as affectionate as they were, but in a different way. Yes, it was something else, and he couldn't put his finger on it._

"Oh, dear! Am I making you uncomfortable? Please forgive me for being so rude…" Asriel suddenly apologized.

"Huh?"

"I've been invading your space this whole time and neglected to take into account your own feelings about it. I am so sorry for that, Sekiryuutei-san. I was just…really excited to meet you and I guess I went a little overboard…" Asriel apologetically bowed her head.

Scratching his head, Michael coughed and said, "Well…yeah, you sort of freaked me out a bit, but since when you put it that way along with you apologizing, then I guess it's okay…I guess…"

"Thank you, Sekiryuutei-san, you truly are as naively kind as they say~!"

"Again with that "naïve" stuff… What is she even talking about?" Michael groaned to himself as they proceeded to dance, "Hey, not to sound like an ass, but why exactly are you exactly excited to see me?" The teen would have been happy to hear that if he weren't too busy focusing on Koneko's disappearance and sudden appearance and disappearance of an influx of various powers.

"That's because you remind of my son."

"Really?"

"Yes, in fact, I would even say that the two of you are almost  **alike** in some ways. But….*SIGH!* I sort of wish that he had most of your traits. You're both strong, and because I heard of it as of lately about you, you're both reckless and overdo things." Michael heavily sighed, but Asriel continued. "But I wish he would be as expressive as you and wear his heart on his sleeve. He could also do with being more open about making new friends despite those friends being overly greedy and gluttonous."

Wistfully looking at Michael, Asriel warmly smiled(?), "To an extent, I sort of envy whoever your mother was to have given birth to such a bright young man like you. Makes me wish that my son were exactly like you too."

"Urh…I…I mean, thanks that's a really nice compliment to get!" Flustered, Michael blushed as he tried to pull himself together, "But I'm sure that your son is fine the way he is. He doesn't exactly be like me since we're completely different people, so it might take some time for him to really open. Effort from you and him will probably make a difference, I'm sure of it."

"Hm, yes, whatever you say…"

"Hm?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing~!" Leaning in to hold Michael tightly, Asriel soothing rubbed his back as if he were a baby and said, "But I wasn't kidding when I said that you had such a strong body, Sekiryuutei-san. Sort of reminds me of my time as a part of the Underworld's army, most of us had rough bodies like this as a result of the Great War between the devils, angels and fallen angels. Not to mention the Old and New Satan War which happened afterwards."

"Wow, you've really been through all of those wars? You must be one heck of a granny…" Michael muttered.

"Ohoho, that is one way to put it since I have been alive for a  **while** now." Asriel laughed.

"So how did it feel to be in two wars back to back?" Michael asked.

"Not as bad as you think, I did lose a few friends, but the wars paled in comparison to the minor battles that happened afterwards…"

"Really? I thought that wars were supposed to be gruesome? What else could be worse than that?" Michael asked.

"Well, it all comes down to perspective because rather than war where both sides are ready to battle. A one-sided battle could be just haunting due to it being a massacre. I would say that one of these battles would have to deal with a certain far-off village not too long ago." Asriel's smile turned into a smirk, "Yeah, a village that was already on most of the radars from other factions due to their daily involvements with dragons…"

_'What?' Michael's eyes widened as he listened closely which Asriel catches and only continues to stroke Michael's back as the light in her purple eyes started to dim with a deep pitch-black look._

"We had received word that the inhabitants there have been harboring a dangerous existence there. If left in their hands, they might have decided to take revenge on the other mythologies that stole their secret dragon slayer aura formulas and their sacred weapons. Those that lived in the village were quite defensive, but never strayed far from their home to attack an outside threat in their home turf so a chance of that happening was quite impossible." Asriel continued.

"But the potential threat that they posed with that dangerous existence around them posed too much trouble to just ignore. During that time, everyone was worried about how they would turn all of that destructive power on the factions since they had in their possession all of the Welsh Dragon's chopped up limbs and body parts."

Noticing something off, Rias looked through the crowd of dancing devils to observe that Michael and his current dance partner seemed to have been moving deeper into the crowd away from sight. Worried, Rias began to follow them since she noticed how tense Michael's expression got just a moment ago.

"At that point, you can say that to the eyes of the devils, they were all already seen as dangerous criminals. I don't wish to be graphic, but I believe that there are barely any remnants of that village left today."

"…!" Michael gasped.

"Sekiryuutei-san?"

"N-No, I'm fine…"

Seeing that was far from the case, Asriel lightly giggled, "Good…" And so she continued with her story.

"But that's just my opinion, I haven't gone back to check since my final reconnaissance mission there."

"You mean that you've been scoping the whole place? Many times?" Like an unsure child, Michael quietly asked.

"Yuh-huh~! And I was amazed to see how advanced their culture was despite being isolated from the world. But isolation can lead to issues despite their wealth of technology and knowledge, the village would usually lynch or banish any person from any clan should they make some form with the outside. I'm quite certain that they even banished a few people from the clan that protected the village's most important clan, the Hanamura Clan."

"…!"

"Funny, you seem to share the same name as them. What a coinky-dink~! Well, the Hanamura Clan was well-known for having all of their family members descend from the World's Strongest Red Dragon Emperor, Belzard. This meant that the dragon aura that each blood relative received would be quite stupendous, but I'm afraid that great power comes at a cost."

"Cost?"

Asriel nodded, "Yup, in spite of being the strongest clan there, the Hanamura Clan had suffered a long chain of failed child births with either the mother dying from giving birth or the child dying upon their birth. How it occurs is unknown to me, but I can safely say that the clan's members have grimly dwindled over the years…"

"A-Asriel-san, if you don't mind, but have you heard word about any Hanamura Clan member who was about ready to give birth at the time?" Sweating, Michael remembered back to Vali's insensitive reveal of this information.

"None that I could tell, anytime that she was out in public was brief or out of my range to investigate. They were very certain to keep tabs on her since she was the only daughter to the current head of the family during the time."

"Oh…" He was so close to getting answer, but nothing substantial came up during this conversation. Sensing Michael's disappointment, Asriel muttered "And now for the final nail in the coffin" as she pulled back and mock inquisitively took a better look at the boy.

"But you know…you do sort of resemble someone that I noticed in the Village."

"R-Really!?" Michael excitedly widened his eyes.

_'Hook. Line. And sinker….'_

"Well, it wasn't someone that was a natural inhabitant of the village, but rather an odd outsider, who somehow managed to sneak in. Hm, yes, I'd even say that the resemblance is rather "uncanny" to say the least. Perhaps, he may have been your fath-."

Suddenly, the music that once filled the dance hall stopped as all of the devils and their dance partners bowed to either change partners or go off to the sides of the hall to rest.

"Aw, and just when I was beginning to enjoy this dance too. Well, Sekiryuutei-san, thank you for accepting my request to dance. I know that you have places, so I'd best leave you to your business, farewell." Curtsying, Asriel pats Michael's back once more before elegantly walking through the crowd of devils.

"H-Hold on! Dammit…" Michael cursed the bad timing of the dance ending, he was so close to learning  **something** about his parentage and since the Ero-Ossan wasn't about to tell him anything, then he's sure as hell not going to let this chance get away. Chasing after Asriel, Michael struggled to push past the oncoming crowd of dancing devils to reach her, but to no avail. Even his calls to her were drowned out by the music and the chattering of the partygoers around them.

"Asriel-san, wait up! I have to ask you some things just now! Asriel-san! Asriel-san!" Unbeknownst to Michael, Asriel was able to his screams through this complete mess of noise.

"Ufufu, its been awfully fun, Michael-tan and I wish that I could play with you so more. But you really do have other places to be than here, you know?" Asriel snapped her fingers as a small magic circle appeared on Michael's back, the back that Asriel made sure to place mark.

"Bye-Bye~!"

***SNAP!***

"Asriel-san!"

"Michael! Micha-huh? Where did he?" Just when Rias spotted the Pawn through the crowd, upon taking a few steps toward him, he suddenly vanished. Looking around frantically, her eyes widened, she was sure that he was just there a moment ago so what in blue blazes happened to him.

"Michael!" Rias called out once but due to all of the music and talking around them, she received no reply at all.

* * *

"Asriel-san! Asriel-san! Asriel-sa-! Hey, wait just one second… Where the heck am I?" Taking a look around, Michael found himself in the middle of a forest.

"How did I even end up in this place?" Michael scratched his head.

**[Dunno, I was too busy dancing for you!]**

"Don't be like that, Ddraig, at least you weren't bored as usual. Besides, I needed you more than ever during that lucky encounter with Asriel-san. She must know something about the village and my parents, but there are some points in her story that confused me. Based on what she said, the devils did something to the village, but what? I couldn't really hear that part well… There's also what Vali said about me being abandoned yet the Hanamura Clan tried its best to preserve its dying clan members? Urgh…"

Michael rubbed his chin in deep thought.

**[Partner, I advise that you don't take what that woman said to heart. I don't know why, but I had this strange feeling when you two met. There's more to her than meets the eye, and that's in a bad way. Partner?]**

Ddraig noticed how silent Michael was as the young man was too deep in thought.

"…" Slowly changing, Michael's pupils shifted from brown to deep red.

Sensing something welling up, Ddraig shouted.

**[Partner!]**

"Huh? What?"

**[*SIGH!* We'll worry about that strange woman later. Focus. We appear to be in a forest and I sense multiple presences here! They all seem very hostile so get ready.]**

"Right, sorry!" Michael nodded as he did his best to pick through what appeared to be legions upon legions of chaotic energy presences, "Whoa, this sort of reminds me of that time with the-."

***ROOOOOAR!***

"Cat-chimera!" Dodge rolling, Michael narrowly avoids getting stabbed by the claws of a chimera. Just before the chimera could get a chance to pounce on him again. Michael held out his hand like a gun formed a powerful sphere of demonic aura.

 **"Dragon Gun!"**  A powerful beam of energy blasted the chimera into dust with ease.

Blowing the smoke off of his finger, Michael sketchily looked around, "The heck was that?"

**[A chimera it seems.]**

"Great, I have to fight these guys off again in a forest? That's just…wait…Ddraig. Doesn't this place look to be close to the hotel?" Michael remembered the view atop of Bova's back and remembered the thick forests around the magnificent building.

**[You're right, but if that were the case then why don't I sense the presences of the devils at the party?]**

"That's because you're in an Isolation Barrier!"

"Huh?" Suddenly honing in on a powerful energy signature, Michael wasted no time to look up at what appears to be a golden cloud coming his way.

"Also SCORE!"

"Geh!"

**[Dragon Booster!]**

***DOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

Like a quick draw, Michael summoned the Boosted Gear to take the heavy brunt of an attack made by a golden staff.

"Kakaka! Nice to finally meet you again, Sekiryuutei!" Bikou laughed.

 **"Dragon Gun!"** Using his other hand, Michael fired a blast of energy at Bikou, who nonchalantly avoids the attack by jumping back.

"Nice reaction time!" Bikou cracked his neck, "I can tell that you've grown stronger than the last time you faced Vali."

"You, how do you know about me and Vali?"

**[Vali and I…] Ddraig corrected.**

_'Not now!' Michael thought in annoyance._

"Now don't be like that, you must have heard about me. I mean, we did sort of saw each other after you and Vali's balls to wall FIGHT!" Increasing the length of his staff, Bikou smashed it at Michael, who narrowly dodged it thanks to the cloak of touki that he surrounded himself with.

"Again nice reflexes!" Bikou laughed.

"Look, I don't remember any armor wearing assholes like you so beat it!" Michael roared as he charged in at Bikou.

"Finally, something to look forward to today!" Bikou excitedly chuckled as the pair fought hand to hand with the addition of Bikou's staff, who made continuously thrusted the butt of the weapon at Michael. Dodging each attack was a bit difficult but he made sure to avoid getting hit in the face since he sensed that tons of strength was put into each strike.

***SLAAM!* *THUD!***

Just as he was forced back up against a tree, he jumps to the side as he watches Bikou break a tree with a simple thrust of the weapon alone. Grinning, the monkey youkai looked over at Michael and muttered. "Extend" as the staff grew ten times over in length as he impressively swings it around through the trees in the perimeter and towards Michael.

"Dang!" Michael ducked, but was in awe as the woods around them got mowed down by Bikou's overgrown staff.

"Kakaka, this is going to be so fun!" Laughed, Bikou as he surrounded himself in a powerful surge in aura.

_'Wait a minute…' Michael gasped, 'The way he said that, I remember now! He's the one who…'_

* * *

_(Flashback)_

_"Eh?" In Kuoh Academy, Michael dropped the last of change just as he was about to use the vending machine._

_Rolling around, the three coins made there way towards another male student._

_"Kakaka! Off to the arcade! This is going to be fun, eh?" The male student looked to Michael, who was expectantly looking at him. Seconds pass before the male student took of running._

_"Wait, dick!" Michael growled, "I will have my revenge! I know who you are asswipe! One way or another! I will get my change back and get my chips! You hear me!?"_

_Suddenly the vending machine dropped a bag of chips without his knowing._

_"Oh, sweet! Someone forgot to get this! It must be my lucky day!" A female student grabbed it and walked passed Michael._

_"NOOOOOOOOO!" Michael screamed to the sky._

* * *

(Reality)

**[Boost!]**

***BAAAAAAAAAAM!***

Throwing a powerful punch infused with dragon aura and touki, the collision of Michael's fist with Bikou's staff created a powerful updraft of wind that surrounded the area.

"I've come to take back 500 yen that you took from me, Kyle, you, thieving son of a bitch!"

"Kyle? No, that's wrong." Bikou deadpanned.

"What? You mean that you're not Kyle, who's been secretly some mythological creature at my school who just happened to have stolen my 500 yen?" Michael asked.

"No that's not me."

"Wait, you're right I was wrong. Maybe you took around 1000 yen from that day, yeah, I vividly remember you doing that. So cough it up." Michael whistled.

"The money doesn't even matter!"

"But…the laugh…"

"I never even attended your school! Just because we shared the same laugh and dialogue doesn't mean we're the same person!" Bikou angrily huffed, he knew he should have stayed back home watching Hero movies.

"Look, its not my fault that the two of you are alike in certain ways… Wait a minute, does Kyle even laugh like that? And didn't he bring like a ton of lunch that day, so…" Michael began to pale.

"You're not even sure that you're comparing me to the guy that you mentioned!?"

"Wait, wait, wait. I-I totally remember you! Just chill, okay?" Michael guilty shook his head, things were just getting serious and now the mood felt awkward. It was like seeing a very old friend, who's name that completely went over your head.

_'Wait a minute…' Michael gasped, 'I remember now I heard Shishou say his name, and there's also that one time…'_

* * *

_(Flashback)_

_Leaning against a corner leading to a dark alley, Michael coughed, "So…uh…You got the stuff?"_

_"Yeah, I got the swag for you right here my dude…" Whispered a cloaked man in the alleyway, who held out a brown paper bag._

_Taking it, Michael coughed, "So, is this shit legit?"_

_"Why don't you take a look?"_

_Opening the paper bag, Michael moaned, "Yes…Special, rare, mint condition Blue Eyes the White Dragon cards along with the Dark Magician Girl…Oh, yeah…"_

_"Ahem! I believe you have something for me?" The man stuck out his hand._

_"Yeah, yeah, keep your shorts on." Michael handed the man a "Gamestop" plastic bag, "Just have to let you know that it took most of my friend's debit card savings just to but the first day release."_

_"Oh, yeah…Senran Kagura: Estival Versus. Looks like I'll be having an eventful Friday night this week." The man licked his lips as he pulled the game out._

_"Remember, we trade back after the Yugioh Tournament at the gameshop ends, deal?"_

_"Deal."_

_"Pleasure doing business with you, BB-chan."_

_"You too, Butsy Dragon, snrk!"_

_"Its Gutsy Dragon! Gutsy Dragon, its not my fault the website won't let me fix the error to my penname!" Michael wailed._

* * *

(Reality)

***BAAAAAAAAAAAM!***

"BB-chan! I've come to give back your Yugioh cards!" Michael threw another punch that Bikou blocked with his staff.

"N-No, that wasn't me at all. I'm not the guy who gave you those Yugioh cards like a drug dealer in the middle of the night! Wait, what sort of messed up nerd circle are you in that resorts for you to even do that!?"

"Ah, I see, you don't remem-I mean, look, here's the Blue Eyes White Dragon card that you gave so now we're square, right?" Michael profusely began to sweat as he bowed his head and held out the card.

"Wait, what about the Dark Magician Girl card, and only one Blue Eyes White Dragon card? What happened to the other one!?"

"Here's your Blue Eyes White Dragon card." Michael didn't have the heart to admit that he wagered them in the tournament and had to give them up to the winner when he lost in the preliminaries.

"Don't just repeat the same line and ignore me!? And why the hell am I getting so worked up about this!? Guh, look, my name is Bikou! You might have just heard the name "Bibi-chan" from some guy named Kai at the end of your battle with Vali. He calls me Bibi-chan to demean me, so don't correlate my name with some perverted nerd with a similar sounding penname!" Bikou shouted before taking deep breaths.

"Shishou demeans you, why?"

"Because ever since I was little, he's forcibly made me his subord-. Hold on, did you just say that Kai's you're-?" Bikou trembled.

"Shishou, yes." Michael nodded.

"H-He's not here is he?" Bikou panicked.

"Here? I think I sensed him at the party, but something felt weird… Like he was out of commission for some reason." Michael shrugged.

* * *

(With Kai)

"MWINE! MWINE! ALL MWINE!" Serafall drunkenly slurred.

"Serafall, please! Put down the mug and relax! You're literally about to neuter Kai at this rate!" Katerea begged the drunken Maou Magical as she stood atop the unconscious and drunk bodies of Sirzechs and the other esteemed High-class devils.

"I-I think I see a light…Mother…?" Kai squeaked as Serafall still kept tight grip on his family jewel.

"Hahahaha! This is hilarious! Quick, Raymond bring out your phone, so we can start recording this together!" Azazel busted a gut laughing at the adult devils get taken down by Serafall.

"Azazel-sama, don't you think you should help put an end to this mess before escalates ever further? You caused it after all." Raymond asked.

"Raymond, sometimes you have to kick back and enjoy the little things in life. Besides, we have Grayfia to keep them all in check, right Grayfia? Grayfia?"

"*HIC!*"

***SHATTER!***

The maid hiccupped as she dropped a glass of what did appear to be water, but was actually hard liquor.

"Oh maou no…" Katerea facepalmed.

"Hey, you…~!" Grayfia stumbled towards the victorious Serafall.

"Whut!?" Serafall slurred.

"Get you'self offa my man!" Grayfia slurred.

"M-Make, urp, ME, Bitssh…" Serafall hopped off the pile of beaten and drunken men towards the drunk Grayfia.

"Glady *HIC!* I'mma make ya scream for mershy *HIC!* *HIC!*!"

"Yes, the rematch between Serafall and Grayfia, the fight to decide, who is strongest Drunken Female Devil in the Underworld begins now!" Azazel wasted no time as he began to record the brawl between the two powerful women.

Getting a glass of water, Raymond dipped his finger in it to taste it before blankly and accusingly looking at Azazel, "The water is spiked with vodka…"

"I know, it was getting boring, so I decided to liven things up and make people "happy" you're all welcome!" Azazel shouted out but only received groans and a growl from Katerea.

Putting the glass down, Raymond sighed and began to leave, "I'm telling Shemhazai-sama."

"Wait, what? No, Raymond! I'm sorry don't tell on me!" Azazel's face grew pale.

"I'm telling."

"Noooooo!"

* * *

**Next Chapter- Let the Dancing Commence! An Unknown Request to Dance? The Neko-Kitsune and the Agares Agents stop the party-crashers! Part 3**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hoped that you all enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> I also hope to see you all as this begins to wind down in the next chapter! I'm Out so Peace Out and have a wonderful day! See ya!


	62. Let the Dancing Commence! An Unknown Request to Dance? The Neko-Kitsune and the Agares Agents stop the party-crashers! Part 3

**Let the Dancing Commence! An Unknown Request to Dance? The Neko-Kitsune and the Agares Agents stop the party-crashers! Part 3**

* * *

***TICK-TOK-TICK-TOK-TICK-TOK!***

Frantically checking their wristwatch, a feminine figure wearing a black hooded coat walked through the thick woods of the Underworld.

"Where is this place? They did say that the location wouldn't be very specific but what time is it?" Searching the area, they wandered aimlessly through the forest, feeling so many different energies clash or die out. Some energy signatures that she knew all too well and some that were completely foreign to her.

It was like walking across a warzone.

Their job was to avoid any detrimental confrontation until their mission was complete and they needed to stand by it.

 **"Grand Fall!"** Shouted a fully armored Shirou, who skewers and slams about 5 dead chimeras into the ground where the figure once stood. As soon they sensed the devil's presence, they made sure to high tail it out of there to the closest bush that they could find. It wasn't just the objective of avoiding confrontation because upon sensing the man, they momentarily began to tremble in fear.

"H-How is he?" The figure stuttered in a hushed voice,  _'Wait, its not "him" well its technically not him yet…but still…'_

"That should take care of the beasts on my end." Shirou wiped off the chimera blood that caked his visor. Going out on a hunting spree against wild chimera sure was a good way for him to blow off some steam from that party.

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

Pouring out of the direction of the forest that he just came from was a whole infestation of Chimera raining down on him at once with their claws bared and ready to dig into him.

**\Really? All of them? Hahahahaahahahaha!/ Typhon laughed.**

"Shut up!" Shirou underwent his stance and prepared his halberd.

***BAKA!***

A magical bullet whizzed past Shirou to tear a huge hole into one of the flying beasts.

Eyes widening, Shirou muttered, "Shit!" Before he quickly turned his back to chimera and started to spin his halberd in the other direction.

***BAKABAKABAKABAKABAKABAKABAKABAKA!***

It had happened so suddenly, but a rapid firing of many magical bullets came flying out of the woods past Shirou, mostly past him since he stood in the middle of the firing range while deflecting the bullets with his spear. It barely took a couple of minutes before the heavy fire stopped and all of the chimera flying in the air dropped like flies.

"Are you fucking insane!?" Shirou angrily whipped his head back to face armed Lyudmila emerging from the dark brush of the woods.

"You're welcome." Lyudmila stashed her two machine guns back into their respective magic circles.

"Like hell I'll thank you! You fired a fuck-tillion of those bullets with me in the middle of you're range without warning! What if those had actually hit me, huh? How would you explain yourself, Sasha!?"

***BANG!***

Shirou immediately catches a regular bullet shot at him.

"My name is not Sasha, so stop calling me that redundant nickname. And cease you're whining already, idiot, you're Seekvaira-sama's Queen, so at least show some dignity and use that head of yours." Lydie lowered her gun, "Did you honestly expect me to wildly shoot at comrade? Something as simple as my bullets won't kill you, you're capable, Seekvaira-sama putting her faith in you to be her Queen only proves that."

"I see, so you believed in my skill? I sort of understand now…NOT!" Shirou angrily crossed his arms and got up in Lydie's face, "You and everyone else knows that you have an itchy trigger finger whenever I'm in your sights, so don't pull any out of character bullshit!"

***BANG!***

"Stop that!" Shirou narrowly avoided a bullet to the head much to his annoyance.

"Don't enter my personal space then, and the fault lies with you."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. I recall hearing you say that you finished dealing with your side of things." Lydie looked past Shirou to see the dead chimera.

"Tch!"

"Pathetic, although it pains me to give you some credit as a [Queen], your complete incompetence to properly finishing the job is astounding. Letting your guard down is one thing, but this…it almost makes me question why Seekvaira chose you to be her [Queen]." Lydie held her head down in pain.

"Don't act all high and mighty, we all make mistakes." Receiving a doubtful look from Lydie, Shirou angrily points at her, "So you mean to tell me that you finished dealing with your end of chimera?"

"Staying punctual and diligent is what I was trained for before becoming a devil, so its not that farfetched." Lydie folded her arms behind her back like a seasoned soldier.

***RO-!***

***BANG!* *THUD!***

"…"

"…Sasha, was that?"

"…"

Shirou sweatdropped at the chimera behind Lydie that was shot down.

**\Looks like someone's not as dutiful as they say, guahahaha!/**

***CHICHECK!***

"Whoa, cool it! Typhon, you dick, knock it off!" Shirou raised his hands as Lydie directed a fully loaded rifle to his head.

"…" Looking annoyed, Lydie sighed and lowered her gun, "This can wait. Were you able to sense it?"

"What? You're going to have to be more specific."

"Everything."

"Kind of hard not to." The pair referred to the many battles that occurred in the vast forest. The surge of chimera still roaming the skies and land. Two powerful senjutsu users in a fierce battle of nature and chi. The powerful flurry of pure holy energy colliding with pure demonic energy. Let's not forget, the sudden appearance of a dragon that Shirou was all to familiar with confronting an unknown presence that was dealing with Senjutsu.

It was just a mess of things happening all at once.

"It looks like someone placed up an Isolation Barrier." Shirou pointed out.

"Good, that way no one at the party would be harmed by these things." Lydie let out a sigh of relief, but looked worried, "Aaron won't answer my calls."

"Must be some serious shit if he won't even respond to a female, no less without saying that annoying catchphrase of his." Shirou wondered about Michael's sudden appearance, "There's also a new arrival of two different people."

"Enemies?"

"Yes and no, one of them is a different senjutsu user while the other is…look the other guy is an ally."

"If he is then, helping them is the best course of action. I'll go get help them while you search and assist Aaron. That way we'll have more hands on deck to eradicate these vile creatures."

"Gotcha, hey, wait!"

"?"

Lydie questionably looked back to Shirou, who looked concerned.

"What?" she said.

"When you meet our ally, I just want to give you a heads up. Prepare yourself."

"Why, do you think something extreme will turn up by the time I arrive there? Don't worry as a [Rook] I can take anything that's thrown at me." Lydie crossed her arms.

"Well, "extreme" is one way of putting it. All I ask is that you "prepare" yourself for whatever happens." Shirou gave the blonde girl a thumbs up, "Good luck." Before he dashed out of there and followed Aaron's energy signature.

Finding the young man's behavior to be strange, Lydie shook it off as Shirou playing some form of mind game on her as she ran for the two new presences in the forest.

Popping their head out of the bushes, the hooded figure saw that the coast was clear and quickly made their way out of the area. Avoiding contact with the monsters was fairly easy for them as they were already miles away from their current area. Running into anyone at this time would be chaotic for them, so all that they needed to do was fine a good hiding spot before anyone catches sight of her.

***RUSTLE!***

"…!"

"…Who are you?"

Running out of the thick brush of the forest next was Koneko, who unexpectedly confronted the hooded figure. She thought that she sensed Michael in the area, so she sought him out to help him should he encounter an ally of her sister's. She didn't expect to run into a stranger wearing all black.

_'Did I mistake them for Baka-senpai?' Koneko oddly looked at the stranger._

_'Oh come o-!' The figure thought._

"H-Hey, wait, I-I can expla-!" The figure panicked.

Shaking her head, Koneko shouted, "It doesn't matter, you have to-!"

She gasped as she pushed herself and the figure away from a massive blast of chi that tore the forest apart. Looking back at the source, Koneko and the figure spotted two silhouettes flying through the air unleashing wave after wave of chi at each other.

"Staying here is too dangerous. Find a safe enough distance to hide." The nekomata picked herself up and started running from the two senjutsu combatants.

"No need to tell me…" Shaken by Koneko's appearance the figure ran away from the area of the without looking back at the sheer display of wizardry and nature being used.

***BAAAAANG!* *BAAAAANG!***

Heavily landing on the ground, the two silhouettes rushed through the picked up cloud of dirt to charge at each other. Both summoned a razer sharp rod of earth from the ground that they molded it with as one cloaked their rod with a fierce fox fire while the other imbued theirs with a deadly black aura.

***STAAAB!* *STAAAB!* *SPLAAAAATER!***

Lunging their rods into each other's bodies, both Natsuru and Kuroka dealt heavy and fatal blows to one another as their blood stained the ground below them. Both women kept their eyes locked on to each other as both their attacks started to take effect with Kuroka's body going up in flames and turning to ash while Natsuru's body slowly eroded away as purple poisonous markings ate away at her flesh.

Despite being at death's door, both of them still didn't let the other out of their sight.

"Oh my, what a morbid scene, nya!"

"Well, it's not every day that you see yourself die, you know."

Voices laughed as the cloud of dirt revealed the true bodies of Natsuru and Kuroka glaring at each other as the illusion of their genjutsu came to an end as the scene before them faded away. Just before they, landed, Natsuru intended to use an illusion to fake Kuroka out before deceptively attacking her from behind.

Sadly, the full-blooded Nekoshou thought of the same tactic that it made it impossible for either of them to act.

"A talent at even genjutsu, too? Wow, they really pulled out all of the stops to make you, Shirone's teacher." Said Kuroka as she began to form a wheel of black flames behind her back.

"Taking you lightly was never part of my plan, and you being able to create a Kasha like that just reinforces my caution of a skilled sage arts user like you." Natsuru leans back her body in a stance as her nine fox tails threateningly moved forward around her as they emitted intense blue flames on their tips.

***DON!***

"Nyaha~! You missed!" Kuroka mocked.

"Heh…" Natsuru smirked.

Extending, her nine tails shot out like vipers as they lunged forward at the Stray Devil-cat. Kuroka faced no issue with dodging at least one of them, but found out that a pattern was being made as each tail lunged out at her one at a time. Before she could unravel what the reasoning behind each attack as she easily dodged the final ninth tail, she was already too late to realize the kitsune-nekomata's strategy.

Like a frenzy, the tails that were already nearby were pursued Kuroka, but not in a straightforward approach. From all directions, Kuroka was getting assaulted by the furious dense fox tails, dodging them was still no task for her due to her feline nimbleness and flexibility. But if the small burns that her kimono and body received were any indication, she'd have to say that she was cutting it a bit too close there.

_'Clever…' Kuroka thought._

_'Taking it slow was the best choice after all.' Natsuru nodded._

Had she just attacked with all of her tails at once, she would have given Kuroka a chance to use the full out attack as cover to hide within the dust and strike her from behind.

"Annoying, nya~!" Kuroka's eyes sharpened as she threw the large wheel of black flames at one of Natsuru's tails, hooping the fluffy appendage in there, she made a hand-sign to multiply enough kashas to bind one of her tails to the ground.

"Kyargh!" Natsuru gritted her teeth as the intense flames of kasha burned her tails.

"That's one~!"

***FWOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

"Nrgh!"

Kuroka winked as she made quick work to bind the other tails that were still attacking her. With about four of them pinned, she only had about five more to go.

Growling, Natsuru uses her hands to fire a blast of azure fox flames at the vexing Nekomata.

"You missed~!" Going through her, the flames had no effect.

"An illusion?" After sensing her presence reemerge, she looked to the sky to see that her opponent was coming in hot from the sky with two more large kashas in hand.

"Up here, nya!" Kuroka laughed.

"…!" Natsuru prepared herself to attack, but hesitated. Why would someone like Kuroka, a woman that basically snuck around this entire time reveal her presence so suddenly like that? Eyes widening, Natsuru focused her attention back to ground in front of her to catch and redirect a black flaming rod made from the ground below them.

"Aw, you figured out my trick already?" Kuroka pouted as the illusion of her faded.

"Erchk!" Natsuru winced in pain as her hand began to bleed on top of it getting enshrouded by Kuroka's flames of malice.

"But I have to say, you're really making this playdate of ours so much fun~! So, why don't we postpone this fight of ours for later? I don't really feel like spilling the blood of my own kind, so just hand over Shirone already." Kuroka smirked.

"Can't do that, and even if I did have any say in Koneko's life, she already made her choice. So, take a hint, Onee-sama…" Natsuru mocked.

Kuroka's darkened from her growing anger, "You know, up until I've been doing my best to mask how pissed off I am with you butting in, but I see that trying to reason with you will only continue to be this insufferable!" Kuroka did her best to force the rod into reaching its original target on Natsuru, her neck.

"Aaaagh!" Natsuru cried out in pain as she tried to endure the black flames that were encroaching up her arm. Using her free hand, she transmutes her fox flames into a dense blade as she tries to lunge it into Kuroka. Much to her dismay, Kuroka caught on and jumped back to avoid the impaling blade of flames.

"Hyaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Forming a large kasha in front of her, Kuroka releases an intense torrent of flames through the ring of the wheel. The destructive capabilities of the jet-black flames were breath-taking. Despite the black flames ailing her arm and bounding her four tails, Natsuru slammed her hand to the ground and focused all of her attention to the roots and the earth around her.

"Huuuuuuuuuuua!"

***BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

Emerging from the ground, a wide and incredibly tall wall of thick earth emerged in front of Natsuru. The grandstanding manipulation of earth shielded Natsuru from the full brunt of Kuroka's flames as it's durability was chipped away as the blast of black flames continued. Holes and cracks began to form on it, and had it continue it was likely the whole thing would collapse on her. But it didn't, the wave of flames died down as a heavy cloud of smoke filled the area.

Taking deep breaths, Natsuru made haste to dispel the black flames burning her now damaged arm as she took the short moment to catch her breath.

"Surprise~!"

"…!"

***STAAAB!***

"Urchk!" As soon as Natsuru sensed Kuroka's presence behind her, she was quickly met with an earthen rod stabbed into her torso. Trying to get up, Natsuru tries to prepare a blast of her fox flames, but before she gets the chance a thick assortment of thorny roots and vines shot out of the sleeves of a kimono at her and pressed her up against the crumbling wall of her giant earthen shield.

Walking out of the smoke, Kuroka giggled, "Desperate, were we?" She gestured to the massive wall behind Natsuru. "Being in a pickle does that, you know. Plus, you going all out like that gave me the much needed cover to do this." Reaching out, she slowly pulls the rod out of Natsuru's torso while relishing the woman's held back screams of agony. "I'll be taking this back."

***SLICK!***

"Gah!"

"Thank you, well, its been fun, and since you already made you're choice… Don't regret this, nya…" Kuroka raised the rod with her open hand.

Panting, Natsuru coughed with her reminiscent Cheshire cat smile, "Don't worry, I won't…But you will…"

"What are you-!"

***WHOOOSH!* *SLAAAAAAAAAM!* *CRACK!***

"N-Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!" Kuroka cried out it pain as one of Natsuru's fox tails swung heavily into Kuroka's occupied arm that controlled the roots in her kimono. The flames on her tail made sure to burn Kuroka's roots and satisfyingly send Kuroka flying and crashing into a nearby tree with a broken arm.

Retracting back to her, Natsuru had manage to free her bound tails by overpowering the black flames with her fox flames. Not to mention, she was able to conceal one of her remaining tails in the collected dirt before Kuroka took notice. Now with both girls having at least one inactive arm, they were back to being on equal ground with each other. Only, except, Kuroka was not happy about this…

"Gaaaaargh! You BITCH!" Kuroka held her broken arm in pain, getting blindsided made receiving the damage even worse. She had already dispelled the fox flames that also came from the attack, but it still didn't change the fact that she now had to fight with one arm.

"Hello, Kettle, my name is Pot. Oh, have I ever mentioned how black you are?" Natsuru laughed while wincing in pain. She needed to stop herself from bleeding out, so she seared the wound shut with her flames.

"W-Why-?" Kuroka clawed at the ground.

"Why am I-ngh! Stopping you from taking your sister with you?" Natsuru received a glare filled with killing intent. Apparently, she wasn't supposed to finish her sentence for the angered criminal.

Using the wall behind her to help her stand, Natsuru coughed, "Well, it certainly isn't because I care for her, in fact, she's been a pain in butt for days this past month…"

"Then why!?"

"Because I have more than ONE reason to stop you. Recently, I just heard that you were gunning to fight the Red Dragon Emperor, Michael-kun by drawing him out with those chimeras. You might not know this, but it's basically my objective and personal duty to support him and that also means to protect him from potential threats like you." Natsuru said clutching her pained arm.

"My next reason is simple. Kuroka, you're an A-class Criminal, so letting you just take Koneko would have just been more bad news." Natsuru continued. "And lastly, my final reason for stopping you is because…you definitely remind me of myself…"

Kuroka clicked her tongue out of annoyance.

"I'm serious." Natsuru asserted, "As Older sisters its only natural for us to want what's best for our little ones, we don't use reason, we don't care for status or anything. As long as they're happy, we're happy, but that happiness becomes a dual-edged dagger if our methods of attaining said happiness collects the sins and hatred of the world around us. Were it just "you" doing the deed for yourself, then the consequences would be easy to swallow, but the person that all of this is being done for would suffer too," said Natsuru she remembered the tear-stricken faces of Kiyome and Makoto.

"We say that we do what's best for our siblings, but that's just the same as being selfish. Limiting them from making their own choices and deciding their future just because "our" desire to see them happy because of deeds to them outweigh "their" individual happiness."

Taking one look over to Kuroka, the nekomata was still to insistent to fight as she too struggled to stand on her feet and continue this fight. Natsuru gave a sigh as her words weren't truly reaching the criminal, but that was exactly what she expected.

"The same could be said right now, you may believe that the "Shirone" who's your sister would be ecstatic to go back with you in spite of what happened. But she's a different person, after many years of being apart from you, she lived on and forged bonds with many others as "Koneko Toujo." Going through with forcefully taking her will end all of the connections that took years for her to make and drown her in the deepest of sorrows," said the girl as both she and Kuroka stood back up on their feet, "Or worse of all, end up with her hating her very own sister, who stubbornly placed her feelings of happiness onto her without considering the feelings in the matter."

"If that's the case, then she'll just have to create new bonds with her new life with me." Kuroka bared her claws.

"That way of thinking, I would have thought the same way if I wasn't stopped. But that's not going to happen." Natsuru was lost in thought, perhaps her confronting Kuroka was a way of personally atoning for her crimes, but she dashed the thought as ignorant and brushed it aside. By doing this she prevents another person from making the same mistake as her. It didn't matter if they were an enemy or some dangerous criminal, she just didn't want to see the eventual result happen in front of her again.

"That's because, I, a fellow older sibling will fight you over and over again until you give up."

"Sorry to break it to you, but I'm not going to give in so easily."

"Did I say it would be easy? Like you and I said, we're alike and when we want something it'll take all of heaven and hell to change our stubborn minds." Natsuru smirked, "Which is why this fight will result in either two ways: We fight until both of us lose consciousness or I end up dying."

"Sadly, for you, that first result isn't going to happen." Standing up straight, Kuroka makes a handsign and releases from her body a powerful storm of ki and aura that poured into the ground below her. The sounds of the grounds shifting at wooden roots snapping could be heard as a long and prehensile visage emerged from the ground.

"Be thrilled, you're the first to see me unveil a technique that I've been working on for ages, nya!"

"A dragon!?"

***ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!***

Kuroka stood atop of the head of a giant wooden dragon taking on the appearance of a Chinese dragon as it's loud bellowing filled the forest.

"Impressive, eh? I made sure to put enough effort to make it life-like, and I assure you that this appearance is more than meets the eye. No, I intend to pay you back for ruining my reunion with Shirone and my broken arm." Kuroka said with killing intent filling her voice.

"How? I just don't feel Ki, but…dragon energy?" Natsuru grunted, "To even be able to do that would mean constant contact or..." Natsuru coughed as her cheeks began to flush upon realization.

"I don't mean to brag or anything, but I have made contact with a certain White Dragon Emperor a few times. I even managed to "suck" out a few of his aura whenever it was too built up for him to handle, nya-nyan~." Kuroka emphasized the sucking part by inappropriately making a gesture with her hands. You know what she was doing…

_'…No, need to stay focused. Being envious aside, this could prove to be quite a challenge. Should I use it?' Natsuru contemplated on whether or not to unveil [Code: Unknown] in the fight, 'I may not have a choice, but to use it if things don't go too well…However-!'_

"I can still at least try to hold out as long as I can!" Slamming her clawed hands into the ground, Natsuru went on all fours as she concentrated most of her senjutsu and power to her tails. Eventually, fierce fox flames surrounded each of them in their entirety but grew only to match half of the size of Kuroka's Wooden-Earth Dragon.

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!* *GRRRWL~!***

Morphing, each of the flamed tails took on the visages of rabid fox heads as they growled and grew ready to tear into the larger prey above them.

"Not a dragon, but still just as impressive." Kuroka's smile fell as she finishes attending to sling her broken arm with her kimono, "Last. Chance. Will you stop interfering with my business with Shirone or do I have to paint the grounds of this forest with your blood, Halfie?"

"I hate repeating myself..." Natsuru growled.

"Weak last words, but fine, have it your way. Let's end this little playdate of ours already, okay, nya?" Kuroka tilted her head and creepily smiled as her wooden dragon lunged ahead and fired a blast of condensed Ki down at Natsuru.

Retaliating, the kuonichi garbed Neko-kitsune lunged all nine of her fox figured and flamed tails upwards as their powerful jaws bit into and released a heavy torrent of flames back at the dragon resulting in an incredible surge of power exploding.

***KaBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

* * *

**[Boost!]**

**"Flame Blaze!"**

***FWOOOOOOOOOSH!***

"Kakakaka! Now this is a fight," laughed Bikou, who took pleasure from the intense brawl that he and the Red Dragon Emperor were engaged in. Dodging such a huge mess of flames that Michael spewed at him was child's play, but the intensity and power in the flames was no laughing matter. Bikou had to wonder what sort of training the Sekiryuutei had to take to have gotten this strong before remembering the comment about Kai training the kid.

"Kinto'un! Come!" Bikou called his golden cloud to take him up into the sky.

"Oh no you don't! Stratus!" Flying into the air as well, Michael called upon his flying red cloud to chase after Bikou.

Looking back, Bikou clicked his tongue, "Seriously? Man, he really is your master if he even gave you your own Kinto'un." Twirling his staff overhead, Bikou thrusted it at Michael and extended it's reach. Coming in hot, Michael quickly used his touki to increases his speed and reflexes to dodge to the side.

"Hehe! Not good enough…" Bikou laughed.

"What the-oof!" Momentarily forgetting the reach of the staff, Michael was hit in the gut when Bikou simply swung it to the side. The force of the blow sent him falling off of Stratus and down to the ground. The cloud did its best to try and reach its owner, but it was of no use due to the velocity of his steep fall.

_'Come on, you're going to have to use you're Balance Breaker to help reclaim your balance so use it!' Bikou wanted to further see the extent of the young man's power and possibly compare it to Vali's._

Looking calm, Michael took a few deep breaths and as he steadied himself, "Okay, okay. Remember what Aniki said just…" Steadily concentrating the touki in his body to the soles of his feet, Michael tensed his legs muscles as he looked up to Bikou.

"Release a little burst and…"

***PWOOOOOOOM!***

"OHMYMAOU! TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH!" Michael cried as he rocketed himself up into the air, uncontrollably. The advice that Sairaorg gave to him may have been minimal, but he was able to get the gist of it during his training. The issue that he faced was what you would expect, he still had an issue with deciding about how much touki should or should not be used to keep him up in the air. It was still a new concept to him in spite of already being able to execute it correctly a few times.

And despite it not being important to the current issue, he continued to wonder what Sairaorg and Kai called the ability.

Eyes widening, Bikou gasped, "Hold on a sec, did he just use touki to do the  **Sky Dance!?"**

"OHSOTHAT'SWHATIT'SCALLED!"

"Holy sh-!"

***BAM!***

His body crashing into Bikou, Michael knocked the monkey youkai off of his cloud to fall down to the ground. Seeing the falling as his chance, Michael tried again to use touki to hurl at Bikou, and this time it actually works as he prepares to do what he does best.

"Nut shot!" Michael kicked Bikou in the face.

"Argh! Dick!" Bikou gripped his bleeding nose and cocked back his fist.

"Oi!" Michael catches Bikou's punch and constantly attempts to kick Bikou in the nuts to no avail as their steep fall keeps making each hit miss their mark, "Stopping moving!"

"Then stop kicking me!?"

"NEVER!"

***BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!***

Soon enough, their arguing devolved into a rough brawl as they exchanged fists amidst their fall. Bikou being a skilled martial artist was a given considering his training under his Ancestor, the first Sun Wukong, any openings that found, he would take without hesitating. This actually allowed him to leave a few heavy blows on Michael and cause the teen to cough of some blood. However, when faced with the Sekiryuutei like this, he found it odd that most of his attacks weren't coordinated or that strong.

"Toh!"

"Guh!" Bikou gripped his sore chin after Michael kicks it and puts some distance away from the monkey youkai. It was the only good hit that he received since they entered hand to hand combat in the sky.

"Hehehehehe!" Michael laughed with a mischievous smile on his face.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, I dunno…THIS!  **Dragon Break!" *SNAP!***

Suddenly small magic circles popped up all over Bikou's body as he was now an open target.

"W-What the-!?"

"I'm sure you've already seen my new and improved Dragon Shot, Dragon Gun!" Michael placed out both of his hands and held them out like guns, "They may be smaller than a dragon shot, but pack more of a punch and fire out faster, so let's see how you can handle two hands!"

"Shit!"

**"Double Dragon Gun!"**

***BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!***

Bikou's Ryuji Bang was the perfect weapon for deflecting the powerful bullets of dragon energy, but he wasn't able to get all of them. Swinging it from left to right or spinning it to act as a frontal shield, Bikou still missed the blasts that cleverly changed directions to hit the magic circles on his body. Each shot really stabbed into him as the pain was quite sharp in spite of the bullets being so small.

Lowering his hands, Michael looked through the smoke, "Wow, you're really durable! Just as expected of someone who's Vali's ally."

"And you're really strong! As expected of Vali's rival." Bikou laughed as he emerged covered in cuts and bruises along with his armor now dented.

Positioning themselves just right, both combatants landed with a bit of force as the ground crumbled into two large craters.

"You know, even though I'm completely out of the loop since getting transported here, I have to say that this is a good exercise after all of the training I did." Michael laughed.

"Ohoho! You just finished training? So that's why you're so powerful! Hey, do you have other new techniques like the one you did up there? Show me!" Bikou excitedly laughed.

"Hehehe, well…"

**[Boost!]**

Michael rubbed his nose, "I have been working on something and its still a work in progress unless you want to still see it?"

"Yeah, yeah!"

"Heh, well then sit back and be amazed, Bibi-chan!"

**[Boost!]**

"I-It's Bikou…"

**[Boost!]**

"Biki-chan!"

**[Boost!]**

"Agh, nevermind…"

"As I the Gutsy Hanamura show you his new special technique!"

***SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!***

**[Boost!] [Transfer!]**

Taking in an enormous breath of air, Michael's entire midriff expanded as lit a flame in his belly that only grew more and more thanks to all of his past boosting that he transferred to it. Now with a large enough flame, he was ready to unveil the addition to the Gutsy Hanamura's moveset.

**"Red Dragon Emperor's Meteoric Ro-!"**

***SNAP!***

_'Natsuru-senpai? And is she fighting someone!?' Finally keying in on the upsurge of powers in the other direction._   _The sight of a massive wooden dragon and He had no clue on what was going on, but as soon as he felt Koneko's presence in the mix, he quickly placed his attack on hold by compressing the expanded flame into a manageable size in his stomach._

Nursing his glowing belly, Michael said with smoke coming out of his mouth, "Oi, Kiki-chan."

"Okay that one was on purpose." Bikou groaned.

"What's going on over there?" Michael asked.

"Oh, that?" Bikou shrugged, the cat was already out of the bag, "That's probably my companion, Kuroka fighting someone…who also uses Senjutsu? Wow! This place is just a smorgasbord of fights! Anyways, Kuroka came here to fight you, the guy who matched Vali and reclaim her…sister, I guess. I don't really remember, I turned down the idea of joining her at first."

"Wait…" Michael rubbed his chin, "Natsuru-senpai…Koneko-chan…senjutsu…reclaim her sister…recollecting information…its loading…can't…speak…in…full sentences…gah!"

***GURGLE~!***

_'No, wait, its just my stomach slowly burning away…Brain Blast!' Piecing everything together, Michael thought, 'This guy's one of Vali's companions, which make him an ally to the Khaos Brigade like him, and that also means that this Kuroka chick is a terrorist and it links with her also being a criminal. There's also the fact that she can use senjutsu and has a similar presence like Koneko-chan plus she's here for Koneko-chan!'_

"Wow, I totally linked everything together like a-Gah!" Michael gripped his head in pain, "Brain cramp!"

**[Don't push yourself, partner, exercising a muscle that you've never used requires times…]**

"Shut up, Ddraig!" Michael stood up, "Because I now know what I have to do…"

***GUUUURGLE~!***

"But first, I have to go! See ya, Bikou!" Michael held his stomach and waddled off.

"It's Bik-Oh, you got it right that time…" Bikou chased after Michael, "And where are you going!? We're not done here yet! Weren't you going to show me that new move of your's?"

"Dude seriously! Not now!" Michael called Stratus and rode on the red cloud.

"Oh no you don't get back here!" Bikou called and rode on his golden cloud, "I see, you're going over to Kuroka in order to help that other senjutsu user, who's your ally! Kakaka! Too bad for you that you're not done with this fight!" Bikou extended his staff but it missed when Michael zoomed to the side.

"I'M NOT JOKING! I REALLY HAVE TO  **GO!"** Michael shouted.

"Not until you finish this fight and show me that new move of yours!" Bikou shouted.

"FINE!" Bending down, Michael directs his ass in Bikou direction, "You asked for it…"

"What in-?" Bikou began.

"Seven hells?" Gasped Lydie, who had already arrived and took position in one of trees, she had followed along in their fight until just now with a sniper riffle and widened her eyes at the strange occurence above them.

"YOOOOOOOOU! ASKED FOR IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

***POOOOOOOOOOOT!* *FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

A massive sea of flames filled the sky along with a disgusting odor.

"I-I should have prepared myself…" Lydie regretfully wished that she took Shirou's advice. Never in her life has she ever seen such an unorthodox living being, who would commit such an unsanitary deed, and she's been around long enough to see Shirou and Lance pull in as a close second.

* * *

***ZAAAN!* *ZAAAN!***

Aaron and Arthur dispatched of the few remaining chimeras before they looked up at the smelly fire filled sky.

"Flames?" Arthur wondered.

Noticing a familiar presence, well, two of them. One was approaching them while the other just popped up on his radar, Aaron chuckled, "Well, what a surprise. It's Righty!"

"Who?"

"His name is Michael, but you know him as the Red Dragon Emperor, the guy that you're here for." Aaron smiled.

"Hm, I guess that we're fortunate enough to have him appear just before the barrier was raised." Arthur pinched her nose, "But…what is that smell?"

"I don't know, but it is rank! Phew!" Aaron swatted the air entering his nose away.

"So…what's he like?" Arthur asked.

"Whuh?"

"The Red Dragon Emperor, you met him, so any what was he like?"

"Why ask now?"

"Because I may not have the time to seek the Sekiryuutei if I'm going to be occupied beating you in our duel." Arthur challengingly raised Caliburn with a smile on her face, there were no more chimera to get in their way and she's been aching to properly cross blades with her old friend again.

Grinning, Aaron said, "Don't get ahead of yourself. Just because I'm a devil doesn't mean that I've left behind all the training that I was put through as a human," getting back on topic, Aaron said, "And the Sekiryuutei, I only just met him tonight, but I can safely say that he's a loud and bright guy…well, he's optimistic just not the other kind of "bright" if you get me. Overall, a nice guy, but that's just my first impression and since he's not a chick then I could care less about digging for more info on him."

"Good to know, it will suffice for now." Arthur shrugged it off, she was already done with following Kuroka's mess of a plan so hearing that helped her get an image about how the Sekiryuutei was able to effect Vali, who's calmer and possibly quite the opposite to him.

"Now…"

"Let's start…"

Holding their blades out, the two prepared to clash their swords of legend and begin their duel.

"ARTHUR!"

"…Bikou?" A teleportation magic circle appeared between them and emerged a crispy and burned black Bikou, who positively reeked with an odor that was too hard to put to words.

"Yuck!" Aaron pinched his nose and turned away.

"You're here, and what happened?" Arthur said nasally as she gripped her tone.

"I'm here because Vali sent me to bring you two back! First, I was reluctant because I just wanted to see my hero movies in piece, but then Le Fay and Vali came in talking about Gogmagog and giving it a stupid nickname like Goggy!"

"Huh, I thought that Le Fay wanted to call it Goggy-Woggy?"

"Who the fuck cares!? I certainly don't, then after getting forced here, I ran into the Sekiryuutei and got into a heated battle which was kind of awesome until things went  **down south** literally! Then…rgh! AFTER THAT AAAAAAUGH!"

"Bikou…Bikou!"

"Huh?"

"Deep breaths…" Arthur patted the frustrated man on the back.

"It's just that…I've been having a bad day and…" Bikou sniveled.

"Dude are you crying?" Aaron raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up, I'm not crying!" Bikou cried.

Arthur reprimanded Aaron with a look which received a passive shrug from the [Knight].

"Bikou, its alright…we all have our ups and downs, mostly downs on certain days, but things will get better. So, go on ahead back to Sir Vali and tell him that we're returning." Arthur consoled her comrade.

"Really, but aren't you two busy with?" Bikou wiped his eyes.

"No, we're done…" Arthur looked around at all of the piles of dead chimera bodies and shook her head. This plan of theirs fell from the seams as things really got rolling. The best that they could do right now was just leave before the isolation barrier broke and revealed themselves to the devils at the party.

"I'll go make sure to pick up Kuroka before we return, so go ahead…go…" Arthur led Bikou into the portal that he crafted, "And I'll see you when we get back, okay?"

"Okay…" Bikou waved goodbye and closed the magic circle while muttering something about taking a hundred showers.

"So, you're just going to leave me blue-balled with our fight?" Aaron clicked his tongue.

"I may not know what that blue-balled phrase means, but yes, this duel will have to be postponed for now." Arthur bitterly smiled.

***RIIIIIIP!***

Tearing a hole in the air with Caliburn, Arthur created a portable portal to enter. Her next stop, Kuroka.

"Next time, just come to a party when you're invited. I mean it's just so unlady-like, Princess Artoria…" Aaron mocked.

"Your insufferable dribble never gets old, filthy pig… I just wonder what Merlina ever saw in you?" Arthur shook her head and waved as the portal closed.

"Yeah, I wonder about that sometimes too..." Looking forlornly up at the now clear sky, Aaron took a deep breath as he was lost in thought.

The sounds of rapid footsteps caught his attention as Shirou appeared in a matter of seconds.

"Aaron, I'm here to-eh? What's going on? Weren't you fighting someone?"

"Yup, but they're gone now…" Aaron sheathed Arondight.

"They're…ugh…was it a female?" Shirou groaned.

"Quite a beautiful lady. You wouldn't believe her elegant looks, hell you might just mistake her for an actual Princess~! Ah, yes, I've truly been refreshed today!" Looking sweetly content, Aaron fantasized about many beautiful blonds and none them were exactly Arthur.

"You-!" Shirou's fist shook as a menacing blue aura surrounded him, "Do you have any idea about what you've done? Now we lost a culprit, AND you're just laughing so carefree despite fighting them on your own like that without responding to Sasha and I's calls!"

"W-Wait, Shirou, my main wingman! I can explain, I was just-hold on…" A smug smile crept up Aaron's face, "Were you worried about me?"

"What? No way in hell! I was just worried that the enemy would kick your ass and extract information about us from you! Maou forbid, you'd probably sing in a heartbeat if it was a lady promising you one kiss to the cheek." Shirou crossed his arms and looked away.

"True, a kiss from a beautiful lady can cause a ton of men to go back on their word just for them. But I'm not letting this go at all my Partner in crime." Aaron slung his arm around Shirou's shoulder, "You were worried and even though you deny, I can still see that you do care, so…"

"Don't you dare…"

"Thank you, Shirou-tsun!" Aaron laughed as he cleverly replaced the honorifics.

"Hey, Aaron, I think this forest will be an appropriate place to bury…" Shirou cracked his knuckles.

* * *

A stalemate.

It was the only way to describe the outcome to their battle. Their portion of the forest was now barren. As the crackling of Natsuru's fox flames and Kuroka's black flames were strewn about all over their battlefield.

The head of a burnt, decapitated wooden dragon's head laid uselessly in a large ditch just behind the two youkai.

No longer having the energy to move, Natsuru's nine tails laid motionlessly on the ground behind her.

"Another tie…this must be lucky for me and unlucky for you, our power parameters are equal…" Natsuru panted, she barely had enough energy to stand and the same could be said about Kuroka as well. Pushing each other to their limits inevitably led to this conclusion. Throughout their fight, Kuroka was capable of doing many nasty ploys that would have killed any unsuspecting opponent. Frankly for her, Natsuru's own fickle nature didn't allow for any of her tricks to successfully cripple her for good.

Also, worth mentioning was Kuroka's proficiency with Senjutsu, her skill in the craft would make it hard not to consider her a full master. Unfortunately, the same could be said about Natsuru as well. Although Kuroka's Senjutsu isn't the only thing that bolsters her strength was her ability to use demonic magic and fuse it with her sage arts, a major reason why she was dubbed an A-Class Stray Devil.

Again, the same could be said for Natsuru, who was born with the ability to use senjutsu along with fox magic, a power that her kitsune bloodline allowed for her to mix in with her senjutsu.

In all aspects regardless of a few being a unique trait of theirs, the two women were equals.

Seeing how exhausted Natsuru was as her head was done gasping for air, Kuroka raised her hand to conjure a moderate sized kasha. It was certainly enough to erase the pesky enemy in front of her; without enough chi, she would basically be vulnerable.

***FWOOOSH!***

"…!" Kuroka remained silent as her vexation continued to grow. Seconds after she made her kasha, Natsuru was already forming her own in hand by fusing the purification flames with fox fire.

"Just…get out of my way!" Kuroka threw her attack and Natsuru responded in kind by doing the same.

***Boom!***

A small explosion from their collision knocked the both of them to the ground. Their bodies were heavy to even consider standing, but they still do so with great effort. If either of them had shown even a momentary glimpse of an opening, then the other would seize it as their chance to finish things.

"Stop it…! Just…stop getting up!" Kuroka coughed.

"No…"

"You can't stop me…I-I will get Shirone back no matter what! Even if it kills me!" The Black haired Nekoshou's voice cracked.

"I know…"

"If you do know, then why get in my way? Just WHY!?" Kuroka dug her nails through the dirt.

Coughing, Natsuru sits up and wearily looks up at the sky, "No matter how many times you ask that question, I'll only give you the same answer," she took a deep raspy breath, "Instead of repeating myself, I'll only say this: Family is everything to people like us. We need the love of others while giving love back to them, a family does not need to be tied together by blood, but its all still the same. People, no matter if they're human, a devil or some kind of god, need love to live. A criminal like you is no exception, Kuroka."

Arms shaking, Natsuru tries to push herself up to her feet to no avail, "But that love that we crave will unknowingly lead us to receiving hatred from the ones that we seek to give, and gain said love. That's why I won't give up, I'll face you every time that you get up. You knock me down, I'll stand right back up. I knock you down and you stand up again, I'll just knock you down again. Until you give up, I won't give up…"

Getting up on a knee, Natsuru looks over and sees Kuroka doing the same thing.

"The only way to stop me is by taking my life…" Kuroka's eyes although shined with malice were filled with stubborn determination.

"I won't kill you. Because…" Feeling a pair of eyes watching them, Natsuru smiled, "I wish to avoid making another young sibling fall into despair…especially due to the loss of their beloved older sister. Though that despair will come full circle after your death… This choice, your choice that you've made will only end if you continue with this. Step back and reconsider, you'll find yourself with a much better option to reestablish you and Koneko's-."

"Shut up…" Kuroka gritted her teeth as she managed to get up on her feet, "I'll kill you…"

Standing up as well, Natsuru looked surprised as she noticed a single tear drop down Kuroka's cheek. Although her malice remained, Natsuru's words were still able to reach her in spite of it not being as effective in the moment.

Taking a reluctant sigh, Natsuru shook her head and clenched her fist. If their fight were to devolve into a brutish brawl, then so be it.

***RIIIIIIP!***

"Kuroka, that's enough. Our business here is done." Emerging from a ripped portal, Arthur emerged it from it and placed her hand on the nekomata's trembling shoulder.

"Arthur?" Kuroka's face scrunched up in anger, "Like hell it is! We haven't accomplished what we came here to do!"

"Exactly, that's why we're leaving." Arthur gestured her eyes in a direction for Kuroka to follow. There were so many energy signatures coming their way, and they certainly weren't pushovers, and to top it all off, the chimeras that they let loose were all eradicated, not one beast was left.

"You know as well as I do that you're certainly in no condition to fight reinforcements."

"If more are coming, then fine…" Even in her weary state, she still looked as on edge as before, "More sheep to the slaughter…"

"Bikou came by earlier and was requested by Sir Vali to pick us up. Whatever vendetta or business that you may have can wait." Arthur brandished Caliburn and warned, "You're already in a pitiful state, Cat. Don't make me resort to using force to take you back."

Kuroka vexingly looked up at Arthur before setting her sights on Natsuru and the dark forest behind her. In the dark, she could see well thanks to her senses as a nekomata and lo and behold, Koneko was silently watching her from behind a tree. She was so close…so close…

Taking one step forward, Kuroka was met with Caliburn's edge pointed to her throat.

"Kuroka, I only offer you one last warning. Come willingly or I will use force." Arthur threatened.

"Tch, fine. You win, I'll return…" Kuroka's eyes fell, her very will to fight dashed by the circumstances placed on her.

"Good choice." Arthur sheathed Caliburn and stepped to the side, "You go first…"

"…" The swordswoman knew her well, not to trust that she'll willingly follow her from behind without pulling a fast one.

"If you'll excuse us." Arthur bowed and led Kuroka into the portal.

Just as Kuroka was about to enter the portal, Natsuru exclaimed, "The story of your crime. There's more to it then what the devils have been saying about it."

Kuroka stood still as she listened on.

"No older sister would bear to leave their sibling behind unless it was for a reason that would jeopardize their life, right?" It may have just been her slight prejudice for devils, but Natsuru found that there was more than meets the eye concerning Kuroka's past deed.

"…What's your name?" Not even deeming that answer, Kuroka instead asks her a cold question.

"Natsuru A-."

"You're real name." Kuroka corrected.

Knowing what she meant, Natsuru said, "Kurogane."

"Kurogane…" Kuroka nodded at the authenticity of Natsuru's birth name, "Next time that we meet, I will get Shirone and kill you if you interfere, you can bet on that."

"Next time, I won't be alone or even need to be there since you'll be facing Koneko's "family", who'll prevent you from taking her. And word of warning since this comes from experience myself, they tend to go wild if someone were to kidnap one of their own." Natsuru smirked and earned a not so subtle glare from the nekomata.

"I mean, that'll only happen should you continue doing things in this manner, but that's just me." Natsuru said.

"…" Contemplative, Kuroka paused in thought before examining the face of her opponent.

"Kuroka." Arthur urged the nekomata into the portal.

"I know, I know, geez…"

And just like that, the two entered the portal in the air and vanished.

Taking a deep breath, Natsuru fell flat on her back for a much-deserved rest. Confirming the eradication of all of the chimera, she let out a heavy sigh of relief. The job was done without any casualties on their side. She would be disturbed with how smoothly things went but considering that she just literally finished a duel to the death, she honestly could care less at the moment.

Stepping into her view above, Koneko looked down at her in silence.

"Were you coming when things finally ended?" Natsuru asked.

"I've been here the whole time." Koneko nodded.

"…You hear everything?"

Koneko pointed to her cat ears.

"Right…" Natsuru grunted, she lacked the energy to remain her youkai form and returned to normal.

"…"

"…Aren't you going to ask why I came to help you?" Natsuru asked.

"No because you had no obligation to do it for my well-being like you said." Koneko flatly rejected the notion, "I still stand by my initial thoughts on you." Sadly, those thoughts weren't so gratifying to begin with.

"Yeah…why wouldn't you…" Natsuru shrugged it off and closed her eyes.

"Thank you…"

"Hm?" Natsuru opened one eye to see the girl begrudgingly look to the side.

"…" Koneko remained silent.

It took all that Natsuru had not to look shocked, so she focused her sights to the sky. Things were no longer strained between the two of them, the first year wasn't as thorny as she was last month. Her feelings might not have changed, but there was a budding respect that seem to grow during that big spectacle of a battle.

"Pathetic…" She said loud enough to get Koneko's attention, "You barely lasted a second against your sister despite already having access to sage arts, pathetic. That's why, we're going to continue you're training all over from the start, so when or if you face her again, you'll be able to save your own skin." Paying the girl attention with her eyes, Natsuru said, "That is if you want for me to continue being your teacher after this Rating Game is finished."

"…Whatever…" Koneko said distastefully, but with a smile on her face.

It certainly wasn't a no, but the vague yet obvious answer exhausted Natsuru to come up with a snarky remark on it so instead she said "Whatever" too.

***SWOOOOOOOOOOON~!***

The isolation barrier fell and with it came a familiar face.

"Natsuru-senpai! Koneko-chan!" Zooming in on his red cloud, Stratus, Michael hopped off and worriedly rushed to the both of them.

"Michael-kun?"/"Michael-senpai?"

"I'm glad that I was able to find you two…" Michael fastened the makeshift belt of his suit as it mostly covered his rear end.

"…Where did you come from, baka-senpai?"

"Dunno, but I encountered this monkey guy, who's on Vali's team and he told me about how his teammate, Koneko-chan's sister is here to take her away from us. So, I made sure to cook him to a crisp before rushing here to save the day! Now where is that cat lady so I can knock her block off? Ah, yeah…it's my time to shine!"

Michael excitedly searched around them.

"She's gone." Natsuru said, plainly.

"Say what now?" Michael squeaked.

"…You're late…" Koneko shook her head.

"I made sure to take care of it and drove her back." Natsuru said.

"Are you serious? I get teleported here from out of nowhere, farted a whole stomach full of dragon flames, and now I don't even get to save my kouhai and show off my new moves to her? This is BS, man, I didn't get to do anything!"

"On the bright si-hold on, what was that I hear about you farting dragon flames?" Natsuru and Koneko looked at Michael, weirdly.

"…" Michael clapped his hands and smiled, "So you were saying?"

_'I'll let that slide…' Natsuru teasingly smirked._

"On the bright side, I was able to at least get Koneko to be on board with me teaching her, so in the end things worked out." Natsuru smiled.

"Really? That's awesome, see? I knew it was a matter of time before you cracked Koneko's icy walls, thankfully, they're not as flat as Koneko's brick walled ch-!"

***WHAM!***

"Oooough! I-I was joking…" After receiving a blow to the gut, Michael held his stomach in pain.

"Some jokes can be pushed too far, Baka-senpai…" Koneko cracked her knuckles.

"Wow, you must have a FLAT sense of-Okay, I'll stop! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Michael cried as Koneko prepared herself to throw another punch.

"Michael-kun, do you perhaps know what happened to the barrier?" Natsuru questioned.

"Oh, that? Well, this Gun Lady, who's apparently a comrade of Shirou's, filled me in on what's going on. After helping a bit, she received word from her friends that Raymond-san was steadily taking down the barrier from outside." Michael explained.

"Wait, are you talking about THE "Nightmare Flame" Raymond? He's here?" Natsuru shuddered, that name would send shivers down the spines of anyone who was knowledgeable about the man.

"Yeah, he's Ray-chan's older brother and a pretty sweet guy despite being a brocon." Michael shrugged, "Honestly, I'm surprised that he was able to find this area after leaving the party since this barrier felt completely isolated. Strange, but strange isn't exactly new anymore…"

The question loomed over his and everyone's heads before Natsuru cuts in with a surprised expression.

"Raynare's brother? Wait a minute, your friends with him?" Natsuru sweatdropped.

"Not exactly, I'm just on his good side, and I intend to continue to be these since he quite literally scares the piss out of me sometimes." Michael gulped, he remembered hearing about the forms of torture that he placed Dohnaseek and Kokabiel in. Especially Kokabiel, the guy was not a push over as an opponent and for him to have been crippled that easily blew his mind.

"…I'm honestly at a loss for words." Natsuru winced in pain, laying down on the hard ground with her wounds might not have been a great idea.

"Oh, Natsuru-senpai let me just…there we go." Michael picked her up in his arms and carried her like a princess.

"Ohoho, Michael-kun~!" Natsuru relished the close body contact and took advantage of it by pressing herself into him.

At a loss for why she was acting the way she was, Michael smiled, "After all of your hard work, this is the least that I can do. I'll carry you back to get healed by Asia."

"Nyan~!" Natsuru playfully licked Michael's cheek.

"S-Senpai!?" Michael blustered.

"Consider that my thanks unless you wanted a kiss," Natsuru seductively stroked Michael's chin, "Ooooh, but where? The cheek? The forehead? The tip of your nose? Or dare I say…you're lips, the very same lips that claimed Kiyo-tan's first kiss…"

***BAM!***

"God why!? OW!" Michael cursed before experiencing pain from saying god's name in vain and receiving Koneko's hit to the back.

"Koneko-chan?" Michael turned around to spot a jealous looking Koneko looking off to the side.

"Idiot…" Koneko walked ahead in the direction of Shirou and the others along with the rest of the devils, who immediately picked in on their battle stricken presences.

"Wait, why are you calling me an idiot? Koneko-chan? Koneko-chan!" Michael chased after her while Natsuru sniggled closer to Michael.

_'This settles it…there's no way for me to even consider liking her…' Koneko challengingly glared back at Natsuru out of spite._

_'Oh geez~! It looks like Gremory-san won't be the only one that's my enemy in terms of this "battle" but the more the merrier as they say, nya~!' Natsuru challengingly stuck her tongue out at Koneko._

After that, they all reunited with their respective families and taken care of by the guards and healers, who surrounded the perimeter of the hotel. Sadly, the sponsored party had to be cancelled. It would have been cancelled because of the attack of the [Khaos Brigade], but it was mainly because of Serafall and Grayfia drunkenly fighting with the hotel as their battlefield.

Those that were involved with the battle were taken in for questioning and that included Michael as well since Rias placed in her thoughts about Michael suddenly disappearing and chalking it up to him possibly being forcibly transported.

No one was holding them back, so collateral damage did occur, and, in the end, the party and the hotel still sustained damage.

* * *

"Hmhmhmhm~!" Hummed a jovial Asriel, who skipped through the dark forest after the commotion at the party was finished. Despite the bland décor and the detestable devil company that surrounded her, she really enjoyed herself. That one dance that she experienced was enough to rev up her engines again and get back to work.

She would have wanted to spend more time with the Sekiryuutei for a bit longer, but things had to go as planned. If he had sought her out like he did, then she would have obviously gotten the attention of the devil that was following him. From the…Gremory family was it, she thought. Had the Gremory devil encounter her then she would have obviously garnered her suspicion, no, she would have completely blow away her cover.

***SNAP!***

"Hehe~!" She smirked as she heard the sound of twigs snapping. There were obviously some devil soldiers following after her since she did abruptly leave the party so strangely. Two volunteers would be a great way to preoccupy herself as she begins to experiment on them, but that was too bad since they were dealt with swiftly.

***VRIIIIIIIP!* *VRIIIIIIP!***

"Hey, what's going-!" One of the soldier gasped as the life was getting squeezed out of them by long, hard to see metallic threads that bounded them by the waist and neck.

***SNAAAAAAP~!***

The sickening sound of two necks breaking was music to Asriel's ears as the two deceased devils' limply fell to the ground.

"Thank you, Wally~!" Asriel giggled as barely average heightened male dressed in a black hooded trench coat emerged from the shadows. Clenching their fist, they retracted their dirtied wires and shook their head.

"It was reckless of you to let them tail you like that."

"I know, and I would have done away with them myself, but I really wanted to see your Sacred Gear in action? Hey, Wally, they may be different, but would you say it was just as thrilling to kill those with your Vampire Hunter skills, they are both technically bats if you really think about it~!"

"Do not refer to me with my real name. That is why we were given codenames, Envy." The hooded young man reprimanded.

"Sheesh, we're not on a first name-nickname basis yet? Fine~! Lets boringly use our codenames, Gluttony." Envy pouted.

"Leader requested that I bring you back from your short vacation." Gluttony crossed his arms.

"He did? Aw, shucks! I must really be loved if the both of you were that worried to check up on me~!" Envy swooned.

"I was ordered to come, and you very well know the reason why he wants me to check up on you,  **Envy."** Gluttony emphasized.

"…" Envy remained quiet before cutely smiling, "Don't worry~! Don't worry~! I didn't do anything to jeopardize our agenda, I just wanted to enjoy a dance with a naïve looking boy is all. I may have expended a ton of my chimeras to a pair of suckers, but I had already duped them by only giving them the mindless default beasts."

"Then you didn't indulge yourself in your sin by going overboard, yes?" Gluttony asked.

"…"

"Envy…"

"Ufufufu, the boy that I'm interested in was already aching for the  **truth** so I just decided to give him bits and pieces of it without getting into the nitty gritty. It still had nothing to do with "us" so no harm's done and it will help break the enemy from the inside should he continues to desperately search for an answer that won't be given to him by that Governor-General…"

Envy laughed as a devilish smile crawled up on her face. People, in general, were an easy read for her to manipulate them and get what she wants.

"Again, I fail to understand your erratic babble, but if it won't cause us any trouble then that's fine." Gluttony drew a magic circle in ground and created a portal for them to enter, "Now let's leave before we catch anymore attention. We apparently have a pesky spy trying to figure out the Organization and we're experiencing trouble trying to detect them."

"If they're that hard to find, then they must be a master of senjutsu. I have  **certain** measures on how to find them. You could even say that I'm already aware of them and their monkey business~!" Envy stifled her laughter but Gluttony was not laughing.

"And besides, the enemy isn't the only side smart enough to have a spy. I mean, a literal spy amongst their ranks." Envy giggled, "Probably two if I can remember how to "wake" her up."

"Interesting, tell me…who are they?" Gluttony asked.

"Nuh-uh! That's a secret~! But they are the reason how I was able to figure out this party, find the perfect disguise and the victim that I killed in order to replace them. And speaking of disguise…"

***SNAP!***

Quickly the visage of the beautiful devil woman was replaced with a familiar sounding woman dressed up in the same black hooded trench coat as Gluttony.

"Ta-dah~! Isn't the original better than that old drab appearance?" Envy posed like a magical girl despite looking too old to do enact such a pose.

"So, whatever happened to the body?"

"Oh, I made sure to drop it off at my most hated place in the world~! Now…lets start moseying back to take care of that monkey spy problem! I have a ton of experiments to get through especially with that fresh priest that the Old Satan faction brought to me. I've been hankering to mess up his genetic makeup for days! Ufufufufufu!" Envy maniacally laughed as she jumped through the portal.

Shaking their head, the gluttony tiredly followed after Envy and made sure to erase the magic circle on the ground with a couple of his threads. Being alone with a woman as insane and sporadic as this would make any person exhausted.

* * *

"Phew, I managed to avoid any trouble…" The feminine figure emerged from one of the bushiest trees in the forest and hopped off of it. There was no time to waste, she needed to be ready and observe how things play out until the "turning point".

***TICK-TOK-TICK-TOK-TICK-TOK!***

"I may still have time, but it won't matter if I don't use it wisely." The hooded female took a picture out of the pocket and intently looked at it as a way of identifying her target, "Asia Argento, you're the catalyst that changed everything…"

* * *

**Next Chapter- The battle of the devil youths finally begin! Team Gremory vs. Team Sitri! Part 1**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading everyone and I hoped that you all enjoyed the chapter!
> 
> I'm sorry if a ton of information was chucked at you all in this chapter! I guess I overdid it if you're annoyed by everything happening in a single chapter. Sorry…
> 
> Now we move onto the match that we've all been waiting for! Rias Gremory vs. Sona Sitri! Who'll win and take the gold between these two rivals? Also, who's that new stranger at the end and whatever could they be talking about? Stay tuned and find out!
> 
> Well, I'm Out so Peace Out and have a blessed day!


	63. Headway into the Games!

**Headway into the Games…**

* * *

"What a catastrophe…" Groaned, the Grigori's Vice Governor-General, Shemhazai.

"*Siiiiiiiiiiiip~!* Ah…nothing beats Irish coffee in the morning." Azazel loudly sipped the mug.

"Really?" Shemhazai angrily looked to his old friend and leader.

"What? You want some?" Azazel offered the mug before pulling it back.

"I don't even want to hear "you" of all people bring up "liquor" right now…" Shemhazai held his head down in pain.

"Ah, its not fully liquor, its 51% Coffee and 49% whiskey." Azazel corrected.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, percentages don't change the fact that it's still alcohol."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but that's easily debatable."

A day had passed since the party and the two Fallen Angels were walking down a hallway after finishing their meeting with the Four Satans regarding the sudden appearance of the Khaos Brigade, more specifically, their Independent force, Team Vali. This caused the Governor-General to receive an earful from the Maou and their advisors, along with receiving a headache from Shemhazai lecturing him about his part in Vali's upbringing.

Azazel scoffed at this, how he supposed to know that all of the Independent missions that he's been giving the kid would result in him meeting Son Goku's descendant, Bikou, Kuroka, the A-Class criminal and former nekomata, along with the descendant of King Arthur, who has in their possession, the Holy King Sword, Caliburn?

Not to mention that he was responsible for most of the adults being too drunk to notice the threat that was coming their way. Well, all of them except for Katerea and Kai, who were sober throughout the whole thing, but with Kai almost passing out due to Serafall's *AHEM!* "clingy" hold over him at the time.

Despite apologizing, he could have sworn that he felt Grayfia's strong killing intent throughout the duration of the meeting. Looks like getting her drunk in public was just the thing he needed to get put on her shit list, ahaha… He'll probably need to sleep with an eye open if he even dares to sleep over at the Gremory Residence.

Taking a deep sigh, Shemhazai pulls out a binder and reads the report inside of it, "We've managed to collect all of the chimeras that Agares' heir's peerage exterminated."

"How many?" Azazel swirled the contents on his mug.

"Barring the ones that they obliterated, we've collected about a total of 200 bodies."

Whistling, Azazel laughed, "Impressive. It would appear that Rias isn't the only one who gathered a dependable group of servants. So, anything about where they came from?"

"Negative, we did our best to use magic to trace them, but it's currently impossible to locate anybody using our database."

"I see…" Faced with a similar issue back with the Teleportation Magic Circle pandemic, Azazel deduced that it was probably the work of the same person, who also hacked their database.

Luckily, no one during that surprise assault got harmed, well, save for Natsuru, but she had manage to protect Koneko. However, good news inevitably came with bad news, reports from Agares' peerage stated that Michael popped up in the middle of the mess while disappearing from the dancehall meaning someone who was involved with Vali's teammates somehow managed to sneak in.

And lastly, were the worse news or very bad news, there were reports of three deaths taking place around the time of the event. One High-Class Devil and two Devil soldiers. The two soldiers appeared to have died after the party while the High-Class Devil died during it. Although tragic, Azazel was more concerned about many things surrounding their deaths than to simply mourn.

Such as, the way that they died, the two soldiers didn't sustain and damage that would be given to them by a chimera. Instead, they suffered severe trauma to their necks and died by having their necks snapped with acute precision.

The same could be said about the High-Class Devil, but the way that she died was just as concerning since her entire heart was cauterized and gouged out by a Light Spear, meaning one of his people were her cause of death. This obviously was brought up during the meeting and honestly earned some suspicion from the four Maou, which ended up being lightly quelled due to the dead body ending up on the front doorstep of the Underworld's Grigori facility. Someone planted them with the body to take the fall and obviously create dissent amongst their ranks in the alliance.

Now the only thing they had to face was confirm that none of their guys down at the Grigori committed the murder. Shemhazai made Raymond in charge of that debacle since it Raymond's mostly respected amongst the soldiers along with them being just as equally fearful of him. Should there come a dead end, then it wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that an MIA Fallen Angel was the cause since over the years there have been those that disobey orders like Kokabiel while some Fallen Angels left the organization due to their distaste with forming an alliance with the other two factions.

Again, he truly feels sad about the deceased devil and since they were an Extra Devil, who was the remaining member of her family, it only made him more apologetic for the now Extinct clan. Though looking deeper into who they were, Azazel spotted an inconsistency with Michael's report and Rias' account during the party.

The Gremory Heir had claimed that just before his disappearance, he was seen dancing with the High-Class Devil, and Michael's questioning dealing with him revealing her name and her mentioned son. There was obviously more that he knew, but it was apparent that it must have been something personal for the usual loud kid not to blab about it.

"Speaking of the interrogation, it was nice to see little Michael doing well. Last I saw of him was when he was still a newborn. I swear, back then you were doing everything in your power to pawn him off to someone as his caretaker." Shemhazai shook his head.

"Sadly for me, that caretaker didn't last long resulting in me having to pick up the slack watch the brat after I found Vali." Azazel remembered back about hearing the kid's caretaker disappearing since then she's been placed on MIA and has yet to be found to this day.

"Would have saved yourself the effort if you had just taken care of him from the start." Shemhazai suggested.

"You know my track record with kids…" Azazel seriously narrowed his eyes as his voice grew a bit dark.

Catching on, Shemhazai looked a bit understanding but urged, "Yeah, but have you ever heard of the saying "second time's the charm", huh?"

"*Siiiiiiiiip~!* You know, we should visit Ireland one day, or just by more products with the word "Irish" in front of it. I swear they'd put beer in anything, even their bread!" Azazel happily sipped his coffee.

"Avoiding the topic, how immature." Shemhazai facepalmed.

Engaged in their conversation, the two Fallen Angels had failed to take notice of a person walking past them.

"Hmph. You youngsters too busy dealing with some problems without at least bothering to greet an old man properly?" The person that they passed by grumbled.

"Ah, it's you, Odin, long time no see, ya Old Bumpkin from the North." Azazel laughed.

"Well, if it isn't the Bratty Fallen Angel, Azazel, weird seeing you in the territory of your lifelong enemies." Snickered, the Chief Norse God, as the elderly man appeared before the two Fallen Angels dressed up in some regal robes as he stroked his long grey beard as he wore his fabled eyepatch over his left eye.

"Former enemies to be exact. Unlike you Old-fashioned northern gods, we're much more caught up with the current "times" and saw fit to combine our powers rather than stay stuck up on old rivalries."

"True, and those are just the right words to expect from a couple of weak-whipped dogs. Nothing more than just children together on a playdate after they lost both of their leaders, God and the Original 4 Maou…"

The two men narrowed their eyes at each other rather exaggeratedly before Shemhazai butted in.

"It's been way too long, Chief God of the North, Odin-sama." Shemhazai bowed, "I take it that you're here for the Rating Games?"

"Why yes, but it would appear that these Devil children acting as the new Maou have been preoccupied with their business, so I decided to stop by and see how things are going." Odin nodded.

"Without a bodyguard, I would have thought that a Chief God would have one." Azazel wondered.

"I did come with two to be exact, but I decided to leave them both so one doesn't try anything while I'm gone…that one would happen to be my troublemaker of a Granddaughter." Odin bitterly smiled.

"Which one?" Azazel asked, all of these gods have so many kids that it was hard to pinpoint who they're really referring to.

"The daughter to my son, Thor."

"Ah, so that one, eh? She appears to be the most recent addition to your family, so I heard." Azazel said.

"Yes, and because of that, her youthful vigor surpasses the same vigor my sons had in the past… To be frank its quite tiring… Thankfully, I always make sure to throw myself a Titty-party just to alleviate the stress…" Odin wore a perverted grin.

"Hell yeah! Next time I wouldn't mind joining that kind of party!" Azazel grinned, Norse parties were up there with Greek parties as they were the legendary frat parties of all mythologies.

"Heh, if you can handle yourself then I wouldn't mind having you there, Azazel-boy."

"As long as you're paying for the food, then hell yeah!"

The two shook their hands in companionable silence leaving Shemhazai to wonder how they started off bickering to instantly being chummy.

Speaking of Greek parties, Azazel laughed, "Zeus will also be coming! So, lets have the most dankest part ever!"

"Hmhmhm! It's been a while since I last had a drink with the Chief Greek God…"

"But make sure to keep him away from the ladies, or else his wife, Hera will be pissed!" The two continued laughing the seconds away before it was time to part ways with Azazel enjoying a couple of laughs with Odin along with planning a few trips to the Titty-bar with him.

"You can be so incorrigible sometimes, you know that?" Shemhazai sweatdropped.

"Yeah, well you can be such a buzzkill, but you don't see me complaining." As the two approached the elevator, Azazel pressed the button and said, "Now I'm off to have a talk with a Devil-Dragon about certain matters before heading over to the Gremory Residence to brief those kiddies about their game plan, so is there anything else you want to ask me?"

"Yes actually, I've been wondering about Michael, and don't complain since you asked…" Shemhazai held up a finger to Azazel's displeased expression, "I've been meaning to know about his name… Hanamura, it's not exactly a name to be found in Britain, yet its that "village" as a clan name in Japanese, why?"

This wasn't really Azazel's favorite topic to talk about, so he decided to state the answer as quick as possible, "That's because the village doesn't just have western culture, they also have Eastern and Northern culture. Centuries ago, the village sought out any information and practices regarding Dragons, and how to slay or tame them through different methods. The Hanamura Clan just happened to be the clan that first introduced them to Eastern Dragon teachings and the first clan in general to be integrated into the village." Azazel pressed the elevator button.

"So, by gathering data and knowledgeable families that dealt with dragons around the world, they were able to steadily build a powerful society there. That would explain why it was difficult for most of the mythologies to ever find them." With that extensive knowledge from having so many impressive people from around the world with them, they basically had a whole archive of skills at hand.

"Yup, before they decided to isolate themselves from the world." As soon as the elevator opened, Azazel spared no time in getting in, "Now are you satisfied?"

"Wait, there's one thing about his name that I never figured out."

"What?"

"Why did you decide to change his name to "Michael"?"

"To prevent any pursuers from recognizing it since it's a REALLY common name on that island." Azazel pressed a button.

"No, I mean, why did you decide to call him "Michael" of all names? Any Japanese name would have been fine since you placed him Kuoh Town, but you decided to name him after the Seraph, Michael, God's beloved son…"

"…"

"Hold on…did you name him that way because-!?" Shemhazai smugly smiled.

Pushing another button, Azazel waved as the elevator's doors closed and took him down, "Bye~!"

"…You may act like he's pain, but you do care. The Evil Governor-General of the Fallen Angels finally has a revealed soft spot…children…" Shemhazai lightly laughed to himself as the elevator arrived and soon entered it.

***DING!***

"Eh?" Upon the door closing, Shemhazai noticed that all the buttons had been pressed and looked at the buttons with half-lidded eyes as he angrily groaned, "I take it back, he's still evil…"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope that you guys enjoyed this short chapter! Now onto the Rating Games! Away!
> 
> Honestly, this helps save some time to lessen exposition when writing the real chapter. So, yay, expect the chapter to come out a little earlier now!
> 
> Well, I'm Out so Peace Out and have a nice day!


	64. Preparations and Reunions!

**Preparations and Reunions!**

* * *

_'Last night was just so…weird.'_

After the whole fiasco at the party, Michael was bombarded with questions from his friends and the authorities at the party. His disappearance was quite a shock to everyone, but what shocked everyone the most was the sudden attack done by the [Khaos Brigade]'s independent force, Team Vali. Michael wasn't surprised that Vali would have strong people on his side like that Sun Wukong descendant, Bikou, but he was surprised that Koneko's sister, Kuroka was a member as well. Let's not forget that later, he heard that Vali even had the descendant of King freaking Arthur on his team, too.

Dragons naturally attract various powers, he thought. The same did apply to him, in some ways, but he didn't mind it just as long as he doesn't attract anything too harmful that could hurt his friends. Just the thought of Vali gathering such a team made Michael anxious to gather an elite peerage of his own once he became an Ultimate Class Devil, he wasn't about to let the Lucifer descendant get ahead of him in not just strength but also the collection of incredible comrades.

The same could be said about Seekvaira and her peerage of powerful devils, her deployment of them to handle the chimeras that would have ruined the party had earned her a higher assessment value from the higher ups. Michael was amazed because after all, if she could have someone as powerful as Shirou and Aaron, the descendant of Lancelot, under her command then that meant that she was not someone to take lightly.

After gathering with everyone, Rias was relieved to see that both Michael and Koneko were alright, the news of Kuroka trying to reclaim Koneko maddened her as she felt angry with herself for not being able to be there to help her adorable [Rook] in her time of need. Thankfully, Koneko was able to dash her worries by confirming that her place was among her friends in the Occult Research Club, and that was Rias needed to hear in order to finally be happy that the girl's fears had been resolved.

The only thing that Rias found distasteful about the whole thing was that Natsuru was the one, who dealt with Kuroka and contributed more with the prevention of Koneko's kidnapping. It may have been a hard pill to swallow, but she managed to dredge out a "Thank You" to her fellow third year, who starkly decline the Gremory's gratitude by saying it meant nothing to and that she simply did it on a whim. Although this sparked even more hatred between the women, Michael was able to see that Natsuru did vividly care for Koneko.

As soon as everyone returned to rest from the party, she was healed up physically by Asia but remained exhausted, she could have used her senjutsu to regain her stamina, but instead she decided to use her weary body to teach Koneko some healing techniques with the power. Natsuru lightly teased her about someday teaching her about something called,  _Bouchujutsu,_ which she could use on Michael. The teen was barely able to hear everything, but he did notice Koneko's faint blushing which had him wondering about what it was all about.

_'Asriel-san…' Michael thought about his strange and informative dance with that lady devil, 'Word has it, that she's been missing ever since the party ended. I hope she's okay…' He couldn't lie and say that he was mostly thinking about her because of her safety. She had answers that he wanted about his birthplace, his origin, he still had so many questions to ask her. Azazel wasn't going to speak up about his past anytime soon and Asriel was virtually a new wellspring of knowledge for him to go to, and now…she's just gone…_

_'I hope that she's okay…' Michael heavily sighed._

Poking his arm, a worried Asia asked, "Michael-san, are you okay?"

"Huh?" Snapping out of his funk, Michael grinned, "Oh, yeah, sorry for zoning out there, Asia, I'm fine, thanks!"

"Michael and Asia." Called Buchou, who stood beside Azazel, who just finished setting up a hologram projection depicting everyone in the peerage's stats and pictures, "We're about to start so please pay attention, understood?" Her demeanor was serious today, she meant business and that's because of the Rating Game between her and Sona starting in just a few more days.

They were all currently residing in the Gremory Residence's conference room. Yes, they even had a conference room with college like desks, the place literally accommodated for anything that you could possibly imagine.

"Hai, Buchou!" Both the [Pawn] and [Bishop] nodded.

"Okay, lets begin." Azazel clapped his hands as he looked over the group with a smile, "Good morning, everyone! Thanks for waiting for me and I hope you had a good night's rest."

"Morning? But it's 3 PM." Kiba said.

"Yeah, Ero-Ossan, we waited here for hours!" Michael called out the Fallen Angel's tardiness.

"Oh, really? Well, excuse me for not being specific. When I say "morning" I meant my interpretation of the morning which is after noon. You teenagers may find it weird, but as an adult, I actually have a life and interests beyond babysitting you all day."

"You mean like collecting books from the Twilight series?" Michael brought up.

"I told you, I was simply just holding it for a friend."

"Yeah right…"

Azazel shook his head, "Anyways, let's get to business," He looked up the row of desks to face Michael, "Michael, how's the state of your Balance Breaker?"

"Much better than a month ago. Now I can hold it for 15 days straight without worrying about the dragon energy recoiling on my body, Gramps, made sure of that by putting me through the wringer." Michael chuckled.

"And what about the conditions that you used to face? Such as the Countdown?" Azazel asked.

"Hehe, I managed to work on that since…stay with me…here it comes…I'm about to drop something aweso-ouch!" Koneko jabbed the teen's side.

"Just get on with it…"

"Sheesh, fine then…" Michael rubbed his side, "I don't have to use a countdown to enter my Balance Breaker anymore. Ddraig told me that the countdown was the equivalence of riding a bike with training wheels since I wasn't capable or strong enough to meet the criteria of entering the state fully by will back then."

"Meaning you won't have to stall for time in the middle of a fight like you used to, but I don't see that being a problem since you're capable of fighting well without the Balance Breaker." Rias said.

"Yup! Just call me, Gutsy Hanamura, the Jack of All Trades!" Michael pridefully laughed.

"…No one's going to call you that…" Koneko groaned.

"So, I assume that your [Transfer] ability won't hinder your stamina in the form like it used to?" Azazel asked.

"Nope, and I even found out a way to transfer power without having to be close to touch someone, too." Michael grinned, "So be prepared for one of my new stellar techniques!"

"That's great, Michael-kun, what is it?" Kiba asked.

"Bleh! Like I would tell you, fool! You won't tell me your secret, so I won't tell you mine?" Michael stuck his tongue out.

_'Still bitter about that I see…' Kiba bitterly smiled._

"Good, it looks like you were able to rough out your weaknesses quite well this past month." Azazel gave Michael a thumbs up, "Good job!"

"Heh, thanks…" A lingering thought about how he failed to gain Welsh Drive entered his mind just before he purged the thought away.

"Next is you, Kiba," Azazel turned to face the [Knight], "How were the results of your training?"

"Thanks to my instructor's "unorthodox" training regimen, I was able to stay in my Balance Breaker for Sword Birth for a total of 17 days." Kiba explained.

A knowing smile crept itself upon Azazel's face, "I can tell that your Balance Breaker wasn't the only thing that grew stronger this past month." Kiba's arms were quite muscular when compared to before, and Michael could attest to their strength from that mock battle that he and Kiba did upon their return to the Residence.

"Oh, this? Well, you can say that this was just a natural result of my training. It may have been my intention to train my arm strength just as much as my leg strength, but it was nigh impossible to really due that since I had to mainly focus on survival. By the time that everything was finished, I finally noticed this." Kiba nonchalantly laughed while pointing to his arms, "I was so busy trying not to keep alive that I barely recognized the result occurring. I guess everything worked out in the end. Hahahahaha!"

"…"

Everyone felt rather disturbed by that statement.

_'What the hell happened to him? Was he always this cheerful about such morbid things? Hold on...yeah…I remember him joking about almost cutting my head a couple of days ago! Scary! Just what kind of sick and twisted survival training did your instructor put you through?' Michael looked genuinely terrified as he looked over to Kiba with his eyes widened._

"Anyways…" Azazel trailed off, he knew that Zethyr's training would have adverse effects on the innocent Knight, "I heard from a little birdie that you have a secret weapon in store for the Rating Game."

Michael turned away whistling.

"So care to tell us?" Azazel further pushed.

"Well, it was supposed to be a secret, but like I said it needs to be a secret for "this" Rating Game considering, who we're up against." Kiba sweatdropped, "Plus, sensei, you were the last person that I wanted to know about this "secret" since you would be too ecstatic about it like how you were too excited about my Holy Demonic Swords."

"I'm not apologizing." Even Azazel had to admit that he was a bit too pushy when it came to Sacred Gears, but that had him thinking, "Wait, so this must mean that your secret is related to-!"

"Shush!" Kiba shushed the man, "It's a secret."

"Hehe, I think I get it now."

"Get WHAT!?" Michael slammed his hands on the table, "I want to know! Don't leave me in the dark, Ero-Ossan, please! Tell me!"

"Sorry, brat, but. That's. A. Secret~!"

"Don't give me that bullshit! I want to be in on this secret, too! Tell me! I-I-I'll actually respect you as an adult for a day if you do!"

"You're supposed to do that everyday…" Azazel shook his head.

"W-Wait, I'll even throw in 500 yen…no, scratch that, 300 yen." Michael pulled out his pocket change.

"This is just getting sad. Lets move on." Azazel turned to the Hologram projector with his pointer.

"No! Stop, this isn't over! Buchou, please, please, make Pretty Boy tell us his secret. Please…!" Michael begged.

"Yuuto?" Rias looked up to the young man, seriously.

"Yes, Buchou?"

"Will this secret of yours play a critical role in the Rating Game?"

"Yes."

"Could it stagger our chances of victor should our enemy know of it?"

"Quite definitely."

"Then I trust your decision."

"Thank you, Buchou."

"Seriously!?" Michael gasped before tiredly slumping against his desk, "Forget it…I don't care anymore." Soothing his sour mood was Koneko, who took it upon herself to pat the head of her bitter, pouting senior.

"Rias, does Sona already know about your peerage's data to some degree?"

At sensei's question, Buchou nodded.

"I would be surprised if she didn't. Sona isn't one to skimp out on the details of her future opponents, we've been friends and rivals for years. She obviously knows about Akeno and I's abilities. She roughly knows about Kiba, Xenovia, and Asia's weaponry. There's also the fact, that she was there to observe our Rating Game against Riser Phoenix. Furthermore, Gasper's sacred gear had come to light during the conference and she already received information on Koneko's background from Son Kai, Koneko's former caretaker."

Rias frowned, "But if I were her, she would most likely have a ton if not enough knowledge on Michael's abilities and weaponry with the Boosted Gear."

"Seriously?" Michael gulped.

"That would only be natural since she watched you fight Riser in the Rating Game, and your bout with Vali, so she's actually up to date on you." Rias explained, "Not to mention, this isn't the first time that she's analyzed you. Remember the dodgeball game?"

_'Right…back then, she provoked me, but wait…was that "her" plan or was it someone else's?' Michael felt conflicted for forgetting such a detail that happened months ago._

"If she knows about all of you roughly, then how much do you know about her peerage?" Azazel asked.

Rias placed on her glasses as she commandeered the projector to summon the Sitri Group's profiles, "I already know Sona's abilities, and that her [Queen], Tsubaki has a Sacred Gear along with two others, but I can't necessarily say that I know the rest of their powers." Rias brought up their profiles which amounted up to 8 in total.

"The two who have Sacred Gears, do you know who they are?"

Azazel asked, but Rias shook her head. Sona was always discreet about how she shared her information with others.

"So, you're at a disadvantage when it comes to their overall information. In battle, you don't necessarily know everything about your opponent to get an assured victory. Sacred Gears are an example, you may know their basis, but they can unpredictably change during the heat of battle." Azazel then spread out the projection's image to include both Rias and Sona's teams into divided groups, "I can at least say that you two are the same when it comes to your numbers. Eight on Eight."

Rias nodded, "Yes, one [King], one [Queen], one [Rook], one [Knight], two [Bishops], and two pawns."

"Now for those of you, who are still fairly new to how the Rating Games classify players and roles, we have a total of 4 categories: Power, Technique, Wizard, Support." The projector showed both Rias' and Akeno's profiles under the [Wizard] category, "Those that excel in magic are Wizard-types, Rias and Akeno fall in this category with Asia partly being in this type."

Next was the [Technique] category with Kiba, Michael and Xenovia's profile shown in that exact order, "Those that excel in skill are Technique-types. Kiba and Michael are officially a part of this category. Due to her training, Xenovia could count as this, but she's still behind these two in technique. Gasper partly counts as a technique type, but he's still a special case…"

"Oi, Ero-Ossan, why am I behind Kiba?" Michael asked.

"That's because this is based on overall skill. Kiba clearly has you beat in this category since he fought with speed and techniques while having more combat experience than you." Azazel explained.

"Well…I guess that makes sense…" Michael groaned in dissatisfaction.

"I wouldn't worry if I were you, brat. Your techniques may be lacking compared to him, but you still come out on top in the [Power] category." Azazel moves on to said category and shows the profiles on them in order: Michael, Xenovia, Kiba and Koneko.

"Yeehaw!" Michael cheered, he was officially the strongest in raw power out of the whole group.

"That sure cheered him up." Azazel shook his head as he continued on with his lecture, "Lastly, we have the [Support] category consisting of both Asia and Gasper, the two bishops. Michael partly counts as this type as well due to his [Gift] ability to transfer his boosted power. So, putting everything together, these would be where you all lie in the categories."

Azazel projected each of their profiles with all of their Categories combined.

**[King]- Rias Gremory: Wizard Type**

**[Queen]- Akeno Himejima: Wizard Type**

**[Knight]- Yuuto Kiba: Technique Type/Power Type**

**[Knight]- Xenovia Quarta: Power Type/Technique Type**

**[Rook]- Koneko Toujo: Power Type**

**[Bishop]- Gasper Vladi: Support Type/Technique Type**

**[Bishop]- Asia Argento: Support Type/Wizard Type**

**[Pawn]- Michael Hanamura: Power Type/Technique Type/Support Type**

"In all, you have a very balanced group, but…" Azazel flicked off everyone's profile except for Michael, Xenovia and Koneko.

_'Uh-oh…' Michael did not like where this was going._

"These three, you are the most likely to easy targets because you are mainly Power-types before your other categories. I trust that Kiba will at least be cautious since he mainly started as a Technique-type before becoming a Power-type thanks to his month of training. First, let's start with Michael."

"Yeah?"

"Michael, you've certainly become stronger this past month, but you still have a crippling weakness in this upcoming game, and that's your susceptibility to be too swayed by emotion. You know what I'm talking about. We all know that you can be mischievous with the way that you fight, but you're still someone who wears their emotions on their sleeve. This has been your greatest strength, but it will eventually be your greatest weakness should your opponents take advantage of your emotions."

Azazel only said the truth, there would be cases to where Michael could stray from the plan and get too emotional that he will get too reckless with his power and destroy everything without precision. Being the Red Dragon Emperor already had him painted as a target by Sona. Wearing his heart on his sleeve will make him an "easy" target.

"Remember, your opponent will most likely have a way to counter your attacks in a single blow. Stay vigilant and remember that the Heavy-hitters are always the first ones to drop out because of technicalities such as these. The same could be said to the both of you, understand?"

The three of them nodded upon listening to Azazel's warning.

_'Ero-Ossan does have a point, last time during the dodgeball game, I fell right into Sona-senpai's hands by getting to angry and because of that my own power damaged Rias. I have to keep my emotions in check and try not to get carried away like usual.' Michael clenched his fist, 'I just hope that Xenovia will be okay, at least. She tends to rely too much on power and may get some crazy notion to use it to overpower the countering of her enemies.'_

"Michael, just now, you were probably thinking about how much of a Power-idiot I am, weren't you?" Xenovia asked.

Michael sucked his lips before looking away whistling, "Well, I mean, I didn't put it that way in my head, but y-yeah…"

"Hmhmhm! The old me would have questioned why it would have been bad to use power like that. But no longer am I the naïve Power Idiot that you've come to know. For you see, I have been working on techniques this past month, so now I can fully demonstrate the pinnacle of my power with the added power of skill! No longer will I be the typical Power Idiot!"

Xenovia bravely said that, which honestly surprised Michael into actually believing that she underwent must have been finally changed her troublesome attitude in battle. He was so moved that he was moved to tears by the declaration.

Michael gave her a hug filled with gratitude and pride, no words were needed to convey this feeling…

Even Kiba was crying his heart out as he uproariously clapped his hands in the back desk.

Amidst all of this, Xenovia looked confused and felt conflicted about the two overexaggerating boys.

"Anyways…" Azazel trailed off, "Michael, be honest with me. Do you think that you can win against Kiba?"

"Depends, we talking about with Scale Mail or just me as it is…which, oh, yeah still the best!" Michael inwardly patted himself on the back for nailing the line.

"Balance Breaker is fine."

"Well, the thing is, my base form alone might be a long shot if the two of us were fighting seriously. I know some martial arts moves, but compared to Kiba's swordsmanship, I don't think that hold up very well. Not to mention he has a Holy-Demonic sword that can literally cook my bacon should I get hit with the holy element. My Balance Breaker actually gives me a bit of an advantage, but from there the battle would be really be up in the air if you think about it."

Michael shrugged, the fight could either result in his victory should he find a way to get to Kiba's legs and make him immobile, but the same could be said to Kiba, who can run circles around him and exhaust him from further continuing the fight.

Azazel smiled at that, "Good. It looks like that you two sparring together before the training in the Underworld really did develop your mentality when thinking of the possible outcomes in battle. Here's a word of advice, don't overthink things or else you'll worry about the worst possible outcome just stay calm and be ready for anything, alright?" Azazel gave a thumbs up and received a nod from both the [Pawn] and [Knight].

Closing his portfolio, Azazel said his final conclusion, "Welp, that's all that you have to hear from me. I'm not going to give you any percentages or your chances of winning because that will all depend on how things play out, out there. I believe that you all will win, but that belief is shaky since the other team is just as likely to win as you. Value every piece…don't get cocky…blah…blah…blaaaaaah…" Azazel made his way to the door, "Just do you best and try not to fuck up."

"You're not going to stay and discuss our possible tactics?" Rias asked.

"I already talked to you about it and I made sure to leave a folder on the desk just in case. Right now, you can discuss those tactics while explaining to everyone about the abilities of Tsubaki Shinra, who you have yet to bring up." Azazel said.

"Right…"

"Don't worry, your month learning under your instructor is more than enough to make me trust in your judgement to handle your team as you see fit. Well, not like I was in the position to do so anyways, but that's beside the point." Azazel shrugged, but paused as he heard footsteps from behind the door along with sensing three familiar presences.

"But before you start that, we actually have a few guests that came to see you all off. Especially you, brat…" Azazel smiled.

"Really?"

Azazel nodded at Michael's query as he did sense someone familiar, its just that the presence they had felt really different.

***Gacha!***

"How have you been, boy?"

"Hmph!"

Michael's eyes widened as he jumped out of his seat to meet the new arrivals.

"Kalawarner and…you…" Michael gasped, as he happily looked to Kalawarner before he exaggeratedly glared at Mittelt, who did the same. The two were still thorny around each other, but there was an air about them that made it seem like this was a familial occurrence.

The two Fallen Angel females revealed themselves to everyone as they now wore the black uniforms given to them by the Grigori to indicate themselves as elite members of the organization. Everyone in the room was just as happy as Michael to once again reunite with their fellow comrades.

"Wow, I almost didn't recognize you two!" Michael grinned, "You must have worked pretty hard this past month, too!"

"Of course not, how could I possibly expect an uncouth dog like you to grasp any concept?" Mittelt insulted as she showed off her new second set of black wings, and she wasn't the only one as Kalawarner revealed that she, Raynare and Mittelt were able to achieve more wings because of their growth in power.

"Oi! You can at least be a bit, oh, I don't know, nicer! I mean, it has been a month, and I'm still technically your senior!" Michael growled.

"Hah, did I ever acknowledge you as my senior? Besides, a month still hasn't roughed out that dumb look on your face." Mittelt intently looked at Michael's face before noticing this herself. Blushing a bit, she quickly shook it off and turned back to him with a sly smiled, "But…If you do want me to be a bit nicer to you, you must get on your knees and beg like a dog."

"Hehe, yeah, I'll get right on that when pigs fly…"

"Actually…" Azazel brings out his phone to show Michael a picture of a real pig flying with angel wings, "We've been working on some genetic mutations last year."

"…" Michael angrily stared at Azazel before groaning, "Well, it will be a cold day in hell before I beg you for anything."

"Actually…its been reported that the devils have decided to cool down the Underworld with some magic since it's still summer and the weather has been hot as hell." Azazel punned but that earned another annoyed look from Michael, who was running out of idioms to say.

"Oh, yeah? Well…well…how about I promise to beg you on the first of never!" It wasn't the best, but it was the only idiom that he could think of.

"Actually, there isn't a month called  _Never._ Here…" Azazel pulls out a calendar and gives it to Michael, "So choose the month that you'll promise to beg her on."

"…"

Left silent, Michael glared at the calendar before noticing the smug smile on Mittelt's face.

"Well?"

Dropping the calendar on the desk, Michael looked completely defeated as he sighed and prepared to get on one knee, but before his knee touched the ground, he was yanked back up on his feet by Koneko.

"Koneko-chan?" Michael hopefully looked to his junior.

"…Only I'm allowed to pick on, Baka-senpai." Koneko glowered at Mittelt.

_'And here I thought she was actually defending my honor, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend! Go, Koneko-chan!' Michael mentally cheered the Nekomata on._

"H-Hey, what do you want?" Mittelt asked in confusion.

"Squawking Crow." Koneko insulted with half-lidded eyes.

"…What did you just call me?"

"…Squawking Crow."

"What's your deal? I wasn't even talking to you in the first place so mind your business!"

It looked like the two first years were about to throw down.

"…" Koneko took a closer look at Mittelt before narrowing her eyes, "I won't allow it…"

"What are you talking about?" Mittelt caught on to the girl's meaning once Koneko defensively stood in front of Michael, "That? Are you serious? Give me a break, why on earth would I ever stoop that low? Raynare-oneesama is all I need."

Thanks to her senjutsu, Koneko was naturally able to whether someone was lying to her or not based on the wavelengths of their chi. This was one of those moments, but she did feel that Mittelt was stating the truth, but with come confliction. A half-truth, and that's what has Koneko on edge.

"You say a truth which is also a lie. Uncertainty, and that's enough for me to know that your bad news. That's why I won't lose to your half-hearted attempts, especially since you're in the same year as me." Koneko threateningly entered her Nekomata state.

"I have no clue what you're talking about, but if you want a fight then bring it, you stupid cat!"

"Vulgar Crow…"

"Stupid Cat!"

"Vulgar Crow…!"

"Stupid Cat!"

Backing away from the two lolis amidst their heated argument, Michael walked over to Kalawarner and asked, "Excuse me, Kalawarner, but I've been wondering. Where's Ray-chan, she was supposed to be here last night, but I haven't seen her anywhere."

Wearing a complex expression, Kalawarner bitterly smiled, "About that, she found that it was still too early to return yesterday since she hasn't fully "prepared" herself. She says that if she rushed things, then she would most certainly die."

"Really? Is she okay!?" Michael asked worriedly.

"No, no, she's fine, it's just that..."

***KNOCK!* *KNOCK!***

Two unusually loud knocks from the door grasped everyone's attention as another new arrival appeared, "Why hello, everyone. Its good to see you all again." Appearing in the same Grigori uniform as the others, but with a red dragon crest on the shoulder, was none other than Raynare herself. It took Michael a while to recognize her both physically and power signature wise. Her once long hair was now cut short and lengthened down for it to barely reach her neck. There's also the fact that her aura was a bit terrifying while somewhat resembling Raymond's.

This obviously took him back, but he managed to push it to the side and greet the girl.

"Hey, Ray-ch-!"

"Raynare-san, you're back!"

"Its been a long a time, Raynare."

"I hope you're month wasn't as hectic as ours.

"W-Welcome back, Raynare-senpai."

"It's nice to have you back, Raynare-san."

"It's really nice to have you here with us again, Raynare."

Everyone got up from their seats to greet their friend.

"Thank you, everyone! I'm just so glad to be back!" Raynare giggled.

"Hey, Ray-chan!" Michael rushed over and greeted his friend, himself. However, the first time that he called her, she strangely didn't look his way.

"Hey, Ray-chaaaaan!" Michael called a little louder.

"Hm? Oh, Michael-sama, I didn't see you there. Hello." Raynare's smile looked a little force. The way that she talked was weird too, she almost sounded a bit stiff around him.

"H-Hi? Hey, Ray-chan are you okay?" Michael asked.

"Why yes I am, Michael-sama, but I can definitely tell that you've gotten stronger. I'm so proud of you."

"Yeah, thanks…?" Michael was off put by this strange behavior, she was usually much more open with him than this. What happened to her this past month?

"But your certainly no pushover yourself, Ray-chan, I can tell that you've really put in some work! High-Five!"

***GLEAM!***

"…HNGH!"

"What the-!"

Michael stopped, just then his spine trembled after feeling an intense gaze at that moment.

***SNORT!***

"Hm?" Raynare's overly sweet smile returned after she wiped her nose.

"N-Nothing…nothing…" Michael lowered his hand,  _'It must have been my imagination.'_ At that split second, he thought that he saw a pair of bloodshot eyes intensely gaze at him.

"Well, it was nice catching up with you all, but I have to go. Say Rias-san, do I still have a guestroom here?" Raynare asked.

"Why yes, your luggage is still there so we saw no fit in touching your room save for keeping it well-cleaned." Rias said.

"Lovely, well, I'll see you all after I get some rest. My training was just exhausting, phew~!" Raynare swiped the invisible sweat off her forehead as she turned around to leave the room, "Kalawarner, Mittelt, I'll see you later."

"R-Right…" Kalawarner gulped, she was quite worried for her friend, but it would seem that this she was somewhat fine despite her weird behavior. All she needed to do was steadily acclimate herself back to normal before anything drastic occurred.

_'Well, if she's exhausted then that might be the reason why she's so strange now.' Michael thought._

"I hope you feel great, Ray-chan! Rest as much as you want, but make sure to save up enough energy to cheer us on during the Rating Game, ya hear?" Michael exclaimed.

"Right, right. I wouldn't miss it for the world." Raynare quickly hurried as she wiped her nose once more.

"Right on…right on…" Michael was just about to turn around as Rias prepared to continue their preparations for the game until he came up with an idea on how to cheer up the tired Raynare.

"Oh, and Ray-chan?" Michael called out.

"Yeah?"

"I like what you did with your hair. It's really a cute look on ya! Hehehe!" Michael grinned.

"…" Raynare paused, she was only just one foot out of the door, but she couldn't muster the strength to continue on any further. It wasn't because she was tired, no, she had gotten over her fatigue a day ago. What truly stopped her was her…desires.

"I-I don't need it…I don't need it. I don't need it. Idon'tneeditIdon'tneeditIdon'tneeditIdon'tneedit…"

Hands trembling, Raynare's breath grew shaky.

"Raynare?" Kalawarner noticed this and worriedly called out to the girl.

_-"I like what you did with your hair. It's really a cute look on ya!"-_

_The words that Michael said replayed in her head, over and over again. Hearing those words come from his mouth was just the last straw to finally push her past her tipping point._

_'I NEEEED IT!'_

It had all happened so fast, one moment, Raynare was just one foot out of the door, and the next, she was clinging onto the clueless teen like a maniac screaming, "MICHAEL-SAMA! MICHAEL-SAMA! MICHAEL-SAMA!"

"What the he-!? Ray-cha-aaaugh! Chill! Chill!" Michael gasped, before he started to scream in pain, her sudden hug was quite powerful that it threatened to snap his spine in two.

"MICHAEL-SAMA *SNIFF!* MICHAEL-SAMA *SNORT!* *SNIFF!*" Raynare slammed her face into Michael's chest and started taking deep whiffs of his scent. Say that last month was "torture" was an understatement at best to her.

Not only did she have to put up with being taught by Raymond, she had to practically be away from her precious Michael for thirty days. It was hell for her. Each night, she had to cry herself to sleep in hopes that she would reunite with him in her dreams, sadly, that too wasn't enough for her. Such loneliness left her nearly dead as the days passed on until she finally decided to suppress her desires for the man that she loved in order to get through the month in order to get stronger.

Not just for herself, but for him so she can be someone that he could depend on.

However, thanks to this thinking and everything that led to it, she finally realized one crucial fact: She'll never want to be separated from Michael ever again.

The signs were so clear to Mittelt and Kalawarner during her training, but they finally realized how serious this was for their friend upon making their way back to the Gremory Residence. Upon reaching the front door, Raynare nearly collapsed, just feeling the faint presence of Michael made her light-headed, which was absolutely ridiculous, but still.

Not to mention that the time they spent heading towards the library, she was met with a few "accidents". Kalawarner pulls out the handkerchief that she gave to Raynare earlier, as an example of it. The rag was completely soaked in blood.

"…! Raynare, stop!" Kalawarner shouted upon realizing something.

"MICHAEL-SAMA! MICHAEL-SAMA! MICHAEL-SA-SA-SA-!"

"Sa-?" Michael repeated.

***SPRAY!***

"Bugeh~!" Nose bleeding a torrent of blood, Raynare fell back with an honest to god smile on her face.

"Ray-chan!" Michael and everyone else rushed over to her side.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Michael cried as he picked the girl up, who was still losing a lot of blood.

"M-Michael-sa-bugeh~!" More blood sprayed out of her nose upon getting wrapped up in Michael's arms, some of her blood had even ended up on Michael's clothes.

"What's going on? Why is she suddenly bleeding!?" Michael panicked.

"Let go of her!" Kalawarner rushed over and ripped the pale girl from his arms.

"Eh?"

"She needs to recuperate stat! She just wasn't ready yet…dammit!" Kalawarner cursed, too much exposure was what did Raynare in. The signs were so simple, the light-headedness, the constant nosebleeds and this? She just wasn't ready to reach this stage yet.

"Quick, Azazel-sama, we need blood bags and tons of baby pictures stat!"

"I only have a couple of the brat's pictures in my wallet, will that do?"

Azazel pulled out his wallet and showed Kalawarner a few of Michael's pictures from his childhood.

"That'll have to do, but don't worry, I also managed to make a few copies of the ones in his photo album."

"Excuse me!?" Michael gasped.

"I found it hidden behind a couple some bookshelf back at your place." Kalawarner revealed.

"Curses…the last place you would expect Michael to hide them…" Rias cursed, she too was in search of those baby photos.

"…Since knowledge and baka-senpai are two things that definitely don't go together." Koneko chimed in.

"Hear, hear." Mittelt nodded in agreement, "It would obviously be a shocker that an idiot like him would even touch a book."

"…Only I'm allowed to insult, baka-senpai like that."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah…"

Koneko and Mittelt continued to angrily butt heads. It was like watching an adorable cat protect its territory against a cute raven.

Trying his best to stay out of that, Michael could not believe what he was hearing, so that's what happened to those photos, he should have known better than to put it there. Actually, he wondered why he even placed it behind the bookshelf at all.

***Driip~!* *Driiiip~!***

"Ka-Kala…h-he called me cute…ehehe…he called m-me…" Raynare deliriously laughed as trembled in the woman's arms.

"It's okay, I heard too. I'm happy for you, but you have to rest. Here, look at this…" Kalawarner handed her a baby photo.

"Teeny-Tiny Michael-sama…tiny baby M-Michael-sama…" Raynare cooed as her incessant nosebleed began to cease.

"I'm sorry for interrupting you're meeting, everyone, we'll just see each other out." Kalawarner rushed out of the room.

**. . . .**

There were no words to convey the strange vibe that was left in the room.

Sadly, that vibe was broken upon Rias clapping her hands and saying, "Alright, everyone, lets save the rest of the strategy for tomorrow. We still have two more days before the game so let's take a break today."

"Huh, already?" Kiba blinked in surprise.

"It'll be fine and besides, I'm also worried about Raynare's condition, so I want to…stop by and take a peek at those pho-I mean at her condition. Yes, her condition!" Rias coughed.

"…" Michael tiredly stared at Rias, and she wasn't the only one who was obviously acting suspicious as he saw a few of the other girls walk out of the room with her.

"It would absolutely be heartbreaking if she were to fall into a sickly state, so I too wish to come as well and mend her critical condition." Akeno volunteered.

"I-I also wish to go. I can't just leave Raynare-san like this, so I'll do my best to heal her to the best of my ability." Asia actually sounded quite sincere.

"Squawking Crow…"

"Stupid Cat!"

Koneko and Mittelt still insulted each other, still occupied by their growing argument.

The only one who was the last to leave was Xenovia, who looked genuinely confused, "We're just going to help, Raynare? I thought that all of us wanted to go see more of Michael's baby phot-mmmph!"

"If you'll excuse us…"

Rias covered her mouth and backed out of the room.

Taking a deep breath, Michael screamed, "What the hell just happened!?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, thanks for reading guys, and I'm sorry that this isn't the real chapter yet, but like I said, I don't want everything to be crammed into the chapter or else it be too much information to read and digest. So, this is the last short chapter before the REAL battle.
> 
> So, what do you guys think of the stats and the strategy meeting for the Rating Game? I found it odd that Rias never mentioned to them Tsubaki's Sacred Gear since she did mention knowing it in the Light Novels.
> 
> Also, just for the fun of it, who do you think would honestly win between the two: Michael vs. Kiba? And why do you think so?
> 
> Well, I'm Out so Peace Out and have a lovely day!


	65. The battle of the devil youths finally begins! Team Gremory vs. Team Sitri! Part 1

**The battle of the devil youths finally begins! Team Gremory vs. Team Sitri! Part 1**

* * *

It was finally the day of the decisive battle.

Prepared for the match, everyone gathered in the Gremory Castle's Underground teleportation center to use one of their many Magical Circles to transport them to the game area. After getting briefed once more about the strategy, everyone prepared to use the magic circle.

For the sake of presentation, Venelana took it upon herself to create and arrange a uniform for each member in Rias' peerage. Since it was mildly frowned upon by the higher-ups watching to see both sides wearing their school uniforms. The uniforms that she made for them was suited for each member's tastes, so it would not hinder them in battle.

Their most defining feature was the black uniform's red streaks and the Gremory Family's sigil on the back of it.

"Rias, you've proven yourself capable by earning your first victory against Riser. Do your best and win."

"Fight a battle with no regrets as the next head of the family. Everyone else as well, give it everything you've got."

"Do your best, Rias-neesama!"

"I can say for certain that I informed you as much as I could. All that's left is to secure victory and go all out by sticking to your course of strategy. In other words, don't fuck up."

Seeing them off, Zeoticus, Venelana and Azazel gave everyone their words of encouragement. Sirzechs and Grayfia couldn't be there to see them off due to already being at the spectator's lounge for the exclusive use of VIPs, the leaders of the great powers and the other invited mythologies. Raynare, Kalawarner and Mittelt couldn't really see them off because of Raynare's "recovery" still not being done.

Nodding upon receiving such uplifting words, the merciless light of the magic circle began to engulf them and send them straight to their designated battlefield.

It was time.

* * *

It was definitely the same feeling that he experienced during their last Rating Game against Riser, except, this time, Michael noticed a pattern going on since environment was somewhere a bit more familiar than what he had expected.

"Are we…in Kuoh town's Mall?" He questioned as he stepped out to look over at all of the vast department stores that filled their floor and the two extra floors above. They were currently on the first floor of the mall, in the Food Court.

"How odd, I never expected that the town's mall would be the stage for our battle." Rias said as walked up to Michael's side to examine the upper floors.

[Everyone, I, the "Queen" of the Lucifer group, Grayfia, will be acting the role of arbiter in the "Rating Game" between the Rias Gremory's group and the Sona Sitri's group on this occasion.]

And just like last time, Grayfia was the announcer.

[In the name of my master, Sirzechs Lucifer, I will watch over the battle between these two families. It's a pleasure to be here. To get right into things, the battlefield for today is the exact copy of the Kuoh town Mall. For the participants, you may know this, but for those who don't and are worried, the current space you're in is separate from the real mall. The space that you're in is specifically for the purposes of the game.]

"So, we once again have a home field advantage." Akeno said.

"The same could be said for our opponents." Rias narrowed her eyes, both she and Sona regularly visited the mall so they're both familiar with the building's layout. The mall itself was quite long and tall across its three floors and atrium. Beside the building was a multi-story parking garage.

[Both groups have been transported to their respective "bases". Rias-sama's "base" is on the first floor, while Sona-sama's "base" is on the third floor.]

The location given weren't very specific save for the floors, meaning it was up to both sides to figure out where their enemy was hiding.

[In order for "Pawns" to promote, they must go to their opponent's "base".]

_'If we're going to be searching for Sona's base, then it would be best to have Michael try to use promotion to confirm whether it's the base or not.' Rias thought, they needed to be precise and make sure not to fall for any of Sona's potential traps._

[For this game, there will be special conditions which must be kept by both sides. Documents pertaining to these rules were already sent to their sides along with a single Phoenix Tear. Both teams are given thirty minutes to strategize before the battle. Either side is forbidden from making physical contact with their opponent during this period. Any servants caught doing so will immediately be forced to retire from the game.]

"Rats…" Michael clicked his tongue in annoyance.

[Now, let the strategy formation commence.] With the announcement over, everyone quickly gathered together near the table holding the document, an overall layout of the mall's interior except the parking garage.

"By the way things are set up, this is most definitely an indoor battle." Rias said as she examined the interior of the mall starting with their floor, the first floor. Around their base was a pet shop, an arcade center, a dining floor, a bookshop and a drugstore.

On the opponent's floor, the third floor, they had a grocery shop, an electrical appliance store, a junk food shop, sports-supplies shop, and a general goods store.

As for the unoccupied second floor was a heavy line up of retail clothing stores, but that wasn't all since Rias focused her sights on a single room on that floor.

Looking over the document, Rias closed her eyes in thought and a bit of annoyance, "The condition that we must keep states [Do not destroy the battlefield]; in other words, we cannot destroy the interior of the mall using showy techniques."

"Double rats…" Michael clicked his tongue again, now all of the super cool techniques that he created over the past month have all been considerably limited from use in the confines of this game.

"…I see, so to me, the fuku-buchou, and Michael, this is quite a limiting battlefield for us. Meaning, we can't do wipe out our opponents with wide area attacks." Xenovia rubbed her chin.

"This may seem troublesome, but this just means that we have to simply fight smarter rather than harder, no?" Akeno smiled, she saw no issue against the limitation, it would just mean that she needed to be more creative.

However, she soon looked troubled, "But I'm afraid that Gasper-kun will have the most trouble out of all of us. His eyes won't work against opponents in such a crowded space like this. His vision would be obstructed by the many products and goods that the enemy could simply hide behind."

"I'm afraid that we won't have to worry about that. They placed a restriction on him that states [Gasper Vladi's Sacred Gear is forbidden to be used]. This is only placed on him because he still can't perfectly control it yet. To avoid his eyes probably going out of control, they even prohibited the use of feeding him Michael's blood." Pulling out a case from another space, Rias hands it to Gasper, "Which is why Azazel instructed him to use these."

"Glasses?" Michael asked once Gasper placed them on.

"These were made for Gasper exclusively, it's to act as perfect seal for his eyes should he leave them on. I'm just thankful that he gave them to me when he did, but I do wonder when he had the time to make these."

"When it comes to making weird stuff on the fly, we can always count on the Ero-Ossan. He even has a cloning machine that I've been dying t-." Michael covered his own mouth when he saw Rias curiously raise an eyebrow, "Nothing, it was nothing…for now…"

"So Gasper, I want you to rely on your magic and vampire abilities, okay?" Rias looked to dhampir first year.

"H-Hai, Buchou!" Gasper nodded.

"Good." Rias breathed out, in actuality, the restriction was a blessing for them. It would have been a hassle should the other side seal his time-stopping powers mid-battle. Sona's side was composed of counter-types such as Saji, who possesses a Sacred Gear that absorbs the ability of others. This Rating Game isn't like the one before, they couldn't really go all out and use their power willy-nilly. Now the determined outcome relied on anyone's skill and tactics, meaning anyone can win.

"Everyone, please take this limitation as practice for true battlefields. There will be situations to where we won't be able to use our full power in such a crowded environment. Should it be indoors or surrounded by civilians, we still have to make an effort to make as less damage as possible." Rias' words hit home to everyone.

"Michael, I know this may be much after you fully controlled your Balance Breaker, but please rely on hand to hand combat. Your power is too enormous and could potentially destroy the building." Rias frowned.

"Don't worry about it, Buchou! Getting up close and personal is my favorite thing to do!" Michael grinned.

"…Phrasing…" Koneko warned.

Moving on to discuss the strategy, Rias continued, "Both us and Sona's team are quite spread out in the mall. Thanks to the announcement, both of our specific locations haven't been leaked yet so its up to us to find their base. Our base will be in one of the nearby department stores on the first floor. The atrium is a troublesome place to begin our attack since they're on the third floor and can easily grasp our movements."

"I've considered an attack from the parking garage as well, but they would also be looking out for that too." Akeno said.

"Yes, it's the same for moving from the rooftop. Whether it be breaking through the center, from the rooftop, or from the parking garage, we have to advance along these routes. Leaving the mall itself is strictly forbidden." Rias explained.

"If this is a direct copy then there should be cars in the parking garage as well. They could be making use of that."

"I don't believe Sona would have much use for them. She could turn them into bombs and plunge them down to the first floor but that's too reckless and could potentially destroy the mall." Rias shook her head before pointing at a specific room on the blueprints, "No, my guess for what Sona is truly after is this room in the mall. This place would give her the ultimate advantage in this battle."

"You mean the Security Guard's office?"

"The Security Gua-how do you know that?" Rias asked Michael.

"I've had my fair share of run-ins with some security guards whenever I felt like messing with some store owners. Snrk! I got sent to their office after making a huge mess in the Grocery store by mixing all of their mentos and soda bottles to create soda geysers! Ah, that was one of my finest works."

"I see…Michael, I want you to tell me about this room. Its already a given that the surveillance tech would give away our location to the enemy, but what else is there to worry about?"

"Well, the room has a lot of cameras linked to every department store and…oh, yeah…the security guards have their own set of stairs different from the main mall's." Michael smiled.

"Different set of stairs?" Kiba questioned.

"You know, the stairs that only they could use to easily travel from floor to floor for the Mall or the Parking Garage. They mentioned something about not getting hindered by the crowds in the store the last time I was taken in for causing trouble." Michael chuckled and scratched his head.

"That settles it then, we have to claim that area. It's the deciding factor to determine the victor. If we can't secure it, then we simply have to destroy the room." Rias crossed out and circled the room on the blueprints.

"Buchou, wouldn't it be better to secure the room now during the thirty minute strategy break?" Kiba raised his hand.

"That would be the smart thing to do, but it would be too risky. The surveillance room is on the second floor, if I were to send anyone of you to go find it then you'd most likely run into one of Sona's servants. By this point, she too must know the importance of that room better than anyone. To make contact with the enemy even without throwing a single punch still counts as an automatic retire for both servants during this 30 minute time frame." Rias explained, "I won't sacrifice any of you, you're all my adorable servants and each of you play an important role, and the same could be said about Sona not wishing to sacrifice her own servants, they're all a vital part of her plan so she's not willing to take any early risks."

_'Wow, Buchou's really killing it with this strategy talk. She must have really been working hard this past month. But still…who the heck trained her?' Michael looked puzzled._

"Gasper, as soon as the battle begins, change into bats and fly to every location that you can within the department store. You'll inform us of where Sona's base is once you find it."

"Roger!" Gasper saluted, his fighting spirit grew, he was determined to make up for his absence during the Phoenix Rating Game.

"Wouldn't it be better for Gasper-kun to quickly secure the surveillance room?" Akeno questioned.

"I thought about the same thing too, but it's best to have a contingency plan if we fail to get there first. Should I send Gasper by himself, he may encounter an enemy that may overpower him since his sacred gear is sealed. We need someone powerful to secure the room or else we'll lose a player and our advantage at the same time."

Soon enough, the strategy planning continued until everyone was all set to go.

"The game will be starting in fifteen minutes." Rias looked at her wrist watch. We'll gather here again in ten minutes. Until then please remain on standby on the first floor and do whatever will calm you down before the match."

At Rias' words, everyone broke up do their own thing.

"Michael, wait." Rias called as she approached him.

"What's up, Buchou?" Michael asked.

"Michael, I may sound like a nag for telling you this again, but I really want you to restrain yourself during this match." Rias said.

"Don't worry, Buchou. I won't destroy the mall." Michael bitterly smiled.

"No, I didn't mean it that way, I want you to "restrain" yourself…" Rias looked worried.

_'…She must be talking about laying off the sacrifice thing I did with Ddraig like last time.' Michael thought._

"Should things escalate, I want you to relax and just rely on me and my plan. We'll make sure that you won't have to sacrifice a part of yourself ever again, understood?"

"Yeah, I read you loud and clear, Buchou." Michael thankfully smiled.

"Good, and to make sure that you won't do it. I'll give you permission to do something that will take your mind off of possibly sacrificing your body parts." Rias crossed her arms.

"Like what?"

"I know I might regret this and it might cause some collateral damage, but…Michael, I hereby order you to…ugh…style all over the…balls…of the enemy with your pranks?" Rias struggled to give the order, this would virtually mean getting some bad ratings since indulging Michael's mischievous attitude only brought trouble.

"…" Looking serious, Michael looked up as a soft breeze blew through his hair, "…My time has come…"

After giving Rias a bear hug as thanks, Michael ran as fast as he could to find an old friend of his. If the mall was a complete copy of the real one, then "it" certainly must have been there too. While searching for the spot, he spotted that everyone was off to do their own thing. With Asia and Xenovia talking away all of their anxiety in front of a hamburger shop. Kiba rummaging through the drugstore for medicine and Rias and Gasper sitting on the dining floor with Rias enjoying a cup of tea and Gasper eating some donuts.

"There you are…" Michael giddily laughed, he approached one of the potted plants and messily dug through the dirty to find a small brown backpack and utility belt with the world written in black permanent maker, "Old Reliable".

"Ah, yeah, the ranchid smell of stink bombs and outdated fireworks always cheer me up." One day at the mall, he had gotten fed up with the Security Guards in the mall confiscating his stuff, so he made sure to pick appropriate places to hide his gear.

"Okay, it looks like I have everything ready. Hehehehehe! I can't wait to pull a fast one on all of them, especially, Saji!" Michael maniacally laughed like a cartoonish villain.

"Michael-kun~, you're making a lot of noise. What are you doing? Ara ara, you've got a very scary look on your face. Are you perhaps planning something devious for the battle?"

***Munyuuuu!***

"A-Akeno-senpai!?" Michael gasped as he remembered that wonderful softness and tenderness on his back from anywhere. She was tightly clinging to his back while checking out all of his gear, but her expression soon turned into a pout.

"Mou…Michael-kun…"

_'So cute…' Michael thought before he coughed._

"Ahem, sorry about that. I mean, Akeno, what are you doing here?" Michael bitterly chuckled, he had almost forgotten about how much she wanted him to say her name without honorifics when it was just the two of them.

"…" Akeno kept silent as she buried her head into Michael's broad back.

"Is something wrong?" He felt her embrace around him tighten.

"…I'm getting courage from Michael-kun." Akeno's voice filled with confliction and pain, "I need the courage to fight…this power that flows through my blood, I hate it…I-I'm scared…I might have to use it, but I…don't know what to do…I still haven't made my choice yet. So please, Michael-kun, give me courage."

"I don't know how hugging me will give you courage." Michael sighed as he turned around and embraced Akeno back, "But if you're getting courage from someone like me, then I'll give you as much as I can, Akeno."

"M-Michael-kun, if I bring out my power of light, would you watch me?" Akeno quietly asked.

"I'd still watch you regardless if you choose not to use it." Michael smiled as he gently rubbed her back, "Like how you always watch over me, I'll be there to watch your back whenever you're in trouble and whether you use your power or not doesn't make a difference. Because in the end-!"

Michael cheerfully grinned, "We're still Michael and Akeno, who's team attack will blow everyone away! That's why I'll do my best to protect you until then end until that happens!"

"…I'm happy. To be together with Michael…surely…but Rias has already taken her place as your first, but even so I will always…try my best…by your side…" Akeno muttered in a low voice as she raised her head to look him in the eyes. Some tears cascaded down her cheeks as she passionately gazed into Michael's worried eyes.

"Akeno, are you crying? What's wro-?"

***CHU!***

Without a word of warning, Akeno immediately claimed his lips with her own in one swift kiss.

Michael was literally speechless that his eyes were so wide that they nearly popped out of his skull. Breaking the kiss, Akeno blushed and looked away,

"That was my first kiss…"

"Your first kiss?" Michael had to remind himself how many times he heard and repeated that line.

Unbearably breaking from his embrace, Akeno did her best to wear her usual smile through her teary eyes and red cheeks, "Thanks for supplying me with the courage I need, Michael-kun. I'll leave you to your preparations."

And just like that Akeno took off, it was evident that she was a extremely happy and embarrassed to stay any longer unless she would get fully distracted from the current Rating Game at hand. Michael was still speechless as he continued to watch Akeno leave, he had so many questions, but the first one that popped into his had was, "Is someone watching me?"

Michael's senses were acutely trained during his time training under Tannin so feeling a pair of watch him was child's play.

***Staaaaaaaare***

"Oh, hello, Koneko-chan…" Michael sheepishly smiled and waved the girl over, she was intently staring at him from behind a nearby support beam.

_'I guess she was around to watch the whole thing with Akeno happen.' Michael touched his lips as he remembered the kiss._

"…Baka-senpai, it's almost time to gather." Koneko approached him with an unreadable expression.

"R-Right thanks." Michael suited up as he equipped his utility belt and backpack, "Alright! Lets do this!"

Suddenly, Koneko grasped Michael's hand.

"Koneko-chan?" Suddenly feeling her putting something on it, Michael gasped, "What's this?"

Blushing red, Koneko said, "A gift…"

In his hands, Michael found that he was given black fighter's gloves similar to hers except on the upper palm there was a Red Dragon's head.

"Whoa, this is so cool! So, this is really a gift?"

"Mmm…" Koneko nodded.

"Thanks, but what brought this on, Koneko-chan?" Michael asked.

From holding his hand to hugging his waist, Koneko said, "As thanks for giving me courage up to now."

"…" Michael smiled, he didn't expect to get so much gratitude just before a battle, patting her head, he grinned, "No need to thank me for doing my job, its supposed to be the seniors duty to always watch over his kouhai. Usually I expect you to knock some sense into me, but like Gasper, if you were to run out of control, I'll protect you too."

"…Thank you…" Koneko smiled.

"No problem, Hell Cat-chan!" Michael grinned.

"…What?" Koneko looked up at Michael, deadpanned.

"Isn't it a cool and gutsy name? Hell Cat, the cat of the underworld! Like it? I mean, it is a glorious nickname that, I, the Gutsy Hanamura came up for you, Koneko-chan." Michael gloated.

"…Lame…that's lame and you should feel lame for saying that, baka-senpai." Koneko broke the hug and shook her head.

"*SNIFF!* *SNIFF!* Why do you have to do that, Koneko-chan! I thought we were having a moment before you shot me down like that? You know what? I don't care anymore lets just go back to Rias and the others…myeergh!" Michael sniffled and tried to pathetically hold back his tears.

"…Thank you, Michael-senpai." Koneko muttered to herself as she happily followed her senior, who was still pouting and whining like a little kid.

* * *

Back together, Michael and everyone patiently waited in the dining floor, which was made their base, for the announcement to commence the beginning of the match.

[It is now time to begin. Furthermore, the time limit for this game have been confirmed. This will be a three hour Lightning Fast Game meaning both teams must defeat the enemy king or maintain having the most pieces on the field before the game is over. Then without further ado...] Grayfia announced.

[GAME START!]

"Alright, now then, my adorable servants, lets go! We won't lose. Again, we will claim victory together!"

[Yes, Buchou!]

Everyone shouted, uproariously.

* * *

Michael and Koneko advanced through the store's anterior as quietly as they can. Walking too slow would waste time while running would easily alert their enemy in the long, horizontal store interior. The plan that Rias made for them was simple, they needed reach the surveillance room on the second floor before advancing to the third floor.

Being the main target, Michael was essentially bait for Sona to take and mainly sick most of her servants on him. This tactic would hinder their progress for getting to the security room, but it would mean that the servants protecting Sona would be understaffed meaning an opening would be made for both Xenovia and Kiba, who were going around through the parking garage.

"Are we good?" Michael asked as they finally reached the atrium of the mall.

Koneko's cat ears twitched as she pointed upward, "They're moving."

"How many of them?" Michael asked.

"Just one person…"

"One person?" Michael looked shocked, he had expected more to come their way. He couldn't really doubt Koneko's senjutsu since her ability to read the flow of spirits was way more efficient than his basic sensing of power signatures, "That's odd. Something smells fishy and its not you, Koneko-chan…"

"…"

"H-Hold up, I apologize for my poor taste in puns, sorry!" Michael defensively raised his hands after feeling Koneko's sharp killing intent.

Shaking her head, the girl said, "At this rate, we'll meet up with them in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes, huh? Well, we better hurry." Michael took the lead as he finished putting on his new fighter's gloves. Koneko couldn't tell whether they were on the second floor yet due to the elevation and how her powers can't really sense too much detail about the enemy.

Getting on the elevator, the two looked tense as they were halfway closer to reaching the second floor. Things were a little bit too easy for them, they were only facing one opponent in a straightforward fashion and they were closer than one to reach the security room so why did they have such a bad feeling about this?

"Wind?" Suddenly a strong breeze hit the both of them.

"!" Sensing more than just that, Koneko shouted, "Above!"

"The first attack is mine~!"

***CRAAAAAAASH!***

Pushing herself and Michael off the elevator just in nick of time, Koneko was able to avoid a surprise attack from above as figure enshrouded in a thick gale of winds cam crashing down and smashed the pair of elevators leading to the second floor.

"Thanks, Koneko-chan." Michael chuckled as he and Koneko stood up to face their assailant, who was floating in the air using the wind to keep them afloat.

"Hello there, Hanamura-senpai and Koneko-san, it's a pleasure to face the two of you." Ruruka Nimura waved, she like them was wearing a different uniform for the match, but instead of it being black and red it was black blue.

"Ruruka-chan?" Michael gasped as he closely looked at the enemy pawn's feet to see her wearing a pair of green boots with some glowing white fairy-like designs on them as there appeared to be a pair of green glowing wings on the heels of both boots.

"A Sacred Gear?" Michael gasped.

"You got it, these are called Sylphinion! A tricky fairy called Sylph is sealed into and because of that it allows me to control wind and the air pressure around me like so!" Nimura didn't waste time to attack, she immediately launched herself down at Michael and Koneko. The pair separated, but she still went after Michael with her incredible speed, Michael tried to retaliate by throwing a touki-cladded fist her way, but she simply backed away and kicked a sharp blast of wind at him.

***SHIIING!***

Managing to dodge it, Michael looked back to see a nearby cart and plant get cut in two by the attack.

"That was close…" Michael whistled before turning his attention back to Nimura, "But…" Enshrouding himself in touki, Michael charged back at Ruruka and started throwing a barrage of punches her way. "Here I come!"

The girl was fast! Even Michael had to give her that, but his attacks were still backing her to a corner. It isn't until he finally switches from his barrage of punches to a powerful kick. The blow would have landed had it not gone through Ruruka's torso.

An afterimage!

"Too slow, Hanamura-senpai~!"

Before he could react, Ruruka popped up behind him and readied her own wind-infused kick as the air pressure surrounding her leg only increased.

"Michael-senpai!" Providing support, Koneko fired two blasts of chi at Ruruka to back her off into the air.

"Hmhmhm~!" Ruruka giggled to herself, if she could pull of more of those afterimages then she would be able to keep the upperhand in the battle.

"Freaking sweet, you do afterimages too?"

"Huh?" Ruruka looked above herself to spot Michael further in the air above her.

"Wow, you're super fast! I couldn't even do any of that without being in my balance breaker, well, before getting whipped into further shape by Gramps!" Michael grinned.

"But how did you…?" Ruruka looked back down to notice that the surprised Michael on the ground faded away. Another afterimage.

"Misdirection times 2! Now-!" Michael pulled out 8 sticks of explosive fireworks from his bag and breathed fire on their laces, "Welcome to the Gutsy Hanamura's Fireshow! Kids watching at home, do not attempt this indoors!"

***BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!* *BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!***

Altogether the fireworks rained down and exploded into a messy colorful explosion that took Ruruka by surprise as she crashed to the floor.

She tried to recover from some of the burns and the ringing in her ears, but she soon found herself being assaulted by Koneko, who wasted no time to take her chance and assault their assailant. Koneko was pushed back as she tried her best to throw a punch but Ruruka's kicks kept her at bay. Ruruka even got a strong kick to Koneko's chest. The added wind pressure even doubled the damage, but Koneko was still standing as she simply took the hit with her [Rook] defense and spat out the blood in her mouth.

"Forget about me?"

Ruruka panted, but gasped upon Michael crashing down with his heel upraised and brought down. This created a small crater, but he wasn't done as he soon joined in on the combat and met Ruruka's kicks with his own. Michael's style of combat was quite free as he either used his fists of legs to dish out the damage, so his particular skill with kicks were about as skilled as they needed to be for a mixed martial artist like him.

"Hyaah!" Ruruka prepared to swing another powerful wind compressed kick at him.

"Nope!"

"…!"

***WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!* *BAAAANG!***

Michael redirected Ruruka's kick by simply kicking her leg a little higher into wall just behind him.

"You're really got some moves, Nimura-chan!" Michael chuckled as he quickly grabbed her leg and kept her in place. Ruruka's eyes widened upon feeling the encroaching pressure of Koneko's ki laced fist approaching her from behind.

"Gurgh!" Ruruka clicked her tongue and bent backwards to avoid the punch, but also to rip her leg from Michael's tight grip. Placing her hands on the ground, Ruruka poured more energy into the winds of her boots before she spun around like a top and created a powerful gale of wind that pushed both Michael and Koneko away in the opposite direction.

Catching her breath, Ruruka narrowed her eyes at the Gremory Pawn and Rook, they were obviously too much for her to handle. It surprised her how efficient these two worked together as a team, whenever she saw them together, they would usually bicker. There's also the fact that she knew that Michael wasn't even remotely using his full power yet.

Already up, both Michael and Koneko approached her from both her left and right side.

"Nimura-chan, what's your plan here?" Michael asked.

"…" Ruruka kept silent.

"…It's odd that you're the only one, who came to face us." Koneko added, Rias had predicted more to come after them and yet this lack of enemies really made Koneko suspicious of their situation, "If you were sent alone to go to the security office, you would have rushed the moment that the game began, but instead you confronted us."

"…" Ruruka still kept to herself as she narrowed her eyes at both of her opponents, she needed to stay focus in case either of the two pulled a fast one.

"…Kaichou sent you here to front lines alone without sending a single servant to assist you? That's too strange to ignore. Its either the rest are protecting Kaichou or being sent on another route."

"There's also the fact that you've been constantly on the defensive and avoiding most of our heavy hits meaning your stalling. So that means…" Michael blinked upon realization.

"You're a distraction." Koneko prepared herself to pounce as she coated her fists with more chi.

"Meaning the rest are taking another route after Buchou!" Michael clenched his fists and readied himself in his stance.

Wearing a challenging smile, Nimura laughed, "You two really are clever together, you even noticed that amidst the fight. You guys are definitely right about me being a distraction, the Kaichou anticipated Rias-senpai's strategy by setting up a countermeasure."

Now was probably the time to use it, Nimura thought, she was literally backed into a corner with the both of them on her flanks. She just needed the right opening to do so, "However, I don't plan to just waste your time before you yourselves decide to force me to retire, no, I actually intend to beat you both with everything just like Saji-senpai!"

"Saji, wait, that's right. Where is h-?" Memories of the dodgeball game flooded back as Michael remembered another crucial detail about the game that neglected to acknowledge.

[One of Rias Gremory-sama's [Bishops] retires.]

"What the-!?" From an epiphany to being shocked by the announcement, Michael was temporarily distracted from the current battle at hand, which was just perfect for Ruruka.

"Now!" Pulling out a vial of brown powder from her pocket, Ruruka quickly kicks the vial and smashes the bottle open before blowing its contents in Michael's direction as the powerful winds of her boots fired the substance in Michael's face, and gasping mouth.

"What in the-!?" Michael didn't get to finish that sentence because he soon started to wetly cough. Falling to his knees, Michael's coughing soon grew to escalate to the point to where he even grew dizzy.

"C-Cinnamon?"

* * *

_(Flashback- 4 years ago)_

* * *

_*WHEEEEEEEWHOOOOWHEEEEEEEEEWHOOOO~!*_

_Sitting in the back of an Ambulance, Michael laid groggily on the bed before opening his eyes to spot a worried Saji sitting next to him. The last thing he remembered, he and Saji went to the town's bakery to participate in its cinnamon roll eating contest for a free limited edition Son Goku key chain. Saji was dragged along and only participated so Michael would have the chance to win the key chain regardless if he won or not._

_As soon as the contest began, he took one single bite of the cinnamon roll and after that he found himself waking up in the ambulance._

_"Hey, dude…" Michael's cracking voice sounded really severe as his face was swelling up._

_"Mike, you were allergic to cinnamon!?" Saji shouted._

_"Yeah…I thought that maybe if I ate them fast enough, I wouldn't even notice it. So did I win?" Michael asked._

_Saji shook his head._

_"Was I even close?"_

_"Dude, you went into shock after the first bite…" Saji inhaled sharply._

_"Well, did you win?" Michael asked with hope in his eyes._

_"Actually, I sort of quit and made sure to call 911 since your condition literally worsened after you passed out in your plate of cinnamon rolls. But the manager did want me to give you this." Saji handed Michael a key chain._

_"Booya-aw…Vegeta…" Michael groaned._

_"It was either that or Yamcha." Saji shrugged._

_"…He made the right choice…" Michael coughed as he looked outside of the ambulance with half-lidded eyes, now he has a reason to **feel** bad about egging the bakery's establishment when he gets out of the hospital._

* * *

**Present**

* * *

"Saji-senpai sends his regards." Nimura raised her foot and charged up her wind compressed leg.

"…You!"

***BAAAANG!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!***

"…Aaaugh!" Ruruko cried out in pain upon Koneko stabbing her chi infused elbow into her ribs. A few shattered under the sheer force of the blow as Ruruko clutched them and simply smiled, the plan was perfectly executed just as Sona and Saji planned.

"*COUGH!* *COUGH!* That bastard…he…*COUGH!* *HACCCK!*" Michael's coughing grew worse as his breathing grew heavier with each passing second.

"Michael-senpai! Michael-senpai!" Koneko rushed to his side and worriedly shook the young man, he was slowly losing consciousness and that's not all, he was getting sweatier and some parts of his skin was getting rougher and covered in rashes.

"Like Gasper-kun, we were able to figure out how to deal a massive blow to you, Hanamura-senpai! We had a grocery store on our floor of the mall and made use of the garlic that we found to incapacitate him before making him retire." Ruruko said, and Koneko simply groaned, she had to remind herself to bully Gasper into better tolerating garlic like last time.

"N-Ngh…" Michael gripped his throat and gritted his teeth in pain. No one, not even his own teammates knew of his allergic reaction. There was only one instance in his life where he once tasted cinnamon and the only person to have known about such a weakness was…

"And the same goes for you, Michael-senpai. Kaichou may not have found any data on you personally besides your obvious weaknesses to dragon slayer weapons and holy energy, but thanks to Saji-senpai's history with you, we were able to find a way to defeat without using brute force."

***COUGH!* *COUGH!***

Michael's coughing only grew more violent.

"Your anatomy as a devil may have improved you're resistance to it, but eventually it will force you to lose consciousness." Ruruka explained as she pointed at him and declared, "Hanamura-senpai, I will do everything in my power to defeat you for the sake of Kaichou and Saji-senpai's dreams!"

"…D-Don't worry, Michael-senpai, I'll get you back to Buchou." Koneko was glad that their base was near the drugstore. There had to be medicine for him there, amidst her worries blinding her, she made one mistake in believing her last blow was enough to make Ruruka retire.

Just as Koneko wrapped Michael's arm over her shoulder and dragged him off, Ruruka took a deep breath as revitalizing stream of air entered her lungs.

 **"Second Wind."** Using the sealed fairy, Sylph, in her Sacred Gear, she was able to use wind magic to steadily heal her broken ribs. She wasn't out of the fight just yet and she intended to leave as much of a heavy blow on the enemy on much as she possibly can. As a pawn that's all she could ever hope to accomplish for her master.

* * *

Advancing through the dimly lit multi-story parking lot, Kiba and Xenovia quietly navigated through the darkness. With their guards raised, they were prepared for any sudden ambushes in the dark, Kiba and Xenovia were experienced swordsmen, who've faced their share of enemies in a similar environment, so they fared well with ease as they progressed with each step they took.

They were able to at least make it to the second floor of the parking lot, but that's where they ran into two silhouettes, their opponents.

Standing in front of them were Sona's Rook, Yura Tsubasa, and Sona's Knight, Tomoe Meguri.

"How do you do, Yura-san, Tomoe-san." Kiba greeted them earnestly.

"Nothing much, just ready for battle!" Tomoe unsheathed her katana.

"Yeah." Tsubasa unfolded her crossed arms only to clench them as a pair of black and gold gauntlets formed around both of her arms. The most defining feature of these gauntlets were the percussion hammer located on her elbows.

_'I see…so she's one of the two sacred gear users in Kaichou's team…' Kiba thought as he reached for one of the three katana on his right hip, the white hilted katana._

[One of Rias Gremory-sama's [Bishops] retires.]

"!?" Both Kiba and Xenovia were surprised to hear the announcement but kept their composure. They both deduced that it was unlikely for it to be Asia since she was safely beside Rias and Akeno, so it must have been Gasper.

"Wow, I can't believe how calm you two are after hearing that." Tomoe said that in a taunting fashion.

"In battle, one must clear thy mind of all doubts, fears and worry in order to fight at their best." Kiba recited one of his master's lessons. His expression remained neutral.

"This result was only because he didn't train his body enough, geez..." Xenovia facepalmed.

Kiba looked to Xenovia and at first thought that her expression was neutral just like his but found this to be the opposite. She was merely holding back her anger if the way her trembling hand on the hilt of her sheathed sword was an indicator.

"But even so, they took out my cute kouhai. I will avenge him." Xenovia released a dreadful pressure that everyone around her felt. She was pissed, and even though this was just a Rating Game, she still obviously kept a soft spot for her defeated friends.

***GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!* *GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!***

Kiba and Meguri crossed blades as Xenovia clashed her sword against Tsubasa's gauntlets. The loud sounds of metal grinding and hitting against metal rang out in the parking lot.

Feeling a burning sensation underneath her gauntlets, Tsubasa noticed a strange combination emanating from Xenovia's sword as she took a step back in surprise.

"Is that a holy sword!? No, it's not just that…a Holy-Demonic Sword!?"

"Yes, I requested Kiba to create one for me. Being the wielder of Durandal, it's only natural for me to wield such a blade as this." Xenovia brandished her uniquely designed black and white zweihander emanating a fusion of holy and demonic energy.

"I needed a replacement since I couldn't risk using Durandal despite gaining some control over it, it would have still caused some collateral damage in the mall." Xenovia wore a satisfied smile, "I was a little reluctant to use one of Kiba's Holy-Demonic swords, but I have to say that this blade is quite remarkable." Xenovia trusted the other Knight's skills as a swordsman, but always found his weapons to be…disposable when compared to real legendary holy swords. Thankfully, that opinion of hers has now changed, the blade that Kiba crafted for her felt legitimate in her hands like she was holding a newly forged blade that was much durable.

Kiba tried his best not to pat himself on the back as he continued his fierce battle with Tomoe, the blade still wasn't his best work despite crafting the blade to suit Xenovia's need for a much broader weapon. The instructions that Zethyr gave to him on how to properly craft such a high quality blade. In the end, he could accomplish about three or four of the steps before relying on Sword Birth to do the meager basis for the rest.

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!***

Like a dance between the two knights, they swung and clashed their blades like a true swordsman and swordswoman. Kiba was surprised to see Tomoe keep up with him, he had to admit that he underestimated her by simply using one hand to use his white hilted demonic sword.

"Impressive." Kiba complimented

"Hehe, thanks, you're not the only one with a history with swordsmanship!" Tomoe grinned.

Jumping back, Kiba snapped his fingers and created 5 magic circles using his balance breaker, Sword of Betrayer, to fire an array of Holy-Demonic swords at Tomoe. If he could just get a single hit in, he would be able to dispatch of her using all of the swords' holy element.

"Hmhmhm~!" Tomoe hummed as she weaved through the thrown swords before sheathing her blade.

[One of Rias Gremory-sama's [Bishops] retires.]

***SHAAAAAATER!***

All of the fired Holy-Demonic Swords were cut to pieces. Even Kiba was a bit speechless, she used her demonic energy to strengthen the blade of her katana, it was no wonder how she was able to destroy the projectile swords that he created so quickly.

"Wow, I have to say that you're actually a powerful and formidable foe, Tomoe-san."

"You flatter me, Yuuto-kun, but don't think that will earn any of my mercy." Tomoe smirked, "I've been through Kaichou's hellish training and the results are finally paying off."

"I see, I see…" Kiba smiled as he clenched his hand over the demonic bladed katana that he wielded, "I guess it is time for me to start showing off the results of my training too." Kiba rolled around his wrist which created a few audible cracks. Looking back up to face, Tomoe, Kiba chuckled, "As a show of good faith, allow me to show you the results of my own hellish training, but I warn you, I could get a little rough."

"Won't be a real battle if you can't get a little rough, you know."

"That's also true, now…" Kiba's voice grew softer and a bit low. His biceps tensed up as he took one quick step after Tomoe, who kept her guard up. When Kiba swung his blade, Tomoe reactively raised her blade to guard the attack.

***CLAAAAAAAAANG!***

"E-Eh?" As soon as her blade made contact with his, Tomoe found herself skidding back with her body trembling from the sheer force that came from clashing her blade with Kiba's. Stopping herself from reeling back, Tomoe steadied herself and kept on the look out for another one of Kiba's attacks, but he was nowhere in sight.

***SHING!***

Suddenly the edge of a blade was close to reaching one of widened eyes.

"…!" Tomoe gasped and quickly backed away as Kiba's reappeared right in front of her. She was speechless, his speed was on a whole other level than her own. What took out of the loop even more was the thought of Kiba savagely claiming her eyes with that attack, but she soon comes to realize that it was simply a faint as she falls into his series of devastating attacks.

***GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *GIN!* *CRACK!***

_'Is this a weapon breaking technique!?' Tomoe thought._

Tomoe gasped as she felt her katana violently vibrate with each merciless thrust from Kiba's sword. His attention was on just her but her weapon as cracks began to form through the blade. Tomoe couldn't believe that her coating of demonic energy was getting penetrated from Kiba's simple demonic sword with brute force. She wondered just want torture he had to put his arms through to get that strong.

Either way being defenseless against such an opponent like him would truly spell her end.

_'I have to get some breathing room!' Tomoe took a big leap back._

"…There!" This soon became her biggest mistake as Kiba charged at her and disappeared using what Tomoe would exaggeratedly call at that moment, godspeed, because once he appeared in front of her eyes again, she wouldn't have seen the attack coming her as his blade thrusted past her head. Frankly this would seem rather unimpressive since he only grazed her cheek, but the thrust did more than that.

***STAAAB!* *CHNK!* *BOOOOOOOOM!***

The sheer pressure of the thrust reach back to a car behind her as it stabbed through the engine and caused an explosion. Tomoe didn't even feel him use the weapon's demonic energy, it was just pure arm strength that destroyed the car.

"I warned you that things would be a little rough." Kiba stepped back and examined Tomoe's expression. He expected her to be a bit frightened by his display of technique and power, but instead found her excitedly smiling.

"Amazing…" Tomoe resumed her stance, "Even if I were to lose, a chance to fight such an opponent like you, Yuuto-kun is really a worthwhile experience."

"Thanks, it means a lot hearing that from you." Kiba smiled, he had to admit that even he was surprised by his improved arm strength after his endless one month battle against the Sword Dancer came to an end. Still, he still found his strength lacking in compared to Drayfus, that devil had REAL arm strength compared to his own.

Hoping to sate Tomoe's wishes, Kiba decided to take things to the next level by reaching his free hand to grip the black hilted katana on his waist, "It might not be the secret weapon that I wanted to use, but I still wanted to keep it a secret, but as a show of good sportsmanship against you, I'll unleash upon you the power that I discovered amidst my hard work."

"W-What?" Tomoe gasped as Kiba began to unsheathe the katana. A bright white light shined in Tomoe's face causing her to wince and stagger back, "Is that-!?"

***BAAAAAAAM!***

Slamming her much larger blade down upon Tsubasa again, Xenovia exchanged blows with the Rook for quite some time. She may have been a knight, but since she was classified as a Power-type, it would be hard to make that distinction since she's trading blows an actual Rook. Tsubasa's gauntlets were powerful enough to withstand each swing of Xenovia's blade while Xenovia's Holy-Demonic Sword was able to perfectly guard against one of Tsubasa's heavy blows.

***CLAAAAAAANG!***

Using the forearm of her gauntlets to block the blade, Tsubasa smirked and raised her free hand and aimed it at Xenovia as the Gauntlet's percussion hammer in her elbow began to slam down and build up her demonic energy into a highly compressed sphere of power.

"Blow away!"

"Gch!"

***DOOOOOOOON!* *BOOOOOM!***

Ducking out just in time, Xenovia avoided getting engulfed in the attack as it destroyed a row of cars behind.

"That's a powerful Sacred Gear that you have there." Xenovia panted.

"Heavenly Shatterer, it's a pretty basic Sacred Gear that works for me. Each time these percussion hammers in my elbow slam down, they build up the energy that I need to flatten my opponents." Tsubasa continued used the percussion hammers as her gauntlets shined with a bright golden aura.

Up to this point, Xenovia's been on par with Tsubasa throughout her fight. She was too close to succumbing to Tsubasa's attacks as the rook was quite adept at hand to hand combat to give Xenovia a run for her money. As Xenovia switched between offense and defense, she created a small gap in the space near her head which failed to garner Tsubasa's attention as she was too occupied by the heat of battle.

***SHIIIIIIIIIINE~!***

Pouring out of the gap was a potent holy aura that shrouded her Holy-Demonic sword giving it a much powerful edge in strength, in fact, the holy aura was very reminiscent to Durandal's.

"No way!" Tsubasa gasped, "You've been taking holy energy from Durandal this entire time?"

"Yeah, thanks to my training, I was able to somewhat control Durandal enough to freely imbue its aura into any blade I choose to wield." Xenovia rushed Tsubasa and started to overwhelm her with the increased power output of her Holy-Demonic sword, her speed was also making it difficult for Tsubasa to even keep up.

All the while, Tsubasa kept charging the energy in her percussion hammered gauntlets.

***RIP~!* *GIIIIIN!* *GIIIIIIN!* *RIIIIII~!***

Tsubasa held back her screams of pain as a few cuts were ripped through her clothes and skin. She was able to block the heavier hits by using her gauntlets that were growing thicker and larger each time the percussion hammers slammed in and out.

***CLAAANG!***

Heaving an upward slash, Xenovia knocked Tsubasa back to notice how large her gauntlets grew to be. They were literally half her size, and the golden aura that it stored up lightened the dark parking lot.

"It might not be the real thing, but if that sword of yours is using Durandal Holy energy, I'd like to put it to the test and see whether my Sacred Gear's power can hope to overcome your power head on."

***THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!* *THUNK!***

Thrusting both palms out, Tsubasa worked the giant hammers in her elbow like pistons as the built up energy began to form into a massive ball of condensed demonic energy.

"Power? Heh, back then, I would have went along with such a challenge, but the new me has found a new power that surpasses any sheer strength, technique!" Grasping her blade with two hands, Xenovia exhaled and allowed the Durandal's holy energy flow through the Holy-Demonic sword as the bright aura looked brazen and controlled at same time as it powerfully hummed.

Xenovia assumed a basic kendo stance with one foot forward and one foot back.

 **"1,000 Heavenly Palms of Pain!"** Tsubasa fired a massive beam of energy in Xenovia's direction, but the [Knight] simply remained calm as she took a single deep breath and raised her blade.

 **"Ryōdan."** Xenovia exhaled.

***SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING~!* *SPLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!***

Moments before the blast could hit her, Xenovia firmly brought her sword down to severe the blast in two along with its source, Tsubasa. The [Rook] couldn't believe her eyes, all of the power that she amassed was split in half and that was all, the ground leading up to her was perfectly getting split in two as well as a sharp rush of holy-demonic energy (mostly holy energy) hit her.

 **"R-Reverse!"** Tsubasa shouted, the ability couldn't eliminate the overall Holy element since it was both a Holy-Demonic sword, but she could switch the dominant holy element with demonic energy to lessen the effectiveness of the attack.

***ZAAAAAAAAAAAN!***

"Aauuuuuuugh!" Tsubasa cried as a huge gashed wound was slashed down upon her chest after tanking an attack that was meant to bisect an opponent in half. She gripped her shoulder in pain, she did still suffer some holy energy filled damage, but majority of it was switched with demonic energy now being the more dominant, she can at least say that she was still able to avoid getting retired.

"Did you see that? That was the true power of technique! A better handling of power that can overcome any amount of sheer power!" Xenovia proclaimed, but sweatdropped upon seeing the blade to her Holy-Demon sword shatter.

"Looks like I poured to much of Durandal's aura in it…"

Panting in pain, Tsubasa forced herself to stand, but caught of guard by a sudden cry in pain. She looked over to where Kiba and Tomoe fought and found her teammate lying in a pool of her own blood as Kiba stood over her with black hilted katana now sheathed.

"It was an honor to fight you, Yuuto-kun…" Tomoe's body began to glow.

Bowing his head, Kiba smiled, "Yes, thank you for being my opponent."

[Sona Sitri-sama's [Knight] has retired.] Upon Tomoe's body disappearing soon came the merciless announcement.

"Hey, Kiba, were you able to witness my technique?"

"Y-Yes, Xenovia-san, it was quite a powerful kendo stance."

"Hm! Of course it was, I've been practicing that stance the whole month."

_'W-What?' Kiba looked absolutely shocked._

"X-Xenovia-san, did you say that you only worked on just that stance?" Kiba said.

"Of course, I did it so many times and it helped me control Durandal a bit, so I decided to try and master the technique since it was so difficult." Xenovia proudly smiled.

_'B-B-But that just the basic first stance you learn in kendo…' Kiba facepalmed, by following that logic it was safe to assume that, that was the only technique that she learned over the course of the month. Kiba had to give Okita-sensei some props, he was able to at least beat one technique in her while he and Michael couldn't even convince her to fight more with skill._

"Now all that's left is to deal with you, Yura-san." Kiba noticed Xenovia's broken sword and sighed as he created another one and tossed it to her.

Catching the thrown blade, Xenovia raised it up, "Nothing personal…"

"Ngh…" Tsubasa grunted in pain but wore a smile, "Yeah, nothing personal…"

***Zwooooooom!* *PULL!***

"What?" Kiba gasped as a large encroaching shadow reached his own and restrained him.

 **"Shadow Prison."** A voice whispered in the dark shadows of the parking lot.

"Kiba, what's wrong?"

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!***

Due to Xenovia's concern, she was unable to notice the incoming torrent of black flames resembling an eastern dragon coming her way.

"…!" She gasped.

**"Infernal Flame Dragon's Roar!"**

***FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!* *THUD!***

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Xenovia screamed in agony as the dark flames slammed her into one of the cars and mercilessly engulfed her before she disappeared in veil of light.

[One of Rias Gremory-sama's [Knights] have retired.]

"Xenovia! You!" Kiba gritted his teeth as he struggled through the shadows to move his arm. He had already noticed the presence hiding in the shadows, so by using brute force, he was able to swing his blade in the direction of one the cars and split it in half with a sharp demonic blast.

Dodge rolling from out behind the car, a knelt down Saji appeared. The young man intently kept his eyes on Kiba as continued to remain focus and use his shadows to restrain the [Knight]. He was a bit surprised with Kiba's improved physical prowess earlier so now he really had to remain calm. One little slip up and the Gremory Knight would break free from his hold.

"How's it going, Kiba?" Saji smiled, but felt the knight's killing intent, he had just taken out his teammate right in front of his eyes, so it was to be expected.

"A knight for a knight, it seems fair after you retired Tomoe like that." Saji said as he gritted his teeth, his battle with Kiba came to one of willpower, the knight was forcing himself to break free from his shadows.

"But now we're going to take a piece that's far greater than a [Knight], a [King]. Tell me, how safely secured is your base in the food court on the first floor?"

"How did you know abou-!?" Kiba paused, "Were you able to reach the surveillance room before the game began?"

"Nope." Saji shook his head, "And we were able to know about that the same way we figured about Rias-senpai's plan to send you and Xenovia through the parking lot while using Mike and Koneko as the bait. The Kaichou made a plan to counter your plan by taking you two out before going after Rias-senpai, but that plan sort of went awry." Saji turned his head to look at the approaching silhouette coming from behind him

"The four of us were sent together to take you two out. With Tomoe-san and Tsubasa-san attacking first before the both of joined them. Your skills proved to be better and certainly didn't expect for Xenovia to use a technique attack, there's also your extreme growth in strength and skill. So, to avoid losing the short amount of time we had, this was the only way to properly put you guys down." Saji chuckled.

"How do you do, Kiba Yuuto-kun?" Tsubaki revealed herself.

"Fuka-kaichou…" Kiba lowly growled.

"Good work, Tsubasa and Saji, we can now safely resume our advance into the enemy's base." At Tsubaki's words of thanks both Saji and Tsubasa nodded in gratitude. Walking past Kiba with her Naginata at the ready, Tsubaki coldly looked back at the knight and explained something shocking to him.

"We were always aware of your movements since in the beginning, we were watching you all. For an example, during the 30 minute break, you were in the drugstore acquiring these medicines and bandages." Tsubaki reached into Kiba's pocket and kept said products.

_'They've been watching us for that long?' Kiba thought._

"To elaborate upon Saji's answer, we never went to the security room to watch your movements. Simply because we didn't need to, we were able to simply use one of the laptops in the electrical appliance shop on the third floor to hack into the cameras around the mall. We have Saji to thank for that since he's already familiar with the procedure." Tsubaki continued.

"I mean, I was surprised that you guys didn't catch on. I did this sort of stuff for Mike all the time in the past whenever he wanted to prank some store owners. What…did he forget to tell you guys or something…?"

At Saji's query, Kiba mentally facepalmed since his arms were currently restrained. They really should have asked Michael if there was more to his experience in the mall than what he told them.

"Either way, we still had the advantage and we successfully executed it." Saji began to stand as he felt something off, he didn't feel the Knight struggle anymore, he was completely motionless.

"Now all that's left to do is leave Tsubasa and Saji to retire you in that state."

"HNGH!" Kiba roared as he tore himself free from Saji's shadows with one massive push with his legs.

***GIIIIIIN!***

Tsubaki gasped as she turned around and blocked the angered knight's sword. The force of the sword's attack nearly chopped the naginata's blade off of its shaft.

Noticing something off about the blade that Kiba drew, Tsubaki said, "I knew it, that other blade that you used with the demonic sword to quickly dispatch of Tomoe wasn't any Holy-Demonic sword. No, you created a Holy Sword!"

Revealed in Kiba's right hand was the black hilted katana with a pure white blade emanating a holy aura. Instinctively pulling out the white hilted demonic katana with his left hand, Kiba prepared to lunge the unoccupied sword into the [Queen].

"Fuka-kaichou!"

Seeing the severity of the situation, Tsubasa quickly rushed Kiba from behind and prepared to slam her gauntlets into his back. Unbeknownst to her, Kiba quickly dropped the demonic katana that he created in order to create something else.

"Tsubasa-san, wait!"

***STAB!***

"Hurck!" Tsubasa coughed up a mouthful of blood as Kiba ran a western holy sword that he created into her torso.

**"Blade Blacksmith."**

"That Sacred Gear that can create Holy Swords? But how? You've only been able to create demon swords with only Sword Birth and Holy-Demon Swords with the Sword of Betrayer!" Saji shouted.

"…" Kiba gave them no answer as he still kept his holy blade clashing with Tsubaki's naginata while still having the other penetrated in Tsubasa's hemorrhaging middle.

It was true that his recorded sacred gear was just Sword Birth, but after his training against the Sword Dancer, he was able to conceive the truth. The truth as to why he was able to use his Irregular Balance Breaker, Sword of Betrayer. It was because he was finally able to discover the "gift" that one of his fallen comrades gave to him after figuring out the meaning between Zethyr's lesson.

The man had taught him how to perfectly find a balance between the demonic element and the holy element of his holy-demonic swords. First, before arriving to the underworld, he had trained just enough to properly distinguish his true demonic energy by itself. Leaving only one obstacle left, and that was to discover the origin of the added holy element in his Irregular Balance Breaker.

It was arduous fighting that monster while trying to seek the truth, but after reaching the 25th day of the month, he was finally able to figure out and comprehend the true nature of the holy element and discover his "gifted" sacred gear, Blade Blacksmith, the ability to create holy swords!

"Tsubasa-san! Just hold on!" Saji prepared a line to pull her out.

"Don't!" Tsubasa pushed herself in further through the blade and screamed from the agonizing burning before head locking Kiba with one arm.

"Grgh!" Kiba grunted as he was getting pulled back by the [Rook].

"Fuka-kaichou! Saji-kun!" Tsubasa raised her one hand to the ceiling and charged up enough energy into its palm, "Keep…moving…"

***DOOOOON!* *CRUMBLE~!* *DOGANDOGANDOGANDOGANDOGAN!***

"Guwaaaaaaaaaaagh!" Kiba shouted in pain as the ceiling above them caved in on the both of them with a few cars following suit as well and caused the ground that Xenovia's attack sliced to cave in as well and crash into the ground floor of the parking lot.

[Sona Sitri-sama's [Rook] has retired.]

Managing to get far enough from the gaping hole in the middle of second floor's parking lot, Saji and Tsubaki sadly but gratefully looked down upon their fallen friend. Looking back up at each other, the pair decided to make haste and continue on with the plan. The announcement didn't speak of Kiba retiring so it would spell bad news should they wait around for him to unearth himself from the rubble.

Tsubaki would continue onto the enemy's base.

While Saji would return to provide back-up for Nimura, he only hoped that she was hanging in there against Michael and Koneko. It would even be a bonus if the tip that he gave to her was successful. Well, there has yet to be an announcement on her retiring, so he'd have to hope for the best.

_'Just you wait, Mike…' Saji rolled back one of his sleeves to reveal the black circling markings of an eastern dragon on his arm._

**(Ddraig…) A cold and deep voice echoed from Saji's sacred gear.**

"We're coming for you."/ **"We're coming for you."**

* * *

**Next Chapter- The battle of the devil youths finally begins! Team Gremory vs. Team Sitri! Part 2**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we are done with the first part of the battle! I hope that you all enjoyed it since it took a lot out of me to go back to writing strategic stuff…
> 
> So, who do you guys think will win the Rating Game?
> 
> Well, anyways, I'm Out so Peace Out and have a blessed day!
> 
> [UPDATE]:
> 
> Why hello there everyone it's currently 8/14/2018, and I have an announcement for all of you guys gullible enough to come see this update again. No, wait! I'm not pulling a fast one on ya, I just wanted to inform you of a recent occurrence happening with my friend or should I say our friend, Shirou Fujimura, a DxD author on Fanfiction.
> 
> Recently, he's been having a familial situation dealing with his mother requiring surgery and he really needs help everyone. He's been a friend of mine ever since I started fanfiction with this account so I decided that I should help by spreading it around with this chapter update. If you're interested in helping out, here's the link url:
> 
> https://www.gofundme.com/single-mom-has-to-have-surgery-asap
> 
> Please, any help is good help, and between me and you, I would hate to see one of my favorite authors quit without having to at least lend a hand!


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